Girls and Sexualization Lilia Goldfarb, Director of the Leadership Department - YWCA Montreal

Girls and Sexualization

Lilia Goldfarb, Director of the Leadership Department - YWCA Montreal

Cliquez pour éditer le format du plan de texte

Second niveau de plan Troisième

niveau de plan Quatrième

niveau de plan

Cinquième niveau de plan

Sixième niveau de plan

Septième niveau de plan

Huitième niveau de plan

Neuvième niveau de planCliquez pour modifier les styles du texte du masque


Second niveau de plan

Troisième niveau de plan

Quatrième niveau de plan





Neuvième niveau de planCliquez pour modifier les styles du texte du masque Deuxième niveau Troisième niveau

Quatrième niveau

Cinquième niveau


Second niveau de plan

Troisième niveau de plan

Quatrième niveau de plan






Quatrième niveau

Cinquième niveau

The MedusaCliquez pour modifier les styles du texte du masque

In Greek mythology, the Medusa was a beautiful nymph « the jealous aspiration of many suitors » who gets raped by Poseidon in Athena's temple and becomes pregnant.

The enraged goddess transforms her beautiful hair into serpents and makes her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn a man to stone.

Why the comparison?Medusa is « seduced » by forces far more powerful than her.

Even though she was not responsible for the transgression, she is the one that is blamed and punished.

The punishment alienates her from others.

She ends up being victimized.

Perseus decapitates her and uses her powerful head for his own purposes

Cliquez pour modifier les styles du texte du masqueDeuxième niveau

Troisième niveau Quatrième niveau

Cinquième niveau

Should we see girls as victims?Are girls mere dupes of sexualizing capitalism or real agents in control of their destinies?

A popular trend in girl-studies insists that girls are not victims but rather fully able agents capable of negotiating their identities.

They are victims of specific acts, it is always possible to find agency in context.

Girls, like everyone else, take up whatever space of power that is available to them.

The Medusa in the story was probably able to decorate her cave and arrange her hair-serpents any way she wanted.

Even slaves had agency and certain spaces of negotiation and resistance to occupy within their circumstances.

That does not make slavery OK.The concept of girls’ agency needs to be

expanded to include collective agency or leadership.

Agency &ConsentAre young girls really free to consent? Does their willingness to participate in objectification and sexual acts constitute real agency?

Without the capacity to foresee consequences…

If they feel that there are no other choices …

When their need to belong and be accepted is so important that the standards set by their peers are the only choice…

When they grow up believing that their true value stems for their appearance or sexuality…

Some DefinitionsHypersexualization or sexualized culture: a social phenomenon, characterized by an overabundance of sexual themes in media images and interpersonal relationships.

Sexualization: a process external to the individual

Sexuality: a process internal to the individual

Precocious sexualization: sexualized culture affects those under 15, who adopt adult sexual behaviours without the necessary maturity to face their consequences.

Healthy youth sexuality Takes place when young people are ready for it. Involves mutual respect between freely

consenting partners Equality Involves an intimacy that fosters the

development of significant bonds and shared pleasure

Respect for each person’s rhythm Doing things for mutual pleasure rather than

because they feel they have to or just to pleasure men

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model



Cinquième niveau

Self:Identity formation based on appearances, domestication of the body and obsession with beauty defined by narrow criteria. Needs ignored, strategies that affect well-being

Return to old male and female stereotypes

Displacement of intellectual interests towards the « body project »

Physical, intellectual, emotional health

Friends and PeersPeer pressure to conform to the norms the group has established for itself

Trivialization of sexuality, particularly oral sex

Popular culture and pornography as model of sexual behaviour

Sex as a consumer product: mass availability, disposable, meaningless

Parents and familyOverwhelmed

Wish to be friends with their children

Want to be cool and modern

Prefer to avoid confrontation

Are ill at ease speaking about sexuality

Want to give their children what they did not have

Opt out of supervisory parental role

Their children’s youth becomes a way of preserving their own

Society: ConsumerismConfusion between what is real and what appears real

Quest for a perfect ideal: beauty, popularity, stardom, image, sexuality. An ideal that creates perpetual dissatisfaction with the self.

Shopping gives meaning to life.

Control over one’s appearance replaces our lack of control over larger issues.

Fosters individualism and narcissism.

Powerful industries: pornography Pornography = every second people spend $ 3000

Annual combined revenue superior to all sport franchises

25% requests made to search engines

Child pornography: 3 billion/year industry

116 000 daily requests to search engines

89% of sexual solicitation to children happens in chat rooms

POWERFUL INDUSTRIES: COMMERCIAL MUSIC Rap and young teens

The music portrays this kind of dating violence and coercion around sexual activity as normal relationships (...)

I see an acceptance among teenagers – both girls and boys, of the kind of sexual objectification celebrated in this kind of music. There is this notion that it's okay to be used for sex and that there is not any emotional commitment necessary.

Michael Rich, spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics

Here is an example of clean rap: Nate Dogg's “I Need Me a Bitch.”

I need me a bitch, who ain't scared to flirtI need me a bitch in the middle of the grocery store she'll lift up her skirtI need me a bitch, like I need my crewI need me a bitch to pass on to my boys soon as I get through

Children/youth and media8-18 year-olds spend on average 7 hours 38 minutes of daily media consumption. If multitasking is taken into account 10 ¾ hours without including talking on the cell phone or texting, nor using computers for school work. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010)

Of the roughly 14,0000 references to sex a teen would see on TV each year, only a small fraction (165) will include any reference to sexual responsibility or STDs. Girls are also more likely to contract STDs than boys. (American Academy of Pediatrics, Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media, 2001)

In films, almost 40 % of teenage girls compared to 6.7 % of boys are shown in sexually revealing clothing (more than young women) (Choueiti & Smith, 2011)

Media influence on children From studies published by Pediatrics

High media consumption has been linked to : aggressive behaviour, early sexualization, drug and alcohol consumption, unhealthy food choices, childhood obesity, negative self-image and negative school performance.

Early sexualization is linked to unwanted pregnancies and a rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

Sexual initiation before the age of 13 has been linked to: use of weapons, interpersonal violence and experimentation with drugs and alcohol.

Early sexual initiation is inversely correlated to the use of coercion: the younger a girl is at sexual initiation, the higher the chance she has been forced or coerced.

Sexually precocious boys have high self-esteem, sexually precocious girls low self-esteem

Stereotypes proposed to boys:Men are hardcore players, obsessed by the cult of the body, sex and cash.

Masculinity is built around these practices and sexual harassment.

Violence is normal.

Women are to be seen and treated as sexual objects.

Stereotypes proposed to girls:Women must be sexy, very feminine and seductive. Willing to satisfy men.

Femininity is built around the domestication of the body, diet, exercise, waxing…

The body must be controlled and its needs ignored: hunger, pain, disgust.

Power is found in self-control and sexuality

Being a sex object is normal

A woman is her body.

Media messages



Cinquième niveau


Troisième niveau

Quatrième niveau

Cinquième niveau


Troisième niveau

Quatrième niveau

Cinquième niveau

…Cliquez pour modifier les styles du texte du masqueDeuxième niveau


Cinquième niveau



Cinquième niveau

What do I sell?



Cinquième niveau


Troisième niveau

Quatrième niveau

Cinquième niveau


Troisième niveau

Quatrième niveau

Cinquième niveau

Same product ads for men and women



Cinquième niveau


Troisième niveau

Quatrième niveau

Cinquième niveau


Troisième niveau

Quatrième niveau

Cinquième niveau

adults?

Girl power is…

Games for girls: Miss bimboBecome the hottest, coolest most intelligent and talented bimbo the world has ever known!

Miss Bimbo is a dress up game where you look after a Bimbo character as she goes through life.

To progress in the game you have to get her a hot boyfriend, a cool place to live, and find her a great job.

You can also style your Bimbo and show her off to other players.

You can compete with other Bimbos to see who's the best dressed and most popular.

Miss Bimbo is a free to play dress up game, so try it now!

Are you ready to become Queen of the Bimbos!?!

Little girls

Barbies and Bratz



Cinquième niveau

Cliquez pour éditer le format du plan de texte Second niveau de

plan Troisième

niveau de plan Quatrième

niveau de plan






Quatrième niveau Cinquième niveau

Multiple forms of violenceDoes the omnipresence of these images constitute a form of:

Symbolic violence?

Social violence?

Economic violence?

Political violence?

In our work…Direct intervention in schools…

Tool development and training of professionals working with youth…

Conferences and activities with parents…

Research and publications…

sexuality equals porn

Adults are afraid to intervene

What can be done to help kids?Believe in and reinforce their resilience and capacity to resist social and peer pressure to conform

Dialogue with them and help them contextualize experiences including identifying their own needs and values around sex

Teach them media literacy and help them develop a critical understanding of their culture and what consumer society tries to sell them.

Help them improve their self-esteem and self-image

Support them in their choice of health-enhancing projects

Protect them when necessary

Guide for parents of preteen girls Cliquez pour modifier les styles du texte du masque

Deuxième niveau Troisième niveau

Quatrième niveau Cinquième niveau

Seven scenariosCliquez pour modifier les styles du texte du masqueDeuxième niveau


Cinquième niveau

Parental questioningCliquez pour modifier les styles du texte du masqueDeuxième niveau


Cinquième niveau



Cinquième niveau

Does consumerism affect our humanity?The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote that, in the rapacity that the industrial revolution created, people first surrendered their minds or the capacity to reason, then their hearts or the capacity to empathize, until all that was left of the original human equipment was the senses or their selfish demands for gratification. At that point, humans entered the stage of market commodities and market consumers--one more thing in the commercial landscape. Without minds or hearts, they are instrumentalized to buy whatever deadens their clamoring and frightened senses--official lies, immoral wars, Barbies, and bankrupt educations.

Luciana Bohne, 2003

Guide for parents of preteen girlsactivity kit for elementary and high school trainingsfilms: Sexy Inc.: Our children under influence & staying real: Teens confront sexual stereotypes

For more information please contact:

Lilia Goldfarb

[email protected]

514 866 9941 ext.429

www.ydesfemmesmtl.org

http://www.youtube.com/user/YWCAMTL#p/u/4/JO-8NXN9jBY

http://www.youtube.com/user/YWCAMTL#p/u/19/IW7OP78Npqw

Documents

Girls and Sexualization Lilia Goldfarb, Director of the Leadership Department - YWCA Montreal