Psychologists Say Sexy Media Images Of Women Lowers Girls' Self-Esteem

A new report from the American Psychological Association concludes that the "Sexualization of Girls" is harmful to their mental health. The authors write that media images depicting women and girls only as sex objects contribute to eating disorders, low self-esteem, depression, and lower cognitive functioning.

The 72-page report cites images of "barely legal" women such as Brooke Shields in the Calvin Klein jeans ads, the half-naked girls in the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog, Christina Aguilera Skechers ads, and Paris Hilton hamburger commercials.

"Such images are so pervasive that all of us begin to think they are normal," said Deborah Toman, director of the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality at San Francisco State University and a member of the task force.

The task force found that images in all forms of media, including television, movies, magazines, music videos, video games, music lyrics, and the Internet portray women as sex objects. Even the depiction of women athletes is sexualized. The task force encourages adults to teach girls to understand the negative effects of these images and to offset them by positive examples of female strength and intelligence.

"The consequences of the sexualization of girls in media today are very real and are likely to be a negative influence on girls' healthy development," says Eileen L. Zurbriggen, PhD, chair of the APA Task Force. "We have ample evidence to conclude that sexualization has negative effects in a variety of domains, including cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, and healthy sexual development."

Read the study at the APA website.

What Is Copper Canyon Academy?

Some of our readers may be parents whose daughters attend Copper Canyon Academy, but because we intend to put up posts that will be helpful to all parents, you may just be someone who has a teen daughter and is looking for some insight into her behavior. For those visitors, here is a brief "About Us" so you understand our perspective on the Copper Canyon blog.

Copper Canyon Academy is a therapeutic boarding school for girls. We are very much like a traditional boarding school in terms of the environment. We have beautiful dormitories and a great campus. We pride ourselves on the academic progress teen girls make at Copper Canyon, as many of these girls were struggling in school previously. The school is located in Arizona and has both high school and middle school campuses.

We offer some unique therapeutic programs at Copper Canyon, including an equine / horse program. This type of therapy is known as equine-assisted or animal-assisted therapy. This program is particularly great for girls who do not respond well to "talk" therapy.

Soon we will be posting some of the great stories happening at Copper Canyon Academy, such as the fact our girls' basketball team took fourth in the state and one of our students was named to the all-state team!

We will also let you know about events the girls are participating in, such as their work with the U.S. Forest Service to maintain trails in the forest around our community.

Thank you for dropping by!

Copper Canyon Academy Blog

We are pleased to offer this as a place to find stories about Copper Canyon Academy as well as tips for parents and news that is relevant to anyone who works with teens.