Youth Culture Update: Sexualizing Girls

We’ve all seen stories about how teens, especially teen girls, are more apt to pose provocatively on any number of online apps seemingly built for that purpose. Lily, a 14-year-old from Garden City, NY, has a simple explanation as to why girls are willing to put themselves out there in such a sexualized way. “I think it’s just to get attention,” she says. “It’s to get the likes. Everything’s about the likes.”

Lily was talking with researcher Nancy Jo Sales, author of American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Life of Teenagers. Sales believes the problem may begin quite early. She says 92 percent of children have an “online presence” before age 2, and parents can post more than 1,000 pictures of their kids online before the children are 5.

Children are used to being exposed on the Internet, and there are dozens of apps that allow them unprecedented ways to do so. While news reports sometimes inform the world about a “sexting ring,” wherein scads of teens are caught sharing nude photos of each other, Sales says these rings are pervasive: In fact, they were a fact of life at every school Sales studied.

“While we’re consumed by the tangible dangers of messaging services such as Kik, Yik Yak, After School and other anonymous apps, we may be missing a different influence: our own behavior,” writes Sales. “Kids today often are accused of being narcissistic, but they may be learning their exhibitionist ways from their parents. Accompanying the boom in selfie culture is a rise in competitive spirit, as well as a disturbing trend of sexualization. Likes, hearts, swipes—validation is only a tap away—and one of the easiest ways to get that validation is by looking hot. Sex sells, whether you’re 13 or 35.” (Time)