Sexualistation of Young People

Sexualisation of Young People Review
6
Sexualisation, learning
and development
4. Healthy sexuality is an important
component of both physical and
mental health. When based on mutual
respect between consenting partners,
sex fosters intimacy, bonding and
shared pleasure. 2 Sexualisation is the
imposition of adult sexuality on to
children and young people before they
are capable of dealing with it, mentally,
emotionally or physically.
5. While sexualised images have featured
in advertising and communications
since mass media first emerged,
what we are seeing now is an
unprecedented rise in both the
volume and the extent to which these
images are impinging on everyday
life. Increasingly, too, children are
being portrayed in ‘adultified’ ways
while adult women are ‘infantilised’. 3
This leads to a blurring of the
lines between sexual maturity and
immaturity and, effectively, legitimises
the notion that children can be related
to as sexual objects.
6. A number of factors shape the
way children and young people are
responding to the sexualisation of
culture. One of the most significant
is the individual child’s age and
level of cognitive and emotional
development. Regardless of a child’s
level of sophistication, when it comes
to internalising media and advertising
messages, there is a large body
of research from developmental
psychologists that attests to the fact
that young children do not have
the cognitive skills to cope with
persuasive media messages. 4 There
2 Satcher (2001)
3 Evidence provided to the review by
Dr K. Sarikakis (2009)
4 Mayo & Nairn (2009)
is also the cumulative or ‘drip drip’
effect of exposure to sexualised
messages, themes and images over
time and in diverse settings. Children
and young people now have easy
access to material that may not be
age-appropriate. Core cognitive
learning and developmental theories
demonstrate that children learn
vicariously from what they see, and
that exposure to themes which a child
is not developmentally ready to cope
with can have a detrimental effect. 5
7. Children and young people today
are not only exposed to increasing
amounts of hyper-sexualised images,
they are also sold the idea that they
have to look ‘sexy’ and ‘hot’. As such
they are facing pressures that children
in the past simply did not have to face.
As children grow older, exposure to
this imagery leads to body surveillance,
or the constant monitoring of personal
appearance. This monitoring can result
in body dissatisfaction, a recognised
risk factor for poor self-esteem,
depression and eating disorders. 6
Indeed, there is a significant amount of
evidence that attests to the negative
effects of sexualisation on young
people in terms of mental and physical
health, attitudes and beliefs. 7
8. If we are going to address this issue
then young people need to develop
and grow in surroundings where
they are admired for their abilities,
talents and values. It is important to
stress however, that in the diverse,
multicultural UK context, cultural,
religious and class backgrounds will
invariably influence the family’s role in
mediating sexualised media content
5 Bandura (1971); Bem (1981)
6 McKinley (1999); Moradi et al. (2005); Polivy,
Herman et al. (2002); Tolman, Impett, Tracy and
Michael (2006)
7 Abramson and Valene (1991); Durkin and
Paxton (2002); Harrison (2000)