Thursday, February 23, 2012

Porn Culture and Children: CBC Documentary "Sex't Up Kids"

Tonight CBC television will feature a documentary called "Sex't Up" which looks at the growing sexualization of girl-children, the increase in young boy's access to hardcore pornography, and how it is all impacting young people's notions of sex and sexuality as well as their self-esteem, and self-worth.



One of the previews for the documentary summed it up pretty well. Featured was a mother and her daughter, watching of Katy Perry's "California Girls" music video. During the video, the mother said to her daughter, "how often do you see Bono humping cotton candy, half naked, in order to sell his music?"

I chuckled loudly, but realized how pathetically accurate this mother was. Why are women and girls taught that the only way they can get ahead in life or gain any respect is through performing sexuality - through appearing to be nothing more than a one-dimensional caricature of sexiness. Men can gain respect without gyrating, humping or taking their clothes off...

But I digress...

CBC's website provides some statistics from the film:

Pre-teen clothing market is worth an estimated 150 billion dollars a year.
A survey of 15 major pre-teen clothing sites found that 1/3 of apparel was considered 'sexualized'.
A recent survey showed that 22% of teenage girls report anal sex in the last 60 days.
It's estimated that 70-80% of teenage boys watch pornography.
Another survey showed that 1/3 of admits to sending a naked or near naked picture to their 'crush'

The documentary will be speaking to young children and teens about their own experiences navigating porn culture. So please, please check out this documentary tonight as it is airing on Doc Zone at 9 pm Eastern and Pacific time.




*** If you want to watch the film online, it is now available streaming here ***

8 comments:

  1. Wow, I haven't dropped by your blog in a while -- but this looks interesting. And I'm quite glad Gail Dines is going to be in it!

    And hmm, I wonder what the sexploitation apologists are gonna say... "But what if it's their choice?! It's empowering! Stop slut-shaming!"

    I even heard there are some people teaching 4-5 year old girls pole-dancing... ugh!

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  2. I'm not sure that I actually get CBC (no cable) but if I do, I'd like to check this out. Maybe they'll have it on their site.

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  3. They most likely will have it online after it airs on television -- CBC is great for that!

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  4. I do not have access to this program, how can I get a copy of this?

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  5. I will check tomorrow if it is up on the cbc website. It should be available, i would imagine anyway, on their website!

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  6. http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episode/sext-up-kids.html it is now streaming online :-)

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  7. Thanks for the link. This is such an important subject.

    I always enjoy your blog, BK. Hope you are well.

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  8. Hope you enjoy it, it's very eye-opening!

    Thank you for reading, it means a lot to me.

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