Hypersexualization Of Young Girls

Is the media’s goal to destroy young girls’ health? Or is this simply a side effect of their trying to make a profit? Whether it is social media, television advertisements, billboards, or website promotions, the American people are bombarded with provocative and sexual images, videos, and ads. While this has created many problems in the culture, the worst is the hypersexualization of young girls. These advertisements and pictures may not always specifically target girls and women, but these are the exact people who are affected the most from this onslaught. Although not every girl can be completely sheltered from becoming sexualized when they are young, in order for this problem to be solved there must be a first step somewhere. The best
One serious such problem is eating disorders. Research has shown that eating disorders are most likely to affect young adolescents, more specifically, females, “due to increases or irregularities in circulating sex hormones, especially estrogen” (Blodgett et al). This shows that young girls are most susceptible to these life-threatening disorders, and that great caution is needed to prevent this from affecting these girls. However, when girls are inundated with ads, pictures, and billboards that promote a perfect body and looks, they start to believe that they are not perfect enough. Unfortunately, “individuals dissatisfied with their bodies are at an increased risk of engaging in disordered eating behaviors” so that they can become more satisfied with themselves and “move closer to the thin ideal” (Blodgett et al). “Poor body image often provides a foundation for the development of an eating disorder,” and if every day they are told or shown that they are not good enough, they will become dissatisfied with themselves and do something to change that (Blodgett et al). Some argue that the media promotes developing eating disorders because of “its representation of the thin ideal” which can lead girls to believe that they must live up to those images (Blodgett et al). So this confirms that the media plays an active role simply by displaying thin,
In fact, it would be impossible to end all hypersexualization of girls in the media. The many different forms of media-- television, the Internet, billboards, radio, social media, and websites-- all have at least a small role in sexualizing American girls. To end all provocative, sexual, or idealized women and girls from appearing on these mediums completely would be very difficult. In addition, many girls say that they want to look and act older, and if this means being sexy, they are in support of it. Statistics show that eighty-nine percent of young women that had sex before age twenty did so voluntarily (“American Teens”). The media makes money off the market for producing beautiful women and products for them, and eliminating this business would threaten their livelihoods, causing economic