Dr Joe Tucci raised a very interesting question recently in his article; Dad, how do you make sex last longer?

What kind of affect is sexualised advertising having on young children? Is it indeed shaping their understanding and acceptance of what the grown-ups world is all about?

Dr Joe Tucci is no stranger to dealing with children who have been sexually abused or neglected. He is a Right to Childhood speaker and CEO of the Australian Childhood Foundation. This national not-for-profit organisation provides specialist trauma counselling to children.

The article, which came out of an innocent question spontaneously asked by his young son “Dad, how do you make sex last longer?” what sparked the question? – a very large billboard on the side of the road advertising a male impotency clinic.

Although most adverts are aimed at adults, they are also in plain view for all ages. Adverts ranging from clothing to toothpaste rely on sex to grab the attention. All too often young people are soaking up the images and messages without fully understanding them. The consequences of which can be very damaging.

Many of the everyday things a child comes into contact with has an under laying sexual innuendo from the Playboy pencil cases to the blatant slogans on T Shirts. Their whole world has been invaded by “hot” role models from singers to Barbie. Music video programs are a mine field filled with sexualised images and provocative lyrics.

They are becoming confused and anxious about what is expected of them and about what is acceptable and welcomed behaviour.

Just to make is very clear Joe described some of the cases that have come through the Australian Childhood Foundation, “In our counselling services, we are referred more and more children who have engaged in problem sexual behaviour. These are children who have hurt other children with sex. They masturbate in public. They penetrate other children with their fingers and objects. They try to kiss children on their genitalia.

The majority of children receiving counselling only engage in this kind of behaviour when they have been sexually abused or traumatised in some way. For a smaller proportion of them, the problem sexual behaviour comes from the sexual messages that they see, hear and experience around them and cannot understand.”

So what can be done?

He suggests awareness is a good starting point. There is a saying ‘fore warned is fore armed’. If parents are aware of the daily assault their children are being subjected to, then they can begin to combat it.

If you are interested in finding out ways to protect your children there are now many forums, grassroots organisations and support groups that are trying to turn the tide on the deluge of sexualised images that are out there. They include Collective Shout, Melinda Tankard Reist, Generation Next, Kids Free 2B Kids, The Right to Childhood…. to name but a few.

There has been research in abundance supporting the view that premature exposure to sexualised imagery for children is detrimental to a child’s wellbeing and development.

Mr Tucci feels that “Childhood is under attack by the adult world. And parents have been left out in the cold without the knowledge or the confidence to know what to do. They cannot really shield their children from these messages. They are everywhere.”

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: Joe Tucci: “Dad how do you make sex last longer?”