Sexualization of Girls

This report says that sexualization of girls in America is very prevalent and leads to several serious mental health problems in girls and women. I can readily agree with these conclusions, but upon reflection they seem to me like a large part of a much bigger problem, and that is the nurturing of the corporation at the expense of the individual.

I’ve talked about this many times before. Albert Einstein said, "If a visitor should come to this country from another planet, would he not find it strange that in this country so much power is permitted to private corporations without their having commensurate responsibility?”

Corporations have the power to sexualize our girls, and yet when the girls develop mental problems, when their lives are seriously affected, the corporations don’t have the responsibility to fix the problems to which they have contributed.

The same thing is true of food and health: corporations have the power to sell us all types of unhealthy food; they have the power to shape public opinion; they can make jokes about healthy eating and denigrate those who follow a healthy lifestyle; they can praise those who eat meat and fast food; they can extol the virtues of excessive consumption while criticizing moderation. And yet when our people become obese, when they develop diabetes, when they get cancer and die the corporations don’t have the responsibility to fix the problems to which they have contributed.

But that is the American Way, and it’s wrong. And it is one of the major things that is wrong with America. Will it ever change? I doubt it. Not only are the corporations firmly entrenched in our culture, but they are exporting the American Way to countries around the world, just as when the tobacco industry began exporting cigarettes overseas.

In all fairness, however, the sexualization of girls is not just an American phenomenon. I doubt that corporations in other countries are really any different than those in this country.

In the meanwhile, you still have the victims. Here is the full report on the sexualization of girls. Here are ways we can empower girls. And here are things that parents can do to alleviate the problem. Let us hope and pray that we can alleviate the problem.


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