Sexualisation of children and adolescents through advertising

By Mary Donohoe (9500195YS) and Crystal de Leon (S00040867)

The Sexualisation of children factsResearch shows that exposure to sexualised imagery is linked to children’s experience of:

• increased anxiety• Depression• low self-esteem• body image problems• eating disorders• self harm• sexually transmitted infections

Kids are also becoming sexually active at younger and younger ages.

reference: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/37158.html

High Fashion OR High Risk?You decide…

Please watch: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_MindBodyResource/10-year-models-grown-high-fashion-high-risk/story?id=14221160

Let children be childrenChildhood is meant to be a time of playfulness, learning and fun. Children are entitled to develop at their own pace, without pressure from developmentally inappropriate marketing and advertising.

Reference: http://www.communities.wa.gov.au/parents/parentingresources/Pages/Sexualisationofchildrenaandyoungpeopleinthemedia.aspx

What image do these toys sell?

Please watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwrel&v=Hm15Fd0Vzyc&NR=1

Beauty Pageants or Sexualisation of Children?

Is this a result of the sexualisation

of children being

portrayed in the media?

• Please watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83cF1qgwhqw

Harmless Fun?

What about boys?• The 2008 Senate inquiry into the sexualisation of children in the Media stated that “ youngpeople “have the right of innocence and should be allowed to mature at their own rate and not forced upon [sic] by media outlets, advertisers or designers”.”

• You would be hard-pressed to find a mother who would put her teenage son in a T-shirt that read: ”I’m a tits man”. Or one who would post a photo of her 16-year-old’s denim-clad bottom, emblazoned with the caption ”Booty shot!” on her blog. So why are parents of boys as young as two doing exactly this? It’s the result, say media experts, of a disturbing new trend: the sexualisation of young boys.

Reference: http://collectiveshout.org/2010/10/the-sexualisation-of-boys/http://www.generationnext.com.au/2010/11/boys-forfeit-their-right-to-innocence-as-sexualisation-takes-hold/

“Fashion's Sexualization of Tweens”

Please watch: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/tween-fashions-criticized-sexy/story?id=12107505

Think

• What do the images of these young girls portray to you?• Are children growing up too

quickly?• Are tweens ready for this world?• What are the implications?

Other Articles/Clips of interest• Article: http://collectiveshout.org/2010/10/the-sexualisation-of-boys/

• Article: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/37158.html • Watch: http://

www.dailymotion.com/video/xph9x0_child-beauty-pageants-copy321_school

• Article: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/vanm0049/psy1001section09spring2012/2012/04/toddlers-tiaras-eating-disorders.html