The Sexualization of Early Childhood

Our young children are being exposed to sexual stereo types, sexual images and much more early on in their young lives. Children learn at a very young age that their value is determined by beauty, looks, weight, sexy behavior, macho behavior and much more (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). All of this is leading to a misconception and disturbing impact on children’s’ understanding of gender, sexuality and relationships (2009).

In Harro’s “Cycle of Socialization” the diagram shows the “First Socialization” as being the part of our lives where the trust and love is built, we are taught to play our roles and follow rules, we shape our self concepts, perceptions of us and others, values, expectations of future roles, and we get mixed messages and feelings and become guilty for not understanding because we are confused about these messages. The messages the media sends to our children add to this confusion for our young children.

For an example of media’s messaging would be “Shrek” by Disney, which I watched with my five year old grandson and the characters in this movie are as follows:

Shrek-the green monster, which is really a giant teddy bear

Fiona-the beautiful princess

Puss n Boots- Shrek’s side kick, a cat

Donkey-Shrek’s side kick, a donkey

The message is the same in this movie as many others, the hero is Shrek and he is trying to earn the love of the princess. The side kicks are along for the ride to help this happen. The princess and Shrek spoke English, Donkey spoke English and Puss n Boots spoke English too. This story portrayed the beautiful young princess who was for the most part off limits, so they thought, to Shrek because he was an “ugly” sort of character. All of these characters were made up of fantasy and make believe. However, it did send a message of beauty for young girls. The princess lived in her beautiful castle and was surrounded by all the finer things in life. Shrek was from a humble working class, had low self-esteem, and was trying to win the princess love throughout the movie. This is just one of many movies our young children will encounter.

The “Platinum Rule” means “Do unto others as they want done unto them” (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2011). This is very similar to the “Golden Rule” which is “Do unto others the way you’d have them do unto”. The “Platinum Rule” is all about the other person and a good lesson to teach. I still like the Golden Rule” because it is more of a two-way street, it involves all parties. But the “Platinum Rule” is just as important if not more important when it comes to communication. We are not all the same and we do not all want the same things. This would be a good lesson to teach our children of all ages. When we communicate with children we need to think about them, and adapt accordingly. We need to take ourselves out of the equation, and empathize with what they might be going through, and adjust accordingly. Good communication with children takes special skills in kindness, respect, language, empathy and understanding the dynamics of all involved.

Reference

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication:    Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

        Chapter 4, "Interpersonal Communication and Diversity: Adapting to Others" (pp. 85–        114)

Harro, B. (2010). The cycle of socialization. In M. Adams, W. Blumenfeld, C. Castaneda,    H. W. Hackman, M. L. Peters, & X. Zuniga (Eds.), Readings for diversity and social    justice (Figure 6.1 on p. 46, 2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

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