In class we watched a video called Sexy Inc.: Our Children Under Influence. While I was watching the video, I realized that I, along with many others I would imagine, do not even realize how much we are influenced by what we see, and how surprisingly easy it is for people's construal of reality to be altered. For instance at one point in the video the speaker said something about "tank tops with spaghetti straps," and I caught myself making fun of that statement in my head thinking like "Oh no, not spaghetti straps!" Then I realized that, I have probably just been influenced by society into thinking this way, because when I actually stop and think about it, a lot of spaghetti strap tops don't have very much material to them and don't cover much.
Also I think children need to have more parental guidance on such issues raised in the video, such as what is appropriate to wear, relationships, and other such behaviour. It seems to me like parents either must be getting a lot more lenient on children, or I had really strict parents. For example, I don't know how girls are even let out of the house in the clothes they wear, because if I came out of my room wearing something my dad didn't like, he would straight up tell me to go change. Also when they were talking about such young girls getting involved in sexual activity at such a young age, first of all it makes me really worried to ever have kids, but then I start thinking where are their parents, and how are such young children getting into this, because when I was 11 or 12 I didn't even know or want to know about most of the things they were talking about. Another example, when I was eight years old I specifically remember telling my best friend you do not need a man to get pregnant. As I was a few years younger than the stories from the video, I clearly just had no idea about anything to do with sex, while now 12 year olds are thinking sex is all dating relationships are about. That just completely shocks me. I really think however that parents aren't giving enough attention to their kids, so kids turn to other role models, such as relationships portrayed in the media, or older teens in their schools even. Or, parents may give their children too much attention, such as the children in TV shows such as Toddlers and Tiara's or Dance Mom's for example. These little girls look like miniature women. They wear as much make-up, skimpy clothes, and then they even try to perform like Britney Spears or Lady Gaga. I think that takes it way too far. I've danced my whole life, so when I was younger I got to wear cute costumes and make-up, but I knew that it was only on special days when I had a competition, and my mom didn't try to turn me into a mini version of a woman or choreograph inappropriate routines, and I still loved it. Below is an example of one of the routines the dancers (approximate ages are 8-11) off of Dance Mom's did at competition. It was incredibly inappropriate. I also posted one of Lady Gaga's music videos. Lady Gaga is probably one of Music's biggest pop stars right now, and with role models like her, it is no wonder children want to dance and dress sexy.
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