Looking round the DCs' teen friends' pictures on Facebook (so many leave them open to friends of friends) I'm really saddened by the way so many of the girls pose in quite sexual ways. It's so sad and I suppose inevitable when they've grown up surrounded by images in the media and from the music business of women as sexual objects (and it's going that way too with men I suppose, Beckham underwear pics for instance).
I look back at pictures of myself and friends at that age. Sure we wanted to look pretty and attractive but we were never posing with tits thrusted forward, bums stuck out, pouting etc. I guess a few tried the Marilyn Monroe pose but always fully clothed, not in skimpy shorts and crop tops.
I try to explain to them about exploitation. I tell the girls not to think Prince Charming is looking at these pics, that can so easily travel around the web, to look at an ugly old bloke in the street and think he might be getting excited over their pics.
Anyway, the pictures are just the surface of course. I'm wondering if anyone can recommend any good reading for mid teens about how we got to where we are and let them think about what it means to be part of a generation exploited by those who would market anything that is harmful to them with no care for them (be it an alcopop or a pop star in semi-porno poses)?