(SF)

Original Story Here

“Role models” like amateur porn star Paris Hilton and her underwear-challenged cohorts Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan are prompting more and more young girls to “go wild,” but with negative consequences.

Mental health experts say more and more youngsters are being influenced by the “sexualization of girls,” a term coined in a report released earlier this year by the American Psychological Association.

Click for a video discussion of the sex-effect

The research analyzed the content and effects of virtually every form of media, including television, music videos, music lyrics, magazines, movies, video games and the Internet. It also examined recent advertising campaigns and merchandising of products aimed toward girls.

What they found was a sort of “Girls Gone Wild” effect in which young girls are succumbing to the pressure of sexualization by posting nude pictures of themselves on the Internet, allowing boyfriends to photograph them in the nude and making their own amateur porn videos.

“The consequences of the sexualization of girls in media today are very real and are likely to be a negative influence on girls’ healthy development,” said Eileen L. Zurbriggen, PhD, chairwoman of the APA Task Force and associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, earlier this year in reference to the report.

As a result of an over-sexed society, young girls are reaping the following mental health issues:

Cognitive and Emotional Consequences: Sexualization and objectification undermine a person’s confidence in and comfort with her own body, leading to emotional and self-image problems, such as shame and anxiety.

Mental and Physical Health: Research links sexualization with three of the most common mental health problems diagnosed in girls and women—eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression or depressed mood.

Sexual Development: Research suggests that the sexualization of girls has negative consequences on girls’ ability to develop a healthy sexual self-image.

“As a society, we need to replace all of these sexualized images with ones showing girls in positive settings—ones that show the uniqueness and competence of girls,” said Zurbriggen. “The goal should be to deliver messages to all adolescents—boys and girls—that lead to healthy sexual development.”

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First, I hate "Girls Gone Wild".
I met them (I don't know which ones) during Carnival a few years ago.

People like this are sleezy, and are taking advantage of SOME Women who had too much to drink, smoke, snort, whatever. I angered one guy when, after a little tease (not in public) on my part, I refused to sign anything just to annoy him.

But this whole thing smells too much like the old -style of paternaliztion of Society and the pressure on Women to not recognize and become comfortable with our own Sexuality at an early age. (Yes, I did notice the quoted source was a Woman. It does not make this any less paternalistic)

I have much bigger issues with the unreal images in the MAINSTREAM MEDIA that we are expected to pursue, images of absurd thiness, perfectly flat tummies, large, firm, prefect boobs and so on that are the real contributors of self image problems and eating disorders.

Yes, I believe organizations such as GGW are scummy, but these Women are adults, (or are supposed to be) and their decisions to show themselves off should be RESPECTED. We just need to remember that NOTHING ever disappears from the Web.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder has been around a lot long than idiots like GGW


WW

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"I wondered, am I a lesbian, am I straight, or bisexual? Then I realized that I am just a slut.
So where's MY parade?"

---Margaret Cho

Well, yeah, there's no question that organizations like GGW benefit from the sexual exploitation of women; and equally no question that the American Psychological Association is trying to lay into the gender stereotypes presented by the social "conservatives" of the re"religious" right.

But you know what? In the long run, both organizations are, in the long run, making money at it.

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