A Sad State of Affairs

WARNING- Some of this blog post is not suitable for children!

I have mentioned before that I occasionally get newsletters from the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood. I think I originally found this group while I was researching vending machine use in schools, as this is one of the issues CCFC works on. They also work on a number of other issues concerning consumerism and marketing toward children. For the most part, I really like this organization and the ideals that they are working towards.
One issue that is of particular concern to me is the increasing sexualization of children, especially young girls. When I hear about such things as thongs for elementary school girls and bras for girls as young as four, I really have to wonder what’s wrong with the world.

I was reminded of this again today when I got another newsletter from CCFC. Apparently, the American Psychological Association (APA) just came out with an executive report from the Task Force on Sexualization in Girls. How sad is it that we have to form committees to even study such things? It is a clear sign that something is wrong in our society. I took a look at the Executive Summary to catch some of the key findings and recommendations, and it really is so sad. You can check it out for yourself. Also take a look at this info from the CCFC on Marketing Sex to Children. Here’s some of the highlights:

• In 2003, 83% of the episodes of the top twenty shows among teen viewers
  contained some sexual content, including 20% with sexual intercourse.
• On average, music videos contain 93 sexual situations per hour, including
  eleven “hard core” scenes depicting behaviors such as intercourse and oral
  sex.
• Bratz dolls, a hipper and sexier version of Barbie, are advertised
  on shows for young children such as Rugrats and made the Toys R Us 2002 “Hot
  Toy Picks” for five-to-seven-year-olds.
• Tight belly-baring shirts and tiny halter tops, low rider pants are regularly marketed to tweens. Before parents raised an outcry, Abercrombie and Fitch marketed a line of thong underpants decorated with sexually provocative phrases such as “Wink Wink” and “Eye Candy” to ten-year-olds.
  

Wow. The really sad thing about this is that all of these things exist because there is a market for them. If we didn’t buy these things or choose to view these programs, they wouldn’t exist. But they do, and the market continues to be so strong for them that more and more are continually produced. Where are the parents and other adults who will stand up and say no to protect our children? Mike and I will occasionally watch the NBC Dateline shows on child predators. It’s shocking to see how many men, from all walks of life are caught trying to solicit sex from young boys and girls- 12 or 13 years old!! We are continually amazed that they keep catching people, even men who have seen the show before. And many people in the US feel those same feelings of amazement and disgust, but then turn around and buy a Bratz doll for their child, or allow them to watch MTV, or have no problem with thong underwear for 10 year olds. It doesn't take a genius to figure out there is likely a connection!

I am fortunate that my parents protected me from a lot of this when I was growing up. We didn’t have MTV, even though we had cable. My parents specifically had that channel blocked. We also didn’t watch R rated movies and very few PG-13 movies. I wasn’t allowed to watch certain TV shows, like “Blossom” because it was too racy (although quite tame by today’s standards I think!) I once bought a CD of the group TLC that my parents made me return because the album picture showed the girls with condoms pinned all over their clothing. I don’t think I even knew what those really were at the time. There were definitely times it was hard, and I didn’t appreciate what they were doing for me, but looking back on it, I know they made the decisions they did because they loved me and wanted to protect me. And this is what all responsible parents who love their children must do!