Sexualization

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Sexualization is the act or process of sexualizing. It refers to the making of a person, group or thing to be seen as sexual in nature^[1] or a person to become aware of sexuality. It can also refer to the making of an interpersonal relationship into a sexual relationship.

Popular Books on Sexualization

A number of books on sexualization have appeared in recent years: the best known of these is Ariel Levy's (2005) Female Chauvinist Pigs, but others include Pamela Paul's Pornified (2005), Carol Platt Liebau’s (2007) ‘’Prude’’, Meenakshi Gigi Durham's (2008) The Lolita Effect, and Sarracino & Scott’s The Porning of America (2008). These generally focus on sexualization as a social problem and particularly on what they regard as the inappropriate sexualization of women and girls.

Reports on Sexualization

There have been a number of reports such as the Australian report on ‘corporate paedophilia’ (Rush & La Nauze, 2006) and the American Psychological Association report (2007).

Cultural Studies Work on Sexualization

Sexualization has also been a subject of debate for academics who work in media and cultural studies. Here, the term has not been used to simply to label what is seen as a social problem, but to indicate the much broader and varied set of ways in which sex has become more visible in media and culture. These include; the widespread discussion of sexual values, practices and identities in the media; the growth of sexual media of all kinds; for example, erotica, slash fiction, sexual self-help books and the many genres of pornography; the emergence of new forms of sexual experience, for example instant message or avatar sex made possible by developments in technology; a public concern with the breakdown of consensus about regulations for defining and dealing with obscenity; the prevalence of scandals, controversies and panics around sex in the media ^[2].

The terms 'pornification' and ‘pornographication’ have also been used to describe the way that aesthetics that were previously associated with pornography have become part of popular culture, and that mainstream media texts and other cultural practices ‘citing pornographic styles, gestures and aesthetics’ have become more prominent ^[3]). This process, which Brian McNair has described as a 'pornographication of the mainstream' ^[4], has developed alongside an expansion of the cultural realm of pornography or 'pornosphere' which itself has become more accessible to a much wider variety of audiences. According to Brian McNair, both developments need to be understood as part of a wider shift towards a 'striptease culture' in which familiar boundaries between what was previously seen as public and private are stripped away. Striptease culture is evident not only in the growth of media which involve sex but those in which people’s lifestyles, inner lives and ‘reality’ is put on display in a move to more public forms of self-revelation and intimacy.

The terms 'pornification' and ‘pornographication’ have also been used to describe the way that porn styles and aesthetics have become part of popular culture, so that texts and practices ‘citing pornographic styles, gestures and aesthetics’ have become more visible ^[5]. This process, described by Brian McNair as a 'pornographication of the mainstream', has developed alongside an expansion of the 'pornosphere' within which obscene though increasingly accessible texts proliferate.^[6] According to McNair, both developments can be set in the context of a wider shift towards a 'striptease culture' which has disrupted the boundaries between public and private discourse in late modern Western culture, and which is evident more generally in cultural trends which privilege lifestyle, reality, interactivity, self-revelation and public intimacy.^[7]

American Psychological Association view

Definition

The American Psychological Association (APA) regards a person as being sexualized in any of the following situations:

• a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or sexual behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics;
• a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy;
• a person is sexually objectified—that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or
• sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person.^[8]

Children

Some cultural critics have postulated that over recent decades children have evidenced a level of sexual knowledge or sexual behaviour inappropriate for their age group.^[9]

The causes of this premature sexualisation that have been cited include portrayals in the media of sex and related issues, especially in media aimed at children; the marketing of products with sexual connotations to children^[10] (for example the Bratz Baby dolls that wear thongs); the lack of parental oversight and discipline;^[11] access to adult culture via the internet; and the lack of comprehensive school sex education programs.^[12]

For girls and young women in particular, studies have found that sexualization has a negative impact on their “self-image and healthy development”.^[13]

Cognitive and emotional consequences

Studies have found that thinking about the body and comparing it to sexualized cultural ideals may disrupt a girl's mental concentration, and a girl's sexualization or objectification may undermine her confidence in and comfort with her own body, leading to emotional and self-image problems, such as shame and anxiety.^[8]

Mental and physical health

Research has linked sexualization with three of the most common mental health problems diagnosed in girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression or depressed mood.^[8]

Sexual development

Research suggests that the sexualization of girls has negative consequences on girls’ ability to develop a healthy sexual self-image.^[8]

See also

• Child sexuality
• Sexualism
• Bratz
• Miss Bimbo
• Sexual objectification
• Social impact of thong underwear
• Pornified
• Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture

References

Further reading

Attwood, F. (2006) ‘Sexed up: Theorizing the Sexualization of Culture’, Sexualities 9(1): 77-94.

Attwood, F. (2009) Mainstreaming Sex: The Sexualization of Western Culture. London: I.B. Tauris.

Buckingham, D. & Bragg, S. (2004) Young People, Sex and the Media: The Facts of Life?. Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Duits, L. & van Zoonen, L. (2006) ‘Headscarves and Porno-Chic: Disciplining Girls' Bodies in the European Multicultural Society’, European Journal of Women’s Studies 13(2): 103-117.

Egan, R. D. & Hawkes, G. (2009) 'The problem with protection: Or, why we need to move towards recognition and the sexual agency of children', Continuum 23(3: 389-400.

Egan, R. D. & Hawkes, G. (2008) ‘Endangered girls and incendiary objects: Unpacking the discourse on sexualization’, Sexuality and Culture 12(4): 291-311.

Gill, R. (2003) ‘From Sexual Objectification to Sexual Subjectification: The Resexualisation of Women’s Bodies in the Media’, Feminist Media Studies 3(1): 100-106.

Hawkes, G. & Egan, R.D. (2008) ‘Landscapes of erotophobia: The sexual(ized) child in the postmodern anglophone West’, Sexuality and Culture 12(4): 193-203.

McNair, B. (1996) Mediated Sex: Pornography and Postmodern Culture. London & New York: Arnold.

McNair, B. (2002) Striptease Culture: Sex, Media and the Democratization of Desire. London & New York: Routledge.

Paasonen, S. et al. (eds.) (2007) Pornification: Sex and Sexuality in Media Culture. Oxford: Berg.

• "Invasion of the Prostitots: Another moral panic about American girls" by Kerry Howley, Reason, July 2007.