The media group “ciaopeople” has created a viral video with the so-called intent to explore violence against women.
The video was posted on Youtube under the “Fanpage.it” account, and part of the description reads: “Here is how children react to the subject of violence against women.”
Five Italian boys participated in this staged social experiment and were introduced to the young, pretty Martina.
The boys react to her in the pretty typical way that seven and eight-year old boys react to girls. They giggle, they call her pretty, they are bit standoffish and they tittered when told by the filmmaker to “caress her.” The young Romeos follow through though, however awkwardly — which is a good word for most of the video.
The kids do draw a line when they are told to slap her. Confusion can be seen on their faces.
They are asked to explain why they won’t slap Martina.
“First of all, I can’t hit her because she is pretty, and she’s a girl.” (Does this mean hitting ugly girls is okay?)
“Because you’re not supposed to hit girls.”
“I don’t want to hurt her.”
“Jesus doesn’t want us to hit others.”
“Because I’m against violence.”
But are their reactions proof of anything — such as, people learn violence toward one another only as they get older?
Or is that boys don’t slap people when a camera is on because they don’t want to be caught doing something wrong?
The anguish that can be seen on their faces — would that be there if there was no camera running?
Did the filmmakers accomplish anything?
