has anyone looked at how sexualized children are...

[nemo137]

in countries with liberal vs. conservative pornography/obscenity laws? are there higher teen pregnancy or STD rates in the netherlands or denmark? what's their sex ed like?

thanks for anything you've got onhand.

[ComerPerro]

1. No info

What is your working thesis?

[nemo137]

2. no thesis, but there was a thread in LBN about

the DOJ being more aggressive in pursuing obscenity cases, and the source quoted someone as saying something like "We don't want our children to become as sexualized as children in scandinavia and the netherlands," so i was curious as to whether this is based in fact.

[Eloriel]

8. Good grief -- too LATE!!

They can't grow UP in this society without being overly sexualized. It's everywhere: magazines, advertising everywhere, music (Britney Spears, anyone?), TV and movies. Have I left anything out? They missed sexualizing breakfast, near as I can tell.

Eloriel

[david_vincent]

3. I remember seeing some figures

quite a while ago, and of course I can't remember specific numbers, but I do remember that the teen pregnancy rate in America is far, far higher than the rates for any Western European nation or Canada, as in ludicrously out of proportion.

[DemExpat]

4. If you mean ........

are little girls in The Netherlands Britney Spears/Christina Aguilera look-a-likes?....

No, not at all.

Also, you can see Denmark/Holland as liberal in pornography/obsenity laws, but doesn't the US have the most prolific Porno industry?

DemEx

[Woodstock]

5. Yet another thing the US is doing wrong

Add kids emulating Britney the Stripper Ho to the out of control gun violence (remember Bowling for Columbine?)

Parents, you have my sympathy - raising a kid today must be one of the toughest challenges going.

[Dirk39]

14. And who's buying it...

they make most profit in muslim/islamic countries with a very repressive moral...
Afaik the porn-industry in the USA makes far more money than Hollywood.

Go figure,
Greetings from Germany,
Dirk

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. Japan has some very far-out porno freely available

(with no pubic hair showing, but everything imaginable and unimaginable portrayed) and some racy late-night television, and the little girls there dress like little girls, not like Britney Spears.

The U.S. situation is attributable to clothing store buyers who stock the streetwalker look and clueless parents who think it's cute to see their eight-year-old dressed like jailbait.

[davsand]

7. Yes! I DO blame the buyers!

My six year old has no need for a top that is strapless, or one shoulder, or peek-a-boo. Further, she really doesn't need slinky nor does she need "sheer" blouses. I've seen every one of those "fashion statements" in the clothing depts of various stores. I have had the joy of explaining that stuff is too old for her or else not acceptable by her grade school dress code.

To be honest, I have to refrain from calling a lot of this stuff trashy and too frankly sexual. Do the buyers for these stores honestly think that it is ok for little girls to look like some Lolita? I have got to admit, I see some of that stuff and I think about Jon Benet Ramsey. I keep flashing back to the videos of that poor child wearing makeup and shimmying away on a stage...

Little girls have no concept of body image and clothing like that just works to form a negative one for them. I shudder to think waht lies ahead for those kids given how they are viewed as little adults now...

Laura

[priller]

9. At a hockey game one night

it was sparsely attended, in Monroe, LA of all places, a little minor league team. As you know, at sporting events nowdays they never give you a moment of silence, any time the action stops the music is immmediately cranked up.

Anyway, there were these two young girls, looked to be about 12 and 8, sitting about 10 rows in front of us (with no one in between). When the music came on they would shoot out of their chairs and start dancing away.

But this wasn't like innocent little girl dancing. These two had obviously watched lots of videos or something, because they were dancing like little strippers! The older one, she was bumping and grinding like the best of them. And she had all the moves down, too. I'll give her credit for being a good dancer, but the *way* she was dancing was entirely inappropriate for a girl that young, it was much too sensual. My first thought was, "Hmm, this girl has a bright future in 'gentlemen's entertainment'"!

After that happened a few times I looked over at the other people I was with and said, "Are you guys seeing this girl?" And they were all like "Mmm, hmm" and then I noticed that other people around me had seen her and had these shocked/horrified looks on their faces. But the girl was oblivious, shaking and writhing the whole night long.

I don't know about other countries, but these girls had gotten way too much exposure to that kind of dancing somehow.

[nemo137]

10. so who's fault is it, can it be fixed, and how?

[MrPrax]

11. Good topic...rem CK ads and Kate Moss

and that was only a few years ago...

Now belly shirts!!!

It would be nice if the 'anti-family' brigade got together with the 'family' lite types and interfaced on the 'decline of self-respect' and more importantly, the commodification of Youth into 'Bodies'

Just a thought...

[REP]

12. Holland and Denmark

have very low rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs; much lower than in the US. Most European countries have comprehansive sex ed and contraception is easily available and non-controversial (no "parental consent;" no clinics with protesters).

[Paschall]

13. There's been a thread or two in recent weeks...

...on age of consent. Interesting subject and interesting question.

In France, the age of consent is 15 for males, females, gays, and straights. Contraception is available from school nurses (no parental consent required). Abortion is also available without parental notification or authorization. There are condom distributors in most public high schools.

Fifteen is called the "age of sexual majority," here. Kids have a guaranteed right to have sex with any peer they please; parents can only exert authority if their kid is 15-18 and the partner is over 18 (sorry, I'm not quite sure how that works in practice).

Amazingly, most public health studies here have found that the average age of the "first act" is 17. In other words, kids have the right... but they seem to wait.

Keep in mind that over 40% of kids in France are born to unmarried couples. Since French law provides many rights and benefits to "life partners" regardless of marital status, lots of people simply don't marry--though they usually do refer to each other as "husband" and "wife."

ON EDIT: Just found a few stats.

France (population 68 million) has 3000 pregnancies among girls 16 and under per year.

The Pill was legalized in 1974; abortion in 1975. Since then, teen births have dropped considerably. In 1976, there were 22,065 children born to mothers 18 and younger. In 1997, 984 children were born to mothers 16 years and under.

Abortions among girls 15-18 is 6-7 per 1000. The overall rate for French women of reproductive age is 15 per 1000.

http://mailhost.lacinquieme.fr/sante/W00135/2/62573.cfm