One doesn't have to look very far to find examples of the sexualization of young children. Take, for example, the Disney Princesses. The original Princesses wore full length or nearly full length gowns.
Today's princesses, however, feature a lot of exposed skin, skimpy outfits which barely cover the breasts, and heavy make up.
Little girls all over the world idolize these characters. They want to dress and act like them. There is one scene in Aladdin in which Jasmine attempts to "seduce" Jafar to save Aladdin in a highly sexual manner. These are the role models for children today by Disney standards--which is quite tame compared to some others I have seen!
Children's clothing also reflects this sexualization. I have 4 and 5 year old students coming to school in outfits that would make me embarrassed to wear, and shirts with suggestive slogans. My daughter refused to shop in the girl's departments while growing up because she complained that the shirts were too tight, too low cut, too short and usually transparent. Trying to find jeans or pants that actually covered her backside was a nightmare, as most rode low on the hips and exposed quite a bit if she bent over. Today, at age 28, she still rebels against the look she is expected by society to have. She wears no make-up other than lip balm, doesn't have her ears pierced, wears no jewelry or perfume, and only owns one pair of "dress" shoes--and they have NO heels. She owns one skirt and sweater that she wears any time that she absolutely has to be really dressed up and could care less that everyone has already seen it numerous times. She does, however, own about a dozen pairs of sneakers and even more pairs of work boots. Most days she wears jeans and oversized hoodies, and her work clothes consist of her paramedic's uniform or her turn out gear.
My daughter Panda and her boyfriend JD.
Television shows are also exposing children to highly sexual content around the clock. When I was a kid, daytime programing was pretty wholesome, and prime time shows were tame. You had to stay up past 10 PM to see anything even remotely "dirty" The sexiest thing I remember seeing was Bo Duke wearing no shirt and his sister Daisy wearing short shorts--but no one ever did anything more than innocent kisses on the Dukes of Hazard. Today, however, sex is on display round the clock, and since more children than ever are left unsupervised in front of the "electronic babysitter", more children are exposed to language, acts, and situations that they are unprepared to deal with. While typing this blog, I am watching The Year Without A Santa Claus--a children's Christmas special about believing in Santa Claus on ABC Family. During the commercial break, I viewed an ad for a show called Recovery Road, which showed a teenager passed out drunk in the yard, partying heavily, and going into rehab. It's 3:15 on a Saturday afternoon, and this show is being promoted to young children! During the same commercial break there was a shampoo ad in which a woman strutted around in a tight white dress and a perfume commercial during which a woman ran away from her wedding, ripped off her wedding gown and got picked up by a helicopter and flew away while Janis Joplin played in the background.
Children cannot be protected from everything unless we lock them away from the real world. However, there are steps people can take to greatly reduce children's exposure to sexual content. For starters, parents need to enable the parental controls on their televisions, and block children from viewing inappropriate shows. They can use the "On Demand" feature to allow children to watch appropriate shows without viewing inappropriate ads. They can turn off the radio in the car and listen to prerecorded, appropriate music. They can refuse to allow their children to wear inappropriate clothing. They can monitor what their children are reading, listening to, and watching. It takes times, and parents will need to step up and set limits which will make them unpopular with their children.
This week's topic was not a new idea to me--as the mother of four I have been keenly aware of how sexualized children have become for quite some time. My kids were not thrilled with me when I refused to let them see inappropriate shows on TV, or listen to inappropriate music, or wear clothing with sexual references. In fact, there were times when they claimed they hated me and that I was ruining their lives. But, they got over it and life went on. It is long past time for children to be allowed to remain children.
Kathleen I like your images and the message you sent in relation to the images as well. I agree that children can master learning an inappropriate song or line from a movie. I hear children sing "Now watch me whip and watch me nae nae" but have a hard time spelling their name. I feel if you can remember that you can remember the letters in your name as well. Parents often blame the children but they are the adults who allow them to listen to the songs and watch certain programs. For instance, we can stop blaming children for the sexualized behavior they have learned from the sexualized environment (Levin & Kilbourne, 2008).
ReplyDeleteReferences
Levin, D.E; & Kilbourne, J. (2008). So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids.: Ballantine.