Note: This is a report for my Introduction to Human Services class, and felt it relevant for my readers within the Marysville Community.
The Evening Post ran an article written by Cleo Shupp. The article, titled Little Girls are too Sexy too soon addressed a burgeoning issue of how young girls are dressing, appearing, and acting much more mature than their age ought to allow. Her premise is that mothers in American society are forcing girls as young as eight and nine into premature womanhood (Shupp, 1963). The date of Mrs. Shupp’s article is June 29, 1963. Today, we are living in a society that is far too sexualized for the youth of America. Some would argue that this is just a moralistic perspective. However, if the American Psychological Association publishes a research project titled Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, then you know this is not merely a moralistic argument, but an argument of the pervasiveness of the current trend in American culture and society. Therefore, this paper will examine current research of the problematic, if not pandemic, of sexualization of our American youth – more specifically, young girls. A trend is disturbing and provoking that parents today need to heed and prepare to battle.
Defining what Sexualization means
Published in 2007, and then revised and updated in 2010, the APA Task force defines sexualization as a four-fold measure in determining whether sexualization conditions exist or does not exist. This helps distinguish and detracts healthy sexual maturity and understanding through age appropriate means, than that of a sexualized society. In other words, there is a vast difference between the youth of America today learning about age appropriate sexual concepts and issues than about being the means of a sex object. The four conditions follow:
1. A person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics;
2. A person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy;
3. A person is sexually objectified – that is, made into a thing for other’s sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or
4. Sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person.
Another way of looking at this is that sexualization occurs when someone becomes the object of sexual gratification or presents him or herself in a manner that is seen as an object of sexual desire, or such sexual desire is imposed upon a person. In this manner, leading toy-manufacturing companies, the fashion industry, movie and television, actors and actresses, and computer/video games have become a repository of the iconic philosophy sex sells.
Pandemic upon American society
According to the Deseret News article, Fighting oversexualization, published on Monday, September 19, 2011, we read that when activists across the political spectrum agree something is a problem, you know you have a real issue on your hands. Authors Diane E. Levin, Ph.D. and Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., write that America’s children are bombarded with a variety of messages, from a variety of sources about sex and sexiness (2008). Their work, So Sexy So Soon, discusses the issues parents’ today face concerning the problematic sexualized culture children are being reared. This exposure, according to the authors, teaches children that sexual behavior is devoid of emotions, attachment, or consequences. They also relate that children learn how relationships today are defined by sexual proclivities.
The APA taskforce discovered three significant issues that correlate to the rise of sexualization of America’s children, and specifically young girls. These three significant issues are eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression or depressed mood. Among boys, the authors of Too Sexy, Too Soon have found that boys learn to view women as sexual objects to be conquered and have, as well as judging girls based on how close girls come to the impossible and artificial ideal woman (Levin and Kilbourne, 2008). In addition to boys learning how to view girls as objects of sexual desire and sexual appeal, they also learn a false concept of masculinity.
Compelling evidence
What then is the evidence for sexualization in America today? According to the APA Task force, there is compelling evidence that suggests several modes of where one is able to find substantial support for this problem. There are three main areas of contribution that the APA report discusses, the first being Cultural Contribution. The second is Interpersonal Contributions. The third and final criterion is Intrapsychic Contributions.
Under the cultural contribution, the APA task force reports that much of the message coming to our youth is based on media, music, gaming, and fashion industries. When young girls see women who are airbrushed on the cover of a magazine with a title that screams how to satisfy your man, a television show of young girls wearing clothing that is revealing of certain parts of the body, or a singer who is pole dancing as part of her musical act on a popular family network sends the wrong message for them. Some of which, they may not even understand.
Levin and Kilbournes' book is not only about the sexualization of young girls, it also provides specific stories from parents who come face to face with this ugly pandemic. One parent relates that her son, a fourth-grader, received a love letter where the girl mentions how she is not beautiful or sexy like all the others and pleads with the fourth grader to like her anyway. Another relates that her seven year old did not find her body physically appealing for a seven year old because another girl had the attention of the boys for her body. Yet, if this is not compelling evidence, one only needs to watch one episode of Toddlers and Tiaras to see how perverse this problem is in our society today.
Conclusion
What are parents to do today? First off, parents need to become educated on the issues that are driving the sexualization of American Culture. Secondly, parents should not be afraid to broach the subject and discuss honestly about modesty and modest clothing. Remember, it is okay to say no if the outfit is too revealing. Parents also need to realize, and understand that being overbearing and domineering is not the means to battle the issues facing their children. As parents, we also need to be confident and firm in our own convictions. Levin and Kilbourne mentions that it is not enough to simply say no to one’s child, it is no and giving a reasonable explanation as to why the answer is no.
One has to wonder if Mrs. Shupp were alive today, how devastating she would be at the reality of how debased American Society has come in compromising her youth by allowing and encouraging destructive behaviors – all in the name of being sexy and sex objects.
Works Cited
Fighting oversexualization. (2011, September 09). Deseret News, Retrieved from http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700180355/Fighting-oversexualization....
Levin, I. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2008).So sexy so soon, the new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids. New York: Ballantine Books.
Shupp, C. (1963, June 29). Little girls are too sexy too soon. Evening Post, 236(25), 12-16.
Zurbriggen, E. L., Collins, R. L., Lamb, S., Roberts, T. A., Tolman, D. L., Ward, L. M., & Blake, J. (2010). Report of the apa task force on the sexualization of girls. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report-full.pdf
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