Are Our Girls Growing Up Too Quickly?

On the day that the ten year old sleepover girls are writing desperate fan letters to JLS I was interested to read the Home Office commissioned review into the sexualisation of young people.

The review, conducted by psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos forms part of the government’s strategy to tackle ‘Violence Against Women and Girls’ (VAWG) and looks at how sexualised images and messages may be affecting the development of children and young people and examines the evidence for a link between sexualisation and violence.

When I was ten I didn't know any boys.  I went to an all girls school and my pony radar did not scan for young men.  I can remember becoming curious about pop stars from the age of about 14 which is about the time I began eyeing up the 'dishy' young men in flares at the local ice rink.

These days the children at my daughter's school are deciding who's 'going out' with who from the age of seven!  My daughter likes to spend her pocket money on makeup and mini-me clothes.  Fortunately I'm not a mini-skirt/belly-top kind of 'me' so the mini-me's are not too outrageous!

I'm lucky that my girl still likes a lot of little girl activities and I do try to encourage her to cherish her childhood.  I find it sad to see the youngsters growing up so fast and the issues tackled in the review are definitely worrying. 

Peer pressure obviously has a lot to answer for but the trends for the  sexualisation of young people are driven by accessibility to adult oriented media.  One of the key recommendations of the review is that broadcasters are required to ensure that music videos featuring sexual posing or sexually suggestive lyrics are broadcast only after the ‘watershed’.

But how does that watershed work?  With satellite TV channels there does not seem to be a watershed at all.  Of course the internet, magazines and playground chat all have their part to play too.

Times they are a changing but while little girl sleepovers and JLS fan clubs are still the order of the day I can keep a watchful eye on my baby girl and even join in with the dance routines in front of the telly (until my poor old bones give up on me)!