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Why is this news?
drivingrl
Posts: 1,448
This is 'duh'.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6376421.stm
Sexualisation 'harms' young girls
The media's portrayal of young women as sex objects harms girls' mental and physical health, US experts warn.
Magazines, television, video games and music videos all have a detrimental effect, a task force from the American Psychological Association reported.
Sexualisation can lead to a lack of confidence with their bodies as well as depression and eating disorders.
Such images also have a negative effect on healthy sexual development in girls, the researchers said.
The task force was set up after mounting "public concern" about the sexualisation of young girls.
EXAMPLES OF SEXUALISATION
Young pop stars dressed as sex objects
Dolls aimed at young girls with sexual clothing such as fishnet tights
Clothing, such as thongs, for seven to 10-year-olds
Adult models dressed as young girls
Research on the content and effects of television, music videos, music lyrics, magazines, films, video games and the internet was analysed.
Recent advertising campaigns and merchandising of products aimed at girls was also scrutinised.
Sexualisation was defined as occurring when a person's value comes only from her or his sexual appeal or behaviour, to the exclusion of other characteristics, and when a person is portrayed purely as a sex object.
They gave examples of a trainer advert that featured pop star Christina Aguilera dressed as a schoolgirl with her shirt unbuttoned, licking a lollipop.
According to the research identified by the task force, such images and promotion of girls as sexual objects negatively affects young girls in many ways.
We need to replace all of these sexualised images with ones showing girls in positive settings - ones that show the uniqueness and competence of girls
Dr Eileen Zurbriggen
Task force chair
"The consequences of the sexualisation of girls in media today are very real," said Dr Eileen Zurbriggen, chair of the group and associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
"We have ample evidence to conclude that sexualisation has negative effects in a variety of domains, including cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, and healthy sexual development."
The task force called on parents, school officials, and health professionals to be alert for the potential impact on girls and young women.
And it advised that schools should teach pupils media literacy skills and should include information on the negative effects of images portraying girls as sex objects in sex education programmes.
Governments also had a responsibility to reduce the use of sexualised images in the media and advertising, they said.
Teenage magazines
Dr Zurbriggen added: "As a society, we need to replace all of these sexualised images with ones showing girls in positive settings - ones that show the uniqueness and competence of girls.
"The goal should be to deliver messages to all adolescents - boys and girls - that lead to healthy sexual development."
Professor Andrew Hill, professor of medical psychology at the University of Leeds, said it was hard to disagree with any of the reports conclusions.
"If you look at teenage magazines, it's all about sex.
"We are a visually absorbed society - our views of people are dominated by how they look."
He added that the use of women as sex objects in the media and advertising was a difficult issue to deal with.
"Only 18% of children's television viewing is in their designated viewing time and legislation can't be the answer for everything.
"One of the key things here is social responsibility - advertisers and other media need to be aware that the products they produce and images associated with them have an impact and it's not always a good impact," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6376421.stm
Sexualisation 'harms' young girls
The media's portrayal of young women as sex objects harms girls' mental and physical health, US experts warn.
Magazines, television, video games and music videos all have a detrimental effect, a task force from the American Psychological Association reported.
Sexualisation can lead to a lack of confidence with their bodies as well as depression and eating disorders.
Such images also have a negative effect on healthy sexual development in girls, the researchers said.
The task force was set up after mounting "public concern" about the sexualisation of young girls.
EXAMPLES OF SEXUALISATION
Young pop stars dressed as sex objects
Dolls aimed at young girls with sexual clothing such as fishnet tights
Clothing, such as thongs, for seven to 10-year-olds
Adult models dressed as young girls
Research on the content and effects of television, music videos, music lyrics, magazines, films, video games and the internet was analysed.
Recent advertising campaigns and merchandising of products aimed at girls was also scrutinised.
Sexualisation was defined as occurring when a person's value comes only from her or his sexual appeal or behaviour, to the exclusion of other characteristics, and when a person is portrayed purely as a sex object.
They gave examples of a trainer advert that featured pop star Christina Aguilera dressed as a schoolgirl with her shirt unbuttoned, licking a lollipop.
According to the research identified by the task force, such images and promotion of girls as sexual objects negatively affects young girls in many ways.
We need to replace all of these sexualised images with ones showing girls in positive settings - ones that show the uniqueness and competence of girls
Dr Eileen Zurbriggen
Task force chair
"The consequences of the sexualisation of girls in media today are very real," said Dr Eileen Zurbriggen, chair of the group and associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
"We have ample evidence to conclude that sexualisation has negative effects in a variety of domains, including cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, and healthy sexual development."
The task force called on parents, school officials, and health professionals to be alert for the potential impact on girls and young women.
And it advised that schools should teach pupils media literacy skills and should include information on the negative effects of images portraying girls as sex objects in sex education programmes.
Governments also had a responsibility to reduce the use of sexualised images in the media and advertising, they said.
Teenage magazines
Dr Zurbriggen added: "As a society, we need to replace all of these sexualised images with ones showing girls in positive settings - ones that show the uniqueness and competence of girls.
"The goal should be to deliver messages to all adolescents - boys and girls - that lead to healthy sexual development."
Professor Andrew Hill, professor of medical psychology at the University of Leeds, said it was hard to disagree with any of the reports conclusions.
"If you look at teenage magazines, it's all about sex.
"We are a visually absorbed society - our views of people are dominated by how they look."
He added that the use of women as sex objects in the media and advertising was a difficult issue to deal with.
"Only 18% of children's television viewing is in their designated viewing time and legislation can't be the answer for everything.
"One of the key things here is social responsibility - advertisers and other media need to be aware that the products they produce and images associated with them have an impact and it's not always a good impact," he said.
drivingrl: "Will I ever get to meet Gwen Stefani?"
kevinbeetle: "Yes. When her career washes up and her and Gavin move to Galveston, you will meet her at Hot Topic shopping for a Japanese cheerleader outfit.
Next!"
kevinbeetle: "Yes. When her career washes up and her and Gavin move to Galveston, you will meet her at Hot Topic shopping for a Japanese cheerleader outfit.
Next!"
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
if this is not news... how can any social problem be news? why do we have news about drug problems, teen pregnancy, birth control, etc?
so i guess it's news because someone wants to make people aware. someone is crying out that something is wrong and it must change. i was taught to always treat women with respect and honor. we've come a long way since then.
No, I'm not saying it's a good thing. I'm shocked they're treating this as news. Because calling it 'news' would imply that this story is new and something we have never seen before.
Did they really need to do a study to figure this out? This problem has been going on for decades. I know my generation suffers pretty highly from it, at least.
Our society is messed up. Companies profit from advertisers using people's low-self esteem to sell products. This is not news - it's been this way for as long as I've been alive.
kevinbeetle: "Yes. When her career washes up and her and Gavin move to Galveston, you will meet her at Hot Topic shopping for a Japanese cheerleader outfit.
Next!"
i can only guess that it's people talking until someone hears. it's sad that we can't identify a problem and move to solve it. in this case; we identified a problem and allowed it to grow worse.
people are slow to respond, or it makes them uncomfortable to talk about... the usa is pretty prudish and there's no open debate on sexuality here. it's repressive and obsessive. but someone talking about it is a good start i suppose.
im sorry, but that part just cracked me up... that's why so many guys like em young!
this just made me laugh. check out kegel exercises. girls can keep their junk tighter than a mouse's ear if they want.
you cant treat someone with respect and honor if they don't respect and honor themselves.
this is news because the problem hasn't gone away. the media is a double edge sword. it promotes the images these kids want to live up to...but to get any change...you have to use the media to change that perception. if you relegate it to back page news, it gets forgotten. and obviously, dressing and acting like a tramp is still front page news.
*grabs popcorn*
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
working with troubled children; we treat them with respect and show them that they do have worth; this builds self worth and respect for themselves. if you treat someone like they're worthless; they will eventually think they are.
I always advocate for treating people with respect because anything otherwise contributes to the problem.
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
i'm 42, have 2 kids and 1 3/4 grandsons. AND my junk is still tighter than a mouses ear. i can submit references if you'd like.
you can...but they can't/won't accept it. you just cannot make a person love themselves. what they perceive to see in the mirror and feel in their hearts is what they believe themselves to be. you can help and guide them thru the journey...but ultimately, they have to find it in themselves.
and why do women dress that way? because it's a MAN's perception of what's hot and a turn on and has been forever. do you really think women enjoy wearing 6 inch heels? pushup, underwire bras? good times i tell ya. but look what happens to the females in the media..look at the train wreck lives lindsey lohan and britney have. they are little more than teens themselves. one can only hope instead of bashing them, some girls will see that even the beautiful ones lives aren't perfect. they get fat, they make bad decisions, etc.
i think it comes down to old stereotypes glorified by the media and parents who are too busy, too absorbed, too whatever, to talk to their kids and be role models. it's easier to give them things instead of time...let their friends and the internet guide them through. i'm not a perfect mom...but both my kids know they can come to me anytime with anything. we never did the big talks...we talk everyday.
Snap!
Snap! Thank you, Angelica. I can't agree more.
This is one of those issues that has so many roots and points to so many other problems in our society. It leaves me virtually speechless. The part that kils me is that people are just getting around to talking about it because of a funded study.
kevinbeetle: "Yes. When her career washes up and her and Gavin move to Galveston, you will meet her at Hot Topic shopping for a Japanese cheerleader outfit.
Next!"
so what's a good way to talk a girl into doing this without hurting her feelings?
hehe, if you say so. i was just messing around though.
it works for guys too
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegel_exercise
if you check the last few pages of the thread "what social causes are your thing" on page two of the train, you'll see where myself and a few others went through multiple levels of this same issue coincidentally just last night! It's a big deal for me! It is insanely far-reaching. People just don't realize.
http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=234197&page=5
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
ill check it out when i get home, lest people at school start to think wierdly of me. in the meantine, does that give tips for how to broach the subject with a gf?
totally agree
older men who like to control......
Another part of it is the good old "kids nowadays are going straight to hell. In my day...." which has been sported about by anyone over the age of 30 since Socrates.
As for girls having more sex and enjoying it and so forth. Good. That evens out the playing field, and makes them catch up to what the guys have been openly doing for decades. Doesn't make them no-good sluts, that makes them humans with a sex-drive (as most humans have incidentally). Sex is a more acceptable topic these days as well, and I dont necessarily think that's a bad thing.
Now I wouldn't like having Paris or Britney or the like as role-models for my kids, but it is also possible to over-estimate to what degree they actually are. They are in the media and you read about them everywhere, sure. That does not equate that everyone wants to be like them. Maybe younger kids are more impressionable, sure, but they grow up too, and often realize that they were pretty stupid back then.
So in conclusion, I do agree somewhat with what you all are saying here, BUT I feel these things tend to lose all proportions, and it allows us to attribute alot of our problems to the fuzzy "media" or the like. Remember when reading those news, they are sensationalized, and thus hardly representative or indicative of anything other than being a extreme(ly) juicy single case.
And finally: "Monkey see" does not at all equal "monkey do".
*End of sociologist's rant*
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
But my post was mostly an attempt to counter the finger-pointing holier-than-thouishness that tends to accompany these debates. Media, movies, music is too easily blamed for our ills, that go alot deeper than that. As you said, your problems were not the media, they started before that, although it certainly didn't help either.
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
man that would be awesome...
jk, ive found virgins to be a right pain in the ass.
the trouble is, a stupid decision by a girl in that area can have dire consequences... pregnancy, a sterilizing std (yeah, guys can get em too, but the way the systems are built women are far more vulnerable), etc.
it's not like a petty vandalism charge or underage drinking ticket that won't be too bad. it's just a dangerous "mistake" to make... up there with drunk driving. cos if you go to the like dressed like a slut like paris and go home with the first hot guy you find... you can wake up with aids. that's not good.
now before anyone gets me on a double standard or moral high ground thing... i think guys are as guilty too. im not saying women should be virgins while guys play... im saying we need to teach some common sense and moderation for both.
as to the guys' end of the deal, they're getting it too. look at hip hop videos and what young men are being taught. women are another accessory, you need lots of bling, have to be alpha male and have a pimped ride, etc etc. both genders are susceptible.