Dwight Shrute: "Where is the clitoris?"

The NBC's comedy series The Office has become a staple in American popculture, drawing a large audience and dedicated following. Those who know The Office, and even some that don’t, are familiar with the characters, their roles within the workplace, and each of their personal quirks and humor. The clip below shows Dwight Shrute (Rainn Wilson), salesman at Dunder Mifflin and the modern archetype for a geek and nerd. He is one that takes his job as “Assistant to the Regional Manager” very, very seriously.

In more recent seasons of The Office, Dwight is portrayed as somewhat of a ladies man, but in the first two seasons, from which this clip is taken, Dwight more closely aligns with Steve Carell’s character in The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005). The clip highlights Dwight's unfamiliarity with the female body, furthering assumptions that he must also be unfamiliar with sex.

Furthermore, Dwight, who is portrayed as underdeveloped in many senses throughout the show, naïvely mistakes Tobi’s statement during a staff meeting of “If you have any questions please ask me” as an invitation to ask him anything he doesn’t understand about the world. This mirrors research that Drury & Bukowski (2013) present that indicate children often learn about sex from the media and their peers, saying, “children turn to friends in order to circumvent these cultural proscriptions and lacunae surrounding sex”. This scene, though definitely meant to be humorous, may actually represent the fact that many people do have questions about sex, and sometimes, they do not know who to ask or where to look.

Similarly, Dwight’s questions have less to do with sex and more to do with female anatomy. He mentions that he turned to the Internet for answers, saying, "On a website it said 'at the crest of the labia'. What does that mean?" This touches on how the Internet has become an important source for sexual curiosity, enabling people to look but not have to face stigmatized repercussions associated with the unfamiliarity with sex. As Ward (2003) mentions, “the media generally rank among the top three sexual informants, often following peers or schools in importance.” Again, considering Dwight’s frequent portrayal as nerdy, thus child-like and inexperienced, his questions emulate the importance that many place in media, such as the Internet, to answer their questions about sex.

According to Brown, El-Toukhy, and Ortiz, “Youth today grow up with sexual information at their fingertips” (2014). While this is undoubtedly true, considering the rapid pace that information and content travels today, it also stands to show that turning to such resources do not always give the most accurate information nor do they depict the actual reality of sexual encounters. In fact, this spurs ideas and arguments regarding the general fear of making sexual anatomy and information on sex could more widely accessible and making sexual conversations less taboo.

References:

Brown, J.D., El-Toukhy, S. & Ortiz, R. (2014). Growing up sexually in a digital world: The risks and benefits of youths' sexual media use. In A.B. Jordan & D. Romer (Eds.), Media and the well-being of children and adolescents (pp. 99-108). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Drury, K. M. & Bukowski, W. M. (2013). Sexual development. In D. Bromberg & W. T. O'Donohue (Eds.), Handbook of Child and Adolescent Sexuality (pp. 115-144). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Ward, L. M. (2003). Understanding the role of entertainment media in the sexual socialization of American youth: A review of empirical research. Developmental Review, 23(3), 347-388. doi: 10.1016/s0273-2297(03)00013-3