Image Credit: Patti PerretThe low-budget, everyboy comedy The Virginity Hit, about a group of high school horndogs trying to help their buddy lose his virginity, hit select theaters this weekend. (In my hometown Austin, it was playing at just one megaplex at 9:30.) The Will Ferrell/Adam McKay-produced dweebathon is the latest installment to the canon of films about sweaty white boys on a quest to get laid. American Pie, Porky’s, Weird Science, Superbad, Sixteen Candles… The list is long, stuffed with awkward boys and uncomfortable erections and frantic high fives. As in the case of The Virginity Hit, there are always a bevy of unusually attractive girls on the story’s margins. The titular virgin in The Virginity Hit, unknown Matt Bennett, is the recognizably awkward center of his circle of harmless dips*#t friends. Of course his girlfriend is smoking hot, as are all the other girls who inexplicably hang around this pimply crew. In one ridiculous scene the girls don bikinis and smush their boobs against windows at a car wash fundraiser to get porn star Sunny Leone to sleep with Matt. Such generous, comely friends. Come on girls! Don’t you have soccer practice or something? Raise funds for your junior year abroad instead! Male screenwriters are marvelous revisionist thinkers.
So here’s some questions I asked myself in between scenes of bong hits and frat parties. Can anyone out there imagine a similar movie in which a crew of good-natured, dumpy girls obsess unapologetically about sex? Where the object of their desire is not some princess fantasy of first kiss or a prom date or a wedding ring—but rather the uncomplicated thrill of experience. Hollywood, and the culture that it feeds, doesn’t have much of an appetite for regular girls. When the weirdo girls from Dan Clowes’ exquisite graphic novel Ghost World moved to the big screen, they came in the comely package of Scarlett Johannson and Thora Birch. In Juno, lovely Ellen Page was curious one night and decided to have sex with her best friend. And so the story became about the harsh reality one must face when she is dumb and careless enough to eschew birth control. Teen Mom is a now a hit for MTV, and those tired young mothers are now balancing diaper changing with People magazine cover shoots.
In pop culture, girls get pregnant, or slut shamed, or marginalized in stories about sex. (Or they’re like Bella in the Twilight series, sucked into immortality if they’re so hellbent to get it on.) Is this vacuum in the teen sex comedy genre surprising? Of course not. We have different standards for the young men and women in our lives. Girls are expected to wait, boys are encouraged, pressured even to shed their V card fast. Parents chuckle over their sons’ behavior, a father wordlessly pats a condom into his son’s hand before a date. Next door the girl’s father jokes about getting a shot gun. A girl’s honor must be protected, but boys will be boys.
Matt’s college-age adoptive sister in The Virginity Hit has a few lines about her voracious appetite for sex. She’s crass and glib and if I was her mother I’d probably have grounded her throughout much of high school. (That goes double for her ding dong brothers by the way.) But she was sort of a refreshing voice in this familiar circus of male hormones. She just seemed to really dig sex, and she wasn’t pregnant or acting out at an absent father or lacking a circle of female friends. I kinda liked her. Can you imagine a movie with someone like Krysta as the star? Would you be first in line if Tina Fey wrote a movie about her quest as a 24-year-old to lose her virginity?
What do you say PopWatchers? Anybody catch a screening of The Virginity Hit this weekend? How does it fit on the shelf of Losing It movies? Would you want to see a similar movie like this for high school or college girls? If your answer is a shrill “Heavens No!,” are you as equally offended by movies like American Pie?
Check out the script “Betty’s Ready” on the Black List. It’s all about a girl trying to lose it. I just read it and it’s pretty damn ilarious!
I’d rather they stop making such movies about teens altogether, regardless of gender. Then maybe we wouldn’t have such a high teen pregnancy rate.
I really hope that’s sarcasm…
*hilarious
The problem really is it is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay easier for even “less attractive” girls to lose their virginity than guys who may even be slightly more attractive on the whole. Women are the “gate keepers” in nearly every way.
This was a very well-written piece, but I agree 100%.
A similar movie starring girls (even if they aren’t knockouts) would probably be about 15 minutes long.
I disagree. The “less attractive” or “nerdy” girls I went to high school with would always talk about how much they wanted sex and how hard it was for them to get it (seriously, they would bring it up in the middle of class…they were REALLY weird).
Well then…I stand corrected. (Even though I suspect those girls you went to high school with would’ve MUCH had better luck with some of the more desperate guys I knew from my high school.)
I’m not so sure I agree. I think guys have an easier time getting laid because girls, especially around the adolescent period, are judged solely on their looks by boys. The emphasis is so on the physical appearance that girls who aren’t pretty, don’t have big boobs, don’t dress like sorority girls, wear glasses, etc. wouldn’t have a chance with anyone but the most desperate of boys. But the whole point is to “score above your level”, like the nerdy boys getting the hot chick in the end. Could anyone imagine an average, less-than-gorgeous girl getting the hot guy? (Outside of the Twilight series)
Can I just say how refreshing it is to see an article on EW that mentions slut shaming? Not that I’ll be allowed to actually say slut in the comments.
I would absolutely watch a movie where “good-natured, dumpy girls obsess unapologetically about sex,” but I’m sure the cast would be the usual gorgeous young actresses wearing glasses and strategically matted hair.
…well, color me wrong! I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing.
Good point. Whenever an “ugly” girl is needed in a story, they just get a gorgeous starlet to wear glasses, no makeup, and they make her hair poofy or something. The long history of “ugly girl taking off her glasses and becoming a knock-out” in movies has certainly played a part in gender roles in movies.
I agree, but sometimes, not all the time but sometimes, the same thing happens with guys. Just look at the TV show Chuck. He’s supposed to be a nerd, but he’s actually a total hunk.
ha ha you spelled it “Porkies”..it was “PORKY’S”..
The double standard isn’t just on an individual level; if someone made a comedy about adolescent girls trying to have sex, there’d be protests and calls for boycott. “How dare Hollywood try to pressure young girls into sex?”
On the flip side, “sex-obsessed” is part of the standard characterization of adolescent and post-adolescent males. While this is often portrayed negatively, its lack always is. Either the guy’s repressed (consider how often officiousness is equated to sexual frustration), or the absent libido is a symptom of broader mental disorders. Given that, it’s little wonder that teen comedies about boys center on tryin’ to get some.
I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT MOVIE WRITTEN BY TINA FEY.
please. please.
That is EXACTLY what I told myself !! I’d love to see a movie about a 24 year old trying to lose her V-card. Not only is the premise funny, but if Tina Fey writes it it would be hilarious !
YES!!!
I think, realistically, there are also more girls of above-average-looks and personality who have higher priorities than losing their virginity for the sake of losing it. Maybe an extraordinary amount has changed since I graduated (1997) but the girls I remember being knocked-up weren’t exactly knock-outs.
There’s plenty of girls who obsess over sex the same way guys do they just don’t always show that in the media but they should I would love to see a movie or TV show about a young girl who wants to lose her virginity. Maybe they could make a movie about a female 40 year old virgin it could work
There was a low-budget movie in ’99 called Coming Soon (Ryan Reynolds, Gabby Hoffman) that was about 3 high school girls who were reaching their sexual maturity. I think it was rated NC-17 despite that there was hardly any nudity or inappropriate content. It’s a pretty funny and sweet coming-of-age movie.
Absolutely true…what a well-written Popwatch! Kudos, EW. There is absolutely a double standard. Anyone remember the reality shows “Average Joe” or “Beauty and the Geek?” Always a homely guy paired with a ton of attractive women. Similar shows featuring dumpy, nerdy girls paired with hot guys never existed. How about some fair play, Hollywood? I’m tired of these double standards.
Fantastic article. Love everything you said. Personally, I find myself on the side of “no teen sex in my movies!” – and yes, I am totally creeped out by American Pie and I was in high school when it came out and everyone thought it was so funny. Yeah, it’s funny…but then I remember that these are high school boys being totally gross. I am an anxious type of person and I worry about things like the small chance of conception/transmission of disease even with proper protection, so that may be part of this. But I HATE the attitude of “boys will be boys”. It’s totally unfair.
Two movies comes to mind:
Fast Times at Ridgemont High, particularly Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character. Sure, she wasn’t “dumpy” like you mention in the article, but she was pretty obsessed with sex and the act in itself. While she eventually gets knocked up, there’s no slut shaming here. Instead, they shame the deadbeat father-to-be when he doesn’t help out with the abortion funds.
Fat Girl – I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched it, only read the sypnosis. Plus, it’s pretty dark material. But if your’e looking for an awkward, dumpy girl obsessed with losing her virginity, this might be the one for you.
I didn’t see this film, but I liked the article. And honestly, I think this is one of the reasons that Undressed was so popular. As a…what, 13 year old? I was fascinated with it – partly because it’s geared towards the ADD generation in me, but also because it was about sex, with equal awkwardness and sluttiness for all.
I think the reason they dont do movies about girls losing their virginity because maybe the double standard in the entertainment industry and also because certain people (who will remain nameless but you know who you are) would put their two sense in and condone it. If its done right and funny then I would be interested in seeing someone do something different for a change cause all these teen comedies are becoming routine and kind of predictable