Prewriting
Narrowed topic:
My narrowed topic is the negative effects of sexualization of girls
Audience:
My audience is the parents or guardians of girls aged 7 years and above. This is the target group of people who needs to be educated on sexualization of girls’ culture and its negative effects for their children. In so doing, I expect that they steer forward the campaign of neutralizing the popularity of this culture starting from their homes.
Thesis statement:
The thesis of this paper is that sexualization of girls impacts negatively on the lives of young girls including their sexual development, mental and physical health development as well as their cognitive functioning.
Sexualization of girls makes them have a low self-esteem
Sexualization of girls results in mental and physical problem development in girls
Sexualization of girls is a vice that is eating up the potential of girls and wasting them away
It is also a problem that has promoted gender disparity and reduced girls and women to objects of sex stereotypes
Introduction
Sexualization of girls is a culture that has become a social problem in the society and therefore it requires the attention of experts in addressing it.
Body
The body shall encompass the discussion of the problems and vices associated with sexualization of girls culture in today’s society such as:
Sexualization of girls makes them have a low self-esteem
Sexualization of girls results in mental and physical problem development in girls
Sexualization of girls is a vice that is eating up the potential of girls and wasting them away
It is also a problem that has promoted gender disparity and reduced girls and women to objects of sex stereotypes
Conclusion
In essence, the points given as the main or central focus of the paper can be pointed out in simple words and summarized. This way, there cannot be any repetitiveness observed.
Introduction
In today’s society, girls and women in general have been reduced to objects of sexual appeal by their male counterparts in what is popularly known as sexualization of girls’ culture. Throughout all media there is some degree of sexualization of girls or pornification ranging from music videos full of half-naked dancing girls and other music celebrities to magazines filled with girls and women who are almost naked in the name of advertisement. For example, Candies’ perfume had an advertisement where a woman is popped up on a sink by a man and her legs are wrapped around him. The man is only putting on a towel. Clearly, this image has nothing to do with the product but it seems that it candies’ strategy of marketing (Zurbriggen et al, 2007). This has been the popular culture portraying women and girls to be nothing more than their physical appearance. This problem has escalated in the society to the point that young girls do not see the importance of excelling in education or other sectors with a view that their efforts cannot be recognized unless they are sexually appealing. This reduces girls to sexualized stereotypes.
The topic of this proposal is sexualization of girls which is also known as pornification culture. The research entails the analysis on sexualization of girls in today’s society and its effects to the subjects. The analysis will also cover the history of this popular culture as well as the measures that can be put in place to solve the problem. Sexualization of girls’ culture is on the rise especially in the western countries. Young girls of up to 7 years are inappropriately dressed either by their parents or guardians and instructed to pose for pictures or videos that are used in various advertisements on the billboards and magazines. Some of them are almost naked in these photos. They are made to understand that what is important in them is their physical appearance rather than their intellectual abilities from the tender ages. This greatly hinders their development both mentally and cognitively.
In emphasis, this topic is important in the sense that this culture has to be stopped or regulated. Failure with which, the feminine gender may in the future be reduced to only objects of sexual appeal and satisfaction. The objective of this research is to establish the fact that sexualization of girls and women has negative effects on their lives and their development as well as their healthy sexual development, mental and physical health and their cognitive functioning.
Problem Analysis
In the late 20th century and early 21st century, child sexual abused became a public concern commanding more attention than it used to do in the past. This led to the drafting of Offenses against the person Act (24 &25 Vict.c.100) which aimed at protecting children or young girls under the age of twenty from sexual abuse. This draft is said to be the first to address this issue in the British legal system. It is clearly indicated that sexual abuse became rampant at this period due to increase in sexualization of girls’ culture or pornification. An Australian report published that images of children and young girls are increasingly becoming common in marketing and advertising material. In the following year, 2007, the American Psychological Association also published a report on the findings about sexualization of girls (Charles, 2012). In this report, it is indicated that girls’ self-esteem, cognitive development, mental and physical development as well as their intellectual ability are tampered with. Another American study carried out in 2012 found out that self-sexualization among girls aged between 6 and 9 was common. Girls preferred sexualized dolls to the non-sexulized dolls as ideal for them and popular. The main contributor to this sexualization even at their tender ages is the popularity of sexualization or pornification in the media (Charles, 2012).
Various cultural studies have also been carried out by different academics to study sexualization. In these studies, sexualization has not only been termed as a social problem but sex has turned out to be more visible in culture and media. The discussions have included the growth of sexual media such as slash fiction, erotica, emergency of numerous forms of pornography genres and sexual self-help books. It can easily be seen that sexualization is growing from one level to another as time goes by unless the problem is addressed adequately. This has also resulted in disrupting the boundaries between private and public discourse in late contemporary western culture (Curry & Choate, 2010).
With regard to the direct negative effects sexualization has to girls, research shows that girls who think about their body appearances and comparing themselves with the sexualized cultural ideals disrupt their mental concentration. It also promotes emotional and self-image problems like anxiety and shame. Research has also linked secxualization of girls with the commonly observed mental problems in girls such as low self-esteem, eating disorders and depression. Lastly, the sexualization of girls results in making girls have difficulty in developing a healthy sexual self-image. Therefore, it is apparent that sexualization of girls is a social problem that needs to be addressed properly so as to reduce the negative effects the culture gives the society and the girl child (Gurian, n.d).
Sexualization of girls is termed as a social problem in the society because of its influence to the behavior of young girls and women in general. In today’s society, young girls of up to 7 years are glued to watching a number of television channels playing music full of half-naked women dancing in sexy appealing manner. As a result, they end up practicing the same. Curry and Choate (2010), argue that the more children of this age are exposed to sexualized images and messages, the more the possibility of them developing attitudes that reduce them to sexualized stereotypes (Curry & Choate, 2010).
References:
Charles, C. E. (2012). New Girl Heroes: The Rise of Popular Feminist Commentators in an Era of Sexualization. Gender and Education, 24(3): 317-323.
Curry, J. R. & Choate, L. H. (2010). The Oversexualization of Young Adolescent Girls: Implications for Middle Grades Educators. Middle School Journal, 42(1): 6-14.
Gurian, A. (nd).The Sexualization of Girls and Mental Health Problems: Is There a Connection? Retrieved from http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/sexualization_girls_mental_health_problems_there_connection
Zurbriggen, E. L. et al. (2007). Report on the Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. American Psychological Association, 1-9.
