The Sexualization of Early Childhood

As I was reading the article in relation to the topic of sexualization of early childhood I was not surprised by the information being reported. I have noticed in society, video games and even television shows that children watch are not appropriate for such a young age. I do not understand why parents allow their children to watch such shows and play these video games.

 I currently am teaching third grade and I have experienced several of the same stories that were shared throughout the article. For example, I have had students who have written love letters to others in my class, students who have been on inappropriate websites looking up pornography and I have had students who have been inappropriately touched. I feel from my experiences, the children who are more focused on these ideas of sexualization are the children who experience more behavior concerns within my school and these children are influencing others by their choices because it is looked at as the “cool” thing to do. Levin and Kilbourne (2009) explained a story of a young boy who received love letters from a classmate and he showed them to his mother. His mother was able to provide support for her son and help him understand and cope with these letters. From what I have experienced, not all children have supportive and trusting relationships with their parents, and in those cases, these children are not receiving the support they need to understand the topic of sexualization and do not have someone to tell them otherwise.

Children’s development can be impacted in several ways by being exposed to sexualization. For example, young girls are comparing themselves to the image of what a girl should look like and are potentially creating a negative self- identity if they feel they do not match the stereotypical image of a young girl. Boys begin to take on the idea that they need to be buff and tough and judge girls based on their appearance. Levin and Kilbourne (2009) share these children do not often have a positive attitude about themselves and therefore partake in violent relationships which may carry throughout adulthood.  In order to respond to these concerns, as educators, it is important for children to understand we are there to support them and have trusting relationships to help them process this information.  When I have experienced these scenarios in the past with my students I feel we make it known that the behavior is not acceptable and will not be tolerated in school and the child or children often have a consequence, but we do not often follow-up with the child or require them to speak with the guidance counselor or a trusted adult about their actions and reasons for those actions.  I believe having more conversations about this topic with children who are involved is one way to help them process and hopefully learn strategies to use throughout life with regard to this topic. This topic cannot be ignored and should be addressed even if we as an adult feel perplexed that children are interested in and taking part in sexualization.

Studying this topic this week has helped me to understand that this is a problem throughout our society and as educators, we need to feel prepared to handle these situations as they are happening more often. Levin and Kilbourne (2009) explain that the media is at fault because they are taking advantage of young children to make money and I have realized that the media is not going to stop taking advantage of young children and will continue to market the way they do. Therefore, parents, educators and other professionals need to understand how to take these instances and turn them into a positive lesson for young children (Levin and Kilbourne, 2009). Though I have experienced similar sexualization within my career as an educator, looking into this topic this week confirmed that I too am still taken back by the idea of children being too familiar and exposed to sexualization and I have realized that there needs to be more professional development in this field.

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