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Sexualized gender stereotypes affect girls’ academics

My newest research on the impact of sexualization of girls on their academics.

“Girls live in a culture in which they see sexualized images of women and girls everywhere – on magazine covers at the grocery store, on Instagram and YouTube, on billboards, in movies, television, and music videos. According to research, by elementary school, children begin to stereotype those highly popular images of sexy women and girls as high in status, but not very smart. For both children and adults, being sexy is highly valued, but is seemingly incompatible with being smart. By the time kids enter middle school, they often believe that girls should be valued primarily for their sexual appeal and that boys should be focused solely on girls as sexual objects….

For the complete blog describing this new research, click here.

Mario Lopez’s Views about Trans Kids are the Real Danger

When Mario Lopez did a radio interview and the issue of accepting kids’ gender identity came up, his comments went viral. Dr. Brown talks about the importance of accepting trans kids in this article for Fast Company.

Despite what soundbites make it into celebrity interviews, supporting children in their gender identity and expression will not lead to societal and psychological chaos. The real danger is in forcing kids into a rigid category that doesn’t fit with the child’s sense of self and in fostering a culture that says anything different than the stereotype is wrong or weird.

 

 

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