SEXISM and the sexualisation of young girls is an issue that gets largely overlooked by most people in the Britain. Society for centuries has been patriarchal and anyone who tends to oppose this idea gets labelled a ‘feminazi’, which is an insult to those who fight for equality. The problem is that several the Mainstream Media outlets still perpetrate this idea and often do more damage to gender equality than not, consciously and sub-consciously.
The Daily Mail ran a headline on Boxing Day titled, ‘Most beautiful girl in the world, Thylane Blondeau, 16, rocks laid back in Miami’.
Apart from the obvious sexual objectification objectification of the young girl, there is something more sinister about the story.
The sexual objectification of minors
If you consider the Florida state laws, they say, “A child under 16 years of age cannot consent to sexual activity, regardless of the age of the defendant. A child who is at least 16 years of age and less than 18 years of age cannot consent to sexual activity if the defendant is 24 years of age or older.”
Whilst the Daily Mail are not suggesting any sexual activity, they have presumably paid someone to take photos, who is likely to be an older man, of someone aged 16 with the express purpose of then running a story that sexualises a young girl.
But this pervasive use of language is the reason why people such as Harvey Weinstein and Jimmy Saville were able to do what they did for so long and ultimately get away with it.
This ‘story’ is firstly, a non-story at best and makes journalism look like a farce, secondly, it is sexist because it is completely sexualising a girl because ‘that’s all they are worth’ (which is completely absurd at best) and encourages sexism within society.
Lastly, the sexualisation with the corresponding state laws of Florida, indirectly encourages paedophilia and the exploitation of young girls within society. The use of the word ‘beautiful’ in the headline was a deflection from the fact that they are paying people to take photos of young girls with the express idea of sexualising them, to satisfy the perverse fantasies of The Daily Mail editors and readership.
I have contacted the Daily Mail for comment, have yet to hear back.
