Premature Sexualisation of Children

Women’s Forum Australia is deeply concerned that the pressure on children to adopt sexualised appearance and behaviour at an early age has increased dramatically over recent years.There is a saturation of sexualised representations of adults, teenagers and even children in advertising and popular culture...

According to the American Psychological Association, premature sexualisation of girls also places them in increased danger of becoming victims of prostitution, violence, and unwanted forms of pornography. This is deeply concerning. Women’s Forum considers this situation warrants immediate action at government and community levels…

Women’s Forum believes immediate precautionary action needs to be taken to ensure the safe and healthy development of our future generations.

Read our Entire Position Statement:

Sexualisation of Children Position Statement (654 KB)

Quick Facts[1]

• Girls today are coming of age in a more dangerous, sexualised and media-saturated culture.[2]
• Premature sexualisation is linked with serious mental health problems like eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression.
• Sexualisation puts girls in danger. It contributes to exploitation and violence against girls and women. It increases sexism, sex bias, and sexist attitudes.
• Strong evidence indicates the exposure to ideals of sexual attractiveness in the media is associated with greater body dissatisfaction among girls and young women.
• Sexualisation practices may function to keep girls in their place as objects of sexual attraction and beauty, significantly limiting their free thinking and movement in the world.
• If girls and women are seen exclusively as sexual beings rather than as complicated people with many interests, talents, and identities, boys and men may have difficulty relating to them on any level other than the sexual.
• In the current environment, teen girls are encouraged to look sexy, yet they know little about what it means to be sexual, to have sexual desires, and to make rational and responsible decisions about pleasure and risk within intimate relationships that acknowledge their own desires.[3]

Submissions

Sexualisation of children in the contemporary media (251 KB)

Women's Forum Submission_to_the_ACT_Children (808 KB)

 

We recommend you read

Letting Children be Children: Stopping the sexualisation of children in Australia

Corporate Paedophilia: Sexualisation of children in Australia

Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls

Faking It

What’s Happening To Our Girls – Maggie Hamilton

APA Task Force on the Sexualisation of Girls (3568 KB)

Useful Websites

http://www.kf2bk.com/
http://www.youngmedia.org.au/
http://iliketobeme.com/
http://collectiveshout.org/

[1] American Psychological Association, Task Force on the Sexualisation of Girls (2007) Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualisation of Girls, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

[2] Pipher, M. (1996), Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, Doubleday, Australia and New Zealand, p.12

[3 ]Tolman DL (2002) cited in American Psychological Association (2007)