Infantilization on the Rise

It really scares me how the idea of infantilization never really came to my full realization after looking at countless advertisements, until actually hearing the idea clearly laid out in a little-known documentary called Commercial Realism, shown to my gender and communications class last year.  It took hearing the concept of infantilization of women in media aloud to really be able to think of it in an organized manner.  That in itself is terrifying to me--that all these ideas shoved into my head are muddled together to the point I can't even begin to conceptualize...

Infantilization of women is the increasing trend in the media to portray women as sexualized young girls, and young girls as sexually mature women.  It is a complicated blurred line between the sexual maturation of a woman and the undeveloped sexuality of girls, no doubt founded on a subtly pedophilic desire.  If you are exposed to any advertising, you've seen this, whether you realize it or not.

One rather blatant example comes in the packaging of Bratz dolls--the fashion/shopping/glamour obsessed dolls that blew Barbie out of the water in sales, forcing them to change Barbie into a doll closer to Bratz (MyScene Barbies).

Bratz dolls

Steve Madden shoe advertisement

The striking resemblance of the freakishly disproportionate models in the Steve Madden advertisement to the Bratz dolls sold and marketed to little girls is unmistakeable.  It seems that companies are prepping young girls to be appearance obsessed, while sending them complicated mixed messages about sexuality--by nature, girls are sexually deviant, but also sexually appealing when feigning innocence--innocence now is not about sexual purity, but being an object of sexual desire and doing a good job at masking the effort.

Another example of the increasing trend to infantilize women in the media comes in today's ideal model type.  This type has a certain set of characteristics, aside from the obvious--wide, very light eyes (usually blue), very thin--a body type like a pre-pubescent girl, light skin, and most of the time naturally blonde.

Examples--

Jessica Stam, supermodel/high fashion model/Victoria's Secret underwear model:

Gemma Ward--supermodel/high fashion model (she's posed nude too):

Gosh this last one of Gemma Ward...It reminds me of another photograph...anyone else want to make a guess?

Ah yes, our beloved Miley Cyrus.

The Disney star our little girls love, sing along to.  We buy her clothing line, her cds, we watch her tv show.  We follow her like little lost puppies.  Oh yeah, and she's also been made into a doll, which we buy for our little girls to play with.  We can buy and consume Miley Cyrus in oh so many ways.

Then, of course, we have shows like Toddlers and Tiaras, where mere tots are coated in cosmetics and doused with hairspray to become like little dolls, thrown on stage, ready to be consumed.

More on media's infantilization of females:

Cato Journal

NY Times

Jean Kilbourne speech on infantilization/sexualization