The Importance Of Sex In Phil Hutcheon's 'Desperation Passes'

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Sex is a very powerful subject in modern society; in some cases it can be a positive means for the creation of life, however, it can also create a very negative aspect because of the abuse of the practice by means of rape and other types of corruption. Sex can make or break careers, destroy relationships, or be the building blocks of life. Sexual misconduct is a broad term encompassing any unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that is committed without consent or by force, intimidation, coercion, or manipulation. Sexual misconduct can be committed by a person of any gender, and it can occur between people of the same or different gender (“Operations”). In the book Desperation Passes, by Phil Hutcheon, the romantic relationships are very poor …show more content…
Some of the prevalent topics that the book delves into are rape, exploitation, and prostitution.
Early on, the characters are placed in the setting of a frat party, where the central theme of the party is related to the disrespect of women and their sexual status. Upon entering the party, Larashawndria says that the guys want them to “take pictures: you know, take our tops off, ‘Girls Gone Wild’ style” (Hutcheon 130). This displays the blatant disrespect from the football players because they are purely focused on seeing the girls as sexual objects, which understandably could offend people. They then proceed to offer the girls alcohol, to push the situation of them being vulnerable even further because if they were drunk, they would be easier to take advantage of and rape. Coach Lytle then added fuel to fire by actually encouraging the disrespectful behavior by incorporating racism into the mix. He was mad when the players brought only Larashawndria because they were supposed to bring him a white girl too. This
…show more content…
While sitting in his office, Wade continuously questions Jenna about the events that took place with Coach Lytle at the party, but she avoids the questions and tries to use her sexuality to distract him from the conversation. She thinks that exploiting her body will get her off the hook, so she says inappropriate things to him like, “you like pussy, want to see mine?” (Hutcheon 135). There are multiple times where she takes off articles of clothing to and convince Wade to pay her for sexual favors like blow jobs to sex. Wade, being a teacher and having a sense of morality, tries to convince her that he cannot be apart of such acts and she must put her clothes back on. In a final attempt to dissuade the prostitution-like acts, he tries to leave the room when he realized he wasn’t getting any answers out of her. . This shows the difference in generations because she (being a younger student) was open to sex and inappropriate sexual conduct, while Wade (an older man) wanted nothing to do with the sexual relations. The problem with this is that girls are learning that it is okay to have little respect for themselves. Jenna shows when she says, “I’m a bitch, not a ballpark, Doc. I don’t do rain- checks” (Hutcheon 140). Again, this is not something that older generations would do. Even though prostitution has been around for decades, it seems to me that it is

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