The Statement saying that ‘Today’s young people are facing challenges no other generation has faced in an over sexualised society’ is an interesting one. I personally believe that today our generation is faced with a sexualised society but to say that it is ‘over’ sexualised and an experience that no other generation has faced is not something I support. Today’s generation is faced with a sexualised society but I don’t think it is a bad thing.
If the generation is exposed to this sexualisation at a young age and we have parents that are there to guide us in terms of what we think of this sexualisation and how we will act on this sexualisation then I do not see the problem. For example with clothing, there is a wide variety of clothing available to today’s society that is portraying a message of sexualisation….. his itself is a problem but if the young children see/want/wear this clothing then I believe it is up to the parents to guide the children onto the right path of understanding what message is being said when these clothes are worn and why the clothing is not appropriate at their age; by the time these young children have grown up and understand fully what the clothing portrays then it is up to their personal opinion to have a say in how they want to display themselves to society.
The following girls have the ability to criticize and evaluate the sexualisation in today’s society; this also carries a point of how disgusted the images make them feel but being able to critique the topic does not mean it has no impact. “So many young people find things such as sexy dancing and dressing provocatively, now completely acceptable, yet are completely unaware of some of the risks this behaviour can come with, especially when it is shown over the internet. I strongly believe this is due to the portrayal of celebrities in the media.
I think many young females feel that if a celebrity can dress or act in a sexualised way in front of millions of people in the media, then it must be acceptable for them to do the same. ” Abi, 17 “The main problem is the media; I think more restrictions on what children and young people are shown and how they are portrayed in the media would help by changing how young people think they should be seen and therefore how they would act. ” Ale, 17 Some say children want to grow up sooner in today’s sexualised society and experiment with adult themes at a younger age but I believe that children pass through their own personal stages of evelopment when they feel ready. When the time comes for the parents to leave the children to make their own decisions; this is when they develop their individuality and begin to express themselves. The exposure of sexualisation at a young age is something I don’t see as harmful. When a young child listens to a song that may tell a story about sex or relationships, they do not understand the context or the message being told…. all they hear is the catchy tune and a song they can jump around to in their room.
As an older teenager I listen to the songs that I loved when I was little and am gobsmacked about what they really were talking about but when I was little the words went straight in one ear and out the other In class I noticed that my fellow class mates and I rejected the idea that we were passive victims of the sexualisation in society and I believe that we indicated that as we got older we developed a knowledge about how products such as clothing and advertisements were affecting our lives in a negative way but we were able to make a wise decision on how we would let it affect us.
To conclude my argument I will say that every single individual is going to have a different opinion on sexualisation. Children see sexualisation in a different way to adults but we are influenced very strongly by our parents because they make the decisions for us when we are too young to understand. There are problems that children face in today’s sexualised society but if they are educated and understand what they are being exposed to then they will be okay because we turned out alright!
