Sexualization
of Girls in Media
World
we are living in today is different place than it was few years back.
Technology has revolutionized how people work and communicate. Business entities, for instance, utilize
media technology to market their products and services. However, there are
negative consequences to this: multiple firms sexualize underage girls to boost
brand image (Starr et al., 2012). To
surprise of activist groups, relevant authorities do little to arrest the
situation and reverse the trend.
Sexualization
refers to making an individual aware of their sexuality. It occurs when people,
mostly females, are viewed as sex objects hence general evaluation in terms of
their sexiness and physical characteristics. Today, media outlets increase
viewership of their contents through depiction of images of underage girls dressed
in revealing clothing. Objectification
of girls has resulted in moral decline linked to surge in underage rape cases.
Recent studies indicate that sexualization of young children in advertisement
wields a negative effect to their personality as they grow up. In the society, viewers of sexualized content
end up being depressed, or dissatisfied with their bodies. Some individuals can
have low levels of self-esteem and eating disorders.
In
the Report of the APA
Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, there are fundamental evidence that support media’s
sexualization of young girls. For instance, the report states that movies including cruel intentions and American Pie have multiple sections that
depict women in absolute nudity. In
addition, nearly half of music videos aired by MTV have sexualized content.
Clothing Chains are increasingly sexualizing
young girls in adverts. A classical example is American Apparel’s advert depicting a child barely dressed. Instead, a girl
should be depicted wearing decent clothing in an office setting to symbolize
success of women in corporate world. ‘Here Comes Honey Boo Boo' is a TV show about a six-year-old pageant contestant. As
the message suggests, the show sexualizes young girl in her innocence years.
Notably, the show has a 1.4 Million viewership. Besides a complete overhaul of
entire show, it is recommendable that producer should rephrase show’s title to
‘Here Comes a Brilliant kid.’ Such a resounding message will empower other
girls to work harder, rather than focusing on becoming sexual objects.
Response to Ideas and Questions
First
Response
I agree with you. Indeed, sexualization is on a
steep ascent. Even worse, the authorities tasked with media censorship are
failing. It seems like sexualization of young girls is becoming a norm. Kids growing in digital age ape activities
done all over the internet and mainstream media at large (Olfman, 12). If
government fails in cracking down on culprits, the future is gloomy.
Whistle-blowing will hasten the process of repealing sexism in media.
Media
houses and marketers are not the only parties to blame in an increase of
sexualism. Parents have failed as well. The time they spend with their young
children, especially girls, should be utilized on education regarding the
importance of personal dignity and a need to refrain from such immoral acts. If
they do this, it will be much easier to regulate sexism from doing more damage
to the mainstream media.
Second Response
You
are right. Doll manufacturers should exercise their ethical duties. Most of
them design sexist dolls to attract larger market share. What they are
forgetting is their moral obligations. While evident sexualization in dolls is
not as common, preliminary measures should be taken to curb the worrying
development. However, you should bear in mind there are multiples of sources of
sexualization that our young girls, including my siblings, are vulnerable. I believe that more focus should be directed
to more harmful sexualization including the exploitative use of young girls in
adult film industry and adverts.
Works Cited
Olfman, Sharna. The Sexualization of Childhood.
Santa Barbara ABC -CLIO,
2009. 1-17. Electronic.
No comments:
Post a Comment