A Culture of Objectifaction

As a fifteen year old, I grew up using websites like Nick Jr., Barbie, and McScene. Sleepovers would sometimes be spent around a large computer, playing games late into the evening until the parent shooed us up to bed. I don't remember the websites being too graphic in language, but the images certainly don't stray far from what you would see now in the media.

With tv shows like "Winx Club" being all the rage among the seven year olds I played with, it makes sense that a good portion of my time was spent watching the show, playing with the dolls, and role playing the episodes with my friends. The fairies clad in dresses so short I'm surprised I didn't see pubic hair, I idolized these cartoon teenagers. With slogans like "The magic is in you, the magic is in me", I fell right into the "trap" so to speak. 

Even with feminist (some might go as far as 'hippie') parents like my own, I was still immersed from a young age in a culture that contributed to the objectification of women and girls, labeling it as pretty, cute and girly. My heart aches thinking of seven year old me and my friends, printing out pictures of these characters and plastering our innocent bedroom walls with them. Subconscious daily reminders for us that this was considered "beautiful". 

The image these shows portray of a "perfect girl" is not achievable or realistic. Some make the argument that it is fiction, therefore it's fine to have enhanced characters. I've never been the kind of person who claims that anything unrealistic is damaging. What is damaging is a society that raises girls (like myself) to admire characters that are over-sexualized to the extreme.

We internalize what we're exposed to, so when you show a girl images of a fun, sexy teenager who is also popular, she will assume she should behave that way. 

Nickelodeon, a basic cable network targeted at kids aged 2-16 also has a popular website that promises games for "all ages". Their toolbar at the top has a link to a website called Addicting Games.

With shockingly sexual titles such as "Naughty Beach", "Girl on Top", "Where's the Naughty Governor", and "The Boyfriend Trainer". A violent component is evident on the website as well, with games like "Sniper Freedom", "Exit Wound", and "Gunfire Echoes". Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable with anyone using these. 

Once while playing with a young four year old, I found myself quite disturbed during our game of dolls. I was instructed to have my doll fall in love with the prince because he had "ABS THAT STRETCHED AS FAR AS THIS ROOM! HIS CHEST WAS TO DIE FOR!". When I said "It was probably because he was kind and smart too, though” she replied "Nope! He's usually very mean to her." What?! After repeatedly trying to redirect the play in a gentler direction, it became obvious that my efforts were useless. A constant theme in our game was my princess breaking up with the prince, and him coming over to my apartment enraged. Once my princess told him "I want time with my girlfriends", to which he lashed out about how I don't care about him. 

If this girl is just out of diapers and already thinks that it's normal to marry a man because he finds her pretty (even though he is cruel to her), how can we sit by and claim that that our media doesn’t play some part? If a child is told a story, they're going to try to replicate it in their play. 

In order to build a culture focused around the value and dignity every person holds, we need to stop reinforcing the idea to the youngest of us that our value lies within our ability to attract others sexually. Our value lies in our kindness, capacity to love, respect for others and our shared humanity.