June 15, 2011. Words by Keith Mason. Posted under Culture / Featured Content / News & Features

Following the recent Government review on the sexualisation of children, the issue of sexualisation has found itself in the limelight again. The issue itself is nothing new but it is undoubtedly refreshing to note that this is something that, whether your a Daily Mail or a Guardian reader, is now being talked about openly.

Some argue that encouraging children to take up activities like pole dancing is a form of empowerment that encourages confidence in children, others see such things as a cause for concern when considering the impact of overtly sexual behaviour in children who feel it to be normal. It’s still too early to say how the Government will react in the longterm to its review, brought forward by the Mothers Union, but regardless their is a general consensus it seems in society that perhaps things have gone too far.

A short while ago The Seed Network put out an article about the fact the Girls Gone Wild were due to start filming their UK series. It touched on the idea of raunch culture and its prevalence and superseding of what many people typically associate with feminism and/or gender equality. Its questionable whether the people who would send children to pole dancing lessons would feel indifferent about sending children morris dancing instead, because their is undoubtedly a cultural currency in ‘hotness’. Its not the fact that the sexualisation of children is purely something sexual its more that as a society we have begun to capitalise on physical appeal. So this is just as much an economic venture as it is a sexual one. One which places value not on traditional notions of equality but one that caters towards a female or male chauvinistic view of physical appeal when it comes to the fairer sex.

The issue of sexualisation isn’t a new one but it is one that is currently enjoying some light from various media institutions and our government. However the issue itself when examined calls for more than the steps to stop the exposure of sexual content in the media. It begs for individuals to step back and consider the true cost of selling our own and others physical appeal to cameras and capitalism.

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