Washington - Inescapable media images of sexed-up girls and women posing as adolescents can cause psychological and even physical harm to adolescents and young women, a study in the United States has warned.
The pressure of what experts call "sexualisation" can lead to depression, eating disorders, and poor academic performance, said the report, released Sunday by the American Psychological Association.
"Sexualisation of girls is a broad and increasing problem and is harmful to girls," it concluded.
Adult women dressed as school girls in music videos, bikini-clad dolls in hot tubs, and sexually-charged advertisements featuring teenagers were among the many examples cited.
Such omnipresent images - on television and the Internet, in movies and magazines - can also have a negative effect on a young girl's sexual development, the study cautioned.
Based on a comprehensive review of academic literature, the 66-page report noted that young adolescents and girls were particularly at risk "because their sense of self is still being formed."
The study, which includes numerous recommendations for concerned parents, coincides with a growing wave of public concern about the impact of highly sexed imagery.
The fashion world has been in turmoil since public authorities in Madrid banned under-weight and under-age models from catwalks in 2006.
The Italian government and two top fashion associations followed suit, signing a code of ethics in December after top Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died of heart failure weighing only 40 kilograms.
In France, Health Minister Xavier Bertrand, concerned about the rise of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, recently asked a panel of experts to create a similar voluntary code for advertisers and clothing designers on how the female body should be portrayed.
Sunday's study said sexualisation occurs when "a person's value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behaviour," when sexuality is inappropriately imposed, or when a person is sexually "objectified".
Looking at popular music videos, the authors quoted songs by the Pussycat Dolls ("Don'tcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?"), Kid Rock ("So blow me bitch I don't rock for cancer, I rock for the cash and the topless dancers"), and 50 Cents ("I tell the hos (whores) all the time, Bitch get in my car").
The report said that "sexualisation of women is particularly prominent in advertising," and singled out beer commercials as a major offender.
Also cited was a Skechers shoe ad that features pop singer Christina Aguilera dressed as a school girl in pitgails, with her shirt unbuttoned while licking a lollipop.
It also examined changes in toys, especially dolls targeting young girls between the age of four and eight.
The popular Bratz dolls depict "girls marketed in bikinis, sitting in a hot tub, mixing drinks, and standing around, while the 'Boyz' play guitar and stand with their surf boards," it said. The dolls come dressed in miniskirts, fishnet stockings, and feather boas.
The report called on parents to take a more active roll in helping to shape the sexual self-image of their children, and to exert consumer pressure on manufacturers and advertisers.
In the United States, the sexualisation of young girls became an issue of public debate after the 1999 murder of JonBenet Ramsey, a six-year old beauty pageant contestant who put on make up and adult clothes. - Sapa-AFP