Ron Parks--Asher. Girls, Sexuality, and Pop Culture. (22-26).

Ron Parks

September 22, 2007

WGS 220-05

Asher. Girls, Sexuality, and Pop Culture. (22-26).

Description:

• Teaching girls about sexuality without warning them about the harmful elements of pop culture puts girls at risk for danger, leads to exploitation of girls (22).

Analysis:

• Little differentiation between developing sexuality of girls and the developed sexualities of women, leads to sexual exploitation of girls due to lack of sexual control with adults (22).
• Girls are exploited to sell products by using their sexuality, often without the girl’s knowledge they’re being used for their sexuality (22-23).
• Theme of adult male loving adolescent girls dominant in film industry, theme of girls in control of their sexuality do not succeed as often (23).
• Men often feel entitled to girl’s bodies due to the media’s display of girl’s bodies as inanimate sexual objects (23).
• Girls are taught to exist in relation to males, causing girls to fall into a false sense of security when older males give them attention because of their sexual appeal (23).
• Media portrayal of the “ideal body” causes girls to lack an understanding and control over their body, causing some to enter unhealthy relationships to normalize their desire (24).

Vision:

• Introduce adolescent female sexuality into popular culture, while warning girls about sexuality and the media (24).

Strategy:

· Teach girls that their sex is not dirty or shameful, with these concepts introduced by females who are close to the girls, before the girls become sexually active (24).

· Attack structure of the media by warning girls about the media’s exploitation of them (24).

· Teach girls to fight the stereotypes and to be in control of their own sexuality (24).