Sexualistation of Young People

Sexualisation of Young People Review
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351
Introduction (cont.)
By sending out the message that girls
are there to be used and abused, there
is a danger that we are turning boys
into consumers of the female body, who
see sex as a means of domination and
control rather than an act of intimacy
and a source of mutual pleasure. One
girl interviewed as part of a recent study
on gang violence gave the following
explanation for why girls have sex:
“It’s to keep the boy happy… to make
him like you more and to please him and
stop him from having sex with other girls.
Sometimes it hurts but you don’t want to
say anything because then he’ll just leave
you for someone that will do all the stuff
he wants and please him better.” 351
Many of the professionals who work
with gangs and informed this review
noted that in gang culture, sex is referred
to as ‘beating’ and, increasingly, rape is
being used as the weapon of choice to
Attitudes to violence
“Images of women as objects or in
submissive poses normalises violence against
women. Men associate these images with
women walking down the street.”
Focus group participant 352
There is a significant amount of evidence
linking stereotypical attitudes to women’s
sexuality, adversarial sexual beliefs,
acceptance of the ‘rape myth’ 353 and sexist
351 Evidence provided in a focus group, held as
part of the Review (2009)
352 Women’s National Commission (2009)
353 See definition on page 50
settle disputes or get revenge with
gang members by raping girlfriends,
sisters and even mothers of their rivals.
And although gangs make up only a
small part of society in the UK, the
use of violence as a means to punish
and control is not just in the domain
of sub-cultures. The shocking results
of a recent survey carried out by the
NSPCC show that for many young
people, violence within relationships is
commonplace. It seems that notions of
power and control over the female body,
and the pressure on boys to conform to
a hyper-masculine ideal, are having a very
real – and very damaging – effect on our
day-to-day lives.
This section provides an overview of
the evidence for the links between
sexualisation and aggression, including
violence within relationships. It also
considers the role of pornography in
normalising violent behaviour.
beliefs with aggressive sexual behaviour. 354
A recent Home Office survey found that
36 per cent of people polled believed that
a woman should be held wholly or partly
responsible for being sexually assaulted
or raped if she was drunk, while 26 per
cent believed a woman should accept
at least part of the blame for an attack
if she was out in public wearing sexy or
revealing clothes. 355
354 Dean and Malamuth (1997); Malamuth and
Briere (1986); Malamuth and Donnerstein
(1982, 1984); Murnen, Wright and Kaluzny
(2002); Osland, Fitch and Willis (1996); Spence,
Losoff and Robbins (1991); Truman, Tokar and
Fischer (1996); Vogel (2000)
355 Home Office (2009)