I might give the phenomenon a pass if it turned out that, once they were older, little girls who play-acted at sexy were more comfortable in their skins or more confident in their sexual relationships, if they asked more of their partners or enjoyed greater pleasure. But evidence is to the contrary. In his book, “The Triple Bind: Saving Our Teenage Girls From Today’s Pressures,” Stephen Hinshaw, chairman of the psychology department at the University of California, Berkeley, explains that sexualizing little girls — whether through images, music or play — actually undermines healthy sexuality rather than promoting it. Those bootylicious grade-schoolers in the dance troupe presumably don’t understand the meaning of their motions (and thank goodness for it), but, precisely because of that, they don’t connect — and may never learn to connect — sexy attitude to erotic feelings.
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All the single babies
Posted on July 7, 2010 by Carol Conklin in Blog, UncategorizedLast month, a video was released on YouTube showing eight- and nine-year-old girls dancing to Beyonce’s hit song “Single Ladies.” The dancing girls’ provocative outfits and sexy dance moves sparked an outcry of criticism across America and brought attention to the early sexualization of our youth. Here is the controversial video:
In response to the video, Peggy Orenstein published a great article about how girls younger and younger are “playing at sexy.” With role models like the pole-dancing Miley Cyrus, dolls in skimpy clothing, and the sexualization of the media, it’s no wonder young girls are increasingly trying to act and dress like adults.Here is one of Ms. Orenstein’s interesting passages from the article:
It is likely these girls will grow up confused about their sexuality, which leaves them vulnerable to abuse and other problems associated with early sexualization. It’s time we do something to save our youth from becoming victims of our oversexed media in order to prevent trauma and mistreatment later in life.More information:Saving Young People from Our Sexualization
