Sexualization
of early childhood over the years has been a concern for many persons
who interacts with young children on a daily basis. This issue is one
wherein calls for close observations to be done so as to plan
effective strategies to alleviate the problem. Sexualization is wide,
therefore, when I speak about thus I am not talking about the sex of
the child of being a male or female but I am rather addressing that
of the matter to which speaks about their sexuality on a hold. Within
today's society it is seen that young girls and boys are being
dressed a particular way that does not look childish, they are more
fixed on looking like adults. For example girls are wearing a lot of
make up as early as three to four years old.
From
both my personal and professional experiences children who are
exposed to highly sexualized environment execute adult behaviors and
languages that are not suited for their age group. They also tend to
behave as if they are above others talking to them. Second, whenever,
I am presenting children with educational movies to view these
children that are from such environment do not want to be a part of
it. They tend to want to sit by themselves and do something else.
With
all of this is in mind, I personally think that the implications that
this may have on children's healthy development will be that of a
negative one. This is so as these young children are growing up
thinking that their actions are good and are self worthy but its
rather not a good impression on their lives at all. To correct thus
as an educator, I will have to sensitize the children about thus as
well as speak with parents too about their children's actions.
Being
aware of what is going on is key, the researcher has sensitize my
thinking by postulating that it is important to acknowledge that
there are variations in how children are affected by today's
sexualized childhood based on their gender and racial , cultural and
socio-economic group as well as their individual dispositions(
Kilbourne, 2009).
Reference
Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2009). [Introduction]. So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids (pp. 1-8). New York: Ballantine Books. Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf
Good evening,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that as a result of increased sexualization children are forced in a sense to act more mature to handle what is perceived to be acceptable. I too see more children at a younger age wear make up and talk about sex, and engaging in more adult conversations. One thing that I also noticed is that more children are becoming parents at an early age, so I think that it has contributed to the increase of the affects of sexualization with younger children. Thanks for sharing.