Sooooooooo.
Didja watch Reign last night?
If you didn't, you likely have no idea why I'm acting all sketchy right now. But if you did, I think you know what's got me all squirrelly.
OK, but before we get to that: I generally liked Reign. More than any other drama this year, the first few minutes hooked me: Loved the scenery, loved the nuns, loved (to the extent that one can) the poison scene. By the end of the episode, Mary, whom I was afraid would turn out to be one of those girls who mostly just looks pretty and sad, sprouted some moxie. I felt appropriately annoyed at Francis' budding patriarchal tendencies. And I love all the girls doing their medieval Gossip Girl thing.
All that being said, we obviously have to talk about the masturbation scene, in which Kenna pleasures herself in a stairwell. (Actually, the original pilot contained a longer version of the scene, and I can tell you that what aired last night was decidedly tamer.)
But the scene made me feel weird in a couple ways, and the actual content of it strangely isn't at the top of that list. First off, my I'm Getting Old sensors went off immediately: The CW is still the favorite network of every teen I know. And it's not the idea of them watching a masturbating scene that makes me uncomfortable—it's the idea of them watching how that scene ends. A much older guy joins the effort, so to speak, without exactly buying a girl a drink first. If you listen closely, you can hear him mumble "May I?" after he originally rubs up on her. That's the extent of the consent exchange. I'm not arguing with the potential historic accuracy of this, but in the context of today, as a piece of pop culture, my gut found this to be a moment that glamorizes gray areas. And not one I necessarily want young women to associate with "hot."
Speaking of "hot," it seems like there's an interesting double standard taking shape when it comes to masturbation in pop culture. I've seen a thousand and one dudes getting down with themselves on-screen, and the purpose is always the same: It's framed as gross-out comedy. But I can only think of one female scene that's meant to draw a laugh: Aubrey Plaza's fumbling attempts in The To-Do List. Other TV instances normally range from scandalous and clever (Blair on Gossip Girl) to raw and realistic but still not unattractive in the least (Marnie on Girls). There was nothing blunt or messy about Kenna's scene: She was styled beautifully, positioned with grace, shot in soft lighting. She was meant to look gorgeous and sexy—the polar opposite of, say, Jason Biggs in American Pie.
The other thing that got me all suspicious of the scene was that OK, this is episode one of the show. Here we are, the morning after, and this is what we're talking about (and I promise it's not just me. I scanned the Interwebs, guys.) The scene is sensational no matter how you slice it, and when you put it in the pilot, it's hard for viewers not to see it as a ploy. Blair did it in season two, Marnie (who, FWIW, is a twentysomething, not a teen like Blair and Kenna) did it early in season one. But you can bet that if either Gossip Girl or Girls had come out of the gate with a masturbation scene, we would have started out with an impression of them partially influenced by that decision.
And in the case of Reign, I thought the girls literally discovering sex as part of the marriage ritual was a poignant plot point, and Kenna's reaction a realistic one for her character. But given the choice, purely to see how the show holds up without titillation, I would've wanted to hold off on having her go at it—and I definitely would've left Lord Buzzcut out of the whole thing.
What did you think? PS—check out our sitdown with the girls of Reign here.
