This is a really alarming and depressing subject. The media constantly bombards children with the message that girls have to be sexy to gain acceptance. According to Levin and Kilbourne, children are bombarded from a very early age with graphic messages about sexiness from the media (2009). In my opinion, this is because the media is still controlled primarily by men. As more women attain positions of power in the media world, I really hope this skewed and extremely damaging value system will change.
On the other hand, some parents really buy into the sexualization of their young daughters. The television show Toddlers and Tiaras delves into the world of child ‘beauty’ pageants. These young children are dressed provocatively, and made up to look like tiny little tramps. I just can not imagine those impressionable little girls emerging from this lifestyle with healthy self esteem and high moral standards.
As Early Childhood professionals, we always focus on giving children a healthy start to life. We want them to be proud of who they are and accepting of others - regardless of what they look like. This is in direct contrast to many of the messages they get from the media. Hopefully, we can give the children in our care such positive self identity that they’ll be much less vulnerable to those messages.
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
Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we must nourish the young minds we teach so that they will likely be less influenced by the media. But if we don't have caregivers working with us, it will be so much harder to do!
Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI've always thought shows like Toddlers and Tiara focus too much on the outward beauty of a person. How are we teaching our girls to empower themselves and become good hearted people? Our messages to them are be thin, be pretty, and use your body to get your way with boys/men. There was a story this past week about a former Victoria Secret's model who gave up her lucrative job because of her faith but it started with a comment her cousin who was 8 made. Her cousin said "I think I'll stop eating so I can look like you". The model realized how many young girls look up to people like her and that is not the image (being superficial) that she wanted to convey so she walked away. Lisa Bloom wrote a great article that was posted on Huffington Post last summer about how to talk to little girls and one thing she mentioned was STOP telling little girls how pretty they are or cute they look. Instead praise them for their courage, their heart, their inner beauty. She said you'll be amazed how hard it is, but it's worth it in the end. I've tried really hard to do that this year with my girls in my class. I've failed a few times (like at Christmas with their dresses for our program) but I've been trying harder to focus on what a kind person they are or what a nice friend they are to someone else. I think that is something that we have to do if we want to avoid 5 year olds going on diets and experimenting with sex at 10.
Ellen,
ReplyDeleteYou are so right we have to start while there young and mold there minds to see how beautiful there are naturally. Respect is a very important, and respecting one another is key and learning that young will help them become respectful adults.
Hi Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI think it is terrible that parents push their daughters into beauty pageants. I think that little girls need to be taught that intelligence and hard work gets them far in life and not beauty. Girls need to shown how to respect themselves as children so they will be respected as adults. I also feel that the media is run by men and that if women were to run the media things would probably change.
Whatever, happen to respect. Children need to be children and that's the bottom line. If nourish them and show them the way, they can be great without exposing themselves the way they do.
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