The Sexualization of Early Childhood

“Children growing up today are bombarded from a very early age with graphic messages about sex and sexiness in the media and popular culture."

                                                                                        (Levin & Kilbourn, 2009, p. 2)                                                                           

When working with children we want them to believe in and respect themselves as well as valuing and liking who they are. With that said how do we try and reinforce this when we are faced with the sexualization of childhood?

When I think about the topic of the sexualization of early childhood, I think about loss of innocence and the loss of the inner beauty that make us special. The media uses violent content and sexual imagery to sells products to both boys and girls (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). Children should be exposed to developmentally appropriate experiences, not inappropriate messages that are represented by the media. According to Diane Levin (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010), she explained that we are surrounded by a highly sexualized environment that is marked by gender stereotyping of both girls and boys in the media.

The music children listen, sing and dance to, the clothes that some children wear, and the obsession with make-up and nail polish are some of the examples from my personal and professional experience that further illustrate the exposure of young children to a highly sexualized environment. I just took my daughter shopping for shorts……could they be any shorter?? Thank goodness for Old Navy…the only store we found that had more than short shorts!!Whatever happened to the toys that I used to play with when I was a child? Have any of you seen how "Strawberry Shortcake” has been transformed? Why the need to sexualize Strawberry Shortcake?  She was fine the way she was!!!

My daughter is 11 and I am at times stunned by the “hidden” messages that she sees on television about how she needs to dress or to look in order to be a girl. I think it was about a year ago, I was brushing her hair while she was standing in front of the mirror and she asked me, “Mommy, am I pretty?” I looked at her and I said, “Yes. You are beautiful because you are kind, generous, loving, funny, and caring.”  She looked at me through the mirror and smiled back at me. My daughter is also beautiful, but I wanted to take that moment and make it a teachable moment, so she understood that beauty is also what is inside us not primarily about our appearance.

There are so many implications that sexualization has on children’s healthy development. Diane Levin (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010) explained that children’s ideas about what it means to be a boy or girl and sexuality is greatly influenced by what surrounds them. “Children begin to learn narrow definitions of gender and sexuality that focus primarily on appearance (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010, p. 96).The article, "So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids" explained that, "the socialization of childhood is having a profoundly disturbing impact on children's understanding of gender, sexuality, and relationships" (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 3). The sexualization of childhood can teach children that sex is the defining activity in relationships, to the exclusion of love and friendship (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).

Diane Levin (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010) identified how we can respond to these concerns and reduce the negative impact on children. She explained that we need to protect children from popular culture’s sexual attack, help children to look beyond the stereotypes they see around them, be a role model, stop blaming children for the sexualized behavior they have learned from the sexualized environment, talk to children and answer their questions (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010).

This topic of sexualization of childhood has reinforced within me the power that the media has over children and the messages they give to children about gender. As educators we need to help children develop to their fullest as a boys and girls so they can understand what makes healthy relationships when they are older (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010).

References 

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

Levin, D.E., & Kilbouren, J. (2009). [Introducation]. 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://dianelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf