CraveOnline: It sounds like we’re talking about knowing what you want and not letting someone else tell you you should want something else.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom: Mm-hmm. And we’re also talking about knowing who you are and staying true. Unfortunately, and it’s not just our boys because The Mask You Live In doesn’t just speak about our boys because our girls are also raised in a culture where we don masks. We’ve adopted and bought into the dominant cultural norm which is that our value as women lies in our youth, our beauty and our sexuality. That’s what we’ve been taught and we’ve bought into that to a certain [extent]. Not everyone but many women have bought into that, that that’s their value.
And boys and men are socialized that their value lies in their strength, physical prowess, aggression, dominance and control, right? So neither of those are the truth. They’re both facades. They’re both stereotypes. They both perpetuate these ills, these social ills that we have in our culture. So if we don’t as a culture challenge those and reconnect with who we really are which is not those things, we’re going to just perpetuate this really toxic culture.
“They’re feeding this violence and this sexism to young boys who don’t want it. They know it’s not natural.”
There is a section in The Mask You Live In about video games focusing on violence, but did GamerGate show that the bigger problem in that community is sexism?
Yeah, it’s disgusting. I think that we could do a lot of good work in that industry and there are some great video game companies out there and there are great video games. Unfortunately, the ones that are getting the most buzz and have the largest marketing dollars and the largest fix on the brains and minds of young boys in particular happen to be the most violent and the most sexist. As a society, we have to do something about that.
We have to support the Anita [Sarkeesian]s of the world, not just as women but men have to support the Anitas of the world. I was at a school in Wisconsin, 800 eighth grade youth, boys and girls 50/50. I cannot tell you, the boys came up to me, there were lines of 20-30 kids in line wanting to ask questions and talk in front of this crowd of 800 kids. The boys inevitably came up to me and their questions always reverted back to the toxicity in the video game industry.
Their questions were, “Why are so many people attacking Anita Sarkeesian? Why is there so much violence in video games?” My point is that you have these adult men, who maybe they aren’t even adults. They certainly are lacking in some kind of understanding of young boys and it’s all about money. It’s all about the profits but they’re feeding this violence and this sexism to young boys who don’t want it. They know it’s not natural. These young boys, before they’re even ready are being fed this really toxic sexist culture that confuses them, confounds them. They respect their mothers, they respect their sisters, they respect their classmates so we’re just sending so many mixed, unhealthy messages to boys that are unfair.
I always say they can only sell something if we buy it so we don’t have to buy what they’re selling.
Sure. Here’s why I make an argument and that’s the video game companies are really smart. They know how to market their products to boys and men such that there’s an addiction thing going on or “to be a real man you need to be able to play these games.”
That’s where as consumers certainly, we have to say no. The problem is that the marketing dollars behind these and the hype and the shoving it, I mean look at product placement for example. When you go into any store, inevitably the companies with the most dollars get to place their product right in front of your eyes so that’s the product that you want to buy.
There’s a whole strategy behind it that unfortunately bends in favor of the violent video game companies. Unfortunately parents aren’t paying attention because 50% of them aren’t even conscious of the ratings of the games that their kids are playing. As we said in the film, 90% of these games have content that is not appropriate for children 10 and under. Yet those kids are consuming those games.
That is the industry that we have to really speak to and try to have a conversation with first, and if that doesn’t work, if they’re not willing to come to the table and recognize the impact of the video game culture on boys and young men, then we have to try other tactics to get their attention.
