Is it prudish to
worry about the impact of sex-drenched media on our daughters?
Does it matter that T-shirts with sexy messages comes in
sizes small enough for pre-schoolers? Should we tell our
kids they can't watch pornographic music videos or play
M rated video games that include sex scenes? Do we need
to check up on MySpace and Facebook pages to make sure our
kids or their friends aren't showing up in risqué
photos or worse?
One of the country's most respected scientific institutions
doesn't think such worries are prudish. In fact, they are
ringing the alarms. The American Psychological Association
(APA) has issued a report about the impact of the media
on girls. According to the APA task force that compiled
the study, "the proliferation of sexualized images
of girls and young women in advertising, merchandising,
and media is harmful to girls' self-image and healthy development."
Thanks to the media, virtually every girl in America fights
a battle against low self-esteem and the impulse to be valued
solely for her sexuality.
According to the APA, the prevalence of sexualized images
in nearly every form of media has serious consequences not
just on girls' emotional and physical health, but also on
their cognitive functioning and sexual development. The
task force studied television, music videos, music lyrics,
magazines, movies, video games and the Internet, as well
as advertising and merchandising campaigns. They reported
that sexualized images and messages have increased with
the growth of the new media and that these images and messages
are linked to the myriad issues girls face. From eating
disorders to teen pregnancy to mental health issues, the
media are causing trouble for girls.
In other words, unless we do something quick, the trouble
with girls is only going to get worse. After all, the media
are only gaining a larger place in most of our lives, and
the sexualized media images are getting racier, more explicit,
and more powerful every time we look.
So what can we do? First of all, we should be ready and
willing to draw the lines for our kids. We need to be willing
to say no to the inappropriate T-shirts, the M rated video
games and the R rated videos. Secondly, we need to make
sure we , and not Hollywood or Madison Avenue, are our kids'
sex educators. Right now only 19% of our teens report they
have good communication with their parents about sex. If
we're not talking with our kids about sex, then who do we
think is? If we think Sesame Street teaches our young children
something then what do we think MTV is teaching our older
ones?
If we want our girls to resist the teachings of the sex-obsessed
media, we need to teach them how and why to say no themselves.
Helping our kids become MediaWise means showing them when
the media aren't playing fair. If they become media savvy,
our daughters have a much better chance of staying out of
trouble.
David Walsh, Ph.D. is the founder of the
MediaWise Movement, a program of the National Institute
on Media and the Family (www.mediawise.org).
His latest book, No: Why Kids - of All Ages - Need to
Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It (Free Press) is
available in bookstores.
