‘I'd say 14 is too young’: Pre-teen girls' negotiations of ‘sexualized’ media

Abstract

In a post-girl power environment, pop celebrities present girls with versions of femininity saturated with porno-chic styling, ‘up for it’ sexuality and ‘sexy’ embodiment. Girls' engagement with these ‘hypersexy’ representations in pop music, and media more broadly, underpins a widespread panic around the globe about the ‘sexualizing’ effects of such media on girls. As consumers of celebrity ‘sexiness’ girls are discursively caught between a postfeminist ‘empowerment’ discourse, accomplished through sexuality, and a ‘sexualized child’ discourse that disempowers through vulnerability and asexual innocence. How then are girls to negotiate their consumption of postfeminist popular culture as subjects who are ideally constituted as sexual innocents? Addressing this question as its pivotal focus, this article examines the ways New Zealand pre-teen girls make sense of the ‘hypersexy’ performances of female pop celebrities. To do so, it analyses focus group material from two studies in which girls talked about representations of female pop celebrities. Analyses identify ways girls draw on Girl Power discourse to disrupt their positioning in sexualization discourse whilst also underscoring the fragility of such agency in contexts where consumption of ‘sexualized’ images is seen by parents and younger children. Findings highlight how the contemporary ‘hypersexualized’ landscape creates a heavy burden for girls in an era of girls' ‘sexualization’ discourse.