The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do about It

by Meenakshi Gigi Durham

Book Overview

Pop culture--and the advertising that surrounds it--teaches young girls and boys five myths about sex and sexuality: Girls don't choose boys, boys choose girls--but only sexy girls; there's only one... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590200632
• ISBN13: 9781590200636
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 286 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

This Book Won't Help You Parent Your Little Girl(s)

This book was written by a feminist, her writing is repetitive and contradicting, as if she can't make up her own mind what is the best way to shield little girls from exploitation by media, etc. The authoress strongly asserts parents should protect their little girl from exploitation, then she stresses little girls should be left alone to explore their own sexual freedom, not repressed. The authoress blames all the problem of media, exploitation and sexualization on male patriarchs. So, are you saying that only males in our society are to blame? What about the women who run exploitation & sexualization vendus?

Critical feminist media theory as parenting manual

"The Lolita Effect" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Durham's book interview ran here as cover feature on December 5, 2008.

Are We Still Being Made to Pay for the Apple?

I just received this book in the mail, and could not put it down. After reading through it, I have come to wonder if all of the things we are seeing (porning of America, online and overseas predators who prey on young girls, rejection of the women's movement and resentment of women having careers, use of magazines as a guidebook for dating and relating to the opposite sex) today are unspoken and unwritten examples of further "punishment" of women for the old excuse of Eve and the apple. And if this is so, why should girls and young women be made to pay the price for just being as much human as their male counterparts? It shouldn't take Ophelia to tell you that something stinks in Denmark. The book made me think about my own childhood and adolescence, and some of those memories were not so rosy: I remember during an assembly at our high school, it was pointed out the boys made more complaints about girls sexually harassing them, and not the only way around. Okay, how come several years later, I still have angry memories of being sexually harassed by one popular boy, and having to storm up to the dean of boys at a baskeball game to tell him I had had enough and something had better be done?! The boy stopped after that, but the double standard still makes me angry to this day. I also remember a similar double standard in high school, where the dean of girls had told us to just "be careful" when an upcoming graduating class started becoming full of girls getting pregnant. Wouldn't it have been a better alternative to have a OB-GYN nurse come in to explain complications of teen pregnancy, or have a woman come in to discuss the difficulties she encountered as a teen mom? I don't think "be careful" worked back then, and it wouldn't stand a chance now! Over 20 years later, things just keep looking worse and worse girls and young women, and they just seem to be getting worse. Would it really be such a bad thing if for one a change, boys and men would have the guts to ask us what we want from them as boyfriends and husbands, instead of the other way around? That way, we can hold them accountable for the wrongs they do, and do not have to justify leaving them under any circumstances. Also, how can society stand by and allow advertisers and companies to advertise sex the same way cigarettes were peddled many years ago, and not expect a surge in STDs and unwanted pregnancies? In the same vein we are now seeing people dying of lung cancer and smoking related diseases, does this mean years to come, we have the right to sue the media because our daughter's didn't know they could become pregnant or get a disease by engaging in sex the same way their favorite television characters do? It will be an interesting day when shows like "The Hills" or "Gossip Girl" start each episode with a law-mandated Surgeon General's Warning simlar to what you can find on a pack of cigarettes... The only way we are going to fix the damage done to girls and women is to

Every mother must read this!

I recently came across this book and couldn't help but pick it up, being a mother of two teenage girls. Durham really approaches this topic with a fresh set of eyes, and discusses examples that we come across every day. This is a refreshingly smart look at what has (for me at least) been a really troubling issue. She talks about cultural trends without getting too academic and keeps it at a really relevant level. After reading this I feel much more comfortable discussing these things with my daughters. This is a must for anyone with young girls.

Important reading for all parents

I just finished this book, and have since recommended it to everyone I know with daughters. The author not only compellingly illuminates this "lolita" phenomenon, but takes it a step further by giving parents tips on handling this media barrage, and starting a dialogue with their children. There's not much we can do about what the media portrays as "sexy," but we can educate our kids and ourselves about it. I enjoyed the author's level-headed, intelligent, and proactive approach.