Effects Of Sexualization On Young Girls

It is a common consensus within today’s America that teenagers are looking and acting older, younger. The rise of social media and sexualized clothing marketed to young girls has young girls look older and more provocative than ever. However, despite the fact that young girls are physically presenting as older, it is still morally incorrect to sexualize them. This is due to the fact that young girls are sexualizing themselves in accordance with societal pressure, not because they are emotionally mature enough to receive sexual attention, especially that from older men.
It is a common misconception that sexualized clothing, a key part of young girls presenting as “older”, is an open invitation for sexual attention. Colloquially, women

While this has led young girls to engage in self-sexualization, a process in which young girls actively present as sexual, young girls are not to blame for this habit. Young girls self-sexualize for a variety of complicated, nuanced reasons. First and foremost, social media has become an active perpetrator in the sexualization of young girls. “...one of the easiest ways to get that validation is by looking hot. Sex sells, whether you’re 13 or 35” (Sales) The instant validation that online attention provides combined with the low self-esteem that comes with the onset of puberty has turned social media into a place rife with the self-sexualization of young girls. According to Sales' Times article, young girls not only learn self-sexualizing behaviors from a variety of dubious sources. These sources include online phenomena like pornography, which the average child has viewed long before they turn 18. Additionally, young girls are taught how to sexualize themselves by imitating their mothers. Adult American women have contributed to a 98% increase in plastic surgery procedures from 2000-2012. (Sales) While young girls obviously learn about femininity and womanhood from their mothers’, it appears as though they are also learning the need to hypersexualize themselves in accordance with societal demands. Although young girls do self-sexualize, they do so

This is most important when considering the psychological damage that can occur when girls are overtly sexualized. As the Sales’s article points out, young girls are fully aware they are being sexualized and that the sexual attention they receive is “bad”, but they do not have the emotional knowledge to understand what can be done to remedy this situation. Young girls are aware that receiving sexual attention is capable of warping their mental state, but they are powerless to deny the sexual attention, as most sexual attention is not something that is yearned for. Furthermore, Jamie Utt, a diversity consultant, brings into account the fact that relationships with an age difference have an inherently unequal power dynamic skewed towards the older partner. This unequal balance of power between partners means that young girls are at a base disadvantage when pursued by older men, further contributing to why it is morally irresponsible to sexualize young girls. Additionally, Planned Parenthood, which partly markets itself as a sexual education center for teens, lists factors such as “personal values” and “if having sex is something...you’re being pressured to do” as variables that should be evaluated before having sex. It goes without saying that most young girls do not have the emotional