As an early childhood educator, I am exposed to some many
different things; some good, some bad, and some disturbing. Sexualization in
early childhood education is becoming more and more prevalent. I am always
amazed and how much children are exposed to at an early age when it comes to
sexuality and the over exposure of gender identity when sexuality is concerned. Now, it seems to be a norm, which is sad to
say, but with the TV, Internet, advertisements, and radio, children are going
to be exposed to sexualization at a young age regardless.
When watching television, you see children doing things that
adults should be engaged in. for example, the toddlers in tiaras show is about
pushing little girls to parade around like a woman with big hair, make up, and
to exude sexiness to be in a pageant for people to judge them on their beauty.
Children at this age should be being children and not worried about how they
look, and how society perceives their looks. Girls have a lot of pressure from
media and the Internet to look and be a certain way, why start this at such a
young age?
As a teacher, I do see children who are exposed to
sexualization in different ways. For instance, girls come in in dresses and
heels with make-up on, and I have had little boys come in with cologne on and
are allowed to ‘shave’ which I found very alarming. Children already have
gender roles in their head at the age of 2.5-3, which is the age I primarily
teach. They believe girls have to be thin, with long hair, heels, dresses and
makeup, while boys believe they have to be strong, no crying and to ‘man up’
and where manly or boy colors. Children should be allowed to wear colors that
make them happy, and to understand that at any gender, you can do anything; the
sexes should be presented to children at a young age as equals and not greater
than or lesser.
Children want to be the stars and actors/actresses they see
on television as well as in animated movies. I had a little girl, who was
listening to kids bop, and the song she was listening to had adult content, but
children were singing it, and she knew every word. Also, the way she danced was
that of an adult. She was moving her body in a provocative way. It is so hard
to try to intervene to let children know what is and what isn’t appropriate,
but once they leave and go home, or are around peers in another setting, things
will change and the children will pick up on things that are overly sexualized.
The implications this may have on a child’s healthy
development is that they can grow up with a warped sense of self image and this
could lead to low self-esteem, low self efficacy, as well as depression. It is important as an educator to always
allow for children to see the positive side of being who they are and positive
outcomes of genders. I want girls to feel empowered to be and do whatever they
want regardless of how they look, and for boys to feel empowered to do the same
and to feel emotions without the negative stigma that comes with it. Having books
and different literature, as well as videos and images of positive behaviors
and self image will help children to ask questions, but also to gain an
understanding of the world around them in positive ways that foster healthy
development.
My awareness has been modified by this week’s topic is by
always keeping a close eye on how children interpret the world around them.
Also, I want to be able to always bring in positive images of men, women, and
the LGBT communities that allow for children to see social roles as positive and
to allow for acceptance, tolerance, respect, and understanding. Children are
curious, and we have to make sure we are explaining these curiosities in the
most positive way as possible.
