The Premature Sexualization of Girls in the Media Essay

(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

The documentaries Dream World 3 and Killing Us Softly 4 examine the exploitation of women within the media. The media, such as advertisement and the music video industry, relies heavily on the seductive image of female sexuality. Evident in not only every genre of music, but also every form of advertisement, the videos and advertisements expose and, subsequently sexualize the female body. Such sexualization inevitable leads to

Professor Gail Dine’s teaches women studies and female images of sexuality in pop culture at Wheelock College in Boston, MA. In addition to her work, she is a founding member of Stop Porn Culture (SPC). The goal of the group is to raise awareness of the hyper sexualization of women in Society. This is a selection from her book, Pornland (2010). “Visible or Invisible: Growing Up Female in Porn Culture” illustrates how mainstream pornographic images have become so prevalent in Western Culture Society. It also shows us examples of what is perceived to be the female beauty standard via Hollywood and pop music stars. There is the real danger that children and adolescents will perceive “the pop culture gone porn culture” (dines pg) to be normal and conform to these set standards. Dines goes on about where these images are present and how widely they are in the media. She implies the need to stop these accelerated images of female porn industry and Consumerism culture conformity. In addition, how if we do not bring these matters to attention soon, before the western culture society will lead generations to achieve a beauty standard that is not real or genuinely.

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

these games, men usually play aggressive roles (such as robbers and criminals) while women play sexualized ones (strippers and prostitutes) (Geneva, 5). Geneva explains that these video games present women purely as sexual objects and imply that a woman’s only purpose is to provide sexual pleasure to a man (5). These distorted views of women has various negative effects on the young boys and adolescents who normally play these games (Geneva, 5).

The sources of media available to the average person have grown significantly over time. While certain sources such as televisions and print media remain an integral part of the information that is consumed, the expansion of the internet, as well as smartphones, has opened the door for a wide variety of new options to emerge. The development of social platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat has allowed for an endless loop of media and societal messages to be placed right at a user’s fingertips. These digital and print outlets can be used by certain companies, corporations, and advertising agencies in order to market specific products and ideas. There has been a clear trend, however, among these organizations of promoting hypersexualized ideals. According to the American Psychological Association, hypersexualization is defined as “occurring when a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior to the exclusion of other characteristics” (Zurbriggen et al., 2010). This concept results in

An average 6-11 year old watched 22 hours of TV a week and a combined average of 28 hours a week is spent on multiple media outlets. A tremendous climb of sexual content on TV has been occurring since the 1970’s; currently 70 percent of all TV programming includes sexual material increasing to 77 percent on prime time TV. Around 30 percent of the most watched child and teen programs contain sexual language, body attractiveness, and objectification of women’s bodies (Starr, 2012). The media outlets display popular culture that scream unhealthy messages to girls, burying healthy images instilled by parents that might be trying to break through. Girls are exposed to the messages so frequently that they cannot help but to absorb them and crave to become like the popular images. This leads to unhealthy values, attitudes, and thoughts held about oneself and

Girls get exposure to sexualized messages through, TV, ads, song lyrics, videos, and movies. Television shows and movies depict the attractive, sexy girls as being associated with the popular crowd (APA 6). The APA has noted that advertisements use a blurred framework known as “trickle up” and “trickle down” with the sole purpose of making girls appear to be more adult like, and women to appear more child-like. For example, network TV aired a Victoria Secret’s Christmas themed fashion starring models dressed up to look like children. They strutted across the runway in baby doll lingerie as they dragged stuffed animals behind them (APA 12). Music is overflowing with songs that sexualize and degrade women (APA 6). Research has shown that children and teenagers on average listen to more than 2 hours of music a day (Parker-Pope). The message that young people are receiving from both female and male artists reinforce that sexualization of females is normal and accepted. For example, coming in at number 3, on September’s 2015 Billboard’s Top 100 is male artist OMI with the song Cheerleader (“Music: Top 100”). The artist describes his perfect woman to be someone who is submissive and knows her place. She is gorgeous and thin and does what he requests. A little further, down on the list coming in at number 7, is artist Selena Gomez with the song Good for You (“Music: Top 100”). The female artist sings about wanting to look good for a man. She does this by putting on a dress

Music videos are a great tactic for musicians to draw more or new listener’s in and to show off their talents. The music industry has a very specific way and clear goal of how they decide to draw new listeners in. In most music videos today weather its rap, hip hop, R&B, alternative, and so on, the music industry sexualizes and portrays women into sexual beings and objects. In the article “What’s your definition of dirty baby?”

The sexualization of girls and women has become a prominent problem within our society. Every day men and women alike are exposed to demeaning and derogatory images and depictions of women through social media outlets, advertisements, TV programs and movies, and simple internet searches. This has facilitated the development of harmful societal stereotypes and standards that have put girls and women at-risk for mental health challenges (e.g. eating disorders, mood and affective disorders) and sexual assault, sexual abuse, and human trafficking.

For nearly thirty years, popular culture has been an ever transforming mosaic of human flesh, or more specifically female flesh. While it has been known for decades that ”sex sells”, this statement has taken on bizarre, and at times offensive aspects. It seems that the more modern we become, the more sexually explicit and objectifying media content becomes. This fact remains true across multitudes of media formats; today everything from vacuum cleaners to toothpaste is madly exciting by sex appeal. Ask any senior citizen about the content of television in past generations and you will likely hear them describe modern programs as inappropriate, even vulgar. Perhaps the perversion of sexuality and the objectification of women in the media

Our sex saturated media is also generating conflict in young girls’ development. The portrayal of women as sexual objects is discussed in the article “The sexualization of Girls is Harmful” by Olivia Ferguson and Hayley Mitchell Haugen. The article cites statistics of “prime-time television shows popular among children” remarking that “12% of sexual comments involved sexual objectification toward women” and “23% of sexual behaviors involved leering, ogling or catcalling at female characters”.(par 6) The feature provides www.aboutkidshealth.ca/ as an “online resource for information about areas of children’s health and family life”. (Par 1) This web site states “depression, low self-esteem and eating disorders” as consequences for media sexualizing women. (Par 2) The research defines “the objectification theory as a psychological theory explaining the

According to a poll of 10 to 16 year olds done by the advocacy group Children Now, "77 percent say that there is too much premarital sex on T.V., while 62 percent say sex on T.V. and in movies influences kids to have sex when they are too young" (Clark, "Sex, Violence"). The influences of the media is felt everywhere and especially in terms of human sexuality. Everything from TV commercials to the newspaper has some form of sex in it, usually to keep the audience interested. In modern society, the changing times as well as media executives wanting more ratings(and therefore money) have lead to teenagers more willing to try sexual acts at a younger age and the country being more openminded about sexual issues.

The main purpose for this essay is to discuss whether or not youth culture is saturated with porn? The essay aims to highlight what youth culture is and how it can be affected? This will take into account a number of sources, research including The Academy of Paediatrics and Colett (2014) in order to establish a definition of what the term youth culture truly is. It will then discuss what porn is and how it can affect a young person and finally how educators can approach such a sensitive topic. What is youth culture? Youth culture is the way adolescents live their lives and the social normalities, values and practices they share. Colette identifies that “youth culture is not so easily defined and is rapidly changing.” This identifies an issue in itself that because of rapid change youth can find it difficult to define them selves, who they are and what they want. There are many areas in society that affect youth culture, these include: music and film, literature, social media, sexual attitudes, sub cultures, political and commercial influences, and a constant battle to challenge traditions. In more recent years young people are feeling more pressure by society in many ways but none so as high as sexual pressure. The age people are beginning to have their first sexual experience is on a rapid decrease with some known cases as young as 10, along side the amount of sexual promiscuity is on the increase. Television and radio advertisement, movies and everyday music young people

Since birth human behaviour is influenced by what the individual sees and there surroundings, this influence is greatest at a young age and fades as the individual grows in age, but never completely goes away. In today’s society where sex is something that is openly broadcasted in order to promote everything from products to television shows, sex is something that the youth of today are exposed to from an early age. But what effects can this exposure at such a vulnerable stage in life cause? Early exposure to sexual content can increase the likeliness of youth participating in sexual activity by the large amount that they are exposed too, the glorification of sex, the lack of regulation of sexual content in the media by the government, and