TORONTO — From suggestive ads to skin-baring magazine covers, there is no shortage of provocative imagery showcasing women in a sexual manner in a bid to raise eyebrows and boost bottom lines.
But such depictions are also reaching a younger, impressionable audience that is increasingly exposed to envelope-pushing visuals and an oft-narrow view of what defines appeal, allure and femininity.
A U.S. retail chain recently added fuel to the long-simmering debate surrounding products and imagery of a sexually suggestive nature being marketed towards girls.
In March, Abercrombie & Fitch made headlines after featuring push-up bikini tops for girls in the spring line of its children’s label.
Amid the uproar, Abercrombie Kids announced it would continue to sell the Ashley swimsuit which it recategorized as “padded,” stating on its Facebook page the label agreed with those who said it was best “suited” for girls age 12 and older.
A leading American researcher in girls’ social and psychological development says kids gravitate towards products that allow them to be a little edgier.
On the other side, there is a “cradle to grave” approach adopted by many companies to get girls invested early on in hopes of establishing long-term loyalty and continued consumption into adulthood.
“Marketers employ developmental psychologists. They know absolutely what kids want,” said Lyn Mikel Brown, co-creator of Hardy Girls Healthy Women, a non-profit organization dedicated to the health and well-being of girls and women.
“It’s not so much they want sexy products, but they want to be different from their parents. They want to fit in, be cool, be hip. And frankly, I think they really use the sexualization stuff because it does upset parents and because this is a way young girls can say: ‘I’m grown up.”’
Designers, manufacturers and retailers, plus an entertainment industry worth billions of dollars a year are all cashing in on the way adolescents express themselves.
Brown delivered a keynote address on the sexualization of girls in media at the Body Image and Self Esteem: Shades of Grey Conference presented by the National Eating Disorder Information Centre in Toronto.
She spoke extensively about the proliferation of provocative imagery, such as suggestive ads featuring scantily clad women, the “sexing up” of female athletes and the sexualization of products geared towards female consumers.
Brown, a professor of education at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, said one of the messages being conveyed is that a way for girls to transition from adolescence and announce their maturity is to adopt a more suggestive look.
She pointed to child stars like Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan who became more sexualized as they moved towards adulthood.
The American Psychological Association’s Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls found virtually all forms of media — including music videos and lyrics, sports media, video games and the Internet — show “ample evidence” of the sexualization of women. What’s more, women are more often than their male counterparts to be objectified and shown in a sexual manner, such as wearing revealing clothing with postures or facial expressions implying sexual readiness.
“In addition, a narrow (and unrealistic) standard of physical beauty is heavily emphasized,” said the task force in the report’s executive summary. “These are the models of femininity presented for young girls to study and emulate.”
The task force highlighted individual examples of the sexualization of girls, like Bratz dolls dressed in miniskirts, fishnet stockings and feather boas and thongs sized for seven-to-10-year-old girls, and said research documenting both the pervasiveness and influence of such products and portrayals was “ sorely needed.”
Brown, who was a member of the APA’s Task Force on Adolescent Girls, said there’s study after study that shows such depictions aren’t just affecting girls — they’re also impacting boys who see these versions of femininity and influencing their relationships with the opposite sex.
Brown is among those spearheading a grassroots effort for girls to voice their views on sexualized imagery and hopefully help change the narrative in the process.
Hardy Girls Healthy Women is a partner of SPARK — Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge — which held its inaugural summit in New York last fall. SPARK is defined as a movement for girls’ right to healthy sexuality.
Both the movement and summit are aimed at trying to combat the sexualized images of girls in the media.
Geared mainly towards 14- to 22-year-olds, the summit provided girls with the tools needed to become more engaged, including becoming media makers.
“This generation of youth are so adept at social media. They really are no longer consumers, they’re producers of media in very creative ways... whether it’s Tumblr or Facebook or Twitter — they’re doing it all,” Brown said.
“I think this is really the generation — they know more than people older than them, and they’re doing amazingly creative things.”
SPARK is developing free and downloadable kits and working with partner organizations to reach a wider audience.
Brown said she had also been speaking with Beth Malcolm at the Canadian Women’s Foundation about the possibility of forging partnerships with groups in Canada.
Brown thinks it will require a combination of activism, education, producing media and protest to effect change.
“This idea that we can protect (girls), that we can preach to them just won’t work,” she said.
“This is really about them helping us know where are the avenues in, and where are the conversations we can have and at what level.”
Brown, who is a mother to a 16-year-old daughter, said parents also have a role to play.
She suggests parents do what they can when children are still young to expose them to a whole range of options so they can see reality is not carved within narrow ideals often portrayed.
As they get older, the conversations can get more complex around stereotypes and marketing, she noted.
“It also means parents have to educate themselves on where the images are and how the marketing works and to sort of be available for conversations and those teachable moments that pop up when you don’t predict.”
Online:
Hardy Girls Healthy Women: www.hardygirlshealthywomen.org
National Eating Disorder Information Centre: www.nedic.ca
SPARK Summit: www.sparksummit.com