Sexualistation of Young People

Sexualisation of Young People Review
74
Conclusion
The evidence set out in this document
suggests that there is broad agreement
among researchers and experts in health
and welfare that sexualising children
prematurely places them at risk of a
variety of harms, ranging from body
image disturbances to being victims of
abuse and sexual violence. 412
Sexualisation devalues women and
girls sending out a disturbing message
that they are always sexually available.
It creates false expectations for girls
trying to live up to unrealistic ‘ideals’, and
for boys in terms of how they think a
girl should be treated. It increases selfobjectification
and limits the aspirations
and choices that girls feel are open to
them. Sexualisation lowers important
barriers to child sexual abuse, and
undermines healthy relationships,
increasing the likelihood of violence
against women and girls.
There is both empirical research
and clinical evidence that premature
sexualisation harms children. There
is, however, a clear need for further
empirical evidence in the form of a
large-scale longitudinal study to look in
detail at how living in a sexualised culture
affects both boys and girls as they grow
and develop.
There are several reasons why such
evidence does not yet exist. First, large
longitudinal studies require careful
development and significant funding:
in Australia, the federal government
spent two years debating whether
the National Health and Medical
Research Council should fund such
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412 APA (2007); Coy (2009); Malamuth (2001); Tankard-Reist (2010)
413 The Children’s Plan: Building brighter futures, DCSF (2007)
a study. Second, such a study would
have to overcome considerable
ethical obstacles with regard to
breaches of family privacy and the risk
of further sexualising child participants.
Finally, many of the mechanisms through
which sexualisation is occurring are
relatively new. Only recently have we
begun to see psychologists and other
social scientists making a concerted
effort to address the issue.
So, we need more research.
Nevertheless, we should acknowledge
that the research and evidence from
child experts and clinicians gathered in
this report points clearly to the fact that
sexualisation is having a negative impact
on young people’s physical and mental
health, and helping to normalise abusive
behaviour towards women and children.
In 2007 the Department for Children,
Schools and Families published its
Children’s Plan 413 , aimed at making
England ‘the best place in the world
for children and young people to grow
up’ and which highlighted the need
to reduce the risk to children from
potentially harmful media content.
To do this, we must first accept that
sexualisation, as evidenced in this
report and in similar reports from the
US and Australia, is harmful. Only then
can we begin to develop strategies for
helping our young people to deal with
sexualisation and create spaces where
they can develop and explore their
sexuality in their own time and in their
own way.