The Sexualization of Early Childhood

According to the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls (2010), 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;

·         sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person.

As a professional in the field of early childhood education, I have seen an increase of suggestive sexual messages geared towards young children on today. Growing up I remember being shielded from my family members if something came on television provocative, but today there are sexual images plastered everywhere. There are more dolls/toys showing off girl’s bodies than ever before and suggestive sayings in music and even television programs designed for children. It disturbs me to see how times have changed and makes me weary of what will come next for future generations.

As a child growing up, I can remember only two or three young girls engaging in sex. In recent years, that once small number has nearly quadrupled.  There have been an increase in teenage pregnancies and this is the generation for the new age grandparents, ranging between the ages of 30-40. When I was in college this show, “Teen Mom” aired, and from the very beginning, I was against and still against watching the show. I refused to watch a television program in a sense glorifying teen pregnancy while those teen mothers gain a profit. So many of my classmates just fell in love with the show but deep down I knew how being a teen mom influenced and changed lives. My mother was pregnant with me at age 16 and had both my younger siblings by the time she was 21 years old, and I know how rough and hard it was growing up to a single mother. Although my mother did the best she could there were days that I wondered how life would be if my siblings and I came much later in our mother’s life.

Over the past, few months I have noticed that one of my students insist on kissing the other little girls. The student, in which I am referring to, has two mommies and often speaks on how she does not have a daddy. The other day during circle time, the students were sitting on the mat when the little girl turned, grabbed her friend’s cheeks and began kissing her. I was shocked because it was as if she absolutely knew what she was doing and had no regard. I immediately stepped in and informed the child that although we like our friends that it was not okay to kiss them and that hugs were how we showed our friends we liked them.  The little girl nodded her head showing that she understood but I had to figure out the best possible solution of expressing that to her parents without making them uncomfortable, which was not a hard task.

            My niece is such a joy to be around and we have discovered her love for music. Now I was always the singer in the family but my sisters were the dancers (I have two right feet, not left).  My niece has the complex that all electronic devices are hers and is often times trying to get to the music. One day my sister, my niece and I were in the living room, when my sister began dancing. My niece then climbed off the sofa, bent over, and started shaking her behind. Before I knew it I picked her up and expressed how little girls should not dance like that, but my sister on the other hand did not agree.  She laughed and talked how it was cute but I felt it was inappropriate to allow a child to dance in such a provocative manner.

According to the article, “So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids”, authors Levin & Kilbourne concluded the following (2009):

“Both boys and girls are routinely exposed to images of sexual behavior devoid of emotions, attachment, or consequences. They learn that sex is the defining activity in relationships, to the exclusion of love and friendship. They learn that sex is often linked to violence. And they learn to associate physical appearance and buying the right products not only with being sexy but also with being successful as a person.  Such lessons will shape their gender identity, sexual attitudes, and values, and their capacity for relationships, for love and connection that they take into adulthood. While they struggle to make sense of all this, children are robbed of valuable time for age-appropriate developmental tasks, and they may begin to engage in precocious sexual behavior”.

Sexualization can influence and shape gender identity, values and other things, but it is our jobs as adults to show young children the importance of valuing themselves and not relying on others to validate them. I believe if we as adults model good behavior that young children will feed off it and do the same. I also believe that by building confidence that children will step away from what others around them are doing and follow their own lead.

This week has opened my eyes in my awareness of sexualization of early childhood and has shaped how I want to shield young children from these images, even though they are healthy images. I just believe it is important to keep young children pure and innocent and it is my hope that one day the rest of society will do the same. Here below is a link to a video in which I found helpful in exposing sexualization among young children. The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWLdSwO_cwo

References

American Psychological Association (2010).  Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report-full.pdf

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