(1) 1 - Sharna Olfman - The Sexualization of Childhood: Growing Older Younger / Growing Younger Older

"Throughout this volume, the phrase 'sexualization of childhood' will refer to derailed psychosexual and gender development as a consequence of cultural values, beliefs, norms, and practices that
* teach girls that their primary worth is in their ability to be sexual objects for male pleasure
* teach boys that sex and violence are conjoined and that girls and women should be valued primarily for their ability to give them sexual pleasure
* isolate sexuality from personhood and the capacity for emotionally intimate and committed relationships
* treat children as if they are sexually mature because of the outward trappings of wardrobe, makeup, or precocious puberty
* allow corporations to use materials or methods of production that release endocrine-disrupting chemicals into the environment, contributing to early puberty" [mijn nadruk] (2)

[Wonderlijke opsomming. In de eerste twee punten is seksualisering gericht op de overdracht van klassieke rollenpatronen (klopt feitelijk, is onderzocht, is schokkend, maar hoe groot is de invloed ervan eigenlijk?). In de twee volgende punten slaat seksualisering op de aard van seks in samenhang met kinderen, waarbij seks weer normatief opgevat wordt als iets voor 'intimate and committed relationships' (lees het huwelijk) en als iets waar kinderen niet rijp voor zijn (nee, niet als je seks zo ziet). In het vijfde punt gaat het over slechte invloeden van de industrie, maar nu in de vorm van de chemische rotzooi die die in het mileu brengt die leidt tot een vervroegde puberteit (waar, maar seksualisering?).]

(5) I - Growing Up in a Sexualized Culture

(7) 2 - Matthew B. Ezzell - Pornography, Lad Mags, Video Games, and Boys: Reviving the Canary in the Cultural Coal Mine

"In the all-male setting, and in the larger context of the hypermasculine fraternity system in the United States, no one stood up to the display of open rapist ideology. Rather than rock the boat and potentially cast doubt on their status as 'real men', the other men simply nodded. Regardless of whether the entire group endorsed the view of women as only bodies designed for male pleasure or if it was only one man's view, this event raises a disturbing question: what has to happen to boys and men — as others teach them how to be boys and men — to get them to the point that their empathy for women is apparently nonexistent?" [mijn nadruk] (8)

[Dit suggereert dat dat iets van de laatste tijd is, maar dat is natuurlijk al millennia zo. ]

"There are many aspects of our culture that undergird dominant social systems and the status quo. One of the most powerful agents of socialization in our culture, though, is the pervasive media system. The state of mass media today may well be the canary in our cultural coal mine. And the canary isn't looking well." [mijn nadruk] (8)

"What is the social context in which media is being produced and consumed today? In a word, we are living in a patriarchy. Sociologist Allan Johnson notes that a society is patriarchal to the extent that it is male-dominated, male-identified, and male-centered. This doesn't mean that all men have power over all women or that all men feel powerful in their daily lives. What it means is that men tend to be in positions of power and authority, that what is considered normal and valuable within the culture tends to be associated with men and masculinity, and that the cultural focus of attention tends to be on men and the things that men do. One facet of a patriarchal society, as Johnson notes, is the oppression of women. And one facet of that oppression is men's violence against women. In other words, we live in a rape culture. What does this mean?" [mijn nadruk] (8-9)

"Media matters. And it reflects and reinforces the rape culture. It may not cause anyone to do anything — not every person who watches a violent movie will engage in an act of violence — but media is implicated in real social interaction. Many argue that the connection is profound."(9)

"In other words, in a society in which media images of women disproportionately portray women as sexual objects that are degraded and less than men, and in which images of men are disproportionately tied to aggression, competition, sexual conquest, and control, it is more likely that women will be systematically targeted for acts of men's violence."(10)

[Misschien, maar is dat ook empirisch aangetoond? ]

"This is particularly disturbing considering that, in the absence of comprehensive sex and sexuality education in the schools and in the absence of comprehensive and timely discussions about sex between children and their parents, adolescents are largely getting their sex education and socialization through media — and the higher their 'sexual media diet,' the earlier their sexual experimentation begins."(10)

[Ja, leve de VS. Doe daar dan (ook) wat aan, zou ik zeggen. ]

"In being socialized into the narrow box of what it means to be a 'real man' in this culture, men have to give up aspects of their humanity, their ability to connect intimately with others, and their ability to connect intimately with themselves. Violence prevention educator Paul Kivel summarizes the dominant and impossible masculinity taught to boys in our culture: 'Be tough, be aggressive, don't back down, don't make mistakes, be in control, take charge, have lots of sex, have money, be responsible, don't show any feelings, and don't cry.'" [mijn nadruk] (11)

"In the remainder of this chapter, I will outline three specific types of media that play a significant role in many boys' lives: pornography, 'lad mags,' and sexualized and violent video games."(11)

"The impact of the pornography industry on children occurs in three direct ways: the explicit sexualization of children and childhood, child sexual abuse, and children's exposure to and consumption of pornography."(11)

"The question emerges again: what are young men learning? In a content analysis of Maxim magazines from the year 2007, Laura Morrison identified the core components of the 'Maxim Man': aggressive and predatory sexuality, the consumption and enactment of violence through entertainment and sport, the shaping of the body into a weapon, and an emphasis on consumerism and economic competition. Laramie Taylor's work supports Morrison's findings. His analysis of representative articles from a range of lad magazines found the dominant construction of masculine sexuality to be narrowly defined, gender stereotypical, and aggressive, emphasizing both multiple sexual partners and multiple sexual practices." [mijn nadruk] (16)

"Here the story of the lad mag is laid bare: Producers are purposefully constructing a masculinity equated with sports, drinking, and sexual conquest, constructing a femininity equated with being a sexual object, and deliberately fighting against the gains of feminist movement(s)."(17)

"Beyond sexist imagery and sexualized violence, there is also a direct connection between the pornography and video game industries."(22)

"You may read the depictions of mainstream pornography, lad mags, and video games and think, as people have said to me, 'Well, that sounds bad, but so what? This is just entertainment, a good way to blow off steam. Boys will be boys, after all.' But media is more than simply entertainment. And these media are teaching boys to be boys in particular ways. Further, although the research isn't conclusive or without limitations, existing studies of the implications of media — specifically pornography, lad mags, and video games — on thoughts, beliefs, and actions provide cause for concern." [mijn nadruk] (23)

"Popular pornography, lad mags, and video games promote a sexist, domineering, and aggressive vision of masculinity and an objectified, submissive, and inferior vision of femininity."(29)

"The pornography, lad mag, and video game industries are cashing in, but all of us are paying the price. Rape — viewed as both an act and an ideology that denies the full humanity of women — is in us, and I don't want it there.
These industries are multi-billion-dollar powerhouses, but they are neither natural nor inevitable. The ideologies they promote and reproduce can be challenged and changed, and the canary in our cultural coal mine can be revived. It will take a lot of work, organized resistance, and collective action at both grassroots and structural levels to change things. The task feels daunting. It is daunting. But as Marian Wright Edelman, the founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, has said, 'We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.' Change is possible. As a basic start, it will require honest, open, and comprehensive communication about sex and sexuality in the home and the schools. It will require role models who refuse to participate in systems of domination and exploitation for profit. It will require looking squarely in the mirror and dealing with ourselves, and it will require looking squarely at the increasingly denigrating and abusive aspects of mainstream culture without flinching. It will require engaged, mindful, and conscientious consumerism. It will require empathic connection and action. It will require us. It will require me. It will require you." [mijn nadruk] (31-32)

[Beetje naïef. Dit gaat nooit iets opleveren. Hoe voer je een strijd tegen het kapitalisme als economisch systeem en neoliberalisme en religie als achterliggende ideologieën in een conservatief land als de VS? Dat zal een hardere aanpak vergen dan alleen dit.]

(33) 3 - Susan Linn - A Royal Juggernaut: The Disney Princesses and Other Commercialized Threats to Creative Play and the Path to Self-Realization for Young Girls

"I am a psychologist whose work involves engaging children in play therapy, primarily using puppets. I'm also the director of a national advocacy coalition, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), which works for the rights of children to grow up — and the freedom for parents to raise them — without being undermined by commercial interests. In recent years I've found that these two passions — promoting creative, therapeutic play, and stopping the commercial exploitation of children — often intersect. The children with whom I play seem increasingly entrenched in rather rigid, stultified fantasies, rooted in their immersion in commercialized culture.
For twenty-first-century little girls, commercialized play manifests in repetitive, media-driven scripts in which female characters are characterized by entitlement, helplessness, and dependence — the same rigid roles that triggered rebellion in the women's movement of the 1960s. It is both sad and ironic to find that the granddaughters of mid-twentieth-century feminists are locked into the same stereotyped roles from which their grandmothers struggled so hard to break free. One reason for what seems like significant backsliding is that commercialized media, with its accoutrements and the constricted role of women that it promotes, has never been so omnipresent in children's lives.
The unfortunate combination of ubiquitous, sophisticated technology and unfettered capitalism translates into an unprecedented immersion in media culture that tends to overshadow and crowd out other influences. With the press of a button, children can repeatedly conjure up screen versions of beloved stories and characters and — depending on media viewing rules at home — at will." [mijn nadruk] (33-34)

[Typisch is dat. In de VS heb je voor elke waarde een organisatie die drijft op de gelden vanuit liefdadigheid. Mooi doel, maar of het effectief is?]

Ze vergelijkt de inhoud van moderne media met de sprookjes en verhalen die ze zelf uit haar jeugd kent. Ook daar vind je allerlei stereotypen over mannen en vrouwen, zwart en wit, mooi en lelijk.

"In complement to the misshapen hags and dwarves, the heroines in fairy tales are as beautiful as they are good. As a child I remember them often described as 'fair of face,' which can be read simultaneously as 'nice to look at' and 'light complexioned.' (...) That the stereotypes are explainable, however, does not eliminate the challenges fairy tales pose for those of us struggling to build a society that embraces similarities between people and celebrates the differences."(38)

"When fairy tales become commercial mega-brands, their depth and malleability diminish, and so does their value as springboards for creative play. Once fairy tales become visual versions of someone else's values — viewed over and over and sold to us in combination with tiaras, jewels, ball gowns, and castles, and plastered with images of specific princesses with specific physiognomies — they lock children into a set script for playing from which it is very hard to deviate. Immersion in the Disney Princess brand — with its focus on glitter and acquisition — precludes playing out the more psychologically meaningful aspects of the stories that take place before the heroine becomes a princess — themes of loss, sibling rivalry, and parent–child conflicts."(39)

"Like the superhero/action figure phenomenon, the Disney Princess films and their accoutrements trap children — little girls this time — in an endless, intensifying loop of commercially constructed fantasies. Instead of pointing them toward violence, commercialized make-believe for girls steers them toward a view of femininity based on stereotypes of beauty, race, class, and behavior."(40)

"In addition to their anorexic bodies, they feature heavily made-up faces and an in-your-face sexuality that's a slightly watered down version of the pervasive trappings of 'raunch culture,' often described as pornography gone mainstream. The Bratz brand doesn't promote dreams of acquiring the accoutrements of royalty. Instead, it promotes dreams of acquiring the trappings of rich teenage sluts."(41)

"If we want children to embrace diversity as a value, then providing them with multicultural toys, books, and media that counter prevailing stereotypes is essential. (...) In the extreme, linking physical characteristics to character traits can be dangerous enough to result in genocide. Unless a conscious effort is made to counter them, societal stereotypes may be absorbed by children as young as two." [mijn nadruk] (42)

"On the one hand, a black Disney Princess eliminates the terrible pain experienced by black girls who get the message every day that being a princess is desirable and that only white girls can be princesses. On the other hand, for parents who have chosen to opt out of Disney Princess culture, partly because there is no black princess, opting in means allowing their daughters to immerse themselves in a commercial culture that places disproportionate importance on being rich and beautiful and finding a prince to marry."(43)

"'Kids are getting older younger,' is a common plaint in the toy industry, clothing, and marketing industries and is used as an excuse to market to 6-year-olds everything from cell phones to thong underpants. The market has usurped the years between 6 and 12 and transformed them into 'tweens,' a monolithic consumer demographic of teenage wannabes. Now these industries are working at usurping the preschool years as well. Referring to 4- to 6-year-olds as 'pre-tweens,' companies like Bonne Bell are targeting little girls with what might be called 'pre-makeup,' in the form of lip gloss spiked with M&Ms, Dr. Pepper, and other flavors." [mijn nadruk] (45)

"But are kids actually getting older younger? Girls are reaching puberty earlier than in previous generations. There is, however, no evidence that their cognitive, social, or emotional development, or their judgment, is keeping pace. The frontal cortex — the area of the brain where judgment sits — doesn't develop fully until we reach our mid-twenties. Immersion in twenty-first-century commercial culture encourages children to leap directly from preschool to the preoccupations of adolescence — sexuality, identity, and affiliation — before they can possibly understand what any of them mean.
In 2007 a report from the American Psychological Association on the sexualization of young girls stated, 'Toy manufacturers produce dolls wearing black leather miniskirts, feather boas, and thigh-high boots and market them to 8- to 12-year-old girls. Clothing stores sell thongs sized for 7- to 10-year-old girls (some printed with slogans such as ‘eye candy' or ‘wink'); other thongs sized for women and late adolescent girls are imprinted with characters from Dr. Seuss and the Muppets). In the world of child beauty pageants, 5-year-old girls wear fake teeth, hair extensions, and makeup and are encouraged to 'flirt' onstage by batting their long, false eyelashes. On prime-time television, girls can watch fashion shows in which models made to resemble little girls wear sexy lingerie (e.g., the CBS broadcast of Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on December 6, 2005).'" [mijn nadruk] (46)

[O ja, weer het frontal cortex argument. Even afgezien van de vraag hoe waar die theorie is en hoe dat het gedrag van mensen zou determineren, wat zegt het over het vermogen van kinderen om van hun eigen lijf te genieten of dingen te snappen? En ik heb niet bepaald de indruk dat mensen boven die 25 jaargrens zoveel meer oordelend vermogen hebben en zo veel meer begrijpen. Of ben je dan automatisch conservatief en christelijk of zo? ]

"According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2005 over one third of American ninth graders (boys and girls) had already had sex. But the fact that many children are sexually active at age 14 doesn't mean that they are achieving emotional intimacy with their partners or handling relationships particularly well. If children were really getting older younger — if they were actually going through all of the processes of physical, cognitive, social, and emotional maturation more rapidly — then perhaps there would be little cost to them. But that doesn't seem to be the case." [mijn nadruk] (47)

[Moet dat dan?]

(51) 4 - Sandra Steingraber - Girls Gone Grown-Up: Why Are U.S. Girls Reaching Puberty Earlier and Earlier?

"In short, I discovered that the basic elements of fertility in this ecosystem were not governed by a built-in clock but were potentialities that responded to environmental signals. That understanding may shed light on a puzzling phenomenon in humans: the free-falling age at which U.S. girls are entering puberty. In February 2008 the medical journal Pediatrics published the findings of an expert panel convened to evaluate trends in pubertal timing among U.S. girls. Corroborating earlier findings, the panel concluded that U.S. girls as a group are reaching puberty at ever earlier ages. A century ago, the average age at first menstruation, or menarche, was 14.2. By the time I began menstruating in 1972, the average age had fallen to 12.8, and it is now 12.3. There are significant racial differences: mean menarchal age is 12.6 years for white girls, 12.1 for black girls, and 12.2 for Mexican American girls.

The appearance of breasts — called thelarche — also arrives earlier and earlier in the lives of American girls. Indeed the average age of thelarche is falling even faster than the age of menarche. I first sprouted breast buds when I was 11.5 years old, which, in 1970, was exactly average. By 1997, the average age for breast budding had fallen to just under 10 years for U.S. white girls and just under 9 years for black girls, with a significant portion beginning to develop breast buds before age 8.3. In a few decades, the childhood of girls have been significantly shortened. Researchers remain puzzled about what's causing the phenomenon."(51-52)

"Early-maturing girls are more likely to experience depression, develop eating and adjustment disorders, and are more likely to attempt suicide. Some of these effects are limited to adolescence, and others persist throughout young adult life and into middle age.
According to research, early-maturing girls are more prone to early drug abuse, cigarette smoking, and alcohol use. They are more likely to be physically and violently victimized. Earlier puberty is also predictive of earlier sexual initiation with first sexual encounter following closely on the heels of puberty. The combination of early sexual intercourse and early substance use places early-maturing girls at a higher risk for teenage pregnancy. Conduct disorders and delinquency are also higher among early-maturing girls who are disproportionately represented in criminal records. Late-maturing girls were also found to perform better in school and are more likely to finish college.
Early puberty also raises the risk of breast cancer in adulthood."(52-53)

"The link to breast cancer lends urgency to the task of understanding the causes of early puberty. The leading hypotheses fall into three categories: psychosocial factors, nutrition, and pollutants. All three represent aspects of the environment that girls inhabit. However, these groupings are not necessarily independent of each other."(53)

"Our obesity epidemic, which scientists have associated with changes in childhood nutrition, is almost certainly playing a role in the falling age of menarche and may also be at least partly responsible for the falling age of breast development. As a group, obese girls enter puberty earlier than lean girls."(54)

Dat heeft natuurlijk ook te maken met de hoeveelheid tijd die kinderen tv kijken of achter de computer zitten. Er is een duidelijke relatie tussen dat en dik worden. Minder beeldschermtijd, meer sport buiten school en gym binnen school zou iets kunnen doen tegen dat sedentaire bestaan van kinderen, maar niets van dat alles is de trend in de VS, integendeel.

"There is no federal law that requires PE to be provided in schools, nor any incentive to do so. Exercise is protective against early puberty but through mechanistic pathways that are not clearly understood. (...) Girls with anorexia tend to have delayed puberties, as do gymnasts, runners, and ballet dancers. There is some evidence that exercise itself is protective against early puberty."(56)

"Exposures to hormone-disrupting chemicals may be part of the story of early puberty. Hormone-disrupting chemicals are substances that disregulate some aspect of the endocrine system. They can exert their effects in a number of ways: by mimicking hormones; by blocking their uptake; by altering the rate of their production; by interfering with their metabolism; or by making cells more or less sensitive to hormonal signals."(57)

"Levels of estrogens in prepubertal girls are very low — 100 times lower than previously thought. However, estrogen receptors are expressed in target tissues throughout childhood. Thus, prepubertal girls are highly sensitive to sex hormone exposures, which may influence the timing of pubertal maturation. Indeed, premature breast budding in girls can occur throughout the juvenile period and has been correlated with elevated estrogen levels. It is reasonable then to predict that girls would be sensitive to estrogenic environmental chemicals."(57)

"In addition to certain hair compounds, hormonally active agents are found in many other consumer products, including pesticides and packaging and building materials. Hence, apart from accidental one-time exposures, children are also exposed continuously to low-level endocrine disruptors in their diets, drinking water, and air supply."(58)

"All of the stressors that appear to contribute to early puberty in girls — obesity, television viewing, sedentariness, family dysfunction, chemical exposures — are higher in poor communities and communities of color in which poverty, racism, unemployment, and toxic substance exposures are high and access to nourishing food and safe places to exercise is low. In particular, U.S. black children are disproportionately exposed to physical environmental stressors, and this group reaches puberty earliest." [mijn nadruk] (60)

[Interessant artikel, hoewel het wel erg gemakkelijk oorzakelijke verbanden legt en vlees eten niet noemt.]

(63) 5 - Margo Maine - Something's Happening Here: Sexual Objectification, Body Image Distress, and Eating Disorders

"The rapid spread of eating disorders both in the United States and around the world suggests that something is happening in the lives of contemporary girls and women to place them at risk. To understand, prevent, and treat these conditions, we must ask: why girls and why now?
This chapter explores how current cultural values, attitudes, and practices — with particular emphasis on the sexualization and objectification of women and their bodies — contribute to eating disorders and body image distress in females across the life span. In a highly charged sexual environment, girls feel pressure to look 'sexy' but also fear sexual vulnerability and violence. Girls' bodies become simultaneously 'hot commodities' and danger zones. Eating disorder symptoms, such as excessive dieting, exercise abuse, and purging, can become a safety net yet lead to their own risks with high costs to the physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and spiritual health of suffering females and their loved ones." [mijn nadruk] (63-64)

"The single-best predictor of risk for developing an eating disorder is being born female."(64)

"Eating disorders are multidetermined phenomena; the common final pathway for biological predispositions, psychological vulnerabilities, painful emotional or developmental experiences, family dysfunction, psychosocial stressors, and cultural pressures. Despite these multiple contributing risk factors, a disproportionate amount of the recent research on eating disorders has focused on genes and biogenetic vulnerability. Genes, however, do not code behavior or disease; rather they code RNA and DNA, the building blocks of cells, creating variations associated with risk. Regardless of revolutionary advances, we are far from knowing how genomic variations alter protein development in the cell and affect the functional circuits of neurons. In view of the speed at which eating disorders have proliferated in countries where they were previously unknown as globalization introduces Western values, the 'nurture' or environment side of the nature–nurture debate appears to be the more compelling explanation. Although it is highly unlikely that a gene for eating disorders will be found, persuasive evidence exists to substantiate the impact of media images and cultural trends on the body image and eating habits of today's women regardless of their age." [mijn nadruk] (65-66)

"In fact, despite increased awareness of sexism and gender equity issues, women are actually more sexualized and objectified in magazine ads today than they were in the 1980s. Female body exposure has increased with almost 53 percent of black women and 62 percent of white women scantily clad; only 25 percent of men are presented this way. More than 17 percent of ads show women in lower-status positions, such as on their knees or on the floor. Black women are particularly apt to be photographed in sexualized predatory poses, often wearing animal prints.
The female body is typically portrayed as an ornament rather than an instrument, and its objectification and sexualization are everywhere. The trend in advertising is to use a partially clad, emaciated, but often well-endowed young woman's body to advertise anything and everything. The ad could be for diamonds, men's cologne, shoes, a health club, a car: the product is irrelevant, but the message is crystal clear. A woman's naked and highly sexualized body is the gold standard for advertising, with pornographic images on highway billboards, in magazines, on family coffee-tables, in professional waiting rooms, and on our private Internet screens." [mijn nadruk] (67)

"No matter how hard a family or caring adults may try, it is virtually impossible to protect a growing and impressionable girl from the ubiquitous images and messages regarding the female body and how it is valued and judged. Even dolls, which were once the hallmark of innocent play, have evolved into sexual entities."(67)

"The sexualization of young girls is rampant and does not appear to be waning, despite the concerns of parents and professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA). (...) The APA report speculates that sexualization reflects underlying sexism, a troubling tolerance for violence against women, and the ongoing exploitation of girls and women."(68)

Voorbeelden van films en advertenties.

"Most people are so desensitized to such ads and messages that they are never discussed or challenged."(70)

"Frederickson and Roberts explain that chronic sexual objectification has a lasting impact because it pressures girls to accept an external view of themselves and of their value as people. Girls come to see themselves as objects to be looked at and judged based on their appearance. Acceptance of an external standard results in constant monitoring and self-scrutiny so that individuals have fewer and fewer resources for internal awareness and become less and less aware of internal body states and experiences. With external standards so rigid and unattainable, girls become increasingly ashamed and distressed about their bodies. Bandura's groundbreaking research found that when people fail to meet cultural ideals, intrusive thoughts may undermine cognitive functions. Because women earn less, have less status and power, and are more likely to be victims, failing to meet the cultural standard has a higher price, literally and figuratively, for them. Intrusive and obsessive self-disparaging thoughts, absent other areas in which they feel successful, will easily compromise a growing girl's sense of self as well as her cognitive and emotional functioning." [mijn nadruk] (70)

"We have much to learn from Douglass's words; men and women must rally to challenge the sexualization and objectification of women and transform modern culture so that it embraces and empowers both sexes to be equal partners, thus creating a better world for future generations. In such a world, women would no longer suffer from culturally constructed, life-threatening illnesses such as eating disorders."(74)

(75) 6 - Diane E. Levin - So Sexy, So Soon: The Sexualization of Childhood

"The feature story in the May 2004 issue of the New York Times Magazine was called 'Friends, Friends with Benefits and the Benefits of the Local Mall.' One hundred suburban teenagers were interviewed for the article. They described a world of casual sexual encounters devoid of emotions or relationships. 'Hooking up' and 'friends with benefits' are part of the new slang to describe casual sex with friends. The author of the story, Benoit Denizet-Lewis, reported that 'the teenagers talked about hookups as matter-of-factly as they might discuss what's on the cafeteria lunch menu.' Sixteen-year-old Brian put it this way: 'Being in a real relationship just complicates everything. When you're friends with benefits, you go over, hook up, then play video games or something. It rocks.' Formal dating relationships were frowned upon. In the words of Irene, a high school senior, 'It would be so weird if a guy came up to me and said, ‘Irene, I'd like to take you out on a date.' I'd probably laugh at him. It would be sweet, but it would be so weird.'
Three days after the New York Times story appeared, the Boston Globe published an op-ed piece by Scot Lehigh, who bemoaned the realities of the casual and unencumbered sexual behavior revealed by the teenagers. 'It's truly sad to read of a high school generation too detached to date, too indifferent for romance, too distant for commitment. . . . You can't help but hope that today's teenagers will come to understand that to rob sex of romance, to divorce it from emotion, is to deny themselves exactly what makes it special.'" [mijn nadruk] (75)

[Het probleem hier is het perspectief / de waarden en normen van waaruit geoordeeld wordt. Wanneer een of andere christelijke fatsoensrakker zegt dat het zo jammer is dat er geen romantiek meer is en dat seks zo niet meer 'speciaal' is, dan heb ik daar wat problemen mee bijvoorbeeld. ]

"In order to address concerns about adolescents' sexual behavior, we need to start with a better understanding of the factors that are shaping their ideas about gender, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships. We also need to understand how the 'casual sex epidemic' relates to other aspects of their lives. An essential starting point for developing this understanding is through an examination of the vastly expanded role of media and commercial culture in children's lives over the past 3 decades."(76)

Voorbeelden van vragen die kinderen krijgen doordat ze seks tegenkomen in de media, etc.

"As children are glued to the screen, they are exposed to a very large quotient of sexual material."(78)

"Programming and toys that are marketed to boys, such as professional wrestling programs and their action figures, teach boys that males should always be physically powerful and ready to fight, and that sex involves aggressive domination of beautiful women who serve as objects for male pleasure.
Girls are receiving different but equally shallow messages about being female and sexuality from toys and the media. Girls are taught that they should have skinny bodies and that they need to be consumers of clothing, makeup, and accessories in order to look 'pretty,' 'grown-up,' and 'sexy.'"(79)

"Increasingly, young girls are encouraged to act in sexual ways in their daily lives. For instance, beauty pageants, like the ones in which JonBenet Ramsey participated, channel young girls into precocious sexual appearance and behavior. I recently heard an account of 5- to 8-year-old girls in Texas who were training as cheerleaders. They dress in clothing usually worn by much older cheerleaders."(80)

"In 1984 the Federal Communications Commission deregulated children's television, making it possible to market television programs and toys together for the first time. The television and toy industries quickly joined forces to create whole lines of toys and other products, such as bedsheets, pajamas, and breakfast cereals, which were linked to children's programs. (...) Media deregulation contributed to a major setback in efforts during the 1960s and 1970s to reduce gender stereotyping in childhood culture and expand children's definitions of what it meant to be a boy or a girl." [mijn nadruk] (81)

[Terwijl er juist gereguleerd moet worden. Dat is weer dat typische neoliberale kapitalisme in de VS: laat het aan de bedrijven over. ]

"Young children are routinely exposed to images of sexual behavior devoid of emotions, attachments, or consequences. They are learning that sex is the defining activity in relationships, to the exclusion of love and friendship. They are learning that sex is often linked to violence. Also, they are learning to associate physical appearance and buying the right accessories with being successful as a person. Such lessons will shape their gender identity, sexual attitudes, values, and their capacity for relationships. We can see the long-term effects of these lessons in the casual sexual behavior and attitudes among the youth in the New York Times article."(84)

"Parents are often told by the wider society (and especially by the industries that markets to children) that it is their job to decide what is appropriate for their children and to protect them from what they believe is not appropriate. Although it has never been easy, this task was less difficult for parents in the past when the prevailing cultural messages were more compatible with the values and goals they held for their children. Today parents need to fight the prevailing culture at every turn with younger and younger children. Even the best-prepared and most conscientious parents find it impossible to stem the onslaught of negative media messages."(85)

"By allowing children to be exposed to information about sex and sexuality that undermines their healthy sexual development, society is failing its children and their families. For too long the increasing sexualization of childhood has not been given the attention it warrants. Until we address this problem as a society and work to regain control over it from those who are motivated solely by financial gain, children, families, and ultimately all of society will pay the price.
First Amendment and free speech arguments are often used to protect industry moguls' and Internet pornographers' right to put anything they choose on the screen, even when that material negatively affects children. The arguments used generally ignore the long history in the United States of creating special policies that protect children from harm — for example, through laws against child abuse and neglect. It is time for all of us to work together to create policies and practices that will help children develop the foundation they need to become adults who are capable of forming positive, caring sexual relationships." [mijn nadruk] (85-86)

(89) 7 - Carolyn M. WEST - Still on the Auction Block: The (S)exploitation of Black Adolescent Girls in Rap(e) Music and Hip-Hop Culture

"In the early 1970s black and Latino youth in the economically depressed South Bronx created hip-hop culture, which encompassed deejaying, graffiti writing, break dancing, and rap music. Although they produced fun dance music, these marginalized young people exposed the social problems that ravaged their impoverished communities: drug abuse, poverty, police brutality, racism, and gang violence. This urban youth-based culture has grown into a multiracial, global phenomenon that permeates almost every aspect of society — from language to fashion, the dance club scene, and the general way in which young people interact with one another. Contemporary hip-hop music includes Christian and politically conscious rap music that is progressive, transformative, and even life affirming. In the 1980s when corporations began to depoliticize and financially exploit the popularity of hip-hop, rap music and music videos became the most powerful, influential, and frequently consumed product of hip-hop culture. Those that depicted violence and explicit sexual content received heavy rotation on radio and television."(89)

"Many concerned parents, public health experts, and social critics denounce hip-hop music lyrics and videos for hypersexualizing black adolescent girls. More specifically, they have argued that black girls may develop sexual scripts based on hip-hop culture, which in turn shapes how they express their sexuality and view themselves as sexual beings. In addition, exposure to sexualized images in hip-hop has been found to influence black girls' perception of male–female gender roles, attitudes toward sexual assault, physical dating violence, and physical attractiveness. This is troubling from a public health standpoint. Music videos and lyrics that perpetuate gender inequality and glorify risky sexual behaviors but rarely provide healthy sexual messages or emphasize possible negative health consequences may increase the likelihood that black adolescent girls will have unplanned pregnancies, early sexual onset, or sexually transmitted disease (STD) acquisition, including HIV/AIDS." [mijn nadruk] (90)

[Alsof dat niets te maken heeft met de standaard Amerikaanse onkenning van seks bij jongeren: het ontbreken van goede voorlichting op scholen, van voorbehoedmiddelen, van mogelijkheden als morningafter pill en abortus als het mis mocht gaan, en zo meer. Je individualseert het probleem, legt de verantwoordelijkheid bij de jongeren, lekker gemakkelijk.]

"Researchers have identified six distinct sexual scripts in popular rap music: Diva, Gold Digger, Freak, Gangster Bitch, Baby Mama, and Earth Mother."(91)

[Opvallend aan dit boek als aan andere: een algemeen probleem wordt meteen doorgeschoven naar een probleem voor vrouwen. Het zijn niet alleen de waarden voor vrouwen die bediscussieerd moeten worden, het zijn ook de waarden voor mannen en hoe die zich gedragen waarvoor dat geldt. Niet alleen vrouwen en meisjes worden geseksualiseerd, ook mannen krijgen een rol opgedrongen.]

"Black teenage girls may be torn between the expectation of respectability derived from their parents and community and sexualization that masquerades as sexual liberation. It is important to appreciate that the images projected in hip-hop videos are more than mere visual representations. Rather they can be more accurately described as sexual scripts, which can become guidelines that teach black girls why, where, when, how often, and with whom to express their sexuality."(93-94)

"Rap artists visually and lyrically beat, rape, verbally abuse, and even murder black women in their lyrics. Nearly every gangster rapper's CD has an obligatory 'Beat that Ho' song, and sex has become a form of torture in which men are encouraged to break 'that thing in half' and 'leave some stretch marks' in a woman's mouth after oral sex. Even gang rape is depicted; in one song rappers described a line of 14 men prepared to take turns placing themselves 'two on top, one on the bottom' of an underage girl.
It is too simplistic to say that hip-hop or rap music causes violence against women. Nonetheless, this musical genre, along with other forms of musical expression, has advocated, glorified, justified, and condoned this conduct, which in turn may desensitize listeners to misogyny and violence."(97)

"Black girls cannot wait for hip-hop artists or the music industry to become socially responsible. They must be equipped with media literacy skills, which will allow them to critically examine hip-hop images and to deconstruct them by asking themselves and others: Who created these images and why?, Who profits from the sexual objectification of black girls and women?, and What is the history behind these representations? These media literacy skills also are transferrable to gendered, violent, and sexualized messages in other forms of media, including television, film, magazines, video games, and music lyrics. Organizations such as Helping Our Teen Girls in Real Life Situations, Inc. (HOTGIRLS.org) are designed to provide these media literacy skills."(100)

(103) II - Sexualization and Child Sexual Abuse

(105) 8 - Sharon W. Cooper - The Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth: Redefining Victimization

"Most noncommercial producers are family members, relatives, and acquaintances. However, distributors often take the 'product' and gain immense financial benefits from ensuring that the public has access to every child victim's innermost dark secret.(...)
It became apparent that the market for Internet-based pictures of children being sexually abused and exploited would become one of the most lucrative in the history of Internet crimes."(106)

"Although it is still believed that most commercial sexual exploitation of children takes place offline, the use of online classified services, such as www.Craiglist.com and www.Eros.com, is increasing access to children and youth in a manner not previously reported. The role of technology allows for more covert means of trafficking of youth and requires knowledge of how destinations are communicated by means of the Internet and cellular telephones, as well as the accepting of online payments. It is presently felt that www.Craigslist.com is the most common means of online marketing of children and youth for prostitution."(118)

(121) 9 - Gail Dines - Childified Women: How the Mainstream Porn Industry Sells Child Pornography to Men

"Captured in just three images is the essence of the visual landscape that surrounds us, a landscape that has become so pornographic as to not warrant even a second glance when we see sexualized childified women, sexualized adultified children, and a whole bevy of sexualized young women whose body language, gaze, and (lack of) clothes scream 'fuck me' to the spectator. These images, together with the thousands and thousands of others that bombard us daily, are part of what media scholars call 'image-based culture;' a term used to describe a society in which images have replaced the spoken or written word as the major form of communication. From billboards to 24-hour-television, the staple of this image-based culture is the youthful, sexualized female body. Advertisements, movies, TV shows, music videos, and pornography are just some of the ways that this image is delivered to us, and as we become more and more desensitized to such depictions, the producers need to ramp up the degree to which the female body is sexualized as a way to get our attention."(121)

"One way the fashion and advertising industry has tried to capture the attention of viewers in this image-saturated culture is through the sexualization of younger and younger girls. One of the pioneers of this type of advertising was Calvin Klein, who in the early 1980s used 15-year-old Brooke Shields in ads for his jeans with the famous tagline 'Do you wanna know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.'"(122)

"Moreover, from childhood these consumers have also been fed a steady diet of violence by an increasingly deregulated media industry that offers up murder and mayhem as entertainment. Put these two together and you have a generation of men who need and expect more extreme and hard-core imagery than ever before, so much so today that even porn directors and producers are somewhat surprised by the demands of users."(122)

"If, as researchers argue, actual child pornography is used by some men to prepare them for actual assault on a child by both desensitizing them to the harm done to children and arousing them while at the same time offering a blueprint on how to commit the crime, then is it not possible that PCP sites could play a similar role?"(125)

[Dat zijn aannames over oorzakelijke verbanden. Die moeten eerst maar eens bewezen worden.]

"The five categories of child pornography described by Krone are:
1. Images depicting nudity or erotic posing with no sexual activity
2. Sexual activity between children or solo masturbation by a child
3. Nonpenetrative sexual activity between adult(s) and child(ren)
4. Penetrative sexual activity between adult(s) and child(ren)
5. Sadism or bestiality"(126)

[Die eerste categorie is natuurlijk bijzonder aanvechtbaar op het eerste punt: alleen al het bloot op de foto zetten van kinderen is daarmee kinderporno. Dat is belachelijk. Opvallend is dat ze die ook meteen niet meer noemt in het vervolg.]

"No matter how much these girls grimace, they say they are enjoying the sex, and they moan intermittently as a way to mimic arousal. This actually reflects what goes on in real child pornography, according to Kenneth Lanning, as much of the illegal child pornography he has investigated does show the child looking somewhat like a willing accomplice, appearing as if they are eagerly consenting to the experience. Of course, this is a lie but one that Lanning argues many perpetrators, and indeed some lawyers, social workers, and police believe, because they view the image as a truth teller rather than a carefully constructed representation of reality that is produced with specific goals in mind." [mijn nadruk] (131-132)

[Ook hier lees ik veel gemakkelijke waarden en normen. Je kunt niet zonder meer aannemen dat kinderen niet willen zoals de auteur doet. Je kunt een fotoserie of film volgens mij nooit zo construeren dat een kind er gelukkig en blij uitziet als er met geweld van alles wordt afgedwongen. Anders is het wanneer de hele omgeving er een is van slimme geweldloze manipulatie door volwassenen. En ik zeg hier ook niet 'door mannen', want vaak spelen vrouwen net zo'n grote rol.]

"Russell's analysis of how men can be socialized into eroticizing and sexualizing children through PCP leads her to the profoundly disturbing conclusion that for both pedophiles and non-pedophiles alike, this type of pornography 'can serve as a bridge between adult pornography and child pornography.'"(141)

(143) 10 - Melissa Farley - Prostitution and the Sexualization of Children

"Today, popular culture markets prostitution to girls as glamorous, fun, sexy, and an easy source of income. Girls who are poor or who are marginalized on the basis of their race or ethnicity or who lack alternatives are especially vulnerable to these messages. As a result children and their parents spend lots of money helping girls mimic smiling strippers and escorts — the mainstreamed mask of prostitution." [mijn nadruk] (144)

"The message sent by the media to girls is that they should always be sexually available, always have sex on their minds, be willing to be dominated and even sexually aggressed against. Although Merskin was describing the sexualization of girls in the media, this statement is also precisely what is expected of women in prostitution. Prostitution itself is part of what it means to be female today. When femaleness is commodified and turned into a commercial product, girls are in effect transformed into prostitutes. They are turned into their sexual characteristics alone, genitals marked by 'wink, wink' thongs, breasts marked by shirts saying 'hooters,' mouths marked by garish lipstick. Girls become sex and nothing else, as analyzed by feminist scholars Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin."(146)

"Prostitution of girls was a marginalized concept as recently as 25 years ago. Only superficially addressing the prostitution of children, Hollywood produced films in the 1970s with 12-year-olds as prostitutes — Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby (1978) and Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver (1976)."(147)

"Young women are taught the sexuality of prostitution, which in essence means that they ignore their own sexual feelings (or lack of them) and learn that their role is to service john-like boyfriends who have learned about sex via pornography."(149)

"The pornographification of young women has been described as raunch culture by Ariel Levy who provides a depressing volume of evidence that some women today have embraced their own degrading objectification. Seeming to have abandoned the hope of real equality with men, women and girls enact prostitution. Lap dancing and pole dancing have become mainstreamed as women's and girls' sexuality. Pole dancing, once the exclusive province of women prostituting in strip clubs, has moved to women's homes and exercise classes. Classes in pole dancing are now advertised as fitness exercises to girls 7 to 11 years old. Stripper-chic outfits mainstream prostitution for young women and girls although it is not called prostitution."(149)

"School systems throughout the United States are highly restrictive regarding the content of sex education courses, sometimes not permitting education about sexual intimacy at all. Yet at the same time girls are receiving powerful messages about prostitution via popular culture."(151)

"Almost all women in prostitution have a history of childhood sexual abuse. Having been sexually assaulted once, usually by someone she knows, girls are 28 times more likely to enter into prostitution than non-sexually assaulted children."(158)