The Sexualization of Early Childhood

The topic of the sexualization of children, is always an extremely hard topic to encounter within education and more importantly within parenting of young children. As an educator it is always extremely hard to have these conversations arise and make their presence known within the classroom and within the society that we live. The dangers that sexualization weighs on the lives and spiritual/mental/physical well-being is life-altering and as educators, guiders, and parents--we should take special care to not allow our children and the lives of the children that we encounter within the classroom  setting to become corrupted by the signals and images that mainstream media is portraying for them to follow. 

In this week's reading of the article, "So Sexy, So Soon," the authors points out that children within this day and time are being bum-rushed and 'bombarded' with very graphic and inappropriate images about sex and the mainstream definition of 'sexiness' within Hollywood and 'popular culture' (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). The authors go on to explain that this popular culture and Hollywood mainstream is making a point to over-sexualize materials on purpose, targeted towards children and underage minors with the intent of making the maximum amount in profits--regardless of the costs (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).
Our text has already informed us that children at a young age are looking at the media and older adults in order to decipher the concepts of self-image, race, culture and other factors within the society. Based on those deciphering, children then make a decision about themselves and how they should react and function within society (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). With this in mind, we should take an extra ounce of care as professionals, educators, guardians and parents to make sure that we nurture our babies with care and appropriate devotion with the notion that their spiritual and mental wellness is at stake!

 There are many examples of the sexualization that I have seen first hand or have seen children fall victim to over the years. The best examples I can thing of are through the media portrayal of the sex within children programming such as Disney, Dreamworks, and major television networks such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. It has been said that the portrayal of sex and adult themes and subliminal images can be seen heavily within children's movies. Below I am including a short presentation put together by "ODD TV" as well as a few images that show children's movies and media portrayals that are unacceptable (not too graphic) but that go to show the extent to which media will portray an image on a "soft-kill" message to children, only to prep them for the "slaughter" as they enter into the age of young ladies and young men. This example can also be seen through the lyrics that of songs that are being presented over the airways that children fall victim to hearing and reciting. These lyrics in repetition almost become ingrained as the 'status-quo' or norm of society and end up being the demise of the self-image of children. Again the reading pointed out that there is a "narrow definition of femininity and sexuality" that is moving girls to focus on sex and sex appeal. Unfortunately, children are encountering these images at a young age and their tiny minds are not able to properly decipher that the material being viewed or seen or heard is inappropriate and should not be applied to their lives (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). To make matters worse, there are many parents out there who are supporting the demise of their children, but "prostituting" their children's images for personal wealthy and fame and children are being forced into the 'den of lions' so to speak with very few exits. 

This look at the sexualization of children has only supported my reasoning for promoting positive cultural and ethnic images of children when it comes to their self-concept and perception so that the holistic child is uplifted. I have 5 daughter all under the age of 10 myself, and I am very keen and careful about they things that they view and the music that they listen to, because I know that the wrong materials can send the wrong message that can ultimately scar them for life. In my undergrad work, years ago, I looked at the same topics of the media portrayal of children (specifically Brown children) and the effects on their self-concept and worth. Since that time, the messages have only gotten worse, and it is our OBLIGATION and DUTY as adults to "Draw the line in the sand," for lack of better metaphors against the filth and inappropriate images at are damaging children male and definitely female at a deadly rate. If this imagery is not flushed and replaced with positive imagery and self concepts--then the effects may not only result in a physical death of the image and maybe life of a child--it will ALWAYS lead to the possible death of a child's metal health, which as educators/guardians and parents is our Number 1 responsibility to care for!


References:


Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2009). [Introduction]. So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids (pp. 1-8). New York: Ballantine Books. Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDhMnBl7kzA