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So Sexy, So Soon:

The Sexualization of Childhood in Commercial Culture

 Presented by Diane Levin, Ph.D. at CCFC's 4th annual Consuming Kids Summit

Changes in Media. 

When the Federal Communications Commission deregulated children’s television in 1984, it became possible to use TV programs to market toys and other products to children for the first time. That is when marketers began to treat children as fair game as a consumer group and they began to use the media en masse, especially through programs that were linked to whole lines of toys and other products, to market to children. I have been documenting the changes in childhood culture and their impact on children ever since deregulation. One huge change since 1984 that has received much attention is the increasing amount of violence that is marketed to boys through media and commercial culture. Another change that came with deregulation that has received less attention is the increasing use of sexual content and imagery to market to children, especially girls. And in recent years, the linking of the violence and sexual imagery has also become common practice.

How (and Why) Sexual Content Is Marketed to Children.

There are many sources of sexual content directed at children in commercial culture—usually designed to try to catch children’s attention in order to sell them products. Most common, is the use of sexual content in electronic media programming (including TV programs, movies, video and computer games). This content is used, in part, because it captures children’s attention. They are drawn to the dramatic, confusing and scary images in order to try to figure them out or feel powerful. Then, as children see the media, endless products linked to the sexual content in media, including toys, clothes and other products with images from the media on them. Often media rated for older children or adults is marketed with products with age recommendations for young children. But even when media is not involved, more and more toys and other products are marketed to young girls that focus girls on sexy appearance (defined as “being skinny”) and behavior—for instance, in their dolls (e.g., Bratz dolls with very short skirts and big breasts and lips) and clothing (e.g., shirts that expose belly buttons). All of the strategies combined get girls focused on having skinny bodies and buying the clothes, make-up and accessories that make you look “pretty,” “grown-up,” and “sexy.” This focus on appearance and what you need to buy to achieve the correct and sexy one serves the interests of manufacturers and marketers, but it very harmful for children.

Why the Sexualization of Childhood Is Harmful for Children.

It is not the fact that children are learning about sex when they are young that is a problem, the problem is what today’s sexualized environment is teaching them. Children’s ideas about what it means to be a boy and girl and about the nature of sex and sexuality develop gradually and are greatly influenced by the information the environment provides. The sexual content in the popular culture of today bombards girls with large doses of sexual content that they cannot understand and that can even scare them. It provides them with a very narrow definition of femaleness and sexuality that is focuses them primarily on appearance—their value is determined by how well they succeed at meeting the sexualized ideal. It can also promote precocious sexual behavior before they have an understanding of the deeper meanings of the behavior. When children are young, long before they can fully understand the meaning of sex and sexual relations, we should be laying the foundation for later healthy sexual relationships. And unless we begin to deal more proactively with the disconnect between what children need and what they are getting today, it does not bode well for the future of intimate and caring relationships in which sex is a part, when today’s children grow up.

What We Can Do

·  We can help children by working to protect them as much and as long as possible from the sexual onslaught in the commercial culture.  We can also work to delay the drive to consume more and more products related to the sexualized commercial culture. We can stop blaming children for doing things they do that are a normal response to the onslaught. Instead, we can help them feel safe talking to us so we can help them process what they see, answer questions and clear up confusions, and try to influence what they are learning from it. We can provide them with models of caring and affectionate relationship between adults that will help lay the foundation they need to later develop caring sexual relationships. We can also get parents and schools working together to learn more about and then support each other’s efforts to help children deal with these issues.

·  We must work at all levels to create a society that is more supportive of children’s healthy gender and sexual development, including limiting the power of corporations to market sex to children. From public education campaigns, to grass roots organizing, to crafting legislation and policies at the local state and national level, to exploring legal avenues, we must demand that society (including government and corporations) provide an environment that supports parents’ efforts to raise healthy children, instead of making their job harder at every turn.   

Diane Levin PhD (dlevin@wheelock.edu) is professor of education at Wheelock College in Boston where she teaches a summer institute on media violence and children. Her most recent books are "Remote Control Childhood? Combating the Hazards of Media Culture" and "Teaching Young Children in Violent Times." She is a founder of CCFC and Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment (TRUCE).