Six-Year-Old Girls That Are Sexy and Stylish

Young girls are growing up with a more negative body image than ever before because of what they are being fed in the media. Young girls are exposed to soft pornographic images that show women as sexy and stylish. Children can see more than 20 images of skinny, partially dressed females in the matter of a 30-minute drive home. Then they are bombarded with clothes like ‘cute butt’ leggings at the malls. By giving young girls clothes like this, they begin to think they’re only valued for showing off parts of their bodies.
Half of all six-year-old girls say they worry about being fat. By the age of seven, 70 percent want to be thinner and by nine, half have been on diets. The center of all these stats is the desire for girls to be attractive. They fear being unwanted in the future. They look at the images in the media and think why would a guy want me when they can have a girl that looks like that.
These negative body images are reinforced when young girls see mothers and older siblings also worried about their weight. These are the women the girls look up to the most. The way the article suggest parents teach their daughters to see themselves as not ‘fat’ and unwanted is to lead by example. Show the young girls in our lives how to live a healthy style and love their true selves. The biggest lesson should be that she is worth so much more than the sum of what she owns and looks like.
When I was growing up, I never thought about fashion and being over weight and this article makes me sad that the generation of girls after me has to deal with it. I hope that the next generation of mothers can support their children, rather than enforce the media’s perceptions of females.

Gennifer Kluver
Section 4779