Porn-cultural Industries: female children and teenagers’ eroticisation

The communicative landscape is filled with representations of women filtered by a male gaze, in which space is given mainly to standardised female images, precisely sharing a central role in the body dimension. This paper examines the portrayal of women's bodies within cultural industries, foc...

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Main Author: Antonia Cava
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Salerno 2024-12-01
Series:Culture e Studi del Sociale
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cussoc.it/journal/article/view/352
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author Antonia Cava
author_facet Antonia Cava
author_sort Antonia Cava
collection DOAJ
description The communicative landscape is filled with representations of women filtered by a male gaze, in which space is given mainly to standardised female images, precisely sharing a central role in the body dimension. This paper examines the portrayal of women's bodies within cultural industries, focusing on the profound impact of these images on the socialization of gender and sexuality in young girls. It analyses how the hypersexualized media landscape, particularly images that are sexualizing children, affects self-perception and can contribute to serious social issues, including the proliferation of child pornography facilitated by digital technologies. The paper investigates the entrenchment of stereotypical gender images, leading to self-objectification and adult-like sexual self-presentation in female children, often pressuring them to meet restrictive beauty standards. Furthermore, the research underscores the limited scholarship – particularly within Italian contexts – on how media-driven sexualization connects to the sexual exploitation of minors. Emphasizing the urgency of counter-narratives, this paper advocates for balanced media representations that encourage positive gender and body image socialization, fostering spaces free from objectification for children and teenagers.
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spelling doaj-art-3c9c4dbdf9cd4d32887a54b187a338df2025-08-20T01:49:42ZengUniversity of SalernoCulture e Studi del Sociale2531-39752024-12-0192Porn-cultural Industries: female children and teenagers’ eroticisationAntonia Cava0University of Messina, Italy The communicative landscape is filled with representations of women filtered by a male gaze, in which space is given mainly to standardised female images, precisely sharing a central role in the body dimension. This paper examines the portrayal of women's bodies within cultural industries, focusing on the profound impact of these images on the socialization of gender and sexuality in young girls. It analyses how the hypersexualized media landscape, particularly images that are sexualizing children, affects self-perception and can contribute to serious social issues, including the proliferation of child pornography facilitated by digital technologies. The paper investigates the entrenchment of stereotypical gender images, leading to self-objectification and adult-like sexual self-presentation in female children, often pressuring them to meet restrictive beauty standards. Furthermore, the research underscores the limited scholarship – particularly within Italian contexts – on how media-driven sexualization connects to the sexual exploitation of minors. Emphasizing the urgency of counter-narratives, this paper advocates for balanced media representations that encourage positive gender and body image socialization, fostering spaces free from objectification for children and teenagers. https://www.cussoc.it/journal/article/view/352PornographyStereotypesMedia
spellingShingle Antonia Cava
Porn-cultural Industries: female children and teenagers’ eroticisation
Culture e Studi del Sociale
Pornography
Stereotypes
Media
title Porn-cultural Industries: female children and teenagers’ eroticisation
title_full Porn-cultural Industries: female children and teenagers’ eroticisation
title_fullStr Porn-cultural Industries: female children and teenagers’ eroticisation
title_full_unstemmed Porn-cultural Industries: female children and teenagers’ eroticisation
title_short Porn-cultural Industries: female children and teenagers’ eroticisation
title_sort porn cultural industries female children and teenagers eroticisation
topic Pornography
Stereotypes
Media
url https://www.cussoc.it/journal/article/view/352
work_keys_str_mv AT antoniacava pornculturalindustriesfemalechildrenandteenagerseroticisation