Sexualisation Of Children

785 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender roles throughout the world

The sexualisation of children and young people is an issue that effects both genders in different ways; with girls, we see hyper-sexualisation and objectification whilst boys, face the struggles of hypermasculinisation – both of which react with one another, perpetuating and reinforcing social standards such as beauty, femininity and masculinity. This essay aims to outline what is meant by the early sexualisation of children and young people and discuss the sociological impacts the phenomenon is having on society. Sexualisation is an ever-growing phenomenon with sexualised images overtly placed everywhere from magazines to television/film to tablets and mobile phones. Journalists, child advocacy organisations and psychologists argue that early …show more content…

It is important to analyse cultural representations of gender roles, relationships and sexuality in order to understand what specific values are being promoted and what effect they are having on the development of children (Newman, …show more content…

Sexualisation also does not apply to self-motivated sexual activity or to the distribution of age-appropriate material about sex and sexuality (Papadopoulos, 2010) but rather describes the imposition of ‘adult sexuality’ on to young people before they are mentally, physically or emotionally capable of dealing with it. Papadopoulos argues that researchers and activists must be careful not to comprehensively apply the concept of sexualisation as doing so could lead to ‘normal’ expression of sexuality by children as wrong or problematic. The notion that sexualisation is increasingly prevalent in modern day society has been ‘gaining momentum’ since the late twentieth century and is now regularly discussed by politicians, researchers and teachers. The consensus seems to be indicating that the most obvious manifestation of sexualisation is the distribution of sexual imagery; whilst this is important in its own right, it is part of the wider phenomenon emerging in the United Kingdom and the USA – a phenomenon researchers are calling ‘pornified’ culture’ (Paul 2005). This so called ‘pornified’ culture’ describes how pornography seems to be encroaching into many different areas of day to day life (McNair

Show More
Related

  • Stephanie Hanes Little Girls Or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect

    1729 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today, “60 percent of children who use the Internet regularly come into contact with pornography” (Hanes 1). In Stephanie Hanes’ article, “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect”, she provides undeniable evidence to suggest that the culture of today’s world causes sexualization of children, specifically of females, at an alarmingly young age. This sexualization has become increasingly invasive in the past decade, so much so that parents, educators, and even more recently politicians have decided to try to counteract some these negative effects. In this article, Stephanie Hanes uses strong research with logical arguments that support this

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Sexuality and Gender in Children's Daily Lives by Thorne and Luria

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sexuality and Gender in Children’s Daily Worlds article by Thorne and Luria focuses on the relationships between sexuality and gender in the experience of 9 to 11 year old children. The purpose of the authors’ analysis is to illuminate age-based variations and transitions in the organization of sexuality and gender. Throughout this paper we discover how gender and sexuality has become a social and cultural construction that is expressed through young children. At a young age we tend to define and separate ourselves by gender, boys vs. girl. These divisions are enforced around us daily. For example, teachers often tend to separate team by gender whether it’s in the classroom or the playground.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Little Girls Or Little Women: The Disney Princess Effect

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” Stephanie Hanes covers the sexualization of young girls and women in every aspect of the media that influences children and teens. She explains that girls see media figures, movies, and sports being sexualized, and how this is causing children to associate looking and acting a certain way to being ‘the perfect women’. Hanes believes the hypersexualized media is causing girls to obtain a negative body image and it’s killing their self-esteem. The author proposes what she believes society should do about overcoming this obstacle, and how people can crush the stereotypes about women; to her everyone is responsible and should aid in fixing these problems. She explains that the media

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Article 'Little Girls Gone Wild'

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gone Wild as a response to this sudden boom in increasingly sexualised behavior among and

    Read More

  • Sexuality In Audre Lorde

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sexuality has often been confused with pornography. It has been trivialised as something that is a denigration and denial of true feeling by sensationalising genuine expressivism.

    Read More

  • Sexualization In Australia

    571 Words  | 2 Pages

    For young girls in Australia it has been said that ‘one barometer of the health of society is the measure of mental health of our children and young people’. This measure does not bring us good news. Evidence indicates that exposure to ideals of sexual attractiveness in the media is associated with greater body dissatisfaction among girls and young women, leaving girls feeling ‘ugly’ and ‘gross’. Body image is not the only side effect of sexualisation. The increase in sexual activity among adolescents is at an alarming rate, and the age of sexual activity is ever decreasing. For boys in Australia too often we believe that the sexualisation in the public sphere is only affecting girls and women. However, if we were to believe that, we would

    Read More

  • Sexualization Of Sexualization

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    A Study Conducted by the American Psychological Association Task Force concluded that sexualization occurs when a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics; a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy; a person is sexually objectified- that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person. The APA Task Force reported many example of the sexualization of girls, such as toy manufactures duce dolls wearing black leather miniskirts, feather boas, and thigh-high boots and market them to 8- to 12-year-old girls. Clothing stores sell thongs sized for 7– to 10-year-old girls, some printed with slogans such as “eye candy” or “wink wink”; other thongs sized for women and late adolescent girls are imprinted with characters from Dr. Seuss and the Muppets. In the world of child beauty pageants, 5-year-old girls wear fake teeth, hair extensions, and makeup and are encouraged to “flirt” onstage by batting their long, false eyelashes. Journalists, child advocacy organizations, parents, and psychologists have become alarmed according to the APA Task Force, arguing that the sexualization of girls is a broad and increasing problem and is harmful to girls, and I for one agree with their proposition.

    Read More

  • The Disturbing Sexualization of Young Girls

    2257 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the American culture today, women are becoming more sexualized at a younger age due to the influences of the corporate media. Corporate media and society form the perfect idealistic body that women should have and is constantly being promoted making younger girls start to compare themselves to them at a young age. Certain shows and movies, such as Disney, influence young children and teenagers through their characters as to how a woman is supposed to be accepted. The way the corporate media and society make this body image they want women to have starts in a very early stage in a woman's life without them knowing. There are these childhood movies, such as Disney, Barbie and Ken dolls, programs such as Netflix, teen magazines, and the most common source of them all, the internet.

    Read More

  • Sexualization Of Girls Essay

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sexualization of women is taught to the public from an early age through the media. This is not a new phenomena, however. As Roberts and Zurbriggen (2012) address, the problem exponentially compounds over time, as evolving mass communication technology creates more opportunities for the press to teach sexualization. New technology is not entirely negative though, as it allows the public to more easily engage in discussions regarding the expression of

    Read More

  • The Sexual Double Standard : How Men and Women Are Perceived According to Their Gender.

    1042 Words  | 3 Pages

    From a young age , many individuals worldwide are socialized according to their gender and what is appropriate for males and females. Socializing according to ones gender starts from the moment you are born when the nurses give you either a blue or pink blanket to wrap the child in. This allows society to known whether the child is a male or female. The double standard for gender occurs within many areas of development for instance the clothes one wears, the toys that are placed with, the jobs and careers one chooses in their later life. Attachment given by a child's parent reinforces an individual to be socialized and children can also contribute how their parents treat and see them , these are social constructs within parenting (Ambert,2012). All of these things can be gender separated and still are in today's society. Another area where males and females are socialized differently is in the area of sexuality and what is acceptable for males is not always for the female gender. Gender specific norms govern the appropriate amount of partners , when it is acceptable to engage in sexual activity and what motivates ones behavior (Kreager &Staff, 2009). This shows society individuals are socialized according to their gender because males are socialized into behaving a different way than girls but it still be accepted as a norm. Women are taught that it is okay to have sexual relationships but they need a reason, example being in a committed relationship, where as men just need a place. This is a common perception based on ones gender , formed from a western conservative view point ( Fugere et.al, 2008). Gender socialization is a process where boys are seen to be given wings and girls are to be given roots (Myers, Spencer, Jordan...

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Sexualization And Objectification Of Women In Society

    1471 Words  | 3 Pages

    A common trend in the entertainment industry today is the objectification of women in society. Sexualizing women are seen in media such as; movies, advertisement, television show and music video, where their main focus is providing the audience with an image of women as sexual objects rather than a human. This is detrimental to society since the media is producing social stereotypes for both genders, which can further result in corrupted social habits. Objectification in media are more focused on females than male, these false images of women leave individuals with the wrong idea of the opposite sex. As media continuously use sexual contents regarding women, the audience starts underestimating women. Specifically movies, it allows media to shape the culture’s idea of romance, sex and what seems

    Read More

  • Sex Roles and Gender Bias in Early Childhood Education

    2170 Words  | 5 Pages

    Sex role stereotyping and gender bias permeate everyday life. Children learn about sex roles very early in their lives, probably before they are 18 months old, certainly long before they enter school.(Howe, 1). The behaviors that form these sex roles often go unnoticed but their effect is immeasurable. Simple behaviors like: the color coding of infants (blue & pink), the toys children are given, the adjectives used to describe infants (boys: handsome, big, strong; girls: sweet, pretty, precious), and the way we speak to and hold them are but a few of the ways the sex roles are introduced. These behaviors provide the basis for the sex roles and future encouragement from parents and teachers only reinforce the sex roles.

    Read More

  • Intimate Partner Violence Literature Review

    1387 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sex Role Theory–expands upon this assumption and proposes that women and men learn appropriate gender roles through socialization within the culture of the family and wider society (Isaacs,

    Read More

  • Gender and Sexuality

    2683 Words  | 6 Pages

    Gender and sexuality can be comprehended through social science. Social science is “the study of human society and of individual relationships in and to society” (free dictionary, 2009). The study of social science deals with different aspects of society such as politics, economics, and the social aspects of society. Gender identity is closely interlinked with social science as it is based on an identity of an individual in the society. Sexuality is “the condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex” (free dictionary, 2009). There are different gender identities such as male, female, gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual that exists all around the world. There is inequality in gender identities and dominance of a male regardless of which sexuality they fall under. The males are superior over the females and gays superior over the lesbians, however it different depending on the place and circumstances. This paper will look at the gender roles and stereotypes, social policy, and homosexuality from a modern and a traditional society perspective. The three different areas will be compared by the two different societies to understand how much changes has occurred and whether or not anything has really changed. In general a traditional society is more conservative where as a modern society is fundamentally liberal. This is to say that a traditional society lists certain roles depending on the gender and there are stereotypes that are connected with the genders. One must obey the one that is dominant and make decisions. On the other hand, a modern society is lenient, It accepts the individual’s identity and sexuality. There is no inequality and everyone in the society is to be seen as individuals not a part of a family unit...

    Read More

  • Mass Media Influence in Shaping People's Ideas about Society

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The media may be especially important for young people as they are developing their own sexual beliefs and patterns of behavior and as parents and schools remain reluctant to discuss sexual topics (p.26)”.

    Read More

More about Sexualisation Of Children

Open Document