Sexist Ads | Teen Ink

Sexist Ads MAG

September 20, 2013
By EPluribusUnum DIAMOND, Woodbine, Maryland
EPluribusUnum DIAMOND, Woodbine, Maryland
59 articles 24 photos 280 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head)."
-Sylvia Plath


I was browsing your website when my eyes drifted to the ad at the top of the screen. Instead of the usual salamanders and vitamin water, something else caught my eye:

“Warning: This game is too hot to handle. Male gamers only.”

This lovely piece of literature was accompanied by a barely dressed blonde woman (complete, of course, with an impossibly shaped chest).

As a leader in teen literature, Teen Ink plays a part in shaping the writers of the future. This makes you responsible, in part, for the future of our society. Writers are important. We communicate ideas across the boundaries of cities, countries, and continents. No one writer holds the future of the world in their hands, but as a group, we play a major role in that future. In a sense, you do too.

But what kind of part do you want to play? This online ad not only alienates female gamers – a major problem in the male-dominated gaming world – but objectifies them and propagates impossible standards of beauty. It is also inappropriate to find images of practically topless women on a website for teens, including middle schoolers.

I understand that Teen Ink is a large organization that requires funding to continue creating a space for young people to explore their creativity, but I believe some of your ads cross a line, and to be frank, I find it disappointing. I hold Teen Ink to higher standards than that. I miss the salamanders and vitamin water.

Editor’s response: Some of the ads on our site are auto-filled by an outside firm, and we don’t always get to see them before users do. We appreciate you alerting us to this particular one. If you are ever offended by anything on our site, send us an
e-mail.


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This article has 3 comments.


on Oct. 2 2013 at 11:19 am
GothicSnowflake, New Castle, Indiana
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments
I actually saw that exact same ad here just a week ago. It's nice to see that there are other people just as upset by it as I am. Personally, I consider myself a feminist, and it disgusts me to see anything that objectifies women, especially on a website like Teen Ink that I hold in high esteem. It makes me sick, honestly.

on Sep. 24 2013 at 7:01 pm
EPluribusUnum DIAMOND, Woodbine, Maryland
59 articles 24 photos 280 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head)."
-Sylvia Plath

Thanks. I have a lot of female friends who love gaming, and some of them get really into it. I hate hearing people say cr*p about female gamers. Really, don't the same people like to talk about how humanity's past all that sexism and such? (As you can see, I'm can a bit of a raging feminist sometimes. Sorry if I get a tad ranty.) XD

on Sep. 23 2013 at 7:32 am
bookwormishgirl PLATINUM, Merion, Pennsylvania
24 articles 16 photos 53 comments
Thank you so much for this. It's so important and I'm glad that you both wrote this note and got published for it. (Congrats by the way.) I especially appreciated yor note about the gaming world.