IStudy reveals that a significant proportion of
young girls' clothing is sexualized. Are clothing
manufacturers helping to turn young girls into sex
objects? According to a study, up to 30 percent of
young girls' clothing available online in the US is
'sexy' or sexualizing. The study was carried out by
Samantha Goodin, a former Kenyon College (Ohio, USA)
student and a research team led by Dr. Sarah Murnen,
Professor of Psychology at Kenyon College.
In their view, this has serious implications for how
girls evaluate themselves according to a sexualized
model of feminine physical attractiveness. It makes
them confront the issue of sexual identity at a very
young age.
Mini-slip on an adult girl
According to 'objectification theory', women from
Western cultures are widely portrayed and treated as
objects of the male gaze. This leads to the
development of self-objectification, in which girls
and women internalize these messages and view their
own bodies as objects to be evaluated according to
narrow standards - often sexualized - of
attractiveness. Bearing in mind the negative effects
of self-objectification such as body dissatisfaction,
depression, low confidence and low self-esteem,
Goodin and team looked at the role of girls'
clothing as a possible social influence that may
contribute to self-objectification in preteen girls.
They examined the frequency and nature of
sexualizing clothing available for young girls (children
not adolescents) on the websites of 15 popular
stores in the US. Sexualizing clothing reveals or
emphasizes a sexualized body part, has
characteristics associated with sexiness, and/or
carries sexually suggestive writing. They also
looked at whether clothing items had childlike
characteristics e.g. polka dot patterns and ribbons.
Across all the stores, of the 5,666 clothing items
studied, 69 percent had only childlike
characteristics. Of the remaining 31 percent, 4
percent had only sexualized characteristics, 25
percent had both sexualizing and childlike features,
and 4 percent had neither sexualized nor childlike
elements.
Sexualization occurred most frequently on items that
emphasized a sexualized body part, such as shirts
and dresses that were cut in such a way as to create
the look of breasts, or highly decorated pants'
pockets that called attention to the buttocks. The
type of store was linked to the degree of
sexualization, with 'tween' (or pre-teen) stores
more likely to have sexualized clothing compared to
children's stores.
The authors conclude: "Our study presents the 'ambiguously
sexualizing' category of girls' clothing. The
co-occurrence of sexualizing and childlike
characteristics makes the sexualization present in
girl's clothing covert. Confused parents might be
pursuaded to buy the leopard-print miniskirt if it's
bright pink. Clearly, sexiness is still visible
beneath the bows or tie-dye colors.
We propose that dressing girls in this way could
contribute to socializing them into the narrow role
of the sexually objectified woman."
For more information
Goodin S et al (2011). "Putting on" sexiness: a
content analysis of the presence of sexualizing
characteristics in girls' clothing. Sex Roles;
DOI
10.1007/s11199-011-9966-8
Kenyon College
(MDN)
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