Sarah Warsco Secondary General Music Dr.

Kevin Gerrity 14 November 2012 Female Sexualization in Middle School Adolescents are faced with many challenges as they navigate middle school. Impett et al. (2011) note As girls move into adolescence they are presented with a number of challenges that increase the likelihood of body objectification and the negative mental health consequences associated with it (p. 47). One of those challenges which is particularly difficult for girls is oversexualization. Girls are pressured to be sexual beings from many different directions. As young girls struggle to identify themselves as adults, they continually push themselves towards increasingly sexualized self-concepts. In addition, boys, in their efforts to assert their masculinity, sexualize the girls without regard to the intentions or actions of the girls. Finally, the American culture (from media to clothing brands) encourages pre-teen and teen sexualization. Faced with this overwhelming pressure, young girls are expected to healthfully move through adolescence avoiding the major perils of oversexualization. As important adult figures for young women, it is imperative that educators help these girls to make their own decisions regarding their sexuality and encourage them to develop as empowered sexual beings. As an adolescent, girls are somewhere between the non-sexualized child and the fully sexualized woman. According to Mona-Iren Hauge (2009), While the category child is more firmly disconnected from the category sexuality, becoming adolescent involves having to

negotiate notions of sexuality in ways which affect the relationships between boys and girls, (p. 298). In other words, in order to separate themselves from the innocent child image, girls must portray themselves as increasingly sexual beings. At the same time, the girls are just beginning to experience sexual feelings toward the opposite sex. Hauge conducted a qualitative, longitudinal study of ways in which girls used their bodies to transition from childhood to adolescence. She found that over the course of time, the girls understanding of their relationship with boys changed dramatically. Hauge writes, While most of the girls in the first interviews say they sometimes play with boys, the relationships between boys and girls are gradually subject to a reinterpretation, which for most girls means that boys as a group turn from potential friends towards becoming potential boyfriends (p. 298). As girls become interested in boys as romantic partners, they increasingly want to portray themselves as sexual beings. Hauge identifies a common theme for girls in her study as not too much not too many meaning that girls must locate themselves in a socially appropriate place on a spectrum between nonsexualized and oversexualized. If they are too far towards either end they are deemed babyish, gay, or a slut (p. 298). This is clearly evidenced in Linda Perlsteins (2003) ethnography of middle schoolers. She writes, Girls that allegedly go all the way are looked down on, boys are not (p. 44). In another example, Perlstein relates, Kristina tells Leslie shes acting like a ho, changing who she likes every day (p. 158). On the other hand, Perlstein describes middle schoolers as span*ning+ the spectrum from prim on one end to boy-crazy on the other (p. 42) and notes that even though theyre not doing much, these girls talk all the time about boys and romance; lesbians come up a lot (43).

In addition to their self sexualization, girls are continually sexualized by the boys. In a barrage of hormones, boys become obsessed with sex. According to Perlstein, They [think] constantly about sex, as much as an adult times ten (p. 237). This focus on sex comes out in their actions and speech, not only with each other, but also when they interact with girls. Unfortunately, in an effort to assert their new found masculinity, boys often sexually harass girls. Perlstein relates, one guy calls to Kristina Omigod, you have a nice ass, and smacks it, or another guy tweaks Celias breasts and says, Squeeze squeeze! (p. 48). In addition, Perlstein chronicles an incident in the home-economics room in which two boys show a girl their penises. The girl later follows them to the boys bathroom where there is groping (p. 49). Even though the students attend a sexual harassment workshop, many seem to still be confused about what is or is not harassment stating, If you like it, its not harassment (Perlstein, 2003, p. 83). A number of the girls indicate on a survey that they have never been harassed despite the fact that they have been groped without their permission and many of them have felt uncomfortable because of comments the boys have made. In a study regarding the influences on teen sexuality, Jeanne Rogge Steele (1999) writes, Throughout adolescence, teens gather information about same-sex and opposite-sex relationships from their peers (p. 339). This makes the sexualization of girls by their male peers particularly troublesome. As Perlstein states, the idea that a boy can practically hump any one of a large group of g irls from behind on the dance floor, that he can call her a ho with impunity, that she thinks its funny to be flashed, that she unthinkingly indulges his conversations about blow jobs, that they both agree that blow jobs arent really sex, gives lie to the conventional wisdom that somehow girls have the power now (p. 212-213). Regardless of whether an individual girl chooses to sexualize

herself, she is constantly confronted with the highly sexualized, objectified male version of femininity. Even if a girl somehow avoids the pressures of the boys around her, she cannot avoid the pervasiveness of female sexuality in American culture. Steele writes, Typical adolescents interact with media all day long. They wake up to the radio, talk with friends at school about yesterday's episode of their favorite TV show, and then flip through TV channels or the latest issue of their favorite magazine while relaxing after school (p. 335). Todays teens are constantly confronted with sex on television, in music, in magazines, and even the newspaper. According to Steele, teens search for media that feature people like them (p. 335). Perlstein often remarks on the overt sexualization of females in the media. She found that without strong parental guidance, middle schoolers are confronted with sex on the internet, on CDs, on movies, and even on primetime television (p. 47). She notes that magazines geared towards adolescent girls like CosmoGIRL! and YM are filled with French kissing tips and advice about boys (p. 40-41). Girls are even confronted with overt sexuality in their choice of clothes. Perlstein describes the clothes marketed toward adolescent girls, The styles have grown up. This year the small of the back is everywhere, as shirts for girls stop short of the belly and make announcements across the chest . . . . The jeans ride tight and low, real low, so flowered cotton underpants these are still children, after all bunch up above the belt loops (p. 149). Even with strong boundaries set by parents, young girls cannot fully escape the overt sexuality in the media. Without strong boundaries, girls are surrounded by the male driven, pornographic sexuality so commonplace in modern media.

There is clear evidence that the oversexualization of girls is damaging to their health and psyche. OSullivan et al. (2006), in trying to measure the sexual self-concept of adolescent girls, found that girls who scored higher in sexual arousability and sexual agency had an increased likelihood to have performed sexual acts including intercourse. OSullivan defines sexual arousability as, feelings of interest in and anticipation of sexual experiences and sexual agency as a persons experience of self as a sexual being, who feels entitled to sexual pleasure and sexual safety (p. 147). As young girls are surrounded by pressures to appear and act more sexually, the likelihood that they will be interested in and participate in sex acts increases. In addition, Impett found that the amount of body objectification in which they engage is a significant predictor of self-esteem and depression in young girls (p. 53). Although oversexualization and body objectification can occur separately, it seems likely that they would be correlated. Regardless of the damages caused by self sexualization and media sexualization, the harassment and sexualization of girls by their male peers depicted in Perlsteins work are clearly damaging to the women involved. With all the pressures on adolescent girls, it is important for educators to act as positive influences while not causing girls to feel ashamed of their sexuality. Girls must be provided with the information they need to make sexual decisions without facing judgment. Zoe D. Peterson (2010) states, A girl does not wake up one day and discover that she suddenly is sexually empowered (p. 309). It becomes the job of the educator to help guide girls down the path of sexual empowerment. This is supported by Impetts study which found that although girls may feel pressured to self-objectify as they enter adolescence . . . on average, girls learn to resist this tendency as they develop (p. 53). Peterson writes, We may not feel comfortable with the

fact that some adolescent girls choose to enact a pornified version of sexuality; yet, if girls tell us that they feel pleasure and empowerment by embracing an overt and exhibitionist version of sexual expression, should we assume that we know better than they do about the underlying meaning of that expression? (p. 309). Even though we may view certain projections of sexuality as demeaning to women, it is important that girls are not scorned for their actions but are instead encouraged to think critically about their sexuality. According to Peterson, The power to attract attention with ones sexuality may be a rather limited form of sexual empowerment, but in some cases, even a narrow version of empowerment may be a developmental step in the process toward a more comprehensive version of empowered sexuality (p. 312). The educator can encourage conversations that examine gender and the ultrasexualized female depicted by the media. In addition, educators can provide students with information about the risks involved with sexual activity. Unfortunately, teachers have a limited role. Perlstein writes, *Parents+ cant control their daughters longings, they cant control the boys boldness, they cant, as social scientists point out, infuse disgrace back into activities that are portrayed shamelessly on MTV. Nor, for that matter, can the tea chers (p. 83). These three pressures will continue to shape young girls as they discover their own sexuality. Instead, educators must provide a healthy framework and model within which the girls can make knowledgeable decisions and act with empowerment.

Works Cited Hauge, M.-I. (2009). Bodily practices and discourses of hetero-femininity: girls' constitution of subjectivities in their social transition between childhood and adolescence. Gender & Education, 21(3), 293-307. doi: 10.1080/09540250802667625 Impett, E. A., Henson, J. M., Breines, J. G., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2011). Embodiment Feels Better: Girls' Body Objectification and Well-Being Across Adolescence. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35(1), 46-58. doi: 10.1177/0361684310391641 O'Sullivan, L. F., Meyer-Bahlburg, H. L., & McKeague, I. W. (2006). The Development of the Sexual Self-Concept: Inventory for Early Adolescent Girls. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 30(2), 139-149. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2006.00277.x Perlstein, L. (2003). Not Much Just Chillin: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers. New York: Ballantine. Peterson, Z. (2010). What Is Sexual Empowerment? A Multidimensional and Process-Oriented Approach to Adolescent Girls Sexual Empowerment. Sex Roles, 62(5-6), 307-313. doi: 10.1007/s11199-009-9725-2 Steele, J. R. (1999). Teenage Sexuality and Media Practice: Factoring in the Influences of Family, Friends, and School. The Journal of Sex Research, 36(4), 331-341. doi: 10.2307/3813717