Sexualistation of Young People

Sexualisation of Young People Review
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also mean that young people are exposing
themselves to danger from further afield:
recently, public attention has focused on
use of social networking sites such as
MySpace and Facebook to disseminate
sexualised material and sexually solicit
underage children and young people. 196
The rise of online networking presents
considerable challenges for everyone
coming into contact with young people. 197
It has been suggested that schools,
for example, have yet to address the
implications of young people’s engagement
with social networking sites – activity
which takes place away from school but
which nevertheless has a profound impact
on young people and the way they engage
with each other. 198 Similarly, parents and
carers must recognise that the internet
is increasingly bringing the dynamics of
the playground into the home. We need
resources to ‘guide’ young people around
new technologies and social relationships
mediated through new communication
technologies. 199
Cyberbullying – where victims are
harassed via the internet or mobile
phone – is consistently estimated to affect
around a quarter of secondary-age young
people, 200 with some studies putting the
figure as high as 75 per cent. 201 Texting
and instant messaging are particular areas
of concern. 202 Research conducted by
the University of New Hampshire found
that, while 15 per cent of young people
surveyed had experienced unwanted
sexual solicitation online, only 4 per cent
were targeted via their social networking
site. Where harassment did occur, it was
196 For example, Slater and Tiggemann (2002)
197 Boyd (2008)
198 Ringrose (2009)
199 Boyd (2008)
200 Action for Children (2005); Li (2006); Smith
(2005); Hinduja and Patchin (2007)
201 Juvonen and Gross (2008)
202 Noret and Rivers (2006); Smith et al. (2006)
most likely to happen through instant
messaging and chat rooms. 203
Social networking and
children
• 49 per cent of children aged 8–17
have an online profile (mainly Bebo,
MySpace, Facebook).
• 59 per cent of 8–17-year-olds use
social networking sites to make new
friends.
• 16 per cent of parents don’t know
whether their child’s profile is visible
to all.
• 33 per cent of parents say they set
no rules for their children’s use of
social networking sites.
• 43 per cent of children say their
parents set no rules for use of social
networking sites. 204
Children’s websites 204
Many websites for children are perfectly
safe and have a high educational and social
value. However, some are undoubtedly
encouraging very young girls to present
themselves as adult women and to focus
on their physical appearance to the
exclusion of all else.
At www.missbimbo.com, girls and boys
are encouraged to use plastic surgery
and extreme dieting to help their virtual
characters achieve the ‘perfect figure’
and compete with each other to create
‘the coolest, richest and most famous
bimbo in the world’. The site currently has
over two million registered ‘bimbos’. At
www.my-minx.com, girls create avatars who
have ‘style off’ competitions with each
other, go clubbing to ‘pull’ men and take
the morning-after pill. Children of any age
can play as there is no robust method for
checking participants’ ages.
203 Ybarra and Mitchell (2008)
204 Ofcom (April 2008)