Censorifiaction of our children, it may not be a word, but it is a problem!

The three words ‘Youth’ and ‘Over Sexualisation’ are used together a lot in today’s news and media. Journalists and columnists are constantly having fits in which they claim we are over sexualising our youth. They claim that this early sexualisation can result in a large list of self esteem and self image issues in our children during their tumultuous child and teenage years. Personally I whole heartedly agree with them, however I also believe that the level at which our youth are being censored from normal bodily issues is also becoming an issue as our youth grow older. The latest JB-HI-FI catalogue recently found its way into my possession and as I flicked through the glossy pages in search of any new movies I wanted to watch my search was cut short when I reached the second last page and I entered the TV advertisement section. However when I looked at the TV’s they, like most other TV’s advertised in catalogues had a picture inside them! After some rereading of the catalogue I discovered that the scene depicted was from the new Disney movie Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue, rated PG. The picture was a digital animation and depicted the side of a little girls face as the she stared at Tinkerbell who was hovering at her nose level. Gazing at this photograph I wondered why I’d never made the connection between body image and children’s films before. I may not be an expert however the full, rosy cheeks, big eyes, thin unlined mouth and golden, unblemished face seemed like a far cry from my childhood. I was always covered in bruises with chapped lips and covered in tiny freckles and chicken pox scars. When I saw this image, the entertainment lifeblood of our children I couldn’t help but be shocked by how unreal it was. The picture is the ultimate stereotype of a young child and like all stereotypes is not even remotely an accurate description of a real child. After witnessing this image I can understand why we have anorexic twelve year olds and eight year olds putting on disturbing amounts of makeup and boys, who are usually the antagonist in these animated films beating each other up before they master toilet training. I wonder what will happen to the twentieth century child who constantly watches these perfect representations of children their own age; I wonder if they will grow up with development problems and body issues? The over sexualisation of children is a major problem, however body image and how it is portrayed, especially in digital media is also negatively affecting our children.