I first learned of sexual innuendos in Disney when I was a mere teen in high school, which was ‘fitting’ but still obviously, shocking to learn. Had I been harmlessly watching these crude messages ignorantly, why was this and is it a major area of concern for the development of children and young people in general?
Examples -
(Huff spot with Disney animator, Tom Sito gain further insight where he allegedly broke it down) - thoughts on what he said? The majority of explanations are valid but there was a point about adult humour not being alien to some of the more older films, such as seen in the over sexualisation of Jessica Rabbit in Roger Rabbit, whereby it is allegedly ‘protocol’ for these choices and edits to eventually be pulled up and queried by the new age of film watchers.
Flagged by early viewers of ‘The Rescuers’ in 1997 is a further example where specifically, one of the scenes had featured a naked lady with her boobs out but then this was removed by editors by the time the series was converted into a film in 1999 to be displayed to the mass public.
-Was it just a thing of past edits? ‘Penis size joke in frozen’ ‘Naked lady on lion king poster spilling into recurring remakes’ - These concerning variations of reflective titles do not seem to suggest so.
-If you have teen/young adult characters in a kids movie, would it be less realistic if you didn’t have any kind of subtle reference to sexuality whatsoever? How can understand queer adaptations to characters without a somewhat basic knowledge of the ‘importance’ of innuendos?
I will consider these questions upon what I have compiled from research into psychological articles and texts. All information has been paraphrased with the main facts being pulled out in regards to the topic of the sexualisation of children. (Should you wish to obtain the links to the more detailed and properly cited texts that formulated the basis of this blog, please drop me a line via my email provided at the bottom of the homepage or via DM on my ‘all things ldx’ Instagram page, @ldxbootique, which you should also definitely follow )
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1st set of concerns: Was I wrong to not notice and should I, as an adult now, be concerned about what I was fixated on?
In a nutshell, there does appear to be an indication of gendered experiences skewing the ability for an individual to regard innuendos in Disney as being a major cause for concern from my perspective.
From reviewing literature, little reference made to the impact of sexualisation in online gaming on boys, illustrated by vague mentions of their supposed chosen ‘career’. This is starkly different to the experience of girls who are considered to essentially play with dolls all day and there is absolutely no reference to what specific online game they were/are engaging with, in the texts that I read on the matter in question.
Thus, in a nutshell, career and bodily-esteem pressure supposedly comes more from dolls/online games and social media as opposed to TV and film which may indicate that the impact of sexualisation on young girls may come from a neglected area of study that requires further investigation.
Whilst the research in question still aimed to mitigate for class by putting sufficient emphasis on it for the purpose of sampling 80, 8-9 girls via the lack of Free School Meals provided, the profoundness of access to such online gaming systems propagating stark gender ideals and ideas on work professions is still highly divided by the demographic of class. In other research studies, understandings of sexuality run counter to understandings of class from a crucial racial standpoint because it is based on the notions of ‘innocence and purity’.
However, despite how progressive this is, it can still be considered extremely rigid because perspectives are taken from adult discourses on the sexualisation of young children which supposedly diminishes the reality of their experiences in some cases. Resultingly, it is important that we look more closely at a larger number of specific childhood experiences of early sexualisation in answering the next set of provocative questions.
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2nd set of concerns: What benefit do sexual references in children’s series, films and movies serve if any? And, can it serve any benefit to understanding under-researchers areas of sexuality experienced from young ages?
There is undeniable a link between preadolescent early sexualisation and adult woman’s sexualisation - onus put on women and viewed as less than from both a ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ perspective.
Authors also do have significant concern for how understanding of race filters in to understanding of children who do not fit into the heteronormative sexuality category because the conclusions are gathered from research only into African societies (South Africa). However, it is clear that these research pieces commenting on demographic groups and the clear isolation from research into child sexuality are likely to advocate against the prevalence of sexualisation in child series, movies and films.
On a broader concern for culture, consideration of this feature in sexualisation comes from understanding how pornography travels transculturally, with a significant focus being put on the Brazilian media culture of the show, Xuxa and Japanese Manga comics, which could indeed suggest some development in broadening understandings of how the sexualisation of children can occur in a myriad of ways across the borders.
It is also important to consider the prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) and how it can both enable the further negative sexualisation of children and young adults and also hinder their progress in forming healthy sexual relationships in particular as a result of this sexualisation, some facts obtained from readings are listed below:
Considers very seriously that cases of child sexual abuse having been experienced lead to more risky sexual behaviours and further instances of sexual abuse as the victim ages
Draws attention to the fact that CSA can come in the form of unwarranted physical content or by the use of coercive methods such as viewing pornography and being asked to perform sexual favours
Important to note that 85% of CSA abusers are males between 30 and 40 years old and maximum age range for victims 6 - 12 years old with girls between 3x more likely to experience CSA
Some misunderstood causes and effects in this article consider abusers themselves having faced CSA and young female victims of CSA being more likely to have multiple partners which increases their risk of revictimisation
Also important to consider that victims of CSA may be suffer from disassociation tendencies which lead them to being less aware of sexual health and unable to distinguish fantastical sexual practices from those that are real
So, all in all, it is clear that adults have responsibilities to educate and protect the youth from negative sexualisation as well as the prevalence of negative stereotyping and low self-esteem that emerges out of a disregard for the impact of early exposure to sex and negative sexualisation. This is not a definitive list of suggestions, just a reflective blog that I hope you found informative and insightful.
Let us be the change that we wish to see and let us be the light in somebody’s gloomy day by coming together to have these difficult discussions and then going out into the world to advocate change, support and further conversation on these matters.
Thank you for reading
-From K xx
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