The definition of the term, Sexualization has been the subject of debate and dispute. It has been described as the act or process of sexualizing. It refers to the making of a person, group or thing to be seen as sexual in nature[1] or a person to become aware of sexuality. It can also refer to the making of an interpersonal relationship into a sexual relationship. It has also been used to describe the broad set of ways in which sex has become more visible in media and culture, as a subject of discussion and representation.
A number of reports on sexualization have been produced since 2006. Amongst these are the Australian Senate Report (2007), the American Psychological Association Report (2007), the UK Home Office Report (2010), and the UK Bailey Review (2011). The Australian writers, Catharine Lumby and Kath Albury (2010) have suggested that sexualization is 'a debate that has been simmering for almost a decade' and concerns about sex and the media are far from new. Much of the recent writing on sexualization has been the subject of criticism that because of the way that it draws on ‘one-sided, selective, overly simplifying, generalizing, and negatively toned’ evidence (Vanwesenbeeck 2009) and is ‘saturated in the languages of concern and regulation’ (Smith 2010). In these writings and the widespread press coverage that they have attracted, the term is often used as ‘a non sequitur causing everything from girls flirting with older men to child sex trafficking’ (Egan and Hawkes 2008). They often ignore feminist work on media, gender and the body and present a very conservative and negative view of sex in which only monogamous heterosexual sexuality is regarded as normal (Lerum and Dworkin 2009). They tend to neglect any historical understanding of the way sex has been represented and regulated, and they often ignore both theoretical and empirical work on the relationship between sex and media, culture and technology (Egan and Hawkes 2009, Buckingham et al. 2009).
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A number of books on sexualization have appeared in recent years: the best known of these is Ariel Levy's (2005) Female Chauvinist Pigs, but others include Pamela Paul's Pornified (2005), Carol Platt Liebau’s (2007) ‘’Prude’’, Meenakshi Gigi Durham's (2008) The Lolita Effect, and Sarracino & Scott’s The Porning of America (2008). These generally focus on sexualization as a social problem and particularly on what they regard as the inappropriate sexualization of women and girls. In 2011, sexualisation author Tanith Carey published the first dedicated guide for parents on the subject: "Where Has My Little Girl Gone? How to Protect Your Daughter From Growing Up Too Soon."
There have been a number of reports such as the Australian report on ‘corporate paedophilia’ (Rush & La Nauze, 2006) and the American Psychological Association report (2007).
However, in 2010 the Scottish Executive released a report External research on sexualised goods aimed at children. It considers the drawbacks of the US and Australian reviews. “[T]here is no indication [in the APA report] that the media might contain any positive images about human relationships, or that children might critically evaluate what they see.”
The Scottish review also notes that “[s]uch accounts often present the sexualisation of children as a relatively recent development, but it is by no means a new issue … While the public visibility of the issue, and the terms in which it is defined, may have changed, sexualised representations of children cannot be seen merely as a consequence of contemporary consumerism.” It also notes that previous coverage “rests on moral assumptions … that are not adequately explained or justified.”
Sexualization has also been a subject of debate for academics who work in media and cultural studies. Here, the term has not been used to simply to label what is seen as a social problem, but to indicate the much broader and varied set of ways in which sex has become more visible in media and culture. These include; the widespread discussion of sexual values, practices and identities in the media; the growth of sexual media of all kinds; for example, erotica, slash fiction, sexual self-help books and the many genres of pornography; the emergence of new forms of sexual experience, for example instant message or avatar sex made possible by developments in technology; a public concern with the breakdown of consensus about regulations for defining and dealing with obscenity; the prevalence of scandals, controversies and panics around sex in the media [2].
The terms 'pornification' and ‘pornographication’ have also been used to describe the way that aesthetics that were previously associated with pornography have become part of popular culture, and that mainstream media texts and other cultural practices ‘citing pornographic styles, gestures and aesthetics’ have become more prominent [3]. This process, which Brian McNair has described as a 'pornographication of the mainstream' [4], has developed alongside an expansion of the cultural realm of pornography or 'pornosphere' which itself has become more accessible to a much wider variety of audiences. According to McNair, both developments can be set in the context of a wider shift towards a 'striptease culture' which has disrupted the boundaries between public and private discourse in late modern Western culture, and which is evident more generally in cultural trends which privilege lifestyle, reality, interactivity, self-revelation and public intimacy.[5]
The American Psychological Association (APA) regards a person as being sexualized in any of the following situations:
Some cultural critics have postulated that over recent decades children have evidenced a level of sexual knowledge or sexual behaviour inappropriate for their age group.[7]
The causes of this premature sexualization that have been cited include portrayals in the media of sex and related issues, especially in media aimed at children; the marketing of products with sexual connotations to children, including clothing;[8] the lack of parental oversight and discipline; access to adult culture via the internet; and the lack of comprehensive school sex education programs.[9]
For girls and young women in particular, studies have found that sexualization has a negative impact on their “self-image and healthy development”.[10]
Studies have found that thinking about the body and comparing it to sexualized cultural ideals may disrupt a girl's mental concentration, and a girl's sexualization or objectification may undermine her confidence in and comfort with her own body, leading to emotional and self-image problems, such as shame and anxiety.[6]
Research has linked sexualization with three of the most common mental health problems diagnosed in girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression or depressed mood.[6]
Research suggests that the sexualization of girls has negative consequences on girls’ ability to develop a healthy sexual self-image.[6]
Some commercial products seen as promoting the sexualization of children have drawn considerable media attention:
The report by the Scottish Executive surveyed 32 high street UK retailers and found that many of the larger chains, including Tesco, Debenhams, JJ Sports, and Marks & Spencer did not contain sexualised goods aimed at children. The report noted that overall prevalence was limited.
Albury, K. and Lumby, C. 2010. Too much? Too young? The sexualisation of children debate in Australia. Media International Australia 135, 141-152.
Attwood, F. (2006) ‘Sexed up: Theorizing the Sexualization of Culture’, Sexualities 9(1): 77-94.
Attwood, F. (2009) Mainstreaming Sex: The Sexualization of Western Culture. London: I.B. Tauris.
Buckingham, D. & Bragg, S. (2004) Young People, Sex and the Media: The Facts of Life?. Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Buckingham, D., Bragg, S., Russell, R. and Willett, R. 2009. Sexualised goods aimed at children. Report for the Scottish Parliament Equal Opportunities Committee. The Scottish Parliament. http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/equal/reports-10/eor10-02.htm.
Duits, L. & van Zoonen, L. (2006) ‘Headscarves and Porno-Chic: Disciplining Girls' Bodies in the European Multicultural Society’, European Journal of Women’s Studies 13(2): 103-117.
Egan, R. D. & Hawkes, G. (2009) 'The problem with protection: Or, why we need to move towards recognition and the sexual agency of children', Continuum 23(3: 389-400.
Egan, R. D. & Hawkes, G. (2008) ‘Endangered girls and incendiary objects: Unpacking the discourse on sexualization’, Sexuality and Culture 12(4): 291-311.
Evans, A., Riley, S., & Shankar, A. (2010). Technologies of Sexiness: Theorizing Women's Engagement in the Sexualization of Culture. Feminism and Psychology, 20(1), 114-131.
Gill, R. (2003) ‘From Sexual Objectification to Sexual Subjectification: The Resexualisation of Women’s Bodies in the Media’, Feminist Media Studies 3(1): 100-106.
Hawkes, G. & Egan, R.D. (2008) ‘Landscapes of erotophobia: The sexual(ized) child in the postmodern anglophone West’, Sexuality and Culture 12(4): 193-203.
Lerum, K and Dworkin, S.L. 2009. ‘Bad girls rule’: An interdisciplinary feminist commentary on the report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls’, Journal of Sex Research 46(4), 250-263.McNair, B. (1996) Mediated Sex: Pornography and Postmodern Culture. London & New York: Arnold.
McNair, B. (2002) Striptease Culture: Sex, Media and the Democratization of Desire. London & New York: Routledge.
Onscenity Research Network posts on sexualization, http://www.onscenity.org/sexualization/
Paasonen, S. et al. (eds.) (2007) Pornification: Sex and Sexuality in Media Culture. Oxford: Berg.
Smith, C. 2010a. Pornographication: A discourse for all seasons. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics 6(1), 103-108.
Vanwesenbeeck, I. 2009. The risks and rights of sexualization: An appreciative commentary on Lerum and Dworkin’s ‘Bad girls rule’. Journal of Sex Research 46(4), 268-270.