Sexism in the Media

As seen in all of South Park’s episodes, these scripts have become so mastered that almost anything on South Park goes. While South Park has the ability to say and do almost anything they want without getting any heat for it, other organizations have tried to copy this type of “everything goes” onto their media. This is seen in FCKH8’s campaign, “Swearing Sexist Santa Vs. 6 Year-Old Potty-Mouthed Princesses.” While South Park gets away with saying anything, the FCKH8 campaign has been criticized and attacked by the media for having young girls curse. But, why? What makes it okay for South Park to say worse things without getting in trouble for any of it, while this campaign is getting condemned for curse words that are supposed to be debunking our sexist society?

Swearing Sexist Santa VS. 6 Year-Old Potty-Mouthed Princesses

The problem with this campaign I’ve embedded above is that it confronts sexism in a very grotesque and problematic way. Society is not used to seeing little girls dressed up as princesses cursing left and right. Whether or not this is sexist – I will leave up to the viewers. I believe that the problem is the combination of young girls with such harsh words. Mann states that, “new media are increasingly sites of struggle over control, surveillance, and monetization, as well as sites of struggle over meaning, representation, and participation” (Mann 293). Thus, sexism must be debunked and confronted in the media; however, South Park has proved to master this – something that other organizations are still trying to emulate.

Mann, Larisa. 2014. “What Can Feminism Learn From New Media?” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 11.3, 293-297. doi:10.1080/14791420.2014.926244