Pausing the TV to point out the sexual harassment to the kids

[SnowyBears]

My husband and I have both had mandatory Equalities training in our workplaces, which includes emphasising employees' responsibility to call out any bad behaviour they witness, even if not directed at them personally. As a result, I haven't witnessed anything at work that could be described as harassment for many years and would be pretty shocked if I did. But often when watching TV with my family I see casual sexual harassment behaviours (by both males and females) in workplace situations that would be unacceptable in a modern office, so I usually pause the TV and point that out to my teenagers. It seems to me that it's just one simple way we can help to educate the next generation. The shows are often a few years old - e.g. Suits on Netflix - but the current generation of teens are streaming them in bulk. I do wonder if TV companies are now updating their scripts to reflect the zeitgeist, but I suspect they may not have caught on yet. Thoughts?

Why do you not know that these shows are dated and portray a world that is not acceptable nowadays, if it ever was? So the conversation can be in advance instead of pausing.

How tedious

@peak2021

But it isnt just dared shows. Like another poster said, teeny titans is really bad for it. Robin is obsessed with Starfire, but she has been clear that she is not interested, yet every episode he makes comments and tries to get her to be with him and even tricks her into stuff sometimes. There are plenty of other not dated shows and movies which still have men treating women badly, and not always in a "that's the bad guy" kind of way but in the "oh, that's the hero...being a prick" kind of way.

[quote AWhisperWillDoIfThatsAllYouCan]@peak2021

But it isnt just dared shows. Like another poster said, teeny titans is really bad for it. Robin is obsessed with Starfire, but she has been clear that she is not interested, yet every episode he makes comments and tries to get her to be with him and even tricks her into stuff sometimes. There are plenty of other not dated shows and movies which still have men treating women badly, and not always in a "that's the bad guy" kind of way but in the "oh, that's the hero...being a prick" kind of way.[/quote]
I can't stand Teen Titans, I normally love DC stuff, but it's awful. It's not just Robin/Starfire either, it's also Beast Boy/Raven, so the only two main female characters spend their time having to repeatedly turn the male characters down. And like you say, these are the "good" guys.

Make sure you agree why it's wrong i.e. because it's unwanted or they might think any attention to the opposite sex is bad. I remember my DM saying a man pinching a woman's bottom was 'bad', but in that case she was consenting. It gave me a bad view of 'groping' that's not necessarily healthy.

Also, context and changing mores of course. I re-watched Kramer vs Kramer the other night and Kramer kisses a woman he doesn't know on the lips and walks away triumphantly.

*explain why it's wrong, not 'agree'.

Yabu to pause it and lecture mid show. I'd rather wait to the end and have a chat about the episode and see if they picked up on it themselves. Get them thinking rather than being preached out.

It would have driven me nuts as a teenager. Would you like someone pausing something you are watching to give you a mini lecture?

Actually there's no lecturing or preaching involved at all.

@Hollyhocksarenotmessy

Maybe I grew up with a different understanding from you, but since when did "point out" mean "lecture"?

Round of applause.

If someone did this to me, I would find it incredibly irritating and patronising.

@LegendDairy

That would do my head in, that's as annoying as those who haven't been watching properly then start asking questions whilst you're still trying to watch the story. Reflection and teaching is for after the video has finished. Do it in the ad break.

Also, shows often deal with the issues themselves. Unless you've already seen the episode, maybe other characters are going to call out the behaviour, or the character is going to suffer bad consequences for what they did?

I mean, that's the main point of literature and media - sometimes characters might seem to get away with something, except that people watching can still not like them and judge them.

If you watched Ashes to Ashes with your teens, you'd be pausing it every few seconds

[quote UnderHisAye]@jellybe the drink driving thing in America is insane. I went for dinner with a friend when I was working in the US, and she drove us home after four whiskies, in her jeep which was completely open, with no doors! On the motorway.

I still marvel that most Americans manage to stay alive tbh.[/quote]
Oh yes will point that out too.