Does "Y Tu Mama Tambien" glorify rape?

[Coventina]

Y Tu Mama Tambien was hailed as an instant classic in 2001.

It has been lauded for its critique of toxic masculinity, particularly in Mexican culture.

But does it glorify the rape of teen boys by an older woman?

Recent events has taught us that we need to treat the exploitation of boys with equal seriousness as girls.

I'm struggling with this, as I've always loved that movie.

on edit: dumb grammatical error

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. I've never seen it ... how old are said boys?

And are we talking the definition of 'it's rape cause he's 16 and she's 32', i.e. solely along age lines?

Or is there actual force involved, whether physical, or the woman taking advantage of a position of power?

[Coventina]

2. It's unclear exactly the age of the boys, but probably over 15.

The woman is in her late 20s.

The sex is consensual (the three go off on a road trip and end up each having sex with the woman, and then a threesome).

[Hugh_Lebowski]

6. Well, in that case, my vote is no ... but I am admittedly a bit of a libertine ...

Different cultures have differing ideas about what is appropriate in this regard ... and this scenario you describe from the movie is not one that I feel like I can look at and say it's so far over the line that I can't accept that culture's views on the subject.

It's not the Taliban forcing 12 year olds into marriage with 60 year olds, IOW.

To me it's one of those 'I may not particularly 'approve', but I'm not going to call it rape' situations.

Then again, the fact that when I was 16, getting down with 27 year old good-looking Latina woman would've been WAY up on my list of things to do ... may be influencing my thinking here.

[Elessar Zappa]

10. I agree with you.

And, like you, may judgment may be clouded by the fact that I was a 15 year old horn dog who would’ve given my left nut to be with a woman in her 20s. Maybe that’s inappropriate, I don’t know.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. According to Rotten Tomatoes, they're 17

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/y_tu_mama_tambien

And Wikipedia says they have girlfriends their own age, with whom they've had sex (and who have gone on vacation), and they try to impress the older woman (the wife of the cousin of one of them) - who goes off with them when she finds out her husband has been cheating on her.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_tu_mam%C3%A1_tambi%C3%A9n

In which case, I'd say it's not really a "position of power" situation.

[TlalocW]

8. And as the title suggests

One of the boys had sex with the other's mom - or at least claims to have.

TlalocW

[LeftInTX]

3. I did not like that movie..I watched part of it and turned it off

I couldn't figure out what the appeal was......

[PCIntern]

4. For me it was the twist ending...

You then understood…

[marybourg]

5. Not in my mind, it doesn't.

[obamanut2012]

9. The characters are sexually active 17 year olds

Who have consensual sex with a woman.

[David__77]

11. And if the woman was a man, would people feel the same?

That is, a man in his late 20s with teenage boys.

[Coventina]

13. Would the reaction to the gender change indicate hypocrisy (its consensual with a woman but not

a man)

Or homophobia? They are just disturbed by the boys having gay sex, as opposed to straight sex.

Or do you think it would be both, maybe?

It's a very interesting question.

I will not claim to know the answer.

[Sympthsical]

12. There's only a ten year difference

And these are sexually active young men in their late teens. (the actors were only eight years apart)

The woman doesn't hold any position of power over them, other than being older.

By all accounts, the boys wanted the relationship with the woman.

I think we should be careful when categorizing things as exploitation much less rape. A situation that may raise a judgemental societal eyebrow doesn't fall under this category by mere virtue of age when people are old enough to consent. I've seen this a bit more and more. "I don't approve of this sexual relationship. It must be exploitation." Well, kind of up to the people involved, isn't it?

When I was in my late teens and early 20s, I got involved with older people (late 20s, early to mid 30s). It was fun. Not always wise, but fun and my choice.

I think the word rape really needs to be confined to issues of consent. Those issues aren't anywhere near in play in the movie. Some would argue the woman was taking advantage of young men who possessed more hormones than wisdom. But that isn't exploitation or rape. At least not in the way we commonly associate with the terms.

[cinematicdiversions]

14. Things were different back then. We need to see it in its historical context.

Back in 2001 teenage boys had both agency and sex, as opposed to now where every twenty something woman is a potential rapist and they have to stay huddled in groups for protection against beautiful supermodels wanting threesomes.