Standing on-stage smiling uncontrollably, the entirety of our cast and crew join hands and take a bow before a sea of tiny faces as they applaud us on our production of The Jungle Book. I follow my furry-costumed friends through the house and laugh at the reactions of our young admirers as they are greeted by their favorite characters. Some of them merely wave and stare, some of them howl like the wolves, and some of them strike up conversation. I watch curiously as two little boys approach a girl who played a wolf cub. "You look sexy in those wolf ears!" one boy exclaims as the other giggles. The surprised girl stands frozen in shock, and I, too, find myself picking up my dropped jaw from the floor. As they scurry away I overhear the gutsy boy say, "Hey, I did it! Now you owe me a dollar!". My initial reaction is one of disbelief towards the boy for his inappropriate remark and objectification of my friend as a money-making opportunity. However, I just shrug it off, 'little kids can be so immature' I think to myself. 'Actually,' I reconsider, 'that was the exact opposite of immature, that was too mature!'.
It was then that I realized these two innocent boys had just perfectly demonstrated a major flaw in our society, without even realizing it. Now, you may be asking yourself, "what is this girl talking about? A major flaw in society? Yeah right, they're just kids goofing off on a field trip, no harm no foul". Well, I hate to break it to you but there is actually a great deal of harm and it is very foul. What these young members of society have exemplified is the sexualization of girls, and exploiting them for profit. They have proven our society to be so corrupt that our children are learning sexual, adult ideas and concepts and considering them appropriate social interactions. What's worse is how they have already internalized that women are supposed to be sexy, and they can be talked to in any manner with zero respect and complete disregard for any real, important characteristics or achievements; such as hard work and dedication to an amazing performance. The fact that they already recognize this as a market in which they can capitalize truly disgusts me.
The sexualization of the female gender in our society is ruining us, and the media is to blame. The crisis is highly psychological and girls of all ages are suffering physically, mentally, and emotionally. The media embeds itself in the psyches of children and causes a number of unhealthy effects; it needs to be regulated.
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Female Sexualization: a direct effect of media influence on the mind.
Non-FictionThe media influences our children in many negative ways, embedding itself along with its inappropriate and unrealistic views in the minds of everyone who indulges in it. See the psychological effects of the media on children, and what you need to lo...