Sexualistation of Young People

Body image
“I’m probably going to get my tits done soon.
It’s not really that big a deal any more. Loads
of people do it.”
Girl, 15, interviewed by
Respect UK 270
The mass media promotes and reinforces
an idealised notion of beauty for both
men and women, presenting standards –
of thinness for women and of muscularity
for men – that few can ever hope to
achieve. As girls are hyper-sexualised, so
boys are being hyper-masculinised. Of
course young people respond to media
messages in complex ways but repeated
exposure to these images and messages
can lead both sexes to internalise
potentially harmful messages about their
own behaviour, their relationships with
each other and, ultimately, their value as
human beings.
Researchers agree that the female bodies
depicted in the media are getting thinner. 271
There is also evidence to suggest that girls
and young women adopt and internalise
idealised representations of the female
form. 272 An analysis of results from 25
experimental studies revealed that women
felt significantly worse about their bodies
after viewing pictures of thin models
than after viewing images of average- or
plus-sized models. 273 Similarly, men were
more depressed and had higher levels of
muscle dissatisfaction after seeing adverts
containing idealised images. 274 For both
sexes, exposure to idealised images in
270 Focus group consisting of African young people
living in South London. Held by Respect UK
(2010)
271 Ogletree, Williams, Raffield, Mason and Fricke
(1990); Silverstein, Perdue, Peterson and Kelly
(1986); Wiseman, Gray, Mosimann and Ahrens
(1992)
272 Thompson and Stice (2001); Schooler, Ward,
Merriwether and Caruthers (2004)
273 Groesz et al. (2002)
274 Agliata (2004)
magazines is linked with concerns about
physical appearance and eating problems. 275
Evidence also suggests that ‘…negative
self-evaluation in terms of body weight
and appearance is being practised by
increasingly younger generations. This
includes boys as well as girls.’ 276 Children as
young as six are expressing dissatisfaction
with their bodies and concerns about their
weight. 277 A series of group discussions run
on behalf of the Girl Guiding Association
with girls aged seven and over found that
many were seriously dissatisfied with their
appearance and weight. Nearly threequarters
of 7–11-year-olds wanted to
change some aspect of their appearance.
By the age of 10–11, one in eight wanted
to be thinner, rising to 21 per cent among
11–16-year-olds and 33 per cent of those
aged 16–21. Among this older group,
50 per cent said that they would consider
having cosmetic surgery to change their
appearance. 278
The pressure on boys to be muscular may
be just as harmful as the pressure on girls
to be thin. 279 A study of 595 adolescents
found that, while exposure to idealised
adverts did not lead to increased body
dissatisfaction for boys, it did lead to
increased negative mood and appearance
comparison for both sexes. 280 A selfreporting
exercise involving 14–16-yearolds
281 found that both boys and girls were
experiencing body shame and practising
body surveillance. 282
Idealised images also influence boys’
attitudes to girls’ bodies. A group of
13–15-year-old boys looked at 20 adverts
275 Morry and Staska (2001)
276 Hill (2006)
277 Flannery-Schroeder and Chrisler (1996);
Smolak and Levine (1994)
278 The Guide Assocation (2009)
279 Botta (2003)
280 Hargreaves and Tiggemann (2004)
281 Knauss and Paxton et al. (2008)
282 Botta (2003)
Sexualisation of Young People Review
55