The Lolita Effect On Children s Health Network - 1275 Words

In Western society, the media hypersexualizes children from birth. However, this hypersexuality is commonly focused on girls aged eight to fifteen (Canadian Women’s Health Network). This leads to self-esteem issues, high teenage pregnancy rates, eating disorders, sex trafficking, suicidal thoughts, and actions, and what is called the â€Å"Lolita effect.† This hypersexuality also leads to violent relational abuse, and in boys, has been shown linked with violence (Keating). These all have devastating consequences on individuals as well as on Western society as a whole. With less and less clothing becoming more and more prominent in Western culture, by the media, it seems even children are picking up on this trend. This phenomenon, the â€Å"Lolita†¦show more content†¦The â€Å"Lolita Effect† is very misogynistic, and in Western society misogyny is prevalent. Misogyny will have to be broken by society as a whole before it can be broken on this level, an d for sexualizing children to stop (Durham). Because the media and all of its hypersexuality is a key factor in what leads to sex trafficking (Smith). The glorification of pimps in music videos and in movies, making it seem like a glamorous lifestyle, puts the idea that it is not a â€Å"bad thing† in the heads of many. Add in the sexualized children, and the accessibility to be able to â€Å"sell† them, that is why sex trafficking is so prevalent in the modern Western world (United Nations). The trafficking of children is much more than sexual; it is also labor exploitation. They are forced into labor that can kill them, and often can forced to be soldiers. Sometimes they are sent to another country, and they are always at the mercy of their â€Å"employer.† They have no contact with their family. This epidemic is prevalent all throughout the world, but in western culture it is because the Western media is a hypersexual one. The normalization of sexual promiscu ity, violence, and crimes in their childhood allows a distorted view that sex trafficking and forced sexual labor is allowable. This leads to detrimental effects on the individual. Also, the media hypersexualizing children causes