"Buying into sexy": preteen girls and consumer capitalism in the twenty-first century

We live in a hypersexualized society that infantilizes women and commodifies girls at the service of the capitalist system. In recent years, Quebec and other Western societies, have witnessed a rising concern about preadolescent girls showing signs of precocious sexualization. This issue, dismissed by some as a media moral panic and proof of girls' increased social power and agency, is taken very seriously by many others who worry about the impact it seems to be having on girls' well-being: unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), eating disorders, depression, self-harm, increased vulnerability to violence as well as a number of other negative health outcomes (APA, 2007). As the media continues to represent women as sexual objects they foster early sexualization, since they not only sell products and audiences but also an ideology that normalizes sexualized attitudes and behaviours (Agger, 2006). On the one hand, the 21st century North American corporate culture "seduces" girls with offerings of glitter, popularity and fame through sexualized popular cultural icons, via the media, operating at the service of and controlled by powerful economic interests; on the other hand, girls are blamed for letting themselves be lured into dressing and/or acting in oversexualized ways. Girls are caught in the crossfire between competing scripts : "Be sexy! Popular girls are" and "Good girls don't". I have named girls' attempts to conciliate and harmonize these competing scripts into a coherent whole: Cultural Script Theory