Posted: 02/22/07

Shocking News from the APA

It is official. In a just released study, the American Psychological Association has officially declared that the early sexualization of girls is a bad thing. CNN was so impressed with this news it did a special report on its newscast today, complete with an author and Ph.D. from an eminent university, who furrowed her brow in a scholarly fashion and announced that the APA study on the sexualization of young girls was ''disturbing'' news. Yes, the experts in white coats actually believe this is news.

Since the sexual revolution of the 1960's when the long hairs and bra-burners rocked the walls of the establishment and sent them crashing down, anyone who has attempted to raise a voice of common sense and concern about the moral decay in our culture has been howled down. Not surprisingly, the last 30 years have been a brisk slide into the abyss in our culture with the popular media greasing the skids. With greed as the driving motivator, those in the entertainment industry have discarded the last vestiges of decency and have offered America Sodom on steroids in movies, television and popular music. In a nation that has given its heart, mind and soul to supporting such entertainment, it is small wonder that little girls are no longer seen as worthy of protection. Those who have tried to fight the moral decay have been accused of being bluenose fundamentalists, bent on establishing a new Taliban. After all, sneer the trend setters, what are little girls supposed to wear anyway? Burqas?

When looking at the scandalous state of American girlhood, it isn't enough to blame the popular media. Who exactly is buying the t-shirts with morally degrading slogans for these little girls? Who is buying the televisions for children's bedrooms where the hoochie du jour sets the personal standards for 8-year-old girls? Who allows these children to watch the moral squalor on MTV anyway? The truth is, we have a colossal parent problem in this country and that is where this problem begins and ends. Children today are morally decadent because their parents are. We are several generations along in a nation that feeds without discrimination at the toxic media trough and the generational poisoning continues. There's a reason why a bleary-eyed Britney Spears, shaving her head in a public nervous breakdown, becomes a top story on news sites all over the country-right up there with news of car bombings in Iraq. A promiscuous, self-destructing, drug-addicted rock star who makes a public disgrace of herself is a role model for countless girls around the world. Britney is a cultural icon. Even in her pathetic state, she makes news because she has influence over millions of our daughters. Think about that for a moment and what it says about American parents.

It doesn't take a complicated psychological study or a doctorate from some ivy league university to figure out that early sexualization of girls is bad. As my grandmother used to say, some things just require common horse sense. Come to think of it, Grandma could have saved all these experts a whole lot of time and expense. But we aren't living in an age when common sense is in vogue and our nation's violated little girls are the worse for it.

By Ingrid Schlueter Email: vcyproducer@aol.com Click here for bio and archived articles