Sexualization of girls is linked to common mental health problems in girls and young women—eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression; an APA Task Force Reports today. Psychologists call for replacing sexualized images of girls in the media and advertising with positive ones.

What did the APA Task Force study? They studied published research on the content and effects of television, music videos, music lyrics, magazines, movies, video games and the Internet. They also examined recent advertising campaigns and merchandising of products aimed toward girls.

What can be done? Schools, the APA says, should teach media literacy skills to all students and should include information on the negative effects of the sexualization of girls in media literacy and sex education programs.

Were anti-porn feminists right? Porn really is bad for society?

Here’s the APA press release for the study: http://www.apa.org/releases/sexualization.html
Here’s an AP article about the APA study as well called “Web, Reality TV Help Make Porn Pervasive”: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/THE_PORN_EFFECT?SITE=VTBUR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

The AP article points out the old double standard is still in play: Julie Albright, a sociologist at the University of Southern California, has found in her research that “men are ‘players’ if they have multiple partners, but as Michael Simon, a therapist and high school counselor says, girls “end up getting pegged as ‘sl*ts.’”