Exploitation of Young Girls Can Lead to Eating Disorder and Low Self Esteem

So Steph and I have been thinking about the "smut list" as we discussed in a previous post on Cyber Bullying and really thought it more then the cyber bullying but the core of the problem is the mixed message that girls recieve from the media and their peers.

On the one hand we tell our girls that they should not engage in sexual behavior but in this day and age when girls are introduced to sexuality at young age it's very confusing for them.

As a matter of fact Abercrombie and Fitch just launched a new bikini for girls for 7 to 14 years that has a padded bikini top. Why on Earth would a 7 year old need a padded bikini top and what message is that sending to young girls? Exploiting the sexuality of a 7 year old is truly disturbing especially in a time when sexual predators are running rampid. Why would you subject your daughter to this and why would a retail designer endorse this kind of exploitation of young girls?

In addition, putting this kind of self awareness of a body image is a recipe for low self esteem. For years girls have suffered from bad body image and results in eating disorders, addictions, and depression. In fact eating disorders is becoming more prevelent in girls as young as 5. An article on PreventDisease.com sites:

          Eating disorder experts say prepubescent girls are developing eating disorders as young as 5 and 6 years old. They may be getting their obsession from parents who are preoccupied with their own body images, and media images of skinny pop stars like Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, the experts say.

There's no doubt providing sexy clothing to young girls is going to create body image issues. It is hard for young girls today, when the media and society gives them such mixed messages. Society is telling the young girls being sexy is good and exposing sexuality is acceptable, but then when these girls engage in their sexuality, they are called sluts. Girls just can't win.

Steph and Jan

Gross Cyber Bullying in High School "Smut List"

I heard about a "smut" list that was posted to Facebook last week naming high school girls in Westchester, NY and Greenwich, CT as alleged "sluts". Presumably this sort of list began in colleges and now is popping up in high schools. This list was also passed on through mobile devices exposing and exploiting 100 high school girls.

When I searched for more information on this story, the first story that I read included this very disturbing statement:

 Everybody just needs to calm down here. A high school slut list is the best thing that a high school   kid could ask for. It saves so much time and embarrassment if you already know who’s down to f*** at the party, and who’s the prude. If the ladies don’t want to be on the slut list, all they have to do is stop being a slut. It’s not that hard. Once you turn down a drunken blowj** at a party, word will          spread and you’ll be erased from the list faster than the speed of light. Nobody wants prudes on their    slut list. That ruins everything.

This is disturbing on so many levels. It's bad enough that this list was published but hearing a statement like this in support of something so dispicible is truly atrocious.

Nearly 42 percent of children have been cyberbullied and 35 percent have been threatened online, according to a recent survey by i-SAFE Inc., a leader in Internet safety education. Any support of such a "list" should be abolished and violators should be persecuted.

My hope is that this list has already been shut down and the culprits who created this list and whoever added to it or passed it on be punished for cyber bullying. My only worry is that the damage is already done. It is hard enough to deal with the typical bullying at school but now that this has become viral this is not just a school yard name calling, this is public slander. I do hope the parents of the girls on the list talk to their daughters and get them help to overcome this scrutiny.

The schools that were involved in this should conduct a mandatory sexual harrassment and proper conduct workshop to guide the children in what is appropriate and not appropriate conduct. Providing a review of what verbal abuse is, as well as cyber bullying. Laying out what is inappropriate to post, for instance, private pictures and creating lists.

In addition all the girls who were named should be provided with counseling by the school to ensure they handle the scrutiny and prevent them from spiraling into depression. There has been other incidents were students of such public cyber bullying actually took their own lives because they couldn't deal with it, most notably the student from Rutgers University who was subject to a video of a private, intimate moment being streamed online. I would hate to think of any of these girls taking drastic measures to avoid the humilation.

What happened to treating girls with respect. This sort of thing cannot be tolerated.
Jan and Steph