The Sexualization of Early Childhood
When it comes to inputting on the topic of the sexualization of early childhood, in all honesty, I must admit that I am not shocked at all about the comments and sayings of young children and their exposure to sexuality that society has placed upon them, The most saddening part about this issue is that many of the people and companies that portray images for the sake of children are solely that are responsible for their actions. Sadly, children face so many manipulative perpetrators, who use different hosts in disguise to send subliminal messages of sex, in which they fall victim of becoming familiar with their sexuality at such young ages. "Children growing up today are bombarded from a very early age with graphic messages about sex and sexiness in the media and popular culture." (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).
From a personal perspective, I can recall witnessing how young girls are dressed up by their parents, fashion designers and makeup artists just to be on live television to compete with other young girls. the lengths that these parents go and use their children for entertainment purposes is a sad case overall. the picture above in this post depicts the many enhancements that a child goes through to resemble a "beautiful woman" As you can see, this child looks no more than about nine years old. Television shows nowadays show more physical attraction than ever, even for children. kissing scenes in cartoons are just absurd and possibly give children to impression that it is ok to kiss someone you like. dating scenes with middle school children, give children the idea that they should have a boyfriend/girlfriend. Life is moving too fast with all of the sexual perceptions and children are tying their best to follow the trend.
The impacts on children and the sexualization in early childhood can be lead to very negative impacts, such as accessibility to pedophiles and rape, young girls becoming pregnant too early, and many other factors. when children grow up too fast, they many see the need to run away from home, drop out of school, or possibly become addicted to drugs.
It is very necessary to monitor our children and see that they are disengaged to such sexualization as much as possible. with the high ratings of sexuality among us now, we may see it as impossible to conquer such a task, but speaking with them and guiding them in the right path can be a first step to eliminating such an issue.
References
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
Hello Diedra,
ReplyDeleteIt's true that children are exposed to a lot of things the world. Things will be better if people would stop introducing children to adult things. I personally believe, monitoring the activities they participate in and watch on TV, will decrease sexualization.
Hi Lanisha,
DeleteAnd yes, I agree. most of the introducing starts in the home, I believe. Monitoring our children is everything this day in age.
Hi there Diedra,
ReplyDeleteAll I could do was shake my head with a little "tsk tsk" while looking at the image you attached this week. It's no wonder young children grow up lacking empathy and friendship skills if they are dressed up and paraded in competition with other children. I've always wondered if manufacturers and advertisers are reflecting what society wants, or are they themselves telling us what we want for our children?
I absolutely, 100% agree with everything in this post!! Digital fist bump!
Heidi
Hello Heidi,
DeleteAnd yes, when I saw this image, I knew it would fit perfectly for this topic. I absolutely dislike those shows that portray little children in this manner. I honestly believe that money is the reason for this continuation of such nonsense. You know what they say, "Sex sells"