M. Gigi Durham: The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and Five Keys to Fixing It

Excerpt

Young girls are supposed to be viewed as precious little people; unfortunately, throughout the media they are shown as sexualized beings. In writing The Lolita Effect, M. Durham seeks to find a way to understand sexuality as a normal, healthy and important part of girls’ development. While doing this, she also explains the exploitive and distorted ways in which girls’ sexuality is represented by the commercial media. As Durham argues, matters of sexuality are not something that can be described as either good or bad; the reason for this is that there is so much social and cultural construction dealing with sexual matters. This view led Durham to write this book not only for adults who care for young girls but also for the young girls themselves. She hoped to form groups that would stand up against the ideas of the mainstream media. Durham argues that sex is a vital part of being a human being and growing up and girls need to fully understand sexuality in accurate, positive and healthy ways, as she points out that much evidence proves that the media does influence children’s behavior and if the media is showing young girls that they need to be “sexy” than that is what they are going to do. She argues that the messages about sex that the young girls are receiving from the media are becoming more hurtful than helpful. …