The Sexualization of Early Childhood

The ideas shared in this reading are very alarming about the danger and the harmful effets of messages about sexualization. Children are growing up in a society where according to Levin and Kilbourne (2009) in the book excerpt, So sexy so soon, “the narrow definition of femininity and sexuality encourages girls to focus heavily on appearance and sex appeal. They learn at a very young age that their value is determined by how beautiful, thin, “hot,” and sexy they are. And boys, who get a very narrow definition of masculinity that promotes insensitivity and macho behavior, are taught to judge girls based on how close they come to an artificial, impossible, and shallow ideal”. This is very dangerous because there is no value of who the person is. The more beautiful, cool, and sexy the person looks the more he is acceptable between his friends. Almost everything around children spread wrong messages about sexualization and it seems that this has become a part of our life that we are not noticing that it is completely wrong. In these days, no one wants his daughter to look bad or different than her friends, so what they try to do is just go with what is going on in the society without even noticing that what they are doing is wrong and even without explaining to their kids the right or wrong of their behavior.

My daughter used to go to a Catholic school and she used to wear uniform. The skirt was up to her knee. One day my daughter came home and she told me that her friends when they leave school they try to shorten their skirts, she and all the girls in her class always complained about how unsexy and old fashioned their school uniform are. I don’t blame them because they are surrounded by all these messages from the media, television shows, and advertisement that there are certain standards girls have to do in order to be considered beautiful and in other words ‘hot” or “sexy”’. One day my daughter came home singing the song “I am sexy and I know it”, what type of song is that? And no matter what parents do, children still can hear it everywhere they go like the malls, grocery shopping stores, and on the radio. This song is a small example of what the media is spreading. All children are curious and they want to know and explore everything around them and once they hear the word “I am sexy” I am sure that they want to ask what it means to be sexy or act like it.

 These messages impact children and their healthy development. Children don’t have so many choices. They either have to follow the crowd and behave according to the image set by the media or they will be considered as stupid kids who don’t know anything and dress, behave, and act like babies.

This book helped me to see more clearly the harms of sexual messages that permeate the lives of our children both girls and boys. I feel now that it is very important to find ways find ways to protect our children. Levin and Kilbourne (2009) discussed that children need to be able to talk with trusted adults about the relationships and sexual images that they see in the media and in the popular culture”. I think this is one of the best ways to help children develop in a healthy way and to become better able to cope with the inevitable stresses and strains of life.

Resources,

Book Excerpt:: Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2009). [Introduction]. So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids (pp. 1-8). New York: Ballantine Books. Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf