Will M. sent us this fascinating clip of Lil’ Wayne on Jimmy Kimmel Live. In the clip, Kimmel asks Wayne about losing his virginity at age 11. Wayne reveals that he did, indeed, lose his virginity at 11. He lost it to a 14-year-old girl who turned out the lights and surprised Wayne into participating, even as he had not intended doing so. What is fascinating is, were Wayne a white female, this narrative would have been considered molestation or rape. As a black male, doubly hypersexualized as a man (who always wants sex) and a black man (who really always wants sex), it’s just considered a joke. This is really nice evidence of the social construction of men, especially Black and Latino men, as hypersexual and, therefore, incapable of being sexually assaulted.
The discussion of his virginity loss begins at about 2:40.
Just one excerpt:
White guy: I didn’t know you could lose your viriginity at 11-years-old.
Other white guy: Well, we can’t, but he did.
Comments 27
Ash — March 14, 2009
Interesting how Jimmy Kimmel thinks it's OK to question the virginity of the 4-month old son, but leaves the 10-year old daughter alone.
haj — March 14, 2009
Wow, that's quite a telling clip. He definitely looks uncomfortable when Kimmel initially asks him, sort of like "whoa I can't believe you're asking me that, here, on national TV", seems to try to play it off as a joke; and then at the end of the questioning Kimmel asks "You feel like that affected you negatively... in your adulthood?" he responds "It did, yeah, yeah" but then Kimmel moves right along into joking about his new baby's virginity.
mordicai — March 14, 2009
At least Wayne has the decency to say it messed him up?
Which reminds me; The Wedding Crashers has been on TV a lot lately; another movie about how HILARIOUS raping men can be.
Fresh Peaches — March 14, 2009
Wow. That was really disturbing. Why the hell is that ok for him to ask at all, not to mention make into a big joke?
George — March 14, 2009
It must be pretty horrible to have that traumatizing experience turned into a joke, while you are forced to laugh at it on TV.
I wonder how many people who saw this on TV found it disturbing. Then again, I wonder if Jimmy Kimmel or the other guy found it disturbing.
alby — March 14, 2009
Do they seem a little bit shocked to hear that he was in the delivery room during the birth of his children? Their questions seem patronizing and alienating to me. And of course the virginity discussion is ridiculous. People laughed even after he said that it affected him negatively. Thats amazing. His brief description of it sounded disturbing to me, not funny.
Where are all the guys now talking about how we don't live in a rape culture?
A — March 14, 2009
This reminds me of an old ER episode ("Secrets and Lies"), wherein Carter reveals to a bunch of coworkers that he lost his virginity at age 11 to the 25-year-old maid. A couple of people crack jokes and laugh. I was pretty horrified at this reaction, and I'm assuming the show would not have had them act like that if it had been an 11-year-old girl sleeping with a 25-year-old man.
anna — March 14, 2009
i'd love to make a video of the same talk show set up with a female host and a female guest, using the same dialogue from the lil wayne clip.... like, "he turned the lights out, he pulled my pants down, i reached to see what was going on and i felt he was naked, and i was like 'whoah'...etc.......i think it would resonate in a similar way to tina fey's word for word impersonations of sarah palin...
Dubi — March 14, 2009
I think race doesn't really play a role here. It's all gender. Cf. the latest South Park episode, for example. I tend to believe it would've been taken as as much of a joke if it was a white man, and as horrific if it were a black woman (as it would've been had it been a white woman).
You see these reactions every time a story comes up about a teacher who had sex with a student of hers - reactions that would never come up if the genders were reversed.
Anonymous — March 15, 2009
Funny that Lil Wayne needs an acoustic when the ladies are around. Yes, the acoustic guitar is romantic. But only in the same sense that roses, candy, and diamond rings are too. Can't a woman, instead of being seduced by sweet melodies, be attracted to something powerful, challenging and perhaps confrontational, like an electric guitar? And not only be attracted, yet identify with that sound as well?
Elo — March 15, 2009
Funny that Lil Wayne needs an acoustic when the ladies are around. Yes, the acoustic guitar is romantic. But only in the same sense that roses, candy, and diamond rings are too. Can't a woman, instead of being seduced by sweet melodies, be attracted to something powerful, challenging and perhaps confrontational, like an electric guitar? And not only be attracted, yet identify with that sound as well?
Village Idiot — March 15, 2009
White boys can lose their virginity at 11 also. I know one who did, and he said it was his idea (he stole something trendy from his older sister -some kind of accessory popular at the time- and traded it to a 13 year old girl for her, um, affections). I met him in college where he'd been leaving a growing crowd of rather pissed off women in his wake as his initial encounter sort of set the stage for how he interacted with them all the way into adulthood ('dating' was a simple exchange of commodities).
I'm not sure if he ever changed his ways, but last I heard he had become a professional youth counselor.
Elo: I happen to know plenty of women who prefer the powerful, challenging, and confrontational sounds of a hard electric guitar over acoustic softness, but those women are a lot more intimidating to many men. When a guy stops his fierce jams and picks up a mellow acoustic guitar to woo the ladies, I think it means he's trying to attract a certain kind.
The chocolate-and-roses romantic schtick is more associated with traditional courtship which is intended to lead to long term commitment and ultimately marriage, whereas hard-core rocking and rolling women are just as likely to kick the guy out of bed in the morning as vice-versa (and men don't appreciate being used like that! It's appalling!). But hard-core women are double-standard branded as slutty, so when it's time to attract a lady (the kind they can introduce to mom) they break out the acoustic. They also probably think women believe a guy who plays love songs on an acoustic guitar would be more 'romantic' and less prone to love-em-and-leave-em. None of this is necessarily true, but that is often the case with what motivates our behavior.
Ranah — March 15, 2009
I know a man, who was sexually assaulted by a 17 year old girl, when he was 14 years old. (They used to hang around together).
It was still communism in our country, he knew nothing about sex at that age. He was shattered, shocked, kept it as a shameful secret (as opposed to boys bragging to each other) and could not share what worried him even to his own brother. Even now, when grown-up, he doesn't tell this story to anyone, and if he did, nobody would consider him a victim.
Sara — March 15, 2009
I wasn't aware that 11-yr old boys were interested in sex. Maybe I just didn't hang out around the right ones when I was a tween and discovering my sexuality.
consensus reality — March 19, 2009
Sara, I think it's an oversimplification to discuss this issue as simply involving an interest in sex. For example, when I was 11 years old, I was extremely interested in sex, but to have an actual sexual encounter would undoubtedly have been very damaging to my psyche.
I also know two men who were sexually assaulted by women at a young age, and both were traumatized by the experience. I too feel for Lil Wayne to have been forced to relate his story on national television and have it trivialized. I think this reflects a lack of acknowledgment in mainstream society that 1) men can be raped by women and 2) losing your virginity is not always voluntary. With the second point, I've often felt the inquiry into someone's virginity status is intertwined with privilege, as well as race and class (and gender, of course).
spicybiscotti / Spring Cleaning Pt. One: Nancy Reagan Dazzle Edition — March 19, 2009
[...] On Race and Rape: “In the clip, Kimmel asks Wayne about losing his virginity at age 11. Wayne reveals that he did, indeed, lose his virginity at 11. He lost it to a 14-year-old girl who turned out the lights and surprised Wayne into participating, even as he had not intended doing so. What is fascinating is, were Wayne a white female, this narrative would have been considered molestation or rape. As a black male, doubly hypersexualized as a man (who always wants sex) and a black man (who really always wants sex), it’s just considered a joke. This is really nice evidence of the social construction of men, especially Black and Latino men, as hypersexual and, therefore, incapable of being sexually assaulted… Just one excerpt: [...]
When a Man is the Victim: A Second Study in Rape Apology : The Curvature — March 20, 2009
[...] stays the same, in a case of rape where a man was the victim of a female assailant. After seeing this video at Sociological Images, along with the questions Lisa poses about the attitudes towards sexual violence it reveals, [...]
When a Man is the Victim: A Second Study in Rape Apology at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture — April 14, 2009
[...] it stays the same, in a case of rape where a man was the victim of a female assailant. After seeing this video at Sociological Images, along with the questions Lisa poses about the attitudes towards sexual violence it reveals, I’m [...]
Endor — April 15, 2009
"Which reminds me; The Wedding Crashers has been on TV a lot lately; another movie about how HILARIOUS raping men can be."
I actually saw this piece of crap in the theater. Got up and walked out when Vaughn's character started talking about what happened and people in the audience starting laughing. can't decide if people are stupid or sick.
"I think race doesn’t really play a role here."
I disagree. Stereotypes of the "animalistic" sex drive of the black male still persist. Its likely that plays into why this Kimmel douche thinks its funny to mock the rape of an 11-year-old black boy. It is true that similar stereotypes exist for men in general (how many times have we heard some moron joke about a male student victim of older female teachers thinking its great, etc.), however, I think it's a bad idea to overlook the race element.
The Hypersexualization of Latino Boys » Sociological Images — June 16, 2010
[...] and thus can’t really be vulnerable to sexual assault or coercion. For another example, see this post about how Jimmy Kimmel reacts when Lil’ Wayne confirms that he lost his virginity at age 11. [...]
Loopylula — June 24, 2010
I agree there is racism AND sexism at play here. Most if not all 'relationships' between a grown woman and underaged boy are seen as acceptable sick as that is because it's supposedly 'different' right and I'm the new daughter-in-law to the Queen of England! And the fact that he's black means he's not worthy of sympathy the same folks touting Mary Kay around would NEVER do that for a man maybe it he was a white male celebrity though.
Just another WordPress site — September 1, 2018
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