Adult Content in a Child's World.
Bratz Dolls
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/countering-the-sexualizat_b_362343
This topic is one I find very uncomfortable and difficult to discuss. This topic is hard for me because it is not something I care to think about because of my own personal experiences struggling with growing up too fast and knowing too much at a young age and from troubling stories I have heard about from other people with their experience with adult content in their life at a young age. The inserted images are photos from my youth that impacted the way I saw and sought out the adult world in terms of defining beauty standards, physical physique, and the importance of keeping up with the latest trends. My first introduction to pornography was when I was eight years old at a friend's house with a search for a show that we both enjoyed watching. The site we accidentally found. We found the website because of the use of names in a popular cartoon that we would watch on a daily basis on a children's network. I remember playing with Bratz and MyScene dolls and having every desire to look just like them when I grew up particularly the black or light skinned dolls because they had the same complexion as me. I also remember preferring to have female toys and dolls growing up rather than male gendered toys and dolls. Having all-female dolls and only two males, I would rotate the females with the two males and have them constantly switching up their partners and creating new families amongst the two males and plethora of female dolls I acquired. Thinking back to the way I thought nothing of having fake divorces and marriages with my dolls makes me question the way I perceived relationships, families, and sexual and romantic partners at a tender young age and how this affects me today with my curent romantic relationship.
Twilight Franchise
https://psychologybenefits.org/tag/sexualization/
Toddlers & Tiaras
https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/01/24/the-double-standard-in-sexualizing-teen-celebrities/
My family growing up contained biological female and male parental guardians who had me after marriage and were both a part of the same race and religion. However, I saw very different depictions of families and adult relationships with parents and relationships depicted both in school and on various media platforms, such as TV shows, movies, and magazines targeted to the teen and tween demographic. My parents were rather strict with what they would allow me to watch in terms of shows and movies however what I saw in school and at friends' houses was very different than what I was viewing in my home environment. Because this content was so drastically different than what I saw at home it held and left very prominent attractions and memories in my mind. I explored my curiosity to these adult questions by the play that I endured with my toys in the comfort of my own room environment.
I remember growing up, playing house with my friends and I always chose to be the baby and they would pretend to feed me with their breast because that is what they said their baby sister did with their mom. If I was to see this happening now in one of my classroom's I would not know what to do or how to address the topic besides saying that, this is not a school appropriate activity and you are right babies do drink milk from their mom's breast but you two are not babies and are too young to be mommies. I would want to acknowledge that the child is right and don't want them connecting breastfeeding to something taboo or negative, but it is not something I want to see repeated amongst children in the classroom environment and it is a very uncomfortable conversation to have with parents and family members under my care.
Resources
Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. 2009. Introduction. So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids. https://www.google.com/books/edition/So_Sexy_So_Soon/rwVf9kiWQtgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA3&printsec=frontcover
Kirsten,
ReplyDeleteMuch older than you, I do have some of the same memories. I never had a Bratz Doll because they were not around when I was growing up, but I did have many Barbie Dolls, and yes, like you, I had to use the one Ken doll to marry and choose to be with a different wife each time. I am glad that I did not think that was life and knew it was because Ken Dolls' variety was not prevalent. My Barbie always had a Ken so that they could have a family. Although I came from a single-parent home, tv showed me that the dominant family structure was that of two parents.
You mentioned having strict parents and them only allowing you to watch certain television shows. My earliest memories were when the tv would cut off at a particular time, so we could not watch late night tv, and during the day, homes did not have a lot of televisions, so we watched what the adults watched "boring." Now televisions or devices are in children's hands, so parental controls are being used to monitor what kids are watching. Using these controls is helpful but not full proof. Some content can sneak in through commercials or innuendo. If children are uncomfortable asking their parents about what was seen, they will go to their friends and may seem misinformation. Do parental controls work? Yes, but the best control is limiting television for you to watch tv with your child as the buffer. In this situation, you can gain a better understanding of their inner lives and have an uncomfortable conversation immediately. As you learn what they are watching, they can begin to watch those shows alone (Coleman, 2021).
Reference
Coleman, P. (2021, April 1). The Argument for Co-watching Kids Shows. Fatherly. https://www.fatherly.com/parenting/parental-control-watching-tv-with-children/
Kristen thank you for sharing your personal experiences. Your blog was interesting post especially talking about the breastfeeding role play. Children reenact what they say both at home on on the media. I have had girls stick their behinds out and pretend they were Mickie Ninja, and some provocative dance move during movement and music time. The know all the words to some of most popular songs (some inappropriate words) because their parents play the music and watch the videos. Most of the children know all about TIK TOK. Dance move by a young children that demonstrates sexual poses, looks, or suggestion is clearly not OK. As parents and educators it is our job to monitor and teach children responsible media usage.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post, Kirsten. I also felt this topic to be difficult to discuss. As a mother to four daughters, I find it incredibly difficult to have to have the conversation about sexualization with my 3 year because advertising and marketing to children has developed a sense of sexualization. I took a moment to view your images and shook my head as I thought about how the images were designed for children, Twilight, Bratz Dolls, and Justin Bieber. I considered how when I grew up I was exposed to a lot because my family didn’t know better. I think as parents and as educators we have to make it known that this type of advertising is not acceptable. We need to be advocates for our children so that they are not always exposed to the sexualization that many media outlets constantly use.
ReplyDeleteBeatriz