Britney Spears's mid-drift flashes across the screen as the pop star's video "I'm a Slave for You" plays on a television.
A classroom full of young teenagers' stares is fixated on the tube. When the music video stops, they quickly open up about what they have just watched.
"Everyone's half-naked, rubbing against each other," a girl says in French. "At one point, there's an orgy and she's like 'I'm a slave for you.'"
The thrusting, half-dressed female image isn't new. Over the past 12 years the marketing of sex has ramped up, says sexologist Francine Duquet. Children are caught in the crossfire.
"Now, to be popular you have to be hot, you have to give off sexual energy, but when you are 14 years old or even 11, that's easier said than done," she says.
This is the start to Sophie Bissonnette's documentary "Sexy Inc. Our Children Under Influence," the next flick to take centre stage at the Squamish Adventure Centre's Reel Wednesdays. Screening on Jan. 30 at 7 p.m., the 35-minute film analyzes today's hyper-sexualized environment and whether children are being pushed prematurely into adulthood.
Bissonnette explores various ways for individuals to counter the eroticization of childhood, inviting others to rally against the phenomenon.
On Wednesday, Feb. 13, Reel Wednesdays showcases a documentary filmed closer to home. Murray Siple's "Carts of Darkness" takes a look at the lives of some of North Vancouver's homeless and a dangerous pastime — racing shopping carts down the North Shore's steep hillsides.
The feature-length flick focuses on the subculture of cart racing, but opens up a non-stereotypical look at street life in the Lower Mainland.
Reel Wednesdays has a suggested donation of $5 to help support the running of the event.
