Sexualistation of Young People

Sexualisation of Young People Review
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Introduction (cont.)
There is strong evidence to show that
children learn from what they see, and
that they internalise those messages
to create their own set of ‘rules’ and
codes of behaviour. From the messages
that they get from their parents and
peers, to the ads they view and the
games they play, children are constantly
being bombarded with, and need to
make sense of, both overt and covert
messages around them.
Interestingly, although we are happy to
acknowledge the educational value of
games, there seems some hypocrisy
when it comes to what we are willing to
accept that children are actually learning.
Making the point that educational
computer games can help develop
learning is fine but we can not in the
same breath state that violent or genderstereotyped
games have no effect.
It’s pretty clear that the mechanisms we
have used over the years to tell girls they
should be thinner are working. Eating
disorders are on the rise with BEAT (a
National Charity offering support for
people affected by eating disorders)
and several other international studies
reporting increases. Eating disorders have
the highest mortality rate of any mental
illness. The mortality rate associated with
anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than
the death rate from all causes of death
for females 15–24 years old. 269
269 http://www.anorexia-nervosa-treatment.net/index.php (US statistics)
Clearly, through various mechanisms,
girls have been encouraged to see
their value and hence seek to control
or affect their lives through being thin
and beautiful. Now we’re starting to
see what happens when you tweak the
message to tell girls that they need to be
not only thin, but also sexually desirable.
Interestingly, as anorexia increases so now
does the number of young women having
breast implants and at an increasingly
younger age. The intent arguably is to
feel accepted, to feel desirable and to
feel in control of their destinies – after
all, as some theorists would argue, the
sexualisation of young women is now
being re-packaged as empowerment.
It can be tempting to think that girls are
taking the brunt, that boys have it easier.
It still seems to be the case that a man
can be recognised and respected for
something other than his looks. But in
some ways, the messages we’re sending
out to boys are just as limiting and
restrictive: be macho, be strong, don’t
show your emotions. Hyper-sexualisation
of femininity can’t exist without hypermasculinisation
of males. They feed off
and reinforce each other.
In this section, we look at how
sexualisation is affecting people’s
confidence, self-esteem and mental
health, influencing the way individuals
relate to each other and effectively
reshaping social norms.