30% of girls clothing was found to be sexualized in some way. That is more than 1 in 5 clothing pieces
There is growing concern that girl's clothing is becoming more sexualized. We see it all over the place, shorts are shorter, shirts give the impression of budding breasts and sweat pants have words on the bottom drawing the eye downward; and that's just in the toddler section. Is the vast majority of clothing trending towards a more sexy and adult style? Or are we noticing it more because it seems off?
A group from Kenyon College conducted a study to determine what percentage of girl's clothing was truly sexualized. In their analysis of girl’s clothing they found strong evidence that almost 30% of all girls clothing had sexualized elements. They came to this conclusion after looking at 5,666 clothing items coded as childlike, definitely sexualizing, ambiguously sexualizing and adult like. Then they assessed whether the clothes in these groups revealed sexualized body parts, emphasized sexualized body parts, had characteristics associated with sexiness, and if they had sexy writing.While it is true that the sexualized clothing is easily available, roughly 70% of girls clothing from the study is not sexualized.
Another study states that sexualization stems from consumerism (Kehily 2012). The active purchasing of girl's and women's clothing contributes to furthering the process of objectification. Girls are socialized into a sexually objectified role through their use of clothing. Interestingly adult women view clothing as a way to garner self confidence, and use clothing to negotiate many different areas of life (Goodin 2011). Clothing is extremely important to the human experience, and can be an empowering thing.
A group from Kenyon College conducted a study to determine what percentage of girl's clothing was truly sexualized. In their analysis of girl’s clothing they found strong evidence that almost 30% of all girls clothing had sexualized elements. They came to this conclusion after looking at 5,666 clothing items coded as childlike, definitely sexualizing, ambiguously sexualizing and adult like. Then they assessed whether the clothes in these groups revealed sexualized body parts, emphasized sexualized body parts, had characteristics associated with sexiness, and if they had sexy writing.While it is true that the sexualized clothing is easily available, roughly 70% of girls clothing from the study is not sexualized.
Another study states that sexualization stems from consumerism (Kehily 2012). The active purchasing of girl's and women's clothing contributes to furthering the process of objectification. Girls are socialized into a sexually objectified role through their use of clothing. Interestingly adult women view clothing as a way to garner self confidence, and use clothing to negotiate many different areas of life (Goodin 2011). Clothing is extremely important to the human experience, and can be an empowering thing.