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We’re taking a look at Skins, the hit series about troubled teens from Bristol. Join us as we discuss the show’s daring (and lack thereof), it’s strong representation (and lack thereof), and the danger of showing the reality of being a teenager to teenagers (and, you guessed it, the lack thereof).
Warning: Contains discussions of disordered eating and suicide. Also, just to be clear, when we’re talking about representations of sex in teen shows, the argument is not “more sex is better,” it’s “the representation of queer sex versus straight sex is not even, and that is worth scrutinizing.” Likewise, when it comes to the discussion about drug use among teens, the point is that showing teens doing drugs is a representation of reality—we’re not actually saying that teens using drugs is good for them or society or anybody, really, and there are worse things to take from Skins than doing mushrooms.
Some Sources You Might Find Interesting:
U.K. youth television: moral panic and the process of U.S. adaptation in Skins by Chelsea Daggett
Taco Bell “Late Night Munchies” ad
‘Doing it for the kids’? The discursive construction of the teenager and teenage sexuality in Skins by Susan Berridge
A Show Written for the Young by the Young by Margy Rochlin
Navigating the presence and absence of queer sex in Skins by Kyra Clarke
Are You Michelle From Skins with Dakota Blue Richards
Teen-Party-Machines: Representing and Consuming Teenage Rebellion in the ‘Skins Party’ Trailer by Melanie Ashe
Ten years on, how Cassie from Skins’ eating disorder affected a generation of teenage girls by Anna Leszkiewicz
10 years of Skins: the show that revealed the explicit truth about teenage life by Rebecca Nicholson
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