Sexualization Of Girls Research Articles

An Evaluation of the American Psychological Association’s Task Force Report on the Sexualization of Girls

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Task Force Report on the Sexualization of Girls (Report). The Report has four parts: evidence of the sexualization of girls; consequences of the sexualization of girls; positive alternatives; and recommendations. The Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls (TSG) presents ample evidence of the problems and consequences, as well as some positive alternatives and helpful recommendations. This paper will argue that the recommendations presented will not achieve the goal of protecting girls because the TSG fails to identify the underlying causes and implicitly accepts unsubstantiated ideologically based assumptions. Part I will explore the causes. Part II deals with the factors the TSG does not take into consideration when presenting its recommendations and historical responses to the problem. Part III will analyze the ideological influences on the TSG, namely the Sexual Revolution and Radical Feminism. Part IV will deal with the fundamental question that the TSG avoids, namely: Should adolescent girls engage in sexual activity or do the risks outweigh the benefits? The authors of the TSG Report appear to believe that they can preserve the sexual freedom of girls, while avoiding the negative effects of sexualization. There is no evidence that this is possible and, indeed, the Report itself presents substantial evidence of the failure of such a plan.

Contextualising the sexualisation of girls debate: innocence, experience and young female sexuality

This paper aims to contextualise debates on the sexualisation of girls by providing ways of interpreting it from different perspectives – including the perspectives of girls themselves. Asking not are girls being prematurely sexualised but how can this debate be understood as a feature of time and place and how does it relate to the lives of girls as they approach puberty and their first sexual experience? In a parallel approach to other commentaries on sexualisation, the paper takes a deconstructionist approach to recurrent themes of the debate such as the ideal of childhood innocence/protection, to provide an interpretive lens for understanding the emergence of a public concern that places girls at the centre. In doing so, the paper considers four ways of looking: the impact of second-wave feminism; the increased sexualisation of culture; the erotic potential of girls; and the lived experience of girlhood, as perspectives offering some explanatory power for present times.

The material child: growing up in consumer culture

Acknowledgments Preface 1. Exploited or empowered? Constructing the child consumer 2. Understanding consumption 3. The making of consumers: theory and research on children's consumption 4. Histories of children's consumption 5. The contemporary children's market 6. The fear of fat: obesity, food and consumption 7. Too much, too soon? Marketing, media and the sexualisation of girls 8. Rethinking pester power': children, parents and consumption 9. Beyond peer pressure': consumption and identity in the peer group 10. Screening the market: the case of children's television 11. Consuming to learn - learning to consume: education goes to market 12. Conclusion: living in a material world References

Raunch versus prude: contemporary sex blogs and erotic memoirs by women

This article analyses two contemporary erotic memoirs by women, Belle de Jour's (2005) Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl and Abby Lee's (2006) Girl with a One-Track Mind, both of which began life as blogs. Situating them, briefly, in relation to previous erotic memoirs and fiction by women, I examine their transition from blog to book and consider the impact of new digital technologies upon female sexual self-narration. I examine the texts in the light of recent popular feminist writings on the sexualisation of girls and young women, and analyse both the books and original blogs' engagement with feminism, and their treatment of romance, lesbianism and the regulations governing female sexual conduct. This article evaluates the extent to which the boom in women's erotic memoirs (in book or blog form) is symptomatic of a persisting belief in sexuality as the truth of identity. Sexuality, as it is figured here, is still being positioned as ‘the secret’, as the essence or core of subjectivity, which perhaps explains why the memoir, as an attempt to communicate and constitute a ‘self’ through writing, has for women increasingly become the erotic memoir. This article concludes by asking to what extent this is both an undervaluation and an overvaluation of sexuality for women.

Book Review: Girls Gone Skank: The Sexualization of Girls in American Culture

Book Review: Girls Gone Skank: The Sexualization of Girls in American Culture

The American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls: A Review, Update and Commentary

In 2006 the American Psychological Association formed the Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. They were charged with examining and summarizing the best psychological theory, research and clinical experience addressing the sexualization of girls. This article provides an outline of the Task Force report, reviews the recent work in this field, and discusses the implications for study in the field of sexual addiction.

“Putting on” Sexiness: A Content Analysis of the Presence of Sexualizing Characteristics in Girls’ Clothing

Objectification theory (Fredrickson and Roberts 1997) proposes that women from Western cultures are widely portrayed and treated as objects of the male gaze, leading to the development of self-objectification, in which girls and women internalize these societal messages and view their own bodies as objects to be evaluated according to narrow standards of (often sexualized) attractiveness. Prompted by findings from the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls (APA 2007), the present study considers girls’ clothing as a possible socializing influence that may contribute to the development of self-objectification in preteen girls. Accordingly, in this content analysis, we examined the frequency and nature of “sexualizing” clothing available for girl children (generally sizes 6–14) on the websites of 15 popular stores in the US. Sexualizing clothing was defined as clothing that revealed or emphasized a sexualized body part, had characteristics associated with sexiness, and/or had sexually suggestive writing. Clothing was also coded for childlike characteristics, such as child-like fabric (e.g., polka dot pattern) or a modest, non-revealing cut. Across all stores and all articles of clothing, 69% of the clothing items were coded as having only childlike characteristics, 4% as having only sexualizing characteristics, 25.4% as having both sexualizing and childlike characteristics, and 1% as having neither sexualizing nor childlike characteristics. “Tween” stores like Abercrombie Kids had the highest proportion of sexualizing clothing. The findings are discussed within the framework of the development of self-objectification.

Empowering or Oppressing? Development and Exploration of the Enjoyment of Sexualization Scale

Sexualization of girls and women in America is rampant and has many negative consequences. Women, however, often report enjoying being sexually admired by men. Given this paradox, it is unclear whether such enjoyment represents an authentic empowerment of women's sexuality or is related to traditional feminine norms and sexist beliefs. In Studies 1 and 2, the authors developed and tested the eight-item Enjoyment of Sexualization Scale (ESS). It had good reliability and was differentiated from related constructs including body surveillance, body shame, self-sexualizing behaviors, and appearance-contingent self-esteem. In Study 3, endorsement of traditional gender norms, endorsement of benevolent sexism, and endorsement of hostile sexism were all positively related to the ESS. Moreover, women who both enjoyed sexualization and engaged in self-objectification reported more negative eating attitudes. Overall, there was little support for positive effects of enjoying sexualization. The extent to which enjoying sexualization actually empowers women or contributes to their oppression is discussed.

Sexual Objectification of Women: Clinical Implications and Training Considerations

This article focuses on the implications of theory and empirical research on the sexual objectification of women. Drawing largely from the American Psychological Association’s 2007 Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Girls and Women, the 2007 Report of the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, key feminist therapy texts, and the findings from empirical research on Fredrickson and Robert’s (1997) objectification theory, the authors provide suggestions for practice with female clients struggling with issues related to sexual objectification and ideas for the training of psychologists.

Body Objectification, MTV, and Psychological Outcomes Among Female Adolescents1

In response to the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, the present study explored the role of sexually objectifying media—in this case, music television—in a host of psychological consequences among a community sample of adolescents girls (M age = 13 years). Objectification theory posits that the consequences of sexual objectification involve the process of self‐objectification. As such, we hypothesized that music television consumption would first and foremost be associated with self‐objectification, which would, in turn, predict a number of body‐related consequences. The findings support a model in which self‐objectification mediates a direct relation between music television viewing and body esteem, dieting, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and confidence in math ability.

The Risks and Rights of Sexualization: An Appreciative Commentary on Lerum and Dworkin's “Bad Girls Rule”

This commentary wholeheartedly supports the critical observations by Kari Lerum and Shari L. Dworkin in this issue of the Journal of Sex Research with regard to the 2007 Report of the APA (American Psychological Association) Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. The APA task force makes an overwhelmingly strong point for the dangers of the sexualization of women and girls and the self-objectification connected to it. However, their discussion of the evidence is noteworthy for being one-sided, generalizing, and negatively toned. Among the arguments presented in this commentary are notions about the rather diverse and often ambiguous nature of sexualized imagery and about the all too often ignored complexity of its presumed “effects.” In addition, the issue of female sexual power and the case of sex workers are discussed. When sexualization is defined as only negative, both sex worker's rights and, more generally, women's rights to be sexual, get into a tight corner. The main contention is that sexualization is associated with risks, as well as with rights, and that any productive analysis will have to consider both.

“Bad Girls Rule”: An Interdisciplinary Feminist Commentary on the Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls

Feminist, critical, and postmodern scholars have long recognized sexuality as a site of power relations. The recently released Report of the APA (American Psychological Association) Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls is a welcome addition to ongoing feminist and activist conversations on how to intervene on issues of sexuality in the name of girls' and women's health. This article offers a critical interdisciplinary analysis of this influential APA report, expanding on and challenging several of its main claims. This article critiques the report as over-determining the negative impact of sexualization; offers other literatures as critical additions including feminist literature on media, consumer culture, gender, and the body, and earlier “pro-desire” feminist psychology scholarship; and critiques the task force's conflations of objectification and sexualization. The article concludes with a call for broadening feminist scholarship and activism across disciplinary boundaries to emphasize girls' and women's sexual agency and resistance, as well as sexual health and rights.

Toward an Interdisciplinary Dialogue on Youth, Sexualization, and Health

The commentaries in this issue of the Journal of Sex Research by Vanwesenbeeck and Else-Quest and Hyde on “Bad Girls Rule” are connected to two larger conversations concerning (a) the intersections of sexuality, objectification, culture, health, and power; and (b) academics as public scholars. Vanwesenbeeck makes the case for considering both the risks and the rights associated with sexualization. Else-Quest and Hyde argue for the need to use a developmental lens when discussing girlhood and sexuality. This response recognizes the need for a developmental approach; elaborates on previous critiques about over-reliance on epidemiological terms in the American Psychological Association task force report on the sexualization of girls; and rearticulates the value of placing feminist, cross-disciplinary, and cross-national scholarship at the center, rather than the margins, of this dialogue. Were such a dialogue to occur, evidence of cultural and personal variations of childhood and youth should be considered along with evidence of human personality development. Although scholars in psychology have been leaders in public scholarship on sexualization and girlhood, it is an ethical and intellectual obligation for scholars from other disciplines (e.g., public health, women's studies, sociology, cultural studies, and epidemiology) to also contribute to this conversation.

The Missing Discourse of Development: Commentary on Lerum and Dworkin

Lerum and Dworkin offer a provocative interdisciplinary feminist commentary on the Report of the APA (American Psychological Association) Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. This commentary notes limitations to their argument and evidence, which make it a less convincing critique of the report's conclusions. Most notably, Lerum and Dworkin omit a developmental approach to the topic of sexualization and media exposure. In addition, their criticism that the report over-determines the negative effects (i.e., overstates the negative effects and ignores the positive effects) of sexualization on girls is unsupported by the empirical literature. This commentary also addresses their concerns about the language used in the report and highlights the need for clear and precise language in this dialogue.

Addressing the Sexualization of Girls through Comprehensive Programs, Advocacy, and Systemic Change: Implications for Professional School Counselors

While today's girls are learning that they can achieve at the highest educational and professional levels, they also receive strong cultural messages that portray girls and women according to limiting sexual stereotypes. The trend toward the sexualization of girls is increasing in contemporary culture and can negatively impact girls’ academic, career, and personal development. In this article, we describe the impact of these trends on girls’ development and provide interventions for use in comprehensive school counseling programs.

Girls gone skank: the sexualization of girls in American culture

Girls gone skank: the sexualization of girls in American culture

Girls Gone Skank: The Sexualization of Girls in American Culture

Girls Gone Skank: The Sexualization of Girls in American Culture

Media Effects and the Sexualization of Girls

Media Effects and the Sexualization of Girls

Endangered Girls and Incendiary Objects: Unpacking the Discourse on Sexualization

In this article, we deconstruct the epistemological framework underlying recent discussions on the sexualization of girls. Conducting a close textual analysis of scholarly and activist writings and their media coverage in Australia, Britain and the United States we examine the foundational assumptions of the argument against sexualization and explore its potential social and political implications. It is our contention that the conceptualization of sexualization as both a process and outcome relies on an ambivalent and overly deterministic model which makes the danger of sexualizing materials uniform, but their outcome gender specific. The unintended consequence of this discourse is that girls are framed as passive recipients and their sexuality becomes the result of and reduced to sexualization.