The latest trend on TikTok is showing people playing a game called “Guess who’s fingering who.” In the game, two people are shown in bed and they have their hands beneath the covers. When the other person guesses correctly, they have to shout out a word associated with the body part they’re touching. If you don’t know what any of the words mean, it’s kind of hard to play the game. But that’s the point. It’s supposed to be anonymous. You wouldn’t put your hand on your leg and shout, “Ladies’ knee!” Is it any wonder that kids are getting the giggles reading bedtime stories when they hear words like “vagina” and “erection”? What is the world turning into?
There is no question that social media is influencing kids’ books and movies. Is it any wonder that so many young girls want to grow up to be like Jane Austen or Agatha Christie? It wasn’t always this way. Up until the early 20th century, female sexuality was usually portrayed in a very negative light. Even in literature, the few positive female characters that were portrayed didn’t always fare well. For example, in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847), the titular character finds herself in a loveless marriage at the age of 18. She then goes on to have a passionate affair with a married man, and in the process abandons her children and her “quiet life.” The villain of the story is Mr. Rochester, who is a domineering, misogynistic man with a “very irritable” wife, whom he violently assaults. While in many ways Jane Eyre is a classic tale of Female Agency, it’s important to remember the cultural context in which it was written. But how does this relate to masturbation?
Even though the majority of children are growing up in a post-sexual-revolution world, kids are still going to be exposed to inappropriate content. It is therefore critical for parents to be aware of what their children are seeing and hearing on the internet. The same goes for adults. Even though we may not always like what we see, it’s still important to recognize how much influence this content has on our society. And this is especially true when it comes to children’s literature. It is important to note that not all of this content is bad. There are a lot of wonderful books that will help kids understand their bodies better and help them find the confidence to be themselves. It’s just that these books may not be for the faint of heart. And for that reason, it is important to be aware of what your children are reading.
Why Does It Feel Like Everyone Is Masturbating On TikTok?
With regards to the game of Guess who’s Fingering Who, you would think that since it’s about sex, everyone on the platform would be doing it. But this is really not the case. Although there are a lot of nudes on the platform, the vast majority of the content is something far more innocuous. It would appear that people are flocking to the app because it provides a safe space for them to express a part of themselves that they might not normally share with the world. This may also explain why the character Ben Shapiro keeps appearing in the background of people’s videos, giving the audience the middle finger as he films them.
Shapiro is the CEO of the influential website The Daily Wire. You might know him from his YouTube videos, in which he talks politics and current events. Or perhaps you’ve seen his face at the end of a Marvel movie, yelling at the camera as the credits roll. He has a huge following on TikTok, with over a million subscribers. And one of the things that makes Shapiro so popular is the fact that he comes off as someone that you’re really happy to see succeed. He provides an outlet for a portion of the country that was probably denied this for a long time. This is a positive message for adolescents and adults alike.
The Danger Of Impression Management
When an adult is on social media, there is a very real risk of them inadvertently sharing something that was meant to be kept private. It’s called impression management, and it’s the idea that what you share online is a representation of who you are, so you have to be careful about what you put out there.
This is because online users have a much greater ability to shape-shift, and you never know who is lurking behind the screen. Even those you consider to be “friends” might be monitoring your every move, waiting to tear you to shreds the moment their interests diverge. Which is, of course, something that could happen. There are many reasons why you would want to keep certain things private.
Even though we are in the 21st century and information is readily available, there is still a great deal of insecurity when it comes to sex, especially for women. And while there are surely positive aspects to growing up in the information age, there is also a great deal of opportunity to be consumed by material that is harmful to your well-being. It’s therefore critical to monitor what your children are exposed to online and to help them navigate this complex world the right way. And that starts with books, of course.