From Toddlerhood to High School Musical…it happens in a big hurry.
As the mother of a preschooler, I am shocked by the number of unhealthy images out there for our young girls. Pretend play in which children imagine their own heroes, heroines and make believe scenarios is disappearing and being replaced by themes that are either mass marketed, or highly structured activities as opposed to free play.
The commercialization of childhood has reached a very toxic point in our culture. When we think about it, girls are indoctrinated by the Disney Princesses at a much younger age than previous generations. Toddlers and preschoolers generally are the most infatuated with Ariel, Princess Aurora and the gang. Think about the romantic themes shown to a 2 and 3 year old that will shape their formative views of themselves and how they believe they are perceived in the world. Girls understand early on that being pretty will win the heart of the prince and save the day. We quickly move on to High School Musical and Hannah Montana which is marketed on the heels of the princesses. Most girls have exposure to adolescent themes by the age of 5 and sometimes earlier. Hannah Montana and High School Musical have both been aggressively marketing to the highly-desirable “tween” market, long believed to have been a large untapped resource in the commercial arena. However, increasingly girls as young as 2 and 3 are being exposed to High School Musical. I question the wisdom as to why we want our daughters going to elementary school exposed to highly unrealistic, romantic themes that serve to reinforce the helplessness of a female who is not socially acceptable, pretty enough or thin enough. We must be popular, pretty and thin and as our media images would suggest, sexually appealling. A very disturbing trend. When this is a form of entertainment, widely acceptable and barely questioned you have to wonder why.
Is it really harmless? I don’t think so when you factor in the increase in adolescent premature sexuality, teen pregnancy, teen suicide, teen violence (with violence among girls on the rise), depression, substance abuse and eating disorders. I also feel that among moms in general negative images are promoted by either a lack of awareness of the harmfulness of these stereotypes and by justifying main-stream culture by not questioning it. Mothers of girls of all ages frequently say that “all the girls” love the Disney heroines or the Bratz. Mothers often seem reluctant to put the brakes on what they allow their child to watch, or be overly selective regarding choice of clothing or toys perhaps out of fear that their child will somehow not fit in, or will be exposed mass media regardless of their efforts to protect them. The latter of which may be true since you can easily purchase High School Musical, Bratz and Hannah Montana underwear in toddler sizes.
The impact of the loss of creative play is devastating to our little ones. The explosion of sexual images of children is harmful and needs to be addressed by parents who have the ultimate power and influence over consumer culture and their children.
As the mother of a preschooler, I am shocked by the number of unhealthy images out there for our young girls. Pretend play in which children imagine their own heroes, heroines and make believe scenarios is disappearing and being replaced by themes that are either mass marketed, or highly structured activities as opposed to free play.
The commercialization of childhood has reached a very toxic point in our culture. When we think about it, girls are indoctrinated by the Disney Princesses at a much younger age than previous generations. Toddlers and preschoolers generally are the most infatuated with Ariel, Princess Aurora and the gang. Think about the romantic themes shown to a 2 and 3 year old that will shape their formative views of themselves and how they believe they are perceived in the world. Girls understand early on that being pretty will win the heart of the prince and save the day. We quickly move on to High School Musical and Hannah Montana which is marketed on the heels of the princesses. Most girls have exposure to adolescent themes by the age of 5 and sometimes earlier. Hannah Montana and High School Musical have both been aggressively marketing to the highly-desirable “tween” market, long believed to have been a large untapped resource in the commercial arena. However, increasingly girls as young as 2 and 3 are being exposed to High School Musical. I question the wisdom as to why we want our daughters going to elementary school exposed to highly unrealistic, romantic themes that serve to reinforce the helplessness of a female who is not socially acceptable, pretty enough or thin enough. We must be popular, pretty and thin and as our media images would suggest, sexually appealling. A very disturbing trend. When this is a form of entertainment, widely acceptable and barely questioned you have to wonder why.
Is it really harmless? I don’t think so when you factor in the increase in adolescent premature sexuality, teen pregnancy, teen suicide, teen violence (with violence among girls on the rise), depression, substance abuse and eating disorders. I also feel that among moms in general negative images are promoted by either a lack of awareness of the harmfulness of these stereotypes and by justifying main-stream culture by not questioning it. Mothers of girls of all ages frequently say that “all the girls” love the Disney heroines or the Bratz. Mothers often seem reluctant to put the brakes on what they allow their child to watch, or be overly selective regarding choice of clothing or toys perhaps out of fear that their child will somehow not fit in, or will be exposed mass media regardless of their efforts to protect them. The latter of which may be true since you can easily purchase High School Musical, Bratz and Hannah Montana underwear in toddler sizes.
The impact of the loss of creative play is devastating to our little ones. The explosion of sexual images of children is harmful and needs to be addressed by parents who have the ultimate power and influence over consumer culture and their children.
L. Miller, LICSW
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