We’re forcing our children to become sexual beings before they’re ready. Media and advertising agencies are turning kids, particularly young girls, into sexual commodities — and the effect is devastating.
The sexualisation of children can have grave psychological implications. We know that the exploitation of adolescents as sexual objects increases the risk of depression, anxiety, eating disorders and low self-esteem.
Body image fears can act as a barrier to young girls’ participation in sport, and the time, money and mental energy they devote to their appearance distracts from other developmental activities — physical, intellectual and artistic.
This trend also encourages children to initiate sexual behaviour at an earlier age, before they fully understand the consequences. It’s leading to a higher incidence of unwanted sex and is aiding the spread of sexually transmitted infections.
Psychologists warn that the sexualisation of children could play a role in “grooming” children for paedophiles. For example, most girls’ magazines actively encourage primary school girls to have “crushes” on adult male celebrities.
Australian Policy Online argues that this representation of children as “miniature adults playing adult sexual roles” sends a message to paedophiles that, contrary to laws and ethical norms, children are “sexually available”.
This is all of great concern to the Australian Democrats.
That is why last week we pressed the Government to establish an inquiry to address the problem. It will consider the “sources and beneficiaries of sexualisation of children” and publish a report by March suggesting ways to curb the use of sexualised images of children in the media.
We believe that the sexualisation of children is an abuse both of children and of public morality.
I’m personally sickened by images of 12-year-old girls with pouty looks on their faces advertising sexy clothing. Children at the age of nine are being made to worry whether they look sexy or not, and bras are being targeted at four- to six-year-olds.
The practice of sexualising children in this way is pervasive in our society. A 16-year-old girl was recently used as the “face” of a Melbourne fashion festival. Thankfully, she was replaced after public backlash.
But there are many more examples of children even younger than 16 being used to sell a whole range of consumer goods and services to adults. They’re being dressed and made up the same way as sexy adult models. The trend is alarming.
The Australian Psychological Society says that children are dressed in clothing and posed in ways designed to draw attention to adult sexual features that children don’t possess — most notably, breasts and hips.
By sexualising children, we’re sending a message that physical appearance and beauty are fundamental to social worth. And, most appallingly, we’re suggesting that sexual attractiveness should be part of the childhood experience.
Marketers and the media are benefiting from this exploitation, and yet they don’t fully understand the consequences. Or are they simply choosing to turn a blind eye?
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