The Sexualization of Early Childhood

My reaction to the topic Sexualization of early childhood was shock.  I was shocked at the incidents that occurred with young children.  I am aware of the sexualized culture or society we live in.  The media uses sex to sell their products with no care of who views their commercials and magazines.  Children growing up today are bombarded from a very early age with graphic messages about sex and sexiness in the media and popular culture (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).  I have witnessed some incidents that involved children, but I blamed the parents for their children’s behavior.  I have learned that it is not necessarily the parents fault, but the commercials and media are to blame. 

During dramatic play a little 2 1/2 year old girl named Taylor put on a princess dress and said I sexy.  She did not say she was pretty or beautiful, but said she was sexy as she put her hand on her hips and walked around the classroom.  There was another incident that involved two little girls both 2 years old; they both stuck their tongues out and began to tongue kiss while moving their heads around as two adults might do.  At the center I used to teach there was a little girl named Jaylin at nap time she would hump the mat before falling asleep.

The messages that children are witnessing in the media in my opinion are harmful to their perspectives of relationships.  After watching much of what the media provides today someone might think that a relationship is only sexual and might cause children to feel that they must be sexually attractive to be in a relationship.  They do not see caring and warmth and respect in relationships on TV, in movies and in commercials.  This could be devastating to their development and self- image.  As an early childhood professional what I would do to respond to young children’s negative behavior would be to communicate with them.  I would find out where they learned the inappropriate behavior and discuss it with them.  I would try to explain what they saw and share with them alternative behaviors.

What I learned from this topic is how damaging the media and popular culture can be to young children’s self-image.  I also learned that much of what children absorb about sexuality does come from the media whether it be commercials or magazines and not their parents.  I mistakenly thought that the inappropriate behavior some children exhibit was because their parents were inappropriate in front of them, but that does not seem to be the case.

Reference:

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.