When I was growing up I was fortunate enough to have two older sisters to look up to. I also have a younger sister, who used to do everything I said. Being two young girls we always wanted to be like our two older sisters. We would sneak into their rooms when they weren’t home and wear their clothes, shoes and use their make-up. We would play dress up for hours and act like adults, but really we were ten years old.
Ten years later and I wander, is this still apart of growing up or does this fall under the tree of moral panic?
Images of children posing too ‘sexual’ has become more of an issue now, compared to when I was a child. Are these images too sexual? or are we as the viewer’s looking at these images in the wrong way?
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On my last blog I talked about the denotations and connotations of images which makes me ask the question, are we as the viewer’s looking at the meaning differently to what is actually depicted?
In my BCM110 lecture this week an image from the cover of Haven Magazine was brought to my attention.
I was torn between the idea of this image being inappropriate or acceptable. The comments of this image shocked me as I thought the image was fine. Yes I agree that the girl in this image was too young but it didn’t cross my mind that it was provocative.
Comments on Facebook about the image
According to the Gold Coast Bulletin, Lifestyle, the image was signified as ‘hyper sexualised’ however, The Editor of Haven, Keely O’Connor, intended to create a cover that was “whimsical and creative“. Two completely different meanings depicted by two different types of people. This brings me back to my original question, has sexualisation of children in the media gone too far? Are these images of children morally wrong?
You may have heard of a young girl called Eden Wood, a child brought into the glamour world from a very young age of three. From pageants to acting and now modelling,this little girl has been in the spot light since she was born. Wearing crop tops,makeup and posing in photos she is seen as a star. This is where I believe it is morally wrong. Every child needs to be a child and young Eden has grown up and continues to grow up too fast.
I heard an interesting comment in my tutorial today, indicating that children are faced with these issues at a young age. The question was raised that isn’t it better that children can see these images when they’re younger rather then being confronted with this issue and images when they’re older? I agreed with this as we can’t protect and wrap young children up in cotton wool buds forever. It’s up to the parents to show what is morally right as there will always be confronting images in the media, especially about the next generation of children. Yes, there are images out there of children being portrayed older then what they are, too ‘sexy’ and morally wrong but I believe it is how we as the viewers depict the image.
FIFTY SHADES OF MEDIA 