Sexualistation of Young People

Sexualisation of Young People Review
32
Conclusion (cont.)
Children’s ability to understand and
assimilate information develops over
time. Given the proliferation and
accessibility of sexualised images, it is
almost inevitable that children will come
into contact with content they’re not
ready to understand. Not only can this
be upsetting and disruptive, it can also
lead them to make assumptions about
what’s appropriate that could lead
them into potentially dangerous and
damaging situations.
For adolescents, untrammelled access
to sexualised images at a time when
they are forming their own identity and
coming to terms with their emerging
sexuality makes for a potent mix. For
any child, the pressure is huge. But what
about those children who don’t fit the
’norm’? Those who’re gay? Those who
are disabled or come from a minority
ethnic background? The ideal for female
beauty is not only narrow and
unrealistic, it is also racially biased. Our
seeming obsession with the monolithic
ideals of gender and beauty leaves such
little room for manoeuvre that we are in
danger of ostracising and pathologising
the vast majority of children that don’t
conform to that ideal.
Young people need to be allowed to
develop and grow in surroundings where
their self-esteem is not predicated on
their ability to fulfil the hyper-sexy or
hyper-masculine ideal, but where they
are admired for their individual talents
and abilities. At a time when the visual
increasingly takes precedence, we are not
only teaching our children that looks are
all that matters, we are also prescribing
an increasingly narrow and limited
physical ideal that is, for most of them,
virtually impossible to achieve.