This is the first of a series of three guest posts by the wonderful Dr. Jennifer Shewmaker focusing on the sexualisation of little girls.
As a part of the chain of girl goodness, we have joined together to fight against sexualized and stereotyped views of girls and to promote a healthier idea of what it means to be a girl. Some of you may be wondering what sexualization is. First, you should understand that sexualization is not about healthy sexual development. All people are sexual beings, and have desires and thoughts that are a natural part of development. Sexualization is treating other people and oneself as an object of desire, with their value primarily from sex appeal and physical attractiveness. When someone is repeatedly sexualized, they begin to think of and treat their own body as an object of other people's desires. We call this self-objectification.
So sexualization and the stereotypes that go along with it, focusing on girls liking shopping and make-up, for example, are not about looking nice. Most people enjoy looking nice and dressing up sometimes. Sexualization is about girls no longer seeing their own value outside of their ability to be physically attractive. They begin to see themselves only as objects of other people's desire, rather than someone who's beautiful and valuable in and of themselves.
At the heart of it, the sexualization of children is a discounting of a child’s individualism and humanity. These children are treated as sexual jokes by their parents and the adults in their lives. From the little girl taught to gyrate suggestively for a pageant while adults look on and laugh at her to the little girls tarted up for lingerie spread or magazine ads in an attempt to sell products, to the little girl wearing the t-shirt that says, “Future Trophy Wife,” these girls are not being respected as human beings. They are being treated as objects.
But children are people. They have feelings and they are forming their identities. Having worked with children for many years, I have a very deep respect for the depth of their pain and their joy, for their innocence and ability to see the world from a different perspective. These are beautiful, transient moments that vanish with experience and age. As adults, we should provide children with the time to learn, to grow, to create and experiment rather than forcing them into little boxes that confine them to limited ideas of what they should do, feel, and look like. We should provide them with room to stretch their wings, to try new things, to find their niche, rather than prescribing the role that they must play.
Sexualization is unhealthy because it forces girls into a little box that is primarily about looking good and being decorative. Our girls are so much more than that. In the next few posts, we’ll talk about what we can do to help our girls learn to see their true value and empower them to be agents of change in the world around them.
Dr. Jennifer Shewmaker, Ph.D.
So sexualization and the stereotypes that go along with it, focusing on girls liking shopping and make-up, for example, are not about looking nice. Most people enjoy looking nice and dressing up sometimes. Sexualization is about girls no longer seeing their own value outside of their ability to be physically attractive. They begin to see themselves only as objects of other people's desire, rather than someone who's beautiful and valuable in and of themselves.
At the heart of it, the sexualization of children is a discounting of a child’s individualism and humanity. These children are treated as sexual jokes by their parents and the adults in their lives. From the little girl taught to gyrate suggestively for a pageant while adults look on and laugh at her to the little girls tarted up for lingerie spread or magazine ads in an attempt to sell products, to the little girl wearing the t-shirt that says, “Future Trophy Wife,” these girls are not being respected as human beings. They are being treated as objects.
But children are people. They have feelings and they are forming their identities. Having worked with children for many years, I have a very deep respect for the depth of their pain and their joy, for their innocence and ability to see the world from a different perspective. These are beautiful, transient moments that vanish with experience and age. As adults, we should provide children with the time to learn, to grow, to create and experiment rather than forcing them into little boxes that confine them to limited ideas of what they should do, feel, and look like. We should provide them with room to stretch their wings, to try new things, to find their niche, rather than prescribing the role that they must play.
Sexualization is unhealthy because it forces girls into a little box that is primarily about looking good and being decorative. Our girls are so much more than that. In the next few posts, we’ll talk about what we can do to help our girls learn to see their true value and empower them to be agents of change in the world around them.
Dr. Jennifer Shewmaker, Ph.D.
Dr. Jennifer Shewmaker is a professor of psychology at Abilene Christian University and has been working with families and children for the past 15 years. She is deeply concerned about the way that sexualized media messages are impacting children and adolescents. Her goal is to provide families and children with resources to become voices of transformation in the world around them. she has a wonderful website called Operation: Transformation, Don't Conform...Transform that is dedicated to exploring the sexualized media messages that are sent to children. Her goal is to help both parents and children learn to deal with these messages by recognizing, planning, talking, acting and cooperating.
Bratz photo kindly provided by Jenny.
RSS Feed