Sexualization of Young Girls - Part 2

A few weeks ago I blogged about recent studies on the sexualization of young girls. Two new reports caught my attention that further confirm the negative impact of media on our children.

The first is a new book So Sexy So Soon by Diane Levin and Jean Kilbourne and reviewed recently on the Today show. You can read an excerpt here. In their book, the authors discuss how today's highly sexualized culture and media affects our children - even the youngest, and offer advice on how parents can protect them. Examples of real life stories include seven-year-old Hannah thinking that she is fat, five-year-old James drawing a picture of a professional wrestling girl (complete with large chest), and seven-year-old Eva asking her mother what a certain sexual act meant.

Released this week, the Parents Television Council's™ report "Happily Never After" concludes that prime-time television paints marriage in a negative light, glorifies non-marital sex, and exposes children to formally taboo sexual behaviors. Particularly disturbing are the statistics reported for the so-called "family hour" (8-9 pm Eastern):

The Family Hour — the time slot with the largest audience of young viewers, where one might reasonably expect broadcasters to be more careful with the messages they are communicating to impressionable youngsters – contained the highest frequency of references to non-married sex as opposed to references to sex in marriage, by a ratio of 3.9:1. During the 9:00 and 10:00 hours, the references to non-marital versus marital sex averaged 2.5:1.

We parents must protect our kids as much as possible while guiding them on how best to live their lives. As Dr. Ray Guarendi says, "Walk with God, and hold your kids tight by the hand."

Sexualization of Young Girls

In today's culture of "live and let live", I don't know how to get across the point that it is everyone's responsibility to voice concern regarding the media's sexualization of young girls (or better yet: any woman). I hope to provide my child with the love and support to face the negative imagery that she is bound to come across. But she will still have to live in a world where most people don't seem to care.

In an article about a study from the UK:

Dr. Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation which worked on the study, said, "Girls and young women are being forced to grow up at an unnatural pace in a society that we, as adults, have created and it's damaging their emotional well-being."

Results of a study conducted by the American Psychological Association (2007), summarized here:

Research evidence shows that the sexualization of girls negatively affects girls and young women across a variety of health domains:

Cognitive and Emotional Consequences: Sexualization and objectification undermine a person's confidence in and comfort with her own body, leading to emotional and self-image problems, such as shame and anxiety.

Mental and Physical Health: Research links sexualization with three of the most common mental health problems diagnosed in girls and women-eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression or depressed mood.

Sexual Development: Research suggests that the sexualization of girls has negative consequences on girls' ability to develop a healthy sexual self-image.