Mark, thanks for the info about purity balls - positively chilling. The description makes me feel like I've walked into a bad movie where the father whose daughter has just been raped doesn't stop and see what she wants or needs, but charges off (accompanied by any other male relatives hanging about) with his shotgun over his shoulder. Anybody who thinks rape wasn't traditionally a property crime is kidding themselves.

I presume you didn't mean to suggest that the people who are expressing concern about the sexualisation of young girls through the media believe that those girls' sexuality belongs to their parents. The point is kind of that girls of the ages concerned wouldn't normally have *any* kind of sexuality, yet they are being done up in trappings normally associated with sex.

Could you please provide some references for writings on the sexualisation of girls that contain 'a style of argument and writing which combines over-generalisation with dire predictions of imminent doom'?

It will be interesting to see if the list includes any part of the Australia Institute's report on the issue.

Great article, Mark.

My concerns about the increasing sexualisation of society (not just children) is not so much the content, but its sheer weight, volume and pervasiveness in the public domain. Too much of anything automatically creates a Law of Diminishing Returns. Quite possibly, a self-regulation mechanism may kick in over time, rendering any form of official censorship or regulation unnecessary. At least, I hope so.

"There’s no doubt that there are legitimate issues concerning the sexualisation of children..."

Not children -- girls. No-one seems to be concerned abour boys' precocious development of their sexuality because, apparently, that is what boys are "meant" to do.

Great article Mark.

The authors attempts to demonize those who want what is best for their children is atrocious. I for one will be thrilled if my children choose the moral path of showing a little self control and waiting for their life long partner instead of using others for their own gratification as many if not most do today. The deniers who see this form of gratification as harmless will no doubt scoff at the idea of purity while remaining enslaved to their own lusts. I would rather the religous politics of purity than the secular humanist irreligous policies of lust and enslavement.

runner, how thrilled will you be for an offspring suffering through an STD or unplanned pregnancy (or an abortion done in secret) because they could not talk to parents about alternatives?

Be thrilled if your children choose for themselves a "moral" path but also remember that human nature and hormones have a way of overtaking the best of intentions (especially when those intentions are imposed from outside). Is there a way to say - "here are the risks of early sexual experimentation, I'd prefer you not to go there, my god would prefer you not to go there but if you do here is how to minimise the chances of turning it into something far bigger."

The line between preparing someone for a possibility and endorsing that possibility is not always easy but it's a line we must tread if we care for our kids. Encourage abstenance but make sure your kids know that they have support if thats not how their experience goes.

If a parent is to insistant on a particular sexual morality kids are left without the ability to talk to that parent when thats not how things turn out.

R0bert

" remember that human nature and hormones have a way of overtaking the best of intentions "
herein lies the mantra of modern life.

Personally, I was never presented with an alternative to just 'giving it up and hoping for the best'.
My earlier sexual experience spent in 'relationship' (prior to my actual, late marriage) was overall a 'lesson' in dead ends and wasted opportunities.
I really can't get a positive spin on it, apart from 'spending time'!
I would have appreciated, from my left-leaning family, a better understanding of the benefits of a firmer morality...and of the modern human male.
Sex - and to some extent women - remain a commodity in the eyes of the culturally attuned man, who clings to a teenagers' view of sexual life until just past the physical prime.
The social confusion surrounding marriage remains a key tool for men to delay commitment until the woman is experiencing actual physical/mental anguish in relation to children and her place in the world.
Human connection can be infinitely rich and deep...but by ignoring the most refined aspects of sexual expression culturally, we may well be providing our children with an existential perspective, where every step towards intimacy must be separately negotiated.
This is the opposite of community.