"N" stands for Never and Not on my watch.
by Jennifer Satterwhite

Contributing Editor Jenn Satterwhite also blogs at Mommy Needs Coffee and Mommybloggers.

Yesterday I was reading an entry over at Liz's Mom-101 blog. At first it seemed just a normal entry until she began discussing having an issue with the television channel Noggin. Noggin?! As in home to Maisy, Miffy and the freaky-as-hell Oobi? (Just who was on that LSD trip and came up with that one?) Curious about what could be wrong with Noggin, I read on.

Well apparently after Maisy and Miffy go to bed, it becomes The N Spot. "Real. Life. Now." Television for Tweens. As in pre-teen. Running shows like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Eh. Not great, but not earth shatteringly shocking. Until I got to the part where she talks about the commercial they ran for a game on their website.

Last night The N ran a commercial for a game on their website called The Hook-Up. (Hookup, according to Wikipedia, denotes casual sexual activity outside the context of a romantic relationship.)

Excuse me? Didn't we just establish this is for PRE-teens?!

"The Hook-Up. A game of charm and treachery and deceit. Where you do whatever it takes to hook up with your dream guy. So go ahead. Be as flirtatious and manipulative and outrageous as you want to be. No one has to know."

Okay, now I am beginning to freak a bit and feel like yelling out things like "Oh no they didn't!" Thankfully, Liz logged on to find out what was up with this kind of game and what it was all about. (Because me? Well, I was still staring at the screen screaming PREteen, people, PREteen!")

From the instructions:

How do you like being the new girl? You just got dropped into a town full of intrigue and romance and you'll need to play your cards right if you just want to survive, much less whip your rivals into shape and land yourself a man.

Are they serious? Is this a serious game to teach young girls these kinds of "tricks"? Because if they are, this is shocking to me. And I don't care if I sound like that grumpy old lady that lives down the street and talks about "how they didn't do things that way in my day!" I do not want to raise a Mean Girl. Or a little whore. I am just fine keeping her in a bubble if that is possible.

So, in this game you are landing a man to get popular and be successful. (A MAN?) But not only land him, but make the other girls jealous. How? Why to humilate them, that's how. Mean Girls style.

Okay, I will admit to the fact that I have not really thought about things in terms of tween girls because my tweens are boys. I know this is probably a double standard. But not an intentional one. However, seeing this and looking at my daughter, I wince. Is this what my future holds? I mean, I have 5 years before she is a tween. What then? N-Spot...Porn for Tweens?! I guess I really am getting old because I am going to say it...they certainly did not have crap like that on tv when I was a preteen and if they did, it would be pay per view cable only.

When I think about my daughter and what her future holds, I begin to wonder if I can sign her up now for a convent. With no Internet access or televisions. Or I can go Liz's route:

And that's when I decided that my daughter would be homeschooled and raised gay to the very best of our ability.

Is this Real. Life. Now.?? Or is this pushing our kids to grow up too fast without our (or even the kids') consent?

[Image courtesy of the website The N Spot and is the registered trademark of the channel.]

Submitted by Jennifer Satterwhite (view blog) on Tue, 05/09/2006 - 21:59
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Comments

 

Frightening

I am soooo not ready for what lies beyond poopy diapers and whining. So.not.ready.

Mary
BlogHer Contributing Editor, Mommy & Family
Mom Writes

Submitted by Mary Tsao on Tue, 05/09/2006 - 21:33
 

The N?

Leah, author of Wild Mountain Honey

I remember feeling alot of sexual pressure when I was in high school, oh, about 14 years ago.
Now this?
I want to complain to the network. It may not accomplish anything, but I'll feel a little bit better.

Submitted by LeahHartmann on Tue, 05/09/2006 - 23:13
 

Wow, it would be super

Wow, it would be super offensive even if it were for grown women... but so much worse for 10 year olds.

So gross, it's not even about sex but it's about sexual politics and teaching them that the way to power is sexual manipulation of men & the humiliation of other girls.

Horrible.

I'd love to know the names of the team of geniuses who came up with that show.

-----------------
Liz Henry
lizzard@bookmaniac.net
Badgermama - personal & mommyblog
http://liz-henry.blogspot.com

Submitted by Liz Henry on Tue, 05/09/2006 - 23:43
 

boy crazy

That kind of reminds me of a very weird "trading card game" I saw a few years ago, called Boy Crazy. It was cards with "photos of real boys ages 10-18!" or something like that, with their names, likes and dislikes, hobbies, etc. You could see the logic of the game designers. How to make a game that would appeal to teenage girls! I know, we'll make this game where they compete over boys... dumb.

The really weird part was that, supposedly, the real customers for "Boy Crazy" trading cards were gross older men. Guess why... Ew.

-----------------
Liz Henry
lizzard@bookmaniac.net
Badgermama - personal & mommyblog
http://liz-henry.blogspot.com

Submitted by Liz Henry on Tue, 05/09/2006 - 23:50
 

This is what I always wonder

This is what I always wonder about things like this.

Do the geniuses who came up with this go home and have their ten-year-old daughters play it? Do they want their daughters' friends to go home and say "Suzy has this great game at her house called Hook-Up!" Do they put a note in the school newsletter saying, "Hey, I just developed a great game to teach your fifth-grade daughter how to turn tricks?"

I doubt it.

Another reason I'm glad I don't have cable.

penandsink.blogspot.com

Submitted by Moniker on Wed, 05/10/2006 - 10:55
 

N is for Nuts

Thanks for reading Jen and more so, thanks for letting me know I'm not the only freaked-out new mom out there about stuff like this.

In the spirit of disclosure, the tween reference was mine, not that of the network. But c'mon, I work in media and I'm not an idiot. While their message boards state you must be 13 or older to post. I guarantee you the 16 year olds are over at My Space and the 7th graders are kicking it at The N. It's like tobacco giants telling you "we don't try to get people to stop smoking, just to switch brands." Uh-huh.

Oh please don't dooce me for this, Viacom.

http://mom-101.blogspot.com

http://coolmompicks.com
We find it, you flaunt it.

Submitted by Mom101 on Wed, 05/10/2006 - 13:15
 

I have blogged about this before, too!

"The N" is horrifying. I've blogged about it, and my husband and I have spoken about it often, and how if the television happens to be on Noggin after work, and we hear that moose start singing his little goodbye song, we knock each other over in our rush to get to the remote before those little bimbettes come on and start talking about the deceitful, treacherous things they have planned in order to "hook up" with Mr. Dream Date.

A thought I had, besides how offensive this was to me and how ugly a thing to market to young girls was, what about the girls in the commercials? Just having them spouting those vile words and ideas is, to me, tantamount to abuse. What parent approves their child acting in those "Hook-Up" spots? Seriously?

I am UP for a grassroots campaign against Noggin, MTV, whoever--I don't understand how all that stuff works, but I do know that at 6:00, when "Noggin" becomes "The N", it's an MTV channel from that point on. Does that leave Noggin with any responsibility? I have no idea. But if anyone who knows WHO to complain to to make the biggest impact wants to take the lead, I promise I'll be right behind you.

Belinda

Submitted by ninjapoodles on Wed, 05/10/2006 - 14:12
 

Noggin' nothing...

The television is very sore spot in our house, too.

My three girls share a room and have a television (thank goodness for parental controls) and the boy has one in his room (thank goodness for grandparents hand-me-downs) so, I sometimes don't get a chance to keep a tab on what they're watching -- but, even with parental controls, I'm often times shocked at what a network rates as "appropriate" and don't take much stock in the rating system, these days.

Kids seem to "get it" much younger these days, dont' they?

That's why I've taken advantage of making the hours of 6-8 p.m. "homework time" (whenever possible)and another reason why I heart Netflix!

Still, I'm getting awfully tired playing body guard between so-called kids' television...and my kids!

Thanks for the heads up about the game, though -- what a horrible thing it is, too!

--------------------------------------------
For more from Liz Thompson, read:
C.E. Fashion & Shopping
This Full House
The Imperfect Parent
Yes, They're All Mine

Submitted by Liz Thompson on Wed, 05/10/2006 - 14:43
 

Liz Ditz I Speak of

Liz Ditz
I Speak of Dreams
lizditz@gmail.com

For crying out loud. Judy McGrath, the Chair of MTV, has a daughter who is 11 or 12. Does McGrath think this is appropriate behavior? In an interview, McGrath said,

Both my parents were social workers and gave me a real sense of social responsibility, so I always think of music and social responsibility in the same sentence, and still believe music is a way to a better life." Judy remains committed to imparting those values not only to her own ten-year old daughter but to generations of MTV Networks' viewers around the globe.

So much for corporate responsibility. The shows are fairly heinous, too, for that age range.

Submitted by lizditz on Wed, 05/10/2006 - 15:19
 

Wow, so then I guess the

Wow, so then I guess the whole My Sweet Sixteen business is basically her way of saying: "These values? Don't have them."

Imagine if our schools functioned that way.

http://mom-101.blogspot.com

http://coolmompicks.com
We find it, you flaunt it.

Submitted by Mom101 on Thu, 05/11/2006 - 07:11
 

Gimme a break

I must ask since when did the-n say it targets pre-teens? And that game the hook-up well haha its a... GAME! C'mon now! And "hook up" is just another term used for dating or becoming boyfriend/girlfriend.

Its your choice as a parent to determin what your children should watch. Don't force others to follow your ways and make up lies about a network that actually is trying to help teenagers.

Submitted by Sarah Bear on Wed, 08/30/2006 - 17:37
 

Games and Lessons

I think stuff like this "game" can at times weaken a child's view of what is for mature adults and what is not.

They do grow up too fast and games like this aren't just innocent time fillers, they're taken into a young mind the same as everything else they see around them. They learn from the time they get up to the time they go to bed. What lessons do you want your kids to learn, kindness or sexual games and cruelty?

And yes, it is up to parents to decide what their kids can or cannot watch. It is also very reasonable to contact a TV station to let them know you object to this content directed at your pre-teen. It's called protection and caring. If parents didn't act then they'd have fingers pointed at them for that too.

Austin

Submitted by Austin of Sundrip Journals on Tue, 11/07/2006 - 04:50