Sexualistation of Young People

Sexualisation of Young People Review
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have learning disabilities. She indicated
that around 40 per cent of the children
assessed and treated in her unit have
some form of learning disability and
that the vast majority of these children
are developing their sexual scripts from
pornography. She also pointed to a lack
of awareness of sexual norms and an
increase in inappropriate sexual touching
in schools. 116
Cultural difference
Cultural, religious, and class backgrounds
will influence the family’s role in mediating
sexualised media content as well as what
is deemed as appropriate and acceptable.
There is a need for more research into
how social location affects young people’s
ability to cope with sexualised content, 117
and how schools in particular might help
to mediate sexualised and violent media
content and provide tools to support
young people. 118
What we do know, however, is that
sexualisation occurs across all cultures and
all social classes, although the channels
may vary. Sexualised or degrading images
of black women are commonplace in
hip-hop videos, for example, while fashion
advertising is more likely to objectify white
women. The psychological ramifications of
self-objectification such as eating disorders
and plastic surgery (see pages 58–60) also
transcend race and class barriers. 119
Internalisation
There are several theories that attempt
to explain the link between exposure
to idealised media images and body
116 Evidence provided to the review by
Sara Delaney (2010)
117 Buckingham and Bragg (2004)
118 Thornburgh and Lin (2002)
119 Abrams and Stormer (2002); Atlas, Smith,
Hohlstein, McCarthy and Kroll (2002); Barry
and Grilo (2002); Goodman (2002); Hesse-
Biber, Leavy et al. (2006); Kolodny (2004)
dissatisfaction. While it has been suggested
that exposure simply exacerbates existing
issues and that people with a negative
body image are more likely to seek out
‘thin’ images, 120 there is nevertheless
a significant correlation between the
internalisation of the ‘thin ideal’, media
pressure and body dissatisfaction. 121
‘Internalisation’ describes the process
by which an individual ‘buys in’ to social
norms and turns them into guiding
principles that inform their behaviour and
decisions. 122
Internalisation has been shown to be the
biggest predictor of body dissatisfaction in
girls 123 although other factors – including
cultural pressure, individual differences in
body mass and lack of social support –
also play a significant part. 124
For boys, social pressure is the main cause
of body image disturbance. 125 Parental
messages are the strongest influence
on body image in boys and young men,
while parents, the media and, to a lesser
extent, the influence of male peers are
the strongest predictors of body change
strategies. 126 For boys, messages are likely
to centre around ideas of physical strength
and dominant, controlling behaviour.
Internalisation is also a powerful means
by which the sexual norms and scripts
promulgated by pornography become
normalised and help to shape young
people’s views about intimacy and sexual
relationships. 127 Boys can be made to
feel that treating girls as sex objects and/
or behaving in an aggressive manner
120 Hill (2006)
121 Cusumano and Thompson (2001)
122 Thompson et al. (2004)
123 Stice and Bearman (2001)
124 Stice and Whitenton (2002)
125 Cash (2002); Ricciardelli and McCabe (2001);
Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe and Tantleff-Dunn
(1999)
126 Stanford and McCabe (2005)
127 Allen (2004)