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Sexualisation of Young People
Review
When you have finished with This publication is printed
this publication please recycle it on 50% recycled paper
by Dr Linda Papadopoulos
© Crown copyright. February 2010. Ref. 299136.
ISBN: 978-1-84987-186-0
Dr Linda Papadopoulos
Dr Linda Papadopoulos is one of the most well-known and respected psychologists
working in the UK. Her comments regarding the psychology behind news and
current events are often syndicated by the press and discussed by television and
radio networks both in Britain and in America.
She has a very prolific academic publication record and has published widely in peer
reviewed academic journals in the field of Counselling and Medical psychology. She
has also written several academic and self-help books and is often invited to give
specialist lectures at numerous universities and medical schools both in England and
throughout the world.
Founder and director of the successful Programme in Counselling Psychology at
the London Metropolitan University, Dr Papadopoulos was appointed Reader in
psychology in 2001 – a great distinction at such a young age.
Dr Papadopoulos is a chartered counselling and health psychologist who has
worked in various treatment settings both privately, with her own practice and
in the National Health Service. During her 12 years as a chartered psychologist,
she has gained extensive experience in the counselling of individuals, couples and
families.
With a prolific and distinguished career that keeps her very busy, Dr Papadopoulos
values her free time. She enjoys family life in London with her husband and their
young daughter.
Sexualisation of Young People Review
Contents
Foreword 3
1. Executivesummary 5
2. Introduction 17
3. Backgroundandcontext 19
4. Whatissexualisationandwhydoesitmatter? 22
5. Sexualisedcontentandthemainstreamingofpornography 33
6. Theimpactofsexualisation 53
7. Sexualisationandviolence 65
8. Recommendations 75
9. Bibliography 85
10.Acknowledgements 100
1
Sexualisation of Young People Review
2
Sexualisation of Young People Review
Foreword
hyper-sexualisation and objectification
of girls on the one hand, and hyper-
masculinisation of boys on the other,
perpetuate and reinforce each other.
Throughout the course of the review,
what has become very apparent is that
sexualisation is a multi-factorial issue
and therefore needs to be approached
from a range of perspectives, taking into
account not only the emotional and
cognitive development of children but also
the influence of family, culture and society
as a whole.
Over the past months, my team and I have
reviewed hundreds of articles from the
fields of psychology, sociology, education,
politics and media. We have interviewed
people working on the front-line with
When I was approached by the Home
abused children and abusers. We have
Secretary to conduct an independent
spoken to young people, parents, teachers,
review on the impact of the sexualisation
clinicians, academics, policy-makers and
of young girls on violence against women,
lobbyists. What came across loud and clear
I genuinely welcomed the opportunity to
is that this is a very emotive issue – and so,
take a critical look at this area. As both
I wanted to ensure that the evidence
a psychologist and as a mother, I was
was presented as objectively as possible
very aware that this was a topic that was
so that a public debate could ensue and
gaining increasing amounts of attention
informed decisions about how to address
both in academic literature and the
these issues could be made. This is not an
popular press.
opinion piece, the evidence and arguments
Although the original intention of the presented within this document are not
review was to focus on how sexualisation based on conjecture but on empirical data
is affecting girls, it quickly became evident from peer reviewed journals, and evidence
that we could not talk about girls without from professionals and clinicians. Behind
acknowledging the concomitant impact the social commentary and the headlines
on boys and the hyper-masculinised about inappropriate clothing and games
images and messages that surround them. for children, there are the real statistics, on
The scope of the review was therefore teenage partner violence, sexual bullying
widened to encompass the sexualisation and abuse that need to be acknowledged
of all young people and to look at how and addressed.
3
Sexualisation of Young People Review
In addressing these issues we must not
forget that sexual curiosity is a normal
feature of childhood and therefore
we need to provide young people
with the tools that will enable them
to deal with sexual content safely and
successfully. I believe that providing our
kids with a set of realistic, non-exploitative
representations of gender and sexuality
would go a long way towards ensuring
their healthy emotional – and sexual
– development and promoting gender
equality.
I want my little girl, indeed, all girls and
boys, to grow up confident about who
they are and about finding and expressing
their individuality and sexuality, but not
through imposed gender stereotypes
or in a way that objectifies the body
or commodifies their burgeoning
sexuality. This review is a step towards
understanding how, as parents, as
educators and as citizens we can take
responsibility for creating safe and
supportive environments for our children
to understand and explore relationships
and sexuality – and ensure that they do so
in their own time and at their own pace.
4
Sexualisation of Young People Review
1. Executive summary
“How have sex, sexiness and sexualisation
gained such favour in recent years as to be the
measure by which women’s and girls’ worth is
judged? While it is not a new phenomenon by
any means, there is something different about
the way it occurs today and how it impacts on
younger and younger girls.”1
1. Violence against women and sexually available. The report looks
girls is unacceptable, whatever at examples and the prevalence of
the circumstances and whatever sexualisation in culture and proposes
the context. In March 2009, the mechanisms by which sexualised
government launched the Together messages are being internalised and
We Can End Violence Against Women the consequences of these on young
and Girls consultation in order to raise people.
awareness of the problem and explore
3. The world is saturated by more
policy proposals and ideas designed to
images today than at any other
help prevent violence against women
time in our modern history. Behind
and girls. This report forms part of
each of these images lies a message
that consultation.1
about expectations, values and ideals.
2. This review looks at how sexualised Women are revered – and rewarded
images and messages may be affecting – for their physical attributes and both
the development of children and girls and boys are under pressure to
young people and influencing cultural emulate polarised gender stereotypes
norms, and examines the evidence from a younger and younger age.
for a link between sexualisation The evidence collected in this report
and violence. The decision by the suggests these developments are
government to commission this review having a profound impact, particularly
reflects the importance of the issue on girls and young women.
and the popular perception that
young people (and in particular young
women and girls) are increasingly
being pressured into appearing
1 McLellan, Sexualised and Trivialized – Making 5
Equality Impossible. Quoted in: Tankard Reist
(2010)
Sexualisation of Young People Review
Sexualisation, learning is also the cumulative or ‘drip drip’
effect of exposure to sexualised
and development
messages, themes and images over
time and in diverse settings. Children
4. Healthy sexuality is an important
and young people now have easy
component of both physical and
access to material that may not be
mental health. When based on mutual
age-appropriate. Core cognitive
respect between consenting partners,
learning and developmental theories
sex fosters intimacy, bonding and
demonstrate that children learn
shared pleasure.2 Sexualisation is the
vicariously from what they see, and
imposition of adult sexuality on to
that exposure to themes which a child
children and young people before they
is not developmentally ready to cope
are capable of dealing with it, mentally,
with can have a detrimental effect.5
emotionally or physically.
7. Children and young people today
5. While sexualised images have featured
are not only exposed to increasing
in advertising and communications
amounts of hyper-sexualised images,
since mass media first emerged,
they are also sold the idea that they
what we are seeing now is an
have to look ‘sexy’ and ‘hot’. As such
unprecedented rise in both the
they are facing pressures that children
volume and the extent to which these
in the past simply did not have to face.
images are impinging on everyday
As children grow older, exposure to
life. Increasingly, too, children are
this imagery leads to body surveillance,
being portrayed in ‘adultified’ ways
or the constant monitoring of personal
while adult women are ‘infantilised’.3
appearance. This monitoring can result
This leads to a blurring of the
in body dissatisfaction, a recognised
lines between sexual maturity and
risk factor for poor self-esteem,
immaturity and, effectively, legitimises
depression and eating disorders.6
the notion that children can be related
Indeed, there is a significant amount of
to as sexual objects.
evidence that attests to the negative
6. A number of factors shape the effects of sexualisation on young
way children and young people are people in terms of mental and physical
responding to the sexualisation of health, attitudes and beliefs.7
culture. One of the most significant
8. If we are going to address this issue
is the individual child’s age and
then young people need to develop
level of cognitive and emotional
and grow in surroundings where
development. Regardless of a child’s
they are admired for their abilities,
level of sophistication, when it comes
talents and values. It is important to
to internalising media and advertising
stress however, that in the diverse,
messages, there is a large body
multicultural UK context, cultural,
of research from developmental
religious and class backgrounds will
psychologists that attests to the fact
invariably influence the family’s role in
that young children do not have
mediating sexualised media content
the cognitive skills to cope with
persuasive media messages.4 There
5 Bandura (1971); Bem (1981)
6 McKinley (1999); Moradi et al. (2005); Polivy,
2 Satcher (2001) Herman et al. (2002); Tolman, Impett, Tracy and
3 Evidence provided to the review by Michael (2006)
Dr K. Sarikakis (2009) 7 Abramson and Valene (1991); Durkin and
6 4 Mayo & Nairn (2009) Paxton (2002); Harrison (2000)
Sexualisation of Young People Review
and views of what is appropriate it is important to look at the social
and acceptable. The psychological scripts children are being influenced by
ramifications of sexualisation, from and what makes children susceptible
violence in teenage relationships to to them.
self-objectification, are seen across
Magazines, marketing and
diverse class systems, suggesting
that the issue of sexualisation is not advertising
confined to either a single race or class.
12. A dominant theme in magazines
seems to be the need for girls to
Sexualised
present themselves as sexually
content and the desirable in order to attract male
attention.9 Worryingly, there is also a
mainstreaming of
trend for children in magazines to be
dressed and posed in ways designed
pornography
to draw attention to sexual features
9. Children and young people are that they do not yet have. At the same
exposed to an unprecedented time, advice on hairstyles, cosmetics,
range of media content, through an clothing, diet, and exercise attempt
ever-growing number of channels. to remake even young readers as
Furthermore, the proportion of objects of male desire,10 promoting
that content which is sexual or premature sexualisation.11 In the case
even pornographic is increasing at a of boys, ‘lads’ mags’ contain a high
dramatic rate. Until relatively recently, degree of highly sexualised images of
there was a way to at least try and women that blur the lines between
ensure that these were targeted to pornography and mainstream media.
the right audience. However, there is The predominant message for boys
no ‘watershed’ on the internet, and is to be sexually dominant and to
sexualised images and adverts may objectify the female body.
appear anywhere and are often sent
13. Over the past three decades there has
indiscriminately to e-mail accounts and
been a dramatic increase in the use
mobile phones.
of sexualised imagery in advertising.
10. With proliferation comes While most of this imagery features
normalisation. It is no surprise women,12 there has also been a
therefore that when researchers significant increase in the number
examine the content of young of sexualised images of children.13
people’s web pages they find that Sexualised ideals of young, thin, beauty
young teens are posting sexually lead to ideals of bodily perfection
explicit images of themselves on social that are difficult to attain, even for
networking sites, and self-regulating the models, which perpetuates the
each other with sexist, derogatory and industry practice of ‘airbrushing’
demeaning language.8 photographs. These images can lead
11. In order to genuinely understand
one of the main factors at play here, 9 Carpenter (1998); Durham (1998); Garner,
Sterk, and Adams (1998); McMahon (1990)
namely how young people internalise
10 Duffy and Gotcher (1996)
the messages they are exposed to,
11 Rush and La Nauze (2006)
12 Reichert et al. (1999)
8 Ringrose (2008) 13 Tankard-Reist (2010)
7
Sexualisation of Young People Review
people to believe in a reality that does 16. Music channels and videos across all
not exist, which can have a particularly genres have been found to sexualise
detrimental effect on adolescents.14 and objectify women.20 Women are
often shown in provocative and
14. At the same time, marketers are
revealing clothing and are depicted as
effectively encouraging young girls
being in a state of sexual readiness.
to present themselves in a sexual
Males on the other hand are shown
way. Bratz dolls for example, are
as hyper-masculine and sexually
child-friendly characters presented in
dominant. Research into the often
a notably sexualised way.15 Pencil cases
sexual and violent content of music
and stationery for school children
lyrics is comparatively thin on the
carry the Playboy bunny logo. Padded
ground. However, an important
bras, thongs and high heeled shoes are
connection between sexualised music
marketed and sold to children as young
lyrics and their influence on shaping
as eight. Such blurring suggests that it
young people’s early sexual activity
is acceptable to impose adult sexual
is that the causality is not just related
themes onto children, and potentially
to sexual content of lyrics, but also to
relate to children as sexual objects.16
their degrading nature.21
Television, film and music
New technologies
15. Women on TV are far more likely
17. Over 80 per cent of young people
than their male counterparts to
use the internet daily or weekly22 and
be provocatively dressed17 and
around a third of 8–11-year-olds and
scenes of violence against women
60 per cent of 12–15-year-olds say
are increasingly common. A recent
that they mostly use the internet on
report found that depictions of
their own.23 Almost half of children
violence against women on TV had
aged 8–17 and a quarter of those
risen by 120 per cent since 2004
aged between eight and 11 have a
while violence against teenage girls
profile on a social networking site
rose by 400 per cent.18 There is also
such as Bebo, MySpace or Facebook.24
a significant under-representation of
While sites set age limits (typically
women and girls in non-sexualised
13 or 14), these are not generally
roles in films. In the 101 highest
enforced. Social networking sites
earning family films between 1990–
allow children and young people
2004 over 75% of characters were
to create online identities. Girls, for
male, 83% of narrators were male and
instance, report being under increasing
72% of speaking roles were male.19
pressures to display themselves in
By missing the chance to present girls
their ‘bra and knickers’ or bikinis
with a diverse range of characters
online, whereas boys seek to display
to identify with, the visibility of
their bodies in a hyper-masculine way
more hyper-sexualised heroines will
showing off muscles, and posturing as
inevitably have a bigger impact.
powerful and dominant.25 Sexualised
14 Coleman (2008)
20 Andsager and Roe (1999); Seidman (1992);
15 Evidence provided to the review by the British Sommers-Flanagan and Davis (1993)
Board of Film Classification (2009)
21 Matino et al (2006). Quoted in Coy (2009)
16 Buckleitner and Foundation (2008)
22 Livingstone, Bober and Helsper (2005)
17 Eaton (1997)
23 Ofcom (2009)
18 www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/reports/
24 Ofcom (2008)
womeninperil/main.asp
8 25 Ringrose (2010)
19 Kelly and Smith (2006)
