title: An investigation of young girls' responses to sexualized images.
abstract: Evidence suggests that the sexualization of girls has increased and become more explicit in recent years. However, most of the research conducted to date has focused on sexualization in adults. To address this research gap, this study explored how young Australian girls respond to and describe sexualized and non-sexualized depictions of their peers. Results from 42 girls aged 6-11 years revealed that sexualization was a perceptually salient attribute, with participants readily classifying sexualized girls as a subgroup. Participants also made distinct trait attributions based on the differences between sexualized and non-sexualized girls. The results suggest that young girls respond differently to sexualized and non-sexualized depictions of their peers and are beginning to develop stereotypes based on these depictions. As such, the implementation of media literacy programs in adolescence may be too late and efforts may be required to address this issue among younger children.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Kent Street, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia. Electronic address: michelle.jongenelis@curtin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Michelle I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Jongenelis
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Kent Street, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia. Electronic address: simone.pettigrew@curtin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pettigrew
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Western Australia (M304), 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Electronic address: sue.byrne@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Kent Street, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia. Electronic address: nicole.biagioni@curtin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Biagioni
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D001315:Australia; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010379:Peer Group; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping
keywords: Appearance; Girls; Objectification; Sexualization