When teen star Miley Cyrus posed topless for Vanity Fair magazine, outrage resounded from commentators who believed such sexualised images were forcing young girls to grow up too soon.
But the early findings of a study done by lecturers at Canterbury and Victoria Universities has revealed a conflicting view.
Rather than wanting to be like Miley Cyrus, "tweenage" girls (those aged 11 to 13) found the magazine cover "yuk", "gross" and "uncool".
The study analysed the opinions of 71 girls using video diaries and focus groups.
One of the study's principal investigators, Dr Tiina Vares of Canterbury University's gender studies department, said the study was the first of its kind to take into account the views of the girls.
"Something that has generally been left out of the 'too sexy, too soon' debate is the voice of the girls themselves and how they make sense of and engage with popular culture. That's where our study comes in," Dr Vares told the University of Auckland News.
The study shows that contrary to the popular view that girls are passively soaking up sexualised messages in the media in a way that distorts their views on sexuality, "tween" girls are making informed decisions about sexualised popular culture.
Using Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus' decision to appear bare-shouldered and wrapped in a bed sheet on the cover of Vanity Fair in April 2008 as an example, Dr Vares said she believed the backlash from young fans showed that young girls were making informed decisions on the images they saw.
But at a conference in Sydney yesterday, the president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Professor Louise Newman, expressed a different view on the subject.
Dr Newman said exposure to children who appeared in provocative images was causing eating disorders and the need for children as young as 4 to feel "sexy".
She noted the sale of padded bras and pole-dancing kits for children as causes for concern among aspects of popular culture - including television, music videos, video games and advertising - which led to today's 10-year-olds becoming as sexualised as 17-year-olds were in the year 2000.
"It teaches girls to be sexual objects and boys to be sexually predatory, which is concerning."
Sexualised images of children were causing children to become sexually active earlier than they were ready, giving them abnormal eating behaviours and causing a lack of positive body image.
"Before they've got a wrinkle, they want to be botoxed."
She said children as young as pre-schoolers needed to be taught how to understand advertising and what it aimed to do.
Dr Newman is hoping to raise awareness of the issue and to find out what effect such images have before she finds funding to work out how to reduce its effect.
Media regulation and child education are among her ideas for preventing harm to children.
Source