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Title: So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids
ISBN: 0345505069
Author:
Diane E. Levin
Jean Kilbourne
Publicate Date: 2008-08-05
Publish: 2008-08-05
List Price: $25.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $15.34
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $15.69
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.50
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| Customer Review: |
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1: As the mother of a 16 yr old girl
I worry every day about her exposure to over-sexualized imagery and messages. I search often on ParentsDigest for summaries on books on this subject, and this one was money well spent. It is nearly impossible to sheild her completely, but this book explains how important it is to try to protect her from the effects of media and society's message of sexuality, as well as how deep the effects of those messages runs
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2: A great call to action
I loved the way this book answers the question: "How has our culture been warped into an unenviable cesspool of uncaring sex and gratuitous violence?" Diane Levin & Jean Kilbourne offer great rationale as to how and why this happened -- and more importantly, they offer excellent action steps to help families and communities counteract these forces.
I'm a 22-year-old recent college graduate who majored in Communications and completed a highly educational internship at the Media Education Foundation (www.mediaed.org), a remarkable nonprofit organization. I was raised to be very open-minded, yet when I first arrived at college even I thought things had gotten out of hand. I was astounded by the number of women students who would readily bare their breasts in large groups of students, with little provocation (and a few beers).
When you're constantly bombarded with the likes of Abercrombie & Fitch ads, it's easy to believe that the portrayal of barely clad beautiful bodies cavorting sexually is the gold standard to emulate. There are no ads, of course, to portray the morning after regrets in our double standard culture that these women will be labeled (and feel like) "sluts", while their male companions will relish their own enhanced party-animal status. I agree completely with MediaMaven about witnessing our "MTV Generation" peers (especially women) who struggle with low self-esteem and depression -- it's epidemic on campus.
What I didn't realize before reading this book were the new "lows" corporations and their advertisers had reached ~ Victoria's Secret makes thong panties for 8 to 12-year-olds?! It makes one wonder what the rates of depression and low self-esteem will be in 10 years.
So Sexy, So Soon is a call to action. While Norway and Sweden have banned all advertising aimed at children under age 12 - and Belgium, Denmark & Greece strongly restrict advertising targeted at children ~ why on earth should we allow the United States to stay mired in this mess? We should all heed the call to contact our Congressional Representatives, advocating a ban on all advertising aimed at children.
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3: This should be mandatory reading
I first heard Jean Kilbourne lecture at The Harvard Medical School
over 30 years ago. Her lecture was transformational, and I never
saw the world in the same way again. Since then, I have followed
her career closely. She brought her message into print form
with her first book; "Can't Buy my Love". Dr. Kilbourne's
raison d'etre is to educate the public to unconscious and conscious
psychological devices that keep women and girls in a one down
position. She described the way in which sexism is ingrained in the media, which both reflects and perpetuates cultural stereotypes. Her message is extremely effective in inoculating women and girls against the negative effects of the media. She was decades ahead of her time, and a lone voice of warning. Unfortunately, she tells us that things have only gotten worse. Now, once again she is the messenger of our times who sees so clearly the crisis which is happening to our girls. Both her books are a must read for anyone who cares about girls and women. Dr. Kilbourne's newest book, So Sexy So Soon (co-authored with Diane Levin) is a greatly needed therapeutic intervention for girls and their concerned parents. The American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls also concurs with Dr. Kilbourne and they too recommend early media education awareness in schools and community centers in order to fight sexualization of girls and counter the negative effects which Jean so masterfully describes in her book. I would recommend both of Dr. Kilbourne's books for anyone who wants to fight sexism and educate our society to the negative effects of the media on female potential. Her books will begin the much needed healing process for any one who reads them. I cannot recommend this book more highly. It should be required reading for anyone in the education system and helping professions as well as parents of girls.
Stephanie Jones, Ed.D.
Founder of the Girls Institute for Empowerment.
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4: Basically Good but with a Few Caveats
"So Sexy So Soon" contains a good discussion of the problem parents today face with the hypersexualization of childhood. I really appreciated how Drs. Levin and Kilbourne go beyond simply recounting the problem to actually making concrete suggestions on what parents can do to fight back. Too many other books on the subject don't offer enough in the way of solutions (for example Girls Gone Mild: Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It's Not Bad to Be Good and Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls (and America, Too!)).
One of the main criticisms I had is that like Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes, "So Sexy So Soon" has a tendency to not distinguish between what is truly harmful to children and what is innocuous. For example, the sleazy Bratz dolls are lumped in with the wholesome Disney Princess ones and superhero cartoons like Spiderman or He-Man are made to seem just as bad as the completely antisocial video game "Grand Theft Auto".
The other big issue I had with "So Sexy So Soon" is the authors' continual bashing of abstinence education. Throughout the book, they keep going on and on about the supposed "need" for so-called "comprehensive" sex ed that promotes the idea to children that "sex can bring pleasure, joy, and connection...and [teaches them] to say 'Yes!' in a loving and responsible way." (pg. 183). Yikes! What about all those parents who believe that the only responsible place for the joys of sexuality is within marriage? Pop culture does enough to undermine that message without schools also doing so.
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5: An important and helpful book
I would like to disagree with another reviewer who commented on So Sexy So
Soon's "shallow" concept (i.e. the strong influence of media on peoples'
lives), and criticized the authors for only citing examples about abnormal
teenagers and ignoring the "real problems of sexual violence and related
troubles." I'm not sure what book he was reading, but the authors' thorough
research, examples, and direct attention to real teens and widespread
problems are the reasons I would recommend this book to parents, teachers,
and counselors! Levin and Kilbourne's ideas are far from shallow and truly
important both to today's youth and adults, as well as to the state of
tomorrow's world.
As a 26-year-old woman who grew up in the "MTV generation," I witnessed some
of my best childhood friends turn into adults with real problems, at the
base of which was a lack of self-esteem and the ability to feel comfortable
being themselves outside of pop culture. Now as I work with youth in my job,
I see first-hand just how much younger sexual talk, dress, and activity
begins even than when I was a child. This is not an issue of nostalgia for
a more na??ve era, but truly a problem for the lives these children will grow
up to lead, for when children take sexual cues from media, unwanted
pregnancy, assault, drug use, poverty, disease, and depression can be the
eventual result (I've seen it myself!). While this is a bleak thought, I
found it very heartening to read Levin and Kilbourne's suggestions that will
give parents, teachers, and counselors ways to think about and address
today's impact of commercial pressures so that more positive ends are met.
I am very glad to see Levin and Kilbourne bring their expertise, research,
and advice to the challenges that today's parents and tweens/teens face.
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