Tree of love

Tree of love
This was a gift given to me on my last day of student teaching in Leesburg, Ga by the students and my master teacher in May of 2010. I treasure this gift because it reminds me of the passion and the ambition they felt for me.

Friday, February 10, 2012

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

If you think about it the average child in the United States today has countless opportunities for exposure to sexualized messages every day. Television, music, billboards, prints media, Internet, and cell phones offer children numerous possibilities where they can encounter sexual messages of all sorts. In some homes kids are only a click away from seeing sexual intercourse. Others children however, (like me at a young age) are being exposed to actual sexual behavior in their daily lives that gets played out by the adults and older siblings around them.


If you look at the photo above you can see, how the little girls are dressed up like grown woman. I personally feel that a child needs to be a child, when they are about 16 its okay for them to be in pageants. Doesn’t everybody remember Joan Marie Ramsey? She was a pretty little girl, who grew up to fast. I personally feel that the mother was living her life through her daughter. Another show that comes on television is “Toddlers and Tiaras”. This show brings out the cruelty in the parents as well as exposing the little toddler’s sexuality. For some people, they think that it helps build confidence and instills great values in the children. I personally say no.

Reference of picture image:

mrscottyl.blogspot.com
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. ~ Making A Change ~February 11, 2012 at 10:06 AM

    Tanya,

    I agree with you 110% And quite frankly, some parents just need a good slap, lol. I don't understand them, and I perhaps never will!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jen.JaggersFebruary 11, 2012 at 1:16 PM

    Hi Tanya,
    You are absolutely right, children today are exposed to sexuality almost daily. While some is through the media, other instances are from their day to day interactions within the community. It is saddening that the sexualization of early childhood has become a part of our society; many times people think that these things are "cute" or that children are too young to understand what is going on...not realizing the message the child is receiving nor its implications! It is so embedded into our society now that there are even TV shows about it ("Toddlers and Tiaras" like you pointed out)that people watch! I agree with you, a child needs to be a child; if we are not sending our children positive and age-appropriate messages about sexuality and gender development then we are doing them a disservice and harming their development and sense of self-worth.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)