Saturday, October 13, 2012
The Sexualization of Early Childhood
After reading “So sexy so soon”, it brought a more comprehensive psychological proof of what it truly happens when children are exposed to sex and violence too soon. I have personally seen examples of what it can do to children, I have seen little girls dress way too provocative at such an incredibly early age, boys and girls dancing using pelvic thrusts, singing song lyrics that they obviously do not know the true meaning of.
I remember when I was such a young child myself, there was a song on the radio, “I want to sex you up” by Color me Badd, now at that age I honestly did not know what the song truly meant but I began belting out the lyrics to my dolls, my mother heard and ran in and scolded me, took the radio away from me and ran out. I know first hand, how it effects children and society has brought the idea of sex to the forefront in a way that forces looks to be important overall and not give a proper explanation of sexuality is, and society ends up teaching our children a negative aspect of sexuality that is out of the hands of adults. I strongly believe that this is an issue, it was an issue over twenty years ago when I was a child, and it has just gotten worse over time. I think this excerpt or book that needs to be introduced to everyone, all parents, to all of society.
This reminder of this issue for me was interesting, just reading the excerpt helped me realize that we can do something to reverse the effects of this obviously damaging subject. It has also caused me to look more into it and how I can help children from falling under society’s spell and help both parents and my teaching and making a better impact on children when it comes to “sexualization”. Now off to reading the rest of the book and continuing research…
Resource:
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.
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Jaime,
ReplyDeleteWonderful post. I have a similar memory of that song; however, my mom was pretty up front about why the song was not meant for little girls to sing. I knew that the word 'sex' meant boy or girl, but she told me that 'sex' also meant something more and that we would talk about it later that evening. Later that night, she had the 'sex' talk with me. I can only hope that I am insightful and half as wonderful as my parents. Great post!!!
I do remember listening to lyrics that now as an adult, I realize what the words meant. But I know when I was 5 years old, I was listening to nursery rhymes. I agree with you, that this topic needs to be brought up and this book needs to be shared. We need more awareness on this topic.
ReplyDeleteI remember singing songs that I did not know the meaning of the lyrics, I just liked the song. I think today though, we have young adults that are becoming parents at a very young age and the music they listen to is heard by our youngsters. Many kids think that it must be okay because mom/dad listen to it. I think parents need to really focus on what they are listening to and watching on tv. They also need to be careful of the affection they are showing in front of the kids. I have seen many boys smack the butts of girls and say well mommy's boyfriend does it all the time.
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