Too sexy Too soon: Protecting Children Against the Sexualization of Childhood.

     As a young girl, I remember singing the catchy jingle, "I don't want to grow up; I'm a ToysRUs kid".  I can almost recite the whole song in adulthood even though I haven't heard it in two decades.  But, have you heard what young girls are singing today?  "If you like it, then you better put a ring on it" and "I'm too sexy for my shirt, sooo sexy".  If you think I'm a prude, you're wrong.  If you don't think this is a problem, you're also wrong.  Next time you walk down the aisles of a toy store, take a moment to observe all the sexualized and sexist messages available to children packaged as toys.  Or, spend 30 minutes watching a kid sit-com and count the sexualized messages bombarding our children.  Many industries make many executives rich using sex and violence to market products; today's child gets overt exposure to highly publicized adult sexual messages, ads, entertainment, music, billboards, video games, commercials and street slang references to pop culture.  We can't have our children walking around covering their eyes and closing their ears all day to their everyday environments, so what are we to do to combat the over-sexualization of our children?
     "We want to be clear that sexualization is not the same as sexuality or sex. According to the Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls published by the American Psychological Association in 2007, sexualization has to do with treating other people (and sometimes oneself) as “objects of sexual desire . . . as things rather than as people with legitimate sexual feelings of their own.” (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 4).  If you take a moment to study the toy aisles, you will notice all sorts of sexualized messages actually printed on toy boxes.  They stereotype children, send powerful messages, and discourage children from necessary developmental experimentation with gender roles such as few pictures of military women or men in domestic roles.  "A narrow definition of femininity and sexuality encourages girls to focus heavily on appearance and sex appeal. They learn at a very young age that their value is determined by how beautiful, thin, “hot,” and sexy they are. And boys, who get a very narrow definition of masculinity that promotes insensitivity and macho behavior, are taught to judge girls based on how close they come to an artificial, impossible, and shallow ideal" (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 2).  This is damaging material for young minds.  These lessons can affect children's ability to develop healthy attitudes about body image, self-esteem and caring relationships now and into their future.
     To be clear, sex is not the problem.  We are all born sexual creatures and meant to be sexual creatures.  However, "sex in commercial culture has far more to do with trivializing and objectifying sex than with promoting it, more to do with consuming than with connecting. The problem is not that sex as portrayed in the media is sinful, but that it is synthetic and cynical. The exploitation of our children’s sexuality is in many ways designed to promote consumerism, not just in childhood but throughout their lives" (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 5).
    To many, this seems like more of a tween and teen issue and, somehow, an inappropriate discussion for early childhood.  However, if corporations are going to target our young children to "hook" them into buying these images, then we must start very early preparing them by countering these messages.  "When children are young, long before they can fully understand the meaning of sex and sexual relationships, the foundation is being laid for the kind of sexual relationships they will have when they grow up" (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 4).
     So, what can we do?  We can quit ignoring the fact that our children are absorbing an over sexualized environment and distorted, sexist messages.  We can quit blaming them for acting out in sexualized ways when they are only imitating what they see around them.  We can quit laughing at these exploits allowing children the thrill of attention for the wrong reasons.  We can monitor what our children watch, and by watching with them begin to help them question and think critically about the characters and situations they see.  We can counter all these negative messages with an abundance of positive ones related to their characters, personalities, and spiritual nature.  We can have discussions with children to help them think more critically, deeply, building character, and celebrating their connections with themselves, each other and groups.  We can build their self-esteem, self-respect, and self-worth like a fortress around them to shield from dark forces distorting their souls for another buck.  We can accomplish this and more through anti-bias education in early childhood.
      Recently, a four-year-old girl told me that she was going to break out her secret weapon--her nakedness.  I want her to break out her super secret weapon, her intellect.  It's never too early to begin to teach young children how to look past the wrapper and go deep to discover the treasures of the mind, body and soul and to use these tools properly to connect in positive ways with themselves and others.  The commercial world will spend a lifetime trying to wear them down.  Let's do all we can as early as possible to lay a strong foundation in young children to appreciate humanity not Barbie.  Let's build them up in ways that truly give them weapons to battle dark consumer forces and fortitude to win!

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