Page 3975 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 25 August 2010
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something to be shied away from. Sexualisation, on the other hand, is the deliberate objectifying and devaluing of people, usually women, which occurs in the public domain and more often than not to further a commercial purpose and sell a particular product.
This is not about hiding sex or casting it as something negative. Rather, it is about preventing gender stereotypes and sexual objectification and making sure that we are not instilling in our kids a desire to be something or someone at the expense of their unique talents and ideas.
The usual response by people criticising those who raise this as an issue is that it is simply censorship or an attempt to hide sex from the community, and this is not at all the case. This is a serious issue. It is not wowserism or pro-censorship conservatism.
The other point to make is that just because women have been objectified or told that they have a particular role in the community for a long time now does not make it okay. As a community, we have come a long way in ensuring that both genders have the opportunity to excel in whatever pursuit they are talented at. We need to make sure that we do not step backwards or slow progress to real gender equality.
Associate professor at Southern Cross University and author of the book Consuming innocence—popular culture and your children, Karen Brooks, said on ABC radio that advertisers are consciously trying to circumvent parents and go straight to the children and are “cultivating a culture of acquisition rather than inquisition”.
To seek to trivialise this issue is at best irresponsible. What is happening in society today, the short-sighted, selfish profiteering from one of the most vulnerable groups in our community, is a serious issue that we all need to engage with. The harms are serious and well documented.
There are estimates that children in our community now see hundreds of thousands of advertising images a year. Very often these are images objectifying women and promoting what is, for most women, an unattainable physical appearance. The concern is that, with the increasing amount of access exposure to technology, children are being drawn into this stereotype from the moment they can actively interact with the world. The harms associated with this are many and varied.
Amanda Gordon, president of the Australian Psychological Society, said to the Senate committee inquiry:
Research links sexualisation with three of the most common forms of mental health problems of girls and women. They are eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression and depressed mood.
When asked about the effects on 12 and 14-year-olds of this type of hyper sexualised material, Ms Gordon replied:
I think the emotional response would be very complex … It could also include a sense of, ‘I’m not good enough and no-one loves me because no-one wants to do this stuff with me.’ So it would reduce any self-esteem, make me feel bad about myself. It might start me thinking about my body much more and putting aside all other aspects. That is what sexualisation is about.
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