As Levin & Kilbourne (2009) states, "Children growing up today are bombarded from a very early age with graphic messages about sex and sexiness in the media and popular culture." Like most parents and early educators, I am extremely concerned about the effects of sexualization in the media on our children. As a parent of 9 and 5 year old boys and a 10 month old baby girl, I am terrified of the things that they may be exposed to when I am not around.
The most recent example of sexualization in the media is the song, "Sexy and I Know It." This song is all over every radio station, used as theme songs in numerous television shows, and even in a M&M commercial that aired for the first time while my family was watching the Superbowl. My five year old son loves music and loves to dance, so obviously this song is one that makes you want to dance. However, the lyrics and moves that go along with it are not appropriate (what so ever) for children. I have tried really hard to avoid this song at all cost, but it is hard to do when it is plastered all over the media. I have attached a link to the commercial for those of you that have not seen it. It may seem somewhat innocent; however, the original song and video are so inappropriate and the commerical is making reference to what is now called "the wiggle dance" made famous by the singing group of this song. You can also look up the original song on YouTube (just know that it is totally vulgar).
Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q33drZUXSzY
Another example of sexualization that I have experienced as a parent happened when my oldest son came home from school to tell me about a drawing on the school bus seat. Apparently, a middle school child had drawn two people doing sexual things on the back of the school bus seat. Well, of course, this led to the elementary children discussing what they thought the picture represented. My son came home very confused about things that some of the older children said on the bus. Unfortunately, my husband and I had to clear up some things with our 9 year old child that we were not yet ready for him to have to comprehend.
As an educator of fifth graders, I am often disturbed by the things I hear these children talk about. They seem to be very informed about sex, sexuality, and sexual content. I hear them talk about television shows, movies, music, and video games that are clearly not appropriate for children. Not only do I blame the media for completely exploiting sex to make money, I also blame the adults that are suppose to be supervising these children. I am not naive enough to believe that parents have complete control of what their children are watching and being exposed to; however, I do believe that part of the problem is the lack of supervision of children.
As educators, we can continue to provide positive, age-appropriate learning experiences for children. I would love to read this entire book, so that I can be prepared to help children survive and thrive in this sexualized world.
References:
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
Tabitha, You wrote an amazing blog on sexualization of early childhood. Since our children are young an innocene, it is the parents responsiblity to protect our children from harm. As an educator, I will teach parents to watch and monitor what type of music their children are listening too and what type of websites their children are logging into on the internet. Hopefully, following these guidelines will help to minimize sexual exploitation of our young children.
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