Entertainment

How Not to Make a Movie On Virginity

by Caroline Pate

Losing your virginity can be fraught with anxiety, especially if you're a woman. There's pressure coming at you from society, from your peers, from your religion, from your parents. You can hang onto it, you can lose it to whoever, you can lose it to someone you love... as long as you're safe, there's no real wrong way to make the choice, because you can never guarantee that it's ultimately going to be the right one.

But the choice should be completely yours, and it sure as hell shouldn't be your dad's. But unfortunately, the nightmares of millions of women might be coming to a big screen near you soon.

Cherries is an actual film being developed that follows three dads on a mission to stop their daughters in their pact to lose their virginity on prom night. Sound familiar (*cough* American Pie *cough*)? That's because Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who wrote Harold & Kumar and directed American Reunion, are set to direct. And as if there weren't enough bros on this project already, Seth Rogen, king of the dudebros, is set to produce.

If there aren't flashing warning signs in your head already, let me spell it out for you: It's a movie about the virginity of teenage girls. Where their fathers have to "protect" them from losing it. This promotes the idea that women are property to be owned by their fathers, rather than human beings who can make their own decisions.

And oh yeah, every single person on the project so far is a dude.

It's clear that this movie is supposed to be "American Pie with ladies," but it is so, so far from being the female-compatriot of the quintessential comedy about losing your virginity. The teenage boys in that movie were allowed agency — when Jim's dad finds out he's being sexually active, instead of rushing to save his virginity like it's the Holy Grail, he supports him.

The To-Do List was touted as the female answer to American Pie, and while Aubrey Plaza's character had the same freedom and agency as the characters in American Pie, the movie didn't reach nearly as wide an audience.

So really, the only solution is to make a movie about women losing their virginity with a bigger cast and a bigger audience. Many critics were put off by the single-minded, robotic manner in which The To-Do List's protagonist lost her virginity (some had good reasons, others were just sexist), but ith a bigger cast, a movie like this could have a chance with competing with the success of a movie like Bridesmaids, as well as showing a range of perspectives of women losing their v-card.

Women have a diverse range of opinions about what sex means (despite what many movies say), and it's important for young women to see those perspectives reflected on screen. After all, your virginity is literally the most personal thing you can lose. It's different for everyone, so you don't need someone telling you what it means... especially not your dad. Thanks anyway, Cherries. (Ugh, that name.)