Teen Wolf Review: Part Five - Notes On Lydia

Reading over my review from yesterday, I've realized something about the way I write about Lydia. That is, I'm very critical whenever she does or says something overly sexual, despite the fact that I'm not exactly shy about sharing my own feelings about the sexy guys of Teen Wolf. So I'd like to explain that.

It's not Lydia's sexuality that bugs me. It's the way the sexuality is part of her character. If Lydia were being portrayed as a teenager who just so happens to be sex-positive and not shy about it, that would be a good thing. A great thing, in fact. But she's not. Lydia is a stereotype. In addition to being The Bitch, as I mentioned in an earlier piece, she is The Slut - someone who has learned to use sex to get what she wants and is irrevocably socially damaged because of it. This is made clear by the kind of sexual behavior she exhibits. She flirts with Allison's dad, she flirts with Scott while he is out on a date with Allison, she finds a way to shoehorn blowjobs into a conversation about her boyfriend, etc. Basically, her Corrupted Slut Mind has no concept of when it is and is not appropriate to be sexual.

This is not a positive portrayal. It is slut shaming, plain and simple. Lydia's behavior contrasts with the good, wholesome Allison, who only flirts with one guy, would never ever talk casually about giving her boyfriend head, etc. - and is rewarded by becoming the girlfriend of the ultimate "good guy," Scott. Eventually they will have sex, but unlike Lydia, who doesn't even love Jackson (or so we are meant to believe), it will be wholesome (holesome?) missionary lovemaking of the most vanilla kind. Mark my words.

Besides, even Lydia's sexuality isn't that progressive. The focus on her giving Jackson blowjobs, and the way she describes it as some kind of sacrifice on her part, makes it clear that she gets no sexual gratification out of it. No, it's all about pleasuring men in exchange for social standing. This puts one in mind of an ancient stereotype - "lie back and think of England" - and does a great disservice to a character who is supposed to be so sexually charged, since her sex is not in fact about sex at all, but power.

Now, that part is not unrealistic in the slightest. When society tells women that their standing is based on which men are willing to fuck them and which ones do, it's perfectly natural for some women, even as young as Jessica, to decide "fuck it, if that's the game then I'm ready to play." What Teen Wolf fails to interrogate, however, is that this does not indicate a failure of Lydia's morals; it indicates a failure on the part of the larger culture to promote a society wherein a woman can be powerful without earning that power in bed.

Teen Wolf certainly isn't helping in that regard. While it's all too happy to shame Lydia for her actions, her "wholesome counterpart" ain't exactly rolling in the agency either. Sure, she made the decision to date Scott - under false pretenses. She does not know that Scott is a werewolf and that he could harm her, which means that she must rely on his judgment of when a situation is safe; she is essentially powerless to protect herself. Not only is that ridiculously sexist, but take into account the fact that her dating a guy who is lying to her and could kill her is being shown as the Right Kind Of Relationship - yeah, that's very healthy and sound. /sarcasm

Where was I? Oh, yes. Lydia.

Hair color plays a part in this as well. Lydia's Slutty Blonde is once again employed as a contrast to Allison's Wholesome Brunette. Do I have to say it? This reinforces prejudice against blonde white women. It reinforces the idea that blonde-ness means self-centredness, incapacity for true love, a willingness to do anything in bed. It means that blonde women will continued to be targeted for sexual harassment, assault, yadda, for the horrible sin of having fair hair. Every negative thing that is said about white women gains extra force when the victim is blonde.

In fact, that is basically the problem in a nutshell. Our society tends to view blonde as the most feminine of hair colors - and straight, blonde hair as the most feminine of hair - so when someone sees it on a woman, every prejudice that he has toward women (and Lydia's personality is certainly written by male prejudice) is magnified by her hair color.