Sexualization and Age Compression: A Content Analysis of Adultification and Youthification of Females in Magazines

• In Event: The Media, the Body, and the Self

Abstract

The present study explores the extent to which girls and women are sexualized in teen girls’, men’s, and women’s magazines. Specifically, the content analysis examines the issue of age compression: the "adultification" of girls and "youthification" of women, in which girls are "dressed up" to look like women, and women are "dressed down" to look like girls. Examining a total of 540 images, results showed that adultification of young girls is much more prevalent than youthification of adult women. Moreover, young female models who were adultified were more likely to be provocatively dressed and to exhibit a sexy facial expression; these results suggest that the adultification is utilized to cast young girls into objects of sexual desire. No statistically significant differences were found between magazine types. Results are discussed in light of objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) and the 2007 American Psychological Association Task Force Report on the Sexualization of Girls.

Authors

• Ashton Gerding Speno, University of Missouri

• Jennifer Stevens Aubrey, U of Arizona