Is The Sexualization Of Girlhood A Negative Influence On Women?

In Stephanie Hanes’ article “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” the author discusses how young girls have the desire to act older than their age and fulfill the narrowing looks created by the world surrounding them. Supporting this claim is the 2010 American Psychological Association (APA) report on the sexualization of girls. It describes that a girl’s value comes from mostly sex appeal that’s seen in magazines, marketers, music lyrics, and on television (Hanes). Hanes’ use of case studies, statistics, research, and storytelling provides the uprising issue to the reader and gives her opposition to this subject matter.

In the quest to look beautiful just like the heroines in the Disney princesses' franchise, many girls indulge themselves in the products that made for the grown-ups. Hanes proves this with a statistic from the marketing group, NPD Fashionworld, who reported that a total of 1.6 million dollars is spent annually on thong underwear for children between 7-12 years (510). These facts do not even begin to cover what is really happening to young girls nowadays. In addition, young girls are engaging themselves with the makeup at a young age that may be harmful to them because they are chemicals. Young children who feel that they are fat and want to become slender may even go to the extent of starving themselves to obtain the body shape and size that they want. There have even been cases where parents have allowed or encouraged their children to undergo the surgeries and other procedures to "enhance" their beauty. As a result, these girls end up getting the health problems and depression. Hanes supports this fact with the statistics from an APA research, which linked stress, depression, health problems, and eating disorders to sexualization

To be young and beautiful is something most people strive for and fail at the most. The obsession of youth is one of the central themes in Nabokov’s “ classic” and has been the topic of controversy for many critics since it’s conception. Most of the controversy stems from the novel’s roots in Pedophila, which is the sexual activities or feelings that involve children. In addition to the obvious pedophilla in the novel, there is also a lack of a strong female voice. This book is comes from the perspective of a man that sees women, and more importantly young children as disposable, temporary fantasies. A new critical analysis of Lolita shows that it lacks an female presence,and has an unhealthy obsession with youth.

The novel Lolita exposes the pedophilia and perversion in the text; however, the child pornography invoked is very similar to the abrasive ads, commercials, and images viewed in America. It seems sanctimonious that such a controversial novel because of the pedophilia, does not take into account objectifying young girls. Integrity is not the concern in Lolita; a novel that represents the exploitation towards the young girls is. While Humbert is a perverse and gruesome man that has pedophiliac desires, Lolita’s use of language, form, and contextual writing sends a message towards the extortion of young girls. To be more specific, in the article, Lolita speaks: ‘Sexting,’ teenage girls and the law mentions how Karaian considers Lolita to symbolize

Perceptions of a Girl in Childlike vs. Sexualizing Clothing” written by the authors Kaitlin Graff, Sarah K. Murnen, and Linda Smolak, they do a study on how girls are perceived in societies eyes when dressed in a more sexual manner. In the study there are pictures of a fifth-grade girl dressed in either childlike clothing or super sexualized clothing. A group of diverse students are presented with three different types of pictures and they define whether the girl is average or above average in her achievements. Concluding in their study it presents that wearing more sexualized clothes do affect how they are looked upon and they don’t regard their achievements throughout life. In the study it states, “sexualization of women in advertisements increased significantly in the U.S. between 1983 and 2003” (Graff, Murnen, & Smolak 765) proving that sexualized advertisements have drastically been impacting societies ideal

Teenage girls are at an impressionable time in their lives. Mass Media is a key idea in one of the factors of socialization that become important to teenagers. Teenagers look to the media for a sense of entertainment. Whether it is movies, magazines, or even some aspects of social media, teenagers get a lot of influence from the media’s message. The problem with this is the media has a specific way of doing things and can be negative to a susceptible teenage girl. Media’s way of portraying a woman can be skewed and unrealistic way from what reality is. Teenage girls then have a desire for this look or way. In this essay the three ways I will describe as to why the media can negatively affect a teenage girls body image is by showing

Under society’s norms for decades, young women have been put under the pressure and anticipation to have perfect bodies. That is, thin and curved, beautified by applying pounds of the makeup to their face but not appear ridiculously overdone. Who’s responsible for these standards imposed on young women? When a young girl picks up the model along the cover of Vogue being called flawless, it’s easy for her to then aspire to be a real-life imitation of the photocopy. These companies produce magazine covers shown with girls’ images daily. As if keeping the perfect body wasn’t hard enough our culture also forces girls into the forever expanding world of composition, however, body image is a pressing issue for young women. Advertisements and posters of skinny female models are all over. Young girls not only could be better but need to be more upright and feel driven to throw the perfect figure. Moreover, girls are evaluated and oppressed by their physical appearances. With supplements and apparel designed to enhance a facial expression; social media, magazines, and marketing campaigns and advertisements add to the burden of perfection. The fashion industry is a prime object of body image issues, as they believe clothes look better on tall and svelte women. Established on a survey participated by 13 to 17-year-old in the U.S., 90% “felt pressured by fashion and media industries to be skinny”, with more than 60% routinely compares themselves to models, while 46%

The sexualization of young girls and women in society is a prevalent theme in mass media. Presently, the sexualization of females is commonly seen in various consumer items like clothes, dolls, and even in Disney movies, according to “The Sexualization of Girls Is Harmful” article. The author says that sexualization occurs when “a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior; a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy; a person is sexually objectified- made into a thing for others’ sexual use; and sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person (AboutKidsHealth).” Furthermore, the author provides statistics on how girls are being sexualized by the products they see and use

Eric Goldman argues that while Humbert attempt to make Lolita into a sexual deviant that corrupted him, Nabokov instead, suggest that she is a normal female that is experimenting with her sexuality. He starts with explaining Humbert attempting to make Lolita in a sexual deviant, then he states that after its publication “many of the critics Humbert Humbert’s misogynistic interpretation of Lolita” (Goldman 87). Goldman believe that Lolita “sexual development is warped by a maniacal, myth-making pedophile” (88). Humbert makes Lolita into a deviant to justify his behavior towards her.

A good example of this is Peggy Orenstein’s book ‘Cinderella Ate My Daughter’. “Pink and pretty or predatory and hardened, sexualized girlhood influenced our daughters from infancy, telling them that how a girl looks matters more than who she is. Somewhere between the exhilarating rise of girl power in the 1990s and today, the pursuit of physical perfection has been recast as a source – the source – of female empowerment. And commercialization has spread the message faster and further, reaching girls at ever-younger ages. But, realistically, how many times can you say no when your daughter begs for a pint-size wedding gown or the lasted Hannah Montana CD?

How is it that on one page in a magazine the topic is focused on “Being Yourself” and on the next page it focuses on how to dress, look, and act like someone the complete opposite. If this isn’t confusing then I don’t know what is. The girls living their life out of a magazine are the ones who have the wrong interpretations of what’s most important in this world. Girls are transforming themselves to what they see portrayed in these magazines because they think those are the only images that are accepted in this world. These magazines are corrupting these young girls, making them believe that just being yourself is not enough. Many teen magazines are marketed towards girls between the ages of thirteen and fifteen, but of course, these magazines are attracting younger audiences as well. Carol Platt Liebau, who is a writer and political commentator, mentioned that some of the content is relatively innocuous teen fare, with stories about lip gloss, parties, and how to be popular. But 18 percent of magazine articles pertain either to sex, sexually

American Apparel is well known for its provocative imagery, artistic photograph and their attitude on free expression within the fashion industry, but it is clear that to a certain extent American Apparel crosses the line by objectifying and demeaning women (Martha De Lacey , 2013). This clearly has an influence on young girls in today’s society who glance through American Apparel’s advertisements and may have also added to the increase in mental and physical health as well as young girls’ confidence. According to statistics, eating disorders have increasingly become an issue in society today as well as the media’s sexualized images of women are constant reminders of what society wants all girls to be like. One of the many examples would be Figure

Women are human beings, but they are not treated like one. Women get sexualized every day in different forms such as social media, and in their own sphere. This is an issue that has prevailed for a long time. Not many people notice this, but if one just looks closely at all the magazines, commercials, your classmates in school or co-workers in the office, you will notice, it happens, a lot. Men do not think about the various effects it has on young girls or female adults. An issue that has become very big and has always been very negative should stop, it can stop.

Before sexuality was liberated by contemporary studies and social change, fantasy was what an abstaining person had to define their sexuality in an era of chastity. Fantasies can take many forms and continually the theme of older men with young women remains which is reminiscent of the days when men married older and women married younger. The theme tends to bring up images of rejuvenation, youth, and a raging sexuality. Historically, young female sexuality was used as a tool to define a man’s own value in his eyes and the eyes of others. This conclusion becomes clear when using the scholarly works of John D’Emilio and Estelle Freedman along with the films Lolita and American Beauty, two movies regarding an older man’s sexual fixation on a

With influences like Tom Ford, Calvin Klein, and Victoria’s Secret, the fashion industry has begun to focus more on sex instead of fashion. Unfortunately, fashion does not just focus on adults, but also on children. With new trends and fads being expressed, concerns have become undeniable; especially when it comes to fashion’s decisions on young girls’ clothing. The fashions of young girls no longer promote an essence of cuteness but of sexiness. With young models posing provocatively with close to nothing on, it seems as though, the sexualization of children has become a promising way for designers to make a profit; instead of focusing on their actual designs. Overall, the fashion industry and designers have become more acceptable with sexualizing young girls in order to sell their products, coincidentally, taking away a girls’ innocence and respect for themselves, while doing this.