There is also some evidence that children are developing severe eating disorders - usually anorexia - at earlier ages. Eating disorders are difficult to treat, and can be fatal. Medical experts and psychologists are extremely concerned and this apparent trend is now being carefully monitored.
The third risk of premature sexualisation is that it may encourage sexual predation on children. Those who sexually abuse children remain wholly responsible for their abhorrent actions. But there is a risk that publicly displaying sexualised images of children undermines the existing social prohibition against seeing children as sexually interesting.
Experts who work attempting to rehabilitate convicted sexual offenders confirm this risk, and warn that it may apply not only in cases of child sexual abuse perpetrated by a stranger but also in cases where sexual abuse is perpetrated within the family. Professionals around Australia who work to prevent child sexual abuse and to care for child survivors of sexual abuse are also very concerned. In the light of what experts and professionals have to say, we are obliged to think hard about this.
Advertisement
If you’re concerned about the sexualisation of children, you’ve got national leaders in child health, education, and welfare firmly behind you. In December 2006, a clear statement to this effect was made in an open letter to The Australian signed by a dozen representatives of relevant organisations including the Australian Psychological Society, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (Paediatric and Child Health Division), the Australian Council of State Schools Organisations and the Australian Centre for Child Protection.
The letter called for government agencies to “urgently” examine what support can be given to parents and caregivers trying to prevent the premature sexualisation of children buffeted by marketing’s recent onslaught. The letter also insisted that marketers “should bear the primary responsibility for the adverse outcomes of their practices”.
More recently, a major report from the American Psychological Association Taskforce on the Sexualization of Girls confirmed the concerns of Australian experts. Just last month, the Senate voted for the Australian Media and Communications Authority to provide a report to the government by March 31, 2008 making recommendations on: “(i) strategies to prevent and/or reduce the sexualisation of children in the media, and (ii) the effectiveness of different approaches to reducing the amount of sexualisation that occurs and to ameliorating its effects”.
So - at the risk of sounding repetitive - everyone please take note: premature sexualisation has nothing to do with children’s creative “dress-up” play, nor any other aspect of their healthy development.
Discuss in our Forums
See what other readers are saying about this article!
Click here to read & post comments.
11 posts so far.