The Sexualization of Early Childhood

One thing I have always thought makes children so special is their innocence. Unfortunately today, this is exactly what is being stripped from children at early ages. There are new innovative technology devices that create easy access to social media, and celebrity sensations. Our children are exposed to these images through aspects of song, Internet, television, through cell phones, and magazines. Most of these media images perpetuate the societal importance of looks, body image, and sex.

Sexualization has to do with treating other people (and sometimes oneself) as “objects of sexual (Levin,& Kilbourne, 2009). When thinking about sexualization of children, what initially came to my mind was children's beauty pageants. When I was young my mother entered me in to a beauty pageant. She wanted me to gain confidence and come out of my shell a bit, as I was a shy child. My experience of participating in the pageant was quite different than what I see of young girls today. I was watching the television show “Toddlers in Tierras” and felt disbelief of the the activity that was going on. These children as young as 3yrs were made up to appear like adult women. I also did dot like the emphasis that was placed on the looks of the children and their body image in swim suits. I feel this is prime example of placing the emphasis of appearance before a persons character.
The second example that disturbed me pertaining to child sexualization came from my son. My four year old asked me “mommy when am I going to have a naked party”. I immediately began to question him about where that idea came from, and had anyone spoken to him about that before. It turns out that a young girl in his pre-school wanted to have a sleepover, and she told him they can have a naked party. I'm not sure where these thoughts originated from in her environment, but I did bring this up to the teachers and director of the program. They informed me that they would be certain to address this with the young girl and her family.
The third example of childhood sexualization involves my friend's son who is 12. I overheard him comment one day that girls are supposed to have big boobs, not little ones. He was talking to his friend who was visiting. His mom corrected him immediately and discussed this with him and his friend. At this time I just thought he was coming of age where he is interested in girls. I didn't think about the previously formed perceptions of women in his mind.
I believe that if we do not discuss these topics with our children they will associate sexualization with the meaning of love or relationships. In order to tech our children, both boys and girls, to respect each other and themselves we must openly communicate about these topics. It is inevitable that at some point our children will be exposed to sexualized behavior or images. If we keep the lines of communication open to our children and tech them the importance of caring and friendship over looks and sex, we can teach them important lessons about relationships.

I found it helpful to read the excerpt on sexualized childhood. Being that I do not currently work in the education system, I was stunned at the prevalence of this problem occurring at such early ages. I will be more mindful of this topic in the future. I feel that it has become so acceptable to experience images of sexuality in our media, that sometimes we forget that children are watching as well.

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