I related in The Allure of Nymphets from Neil Postman's The Disappearance of Childhood that as recent as two hundred years ago, the concept of childhood did not exist and that it originated during the Renaissance when the printing press was invented.
Postman purported that the disappearance of literacy, education, and shame that occurred during the Dark and Middle ages in Europe lead to the disappearance of childhood and with little literacy in the Middle Ages, what we consider today to be childhood ended at age seven, which was when most humans had a command over speech and was considered an adult.
There were schools in the Middle Ages, but instead of teaching reading and writing, the students underwent “on-the-job-training” in classrooms with other students whose ages ranged from 10 to adults of all ages. Even at 10-years-old, the students lived away from their parents in what could be described as dorms. Consequently, since there was no social distinction between “children” and adults, the “children” were exposed to everything.
However, the invention of the printing press initiated the distinction between children and adults and the bridge from childhood to adulthood was only crossed by learning how to read. As a result, a new form of schooling was required. Children were no longer placed in mixed-aged classrooms to learn a trade. Children were placed in classes with other children close to their own ages and taught a curriculum that emphasized literacy. Sound familiar?
Just like Postman, Richard Farson’s research in Birthrights lead him to the conclusion that "children" were invented in the 16th century in Europe during the Reformation and Renaissance periods, which was when children were no longer thought of as little people but as fragile potential adults who needed to be protected and educated. However, it still took another two-hundred years before “children” began to be separated by age in school. Farson wrote that prior to the seventeenth century, children were not considered innocent, were not segregated, and were not prevented from participating in adult conversations where salacious topics like sex were discussed. There were no children’s stories or books, and it was common for girls to get married at the age of thirteen.
However, technology, specifically the Internet accessed via smartphones, has re-exposed "children" to everything (e.g., pornography). For example, in "Porn Before Puberty?", an ABC News feature, Winnifred Bonjean Alpart shared that when she was in the eighth grade in Manhattan: "[..] boys mostly, were watching porn during school [...] during independent reading, they would do that."
But what inspired us to post this post was the "Hypospadias" (s01e03) episode of Dave where two nymphets encouraged a young Dave to "feel up" there fountains. Mallory Parker even informed Dave, "You can go under the bra," which was before Kayla Waters informed Dave, "Now we wanna feel you up." However, due to his hypospadias, Dave declined to let the nymphets feel his penis.
And Dave reminded us of a number of other mainstream shows that blurred the line between "children" and adult content. For example, on the "First Day" (s01e01) episode of PEN15, Maya informed Anna that, "[...] Heather gave a handjob to both Brandt and Dustin L. this summer." Anna, "That ho bag." Maya, "Such a slut. Also, I heard that Connie M. grew double-ds last night at camp." Interestingly, Connie, a middle-school nymphet, was shown with swigging double-ds.
On the "September" (s02e01) episode of Better Things, after being introduced to Arturo, 16-year-old Max's 32-year-old boyfriend, during a game of Truth or Dare, the viewers witnessed Duke, Max's pre-teen sister, dare a nymphet, "Put four Monopoly pieces in your vagina." She did!
On the "Winter Kills" (s10e6) episode of American Horror Story, Alma, a nymphet with a thirst for men's blood, was informed that a shirtless "Hustler" had been picked up for her from a donut shop in Santa Monica. Interestingly, the Hustler was of the impression that he was supposed to have sex with the pre-teen Alma.
In addition to Alma, who killed her father on American Horror Story, there have been a spat of recent shows and films that depict "children" committing murders and/or being murdered (e.g., Halloween Ends (2022), but although we've read a number or YA novels (e.g., Gossip Girl) that depict teens doing drugs, we were shocked to see Lexy Cross, a middle-school student on Chucky, snort cocaine and crushed Clonazepam pills. For example, on the "Halloween II" (s02e01) episode of Chucky, after Lexy made out with another teen, she snorted a bump.
In the end, we know that art imitates life and vice versa; thus, it should come as no surprise that Connie got double-ds over summer when the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported that in 2020 (i.e., during COVID!) over three thousand nymphets, between the ages of 13 and 19, had breast augmentations (i.e., teen boob jobs). And previously, we wrote about Laura Sessions Stepp's Washington Post post "Parents Are Alarmed by an Unsettling New Fad in Middle Schools: Oral Sex" (July 8, 1999) and the New York Post post about the teen masturbation and porn literacy classes being taught at some Manhattan prep schools.
