The Sexualization of Youth and the Effects that It Has on Children, Teenagers and on Adults

Masturbation and the sexualization of minors was seen as evil, and sinful, and as a result, society tried to curb these ailments through genital mutation of both sexes. However, while minors being seen as sexual beings was taboo, at the same time, child sexual abuse occurred commonly behind closed doors. Child prostitution and pornography flourished during this period, as well as slave owners frequently used rape and sexual abuse to crush the spirit of young African-American girls. Similarly, in the 20th century, many popular stories pushed the idea that young girls were capable of willingly ‘seducing’ older men who were ‘helpless’ and unable to resist the temptation. Likewise, stories such as “Greek Love” by J.Z. Eglinton put forth the idea that boys who were forced into relationships with much older men were simply being prepared for sexual experiences in adulthood. Society often contradicts itself even today. Its said children should not be exploited sexually, yet child pornography thrives and is sought after, child sexual abuse is rampant, victims of CSA are often belittled in court while their abusers are believed and protected; as well television often portrays teenagers, particularly young girls, in “seductive” and sexual ways. While incest has mostly been seen as universally taboo and has been stigmatized, the sexualization of children has often been used to rationalize incest and child sexual

When looking at the sexualization of young girls, it is important to first address the concept of sexualization. Sexualization is the act of asserting sexual value on an object or person. In many cases sexualization is unwanted and unjustified. Almost always, the recipients of this attention are girls or women (Vanska 59). Young girls who have not even fully developed into their adult bodies have no reason to be sexualized. Sexualization implies that a girl’s sexuality is not her own, but something to be enjoyed by others. The World Health Organization, however, dictates that healthy sexuality

Human sexuality can be fascinating, complex, contradictory, and sometimes frustrating. Sexuality is interwoven into every aspect of being human; therefore, having knowledge about sex is as essential as having education about human anatomy. However, it is highly recommended to pay close attention when sex education is delivered to youths. (Donatelle 171)

In the American culture today, women are becoming more sexualized at a younger age due to the influences of the corporate media. Corporate media and society form the perfect idealistic body that women should have and is constantly being promoted making younger girls start to compare themselves to them at a young age. Certain shows and movies, such as Disney, influence young children and teenagers through their characters as to how a woman is supposed to be accepted. The way the corporate media and society make this body image they want women to have starts in a very early stage in a woman's life without them knowing. There are these childhood movies, such as Disney, Barbie and Ken dolls, programs such as Netflix, teen

(BBC network, 2014). It can also force people to change in character, which is a growing concern. Sexualisation in our society has become extremely prevalent within the younger female gender. Some may dismiss this issue as no more than yet another moral panic situation between sexuality and young girls, but some see this as a serious subject and some of these people are in fact the girls being targeted (Church, 2014). The music industry with their music

There is a huge controversy in whether or not young girls are sexualized in the media. I absolutely agree that young girls and women are sexualized, us women are shown as sex objects and the world thinks its right. As a community, we should not let the media provoke women in the way they do. It disgusting on how they show women in tiny bathing suits. When did beauty ever become on what’s on the outside of a human being, beauty is on the inside; what’s in the heart. The media has set crazy standards for young girls and everyone is to blind to realize.

In today’s society, the sexualization of young females can seem as the most understated concern. Almost everything sexualizes women to an extent and stopping it at the beginning of the tracks can seem complicated. Through the use of statistical facts and personal stories from affected people, Stephanie Hanes makes an argument that young girls grow up too soon, and effectively convinces her audience that it is a result of sexualization. Hanes makes an appeal on why the first step into this loop involves Disney Princesses and that parent entailment is crucial to a child’s life.

The sexualization of women and girls surround Americans and is damaging to females as well as to American society. Females receive the sexualized messages regarding their appearance and how they should act via the media, retailers, and American society’s acceptance of these behaviors. As a mother, Girl Scout Leader, and school paraprofessional I cannot help but to question are these messages inflicting psychological damage on girls? Whom can I hold accountable for sexualizing female youth? What can I do to prevent sexualization from affecting all of the young girls in my life? The sexualization of girls is unacceptable because it is degrading to females, can cause serious life-long psychological damage and sexist attitudes, and may lead to violence against women and girls.

Magazines, Internet, radio, music videos, music lyrics, and other types of mainstream media relentlessly portray sexualized images of women that not only promote narrow and unrealistic ‘standards’ of physical beauty, but seem to endorse, glorify and encourage them. We are almost back to the 1950’s, where women were seen merely as a sex object. Horrifyingly the media is now broadening their attacks and promotions of sex to teenagers and young girls. A report created by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), attest that there are many short term and long term physical, emotional and psychological effects of the premature sexualisation of teenagers and young girls.

The article, “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” was written by Stephanie Hanes to address the influence that our sexualized society has on young girls. She goes into detail about how they become mature too fast from being exposed to an overly sexualized environment, and how the effects are often a distorted self image, and a lowered self-esteem when it comes to activities, similar to sports. The lack of awareness in parents is also discussed. From the moment I started to realize Hanes purpose for writing this text, I had to remind myself to accept her point of view.

Sexualization has occurred in the past, is occurring today, and will, more than likely, continue to occur in the future. The society we live in today characterizes women as sexual objects. It’s everywhere you look. For example, look at the media. Reality TV, romance movies, fashion magazines, and advertising all portray women to look a certain way; slim, young, and attractive. These images of women are etched into our brains, and it’s normal to look at these media and think that those women are what society calls “beautiful.” A contributor to

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

Both terms ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’ are very common, broad and the meaning of it differs from person to person. Eugenically the term ‘gender’ is defined to have socially composed roles, activities, behaviours, and peculiarity that a given society considers right for men and women (WHO, 2015). Whereas the term ‘sexuality’ has various meanings, it is described as feeling or having attraction or having sexual thoughts and preferences towards same sex or opposite sex (reachout.com, 2015). This essay will explore Pascoe’s (2005) article on sexualised insult ‘fag’ by American teenage boys. It will also focus on the racialized nature of this ‘fag’ discourse. As it is not the only identity related to homosexual men but can briefly associate to heterosexual men as well. Another sexualised insult ‘slut’ depicted in Attwood’s (2007) work has many meanings and has changed overtime. This will be illustrated by highlighting how the word ‘slut’ was used to define women sexually and their struggle over class, race and generation. The term ‘bitch’ explored in Crawford & Popp (2003) study share similar perspective to Attwood’s work where talking about sexuality or gender would involve making assumption about race and class. This will help present the different identities which people use to define their sexuality and gender such as gay, fag, slut and bitch in terms of race and class. This will be explored in various academics work. This implies that understanding about sexuality and gender in

Focusing on the topic of sexualized music videos having an impact on teenagers, the media plays an important role in adolescent sexuality, most teenagers spend most of their leisure time on social media therefore, most will look to the internet for easy access to information about sexuality. The sexual behaviors in music videos are be perceived as suggestive by teenagers and unfortunately, this have severely impacted sexual beliefs among adolescents, which is why there are so many sexually active adolescents in today’s society. A music video is a visual representation of a recorded song. Whenever a new song is trending, a lot of people will be waiting for the visual to capture the artiste’s message for the song, which sometimes is completely

Sexualisation can be defined as the imposing adult sexuality on to children and young people before they are capable of coping with it usually through the media. In my investigation I aim to discover the effects that sexualisation of men and women in music videos and the effects that this has, mentally and emotionally, on the younger Australian generation. I also aim to discover the extent to which music videos have been sexualized over time.