Digital Father Podcast

Sexualization

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), sexualization occurs when:

• a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics;
• a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy;
• a person is sexually objectified—that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or
• sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person. All four conditions need not be present; any one is an indication of sexualization.The fourth condition (the inappropriate imposition of sexuality) is especially relevant to children.Anyone (girls, boys, men, women) can be sexualized.

The APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls just published a literature study. Some interesting points-

• a 1997 study found that over a 40 year period, sexualized ads focused on women 85% of the time, and the percentage increased over time;
• A 1988 study shows that “teachers sometimes encourage girls to play at being sexualized adult women”;
• 1995 and 2000 studies showed “girls polic[e] each other to ensure conformance with standards of thinness and sexiness”;
• “Psychological researchers have identified self-objectification as a key process whereby girls learn to think of and treat their own bodies as objects of others’ desires”;

Self-objectification can interfere with concentration and focus. In one example, “college students were asked to try on and evaluate either a swimsuit or a sweater. While they waited for 10 minutes wearing the garment, they completed a math test. The results revealed that young women in swimsuits performed significantly worse on the math problems than did those wearing sweaters.”

Not surprisingly, sexualization is linked to eating disorders, low self-esteem, depression, adult sexual problems. Women who are exposed to these images actually may eventually endorse these stereotypes. Men have more difficulty finding an “acceptable” partner.

The APA has some thoughts on how we can counter these issues. Their 5-pronged plan includes:

1. Research- The available research is, at best, limited, and focuses primarily on women. Girls need to be more closely studied.
2. Practice- Psychologists need to raise awareness of this issue to all, through collaboration with others. Maybe schools should step up on this issue.
3. Education and Training- Psychologists need to be fully trained in dealing with this issue.
4. Public Policy- This should be good. The APA wants to work with government in programs to counter sexualization and offer ways for girls to “feel more powerful” than “just through a sexy appearance.”
5. Public Awareness- The APA wants to create multimedia presentations as well as awards recognizing for positive portrayals of girls in the media.

I don’t know that any of this is unexpected. However, I’m glad to see it all quantified.

What are we doing as parents to make sure our sons and daughters are aware of these images and issues? Do we feed into this negative feedback loop? The following folks need to stand up and pay attention to this issue:

• MGA Entertainment for Bratz Dolls
• “America’s Next Top Model”
• MTV
• Most magazines, especially teen magazines and mags like People and Us.
• The Pussycat Dolls
• Children’s Beauty Pageants

I have a request of clothing designers and sellers. For heavens sake: could you please cover a midriff? It’s nearly impossible for a parent to buy clothing that covers our daughters. I would like to buy something other than t-shirts and sweatshirts, but you leave me no choice. Every other type of shirt exposes her belly button. What is worse is that her pants can barely reach her hips. Combine these two items and no girl can pay attention to anything except the fact that her belly is hanging out.

As a 40+ male, I can tell you that if my clothes fit me like that, I would be unable to concentrate on anything other than my fat belly hanging out. It wouldn’t matter if I were thin- would I be thin enough? Is everyone looking at my belly? Do I look fat? What are they thinking.

Now- multiply 8 by 38. Yeah, right.

powered by performancing firefox