Submission No 17 s exualisation of children and young people organisation

American Psychological Association 
The American Psychological Association’s (APA) definition is the most widely quoted. The APA 
identifies several aspects of sexualisation, which contradict the development of a healthy sexuality. 
They argue that sexualisation occurs when any one of the following four conditions is met: 

A person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behaviour to the 
exclusion of other characteristics; 

A person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly 
defined) with being ‘sexy’; 

A person is sexually objectified – that is made into a thing for others’ sexual use, 
rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and 
decision-making; 

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
Sexuality is inappropriately imposed on a person.
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These additional words by the APA are helpful to consider: 
...the fourth condition (the inappropriate imposition of sexuality) is especially relevant 
to children. Anyone (girls, boys, men, women) can be sexualized. But when children 
are imbued with adult sexuality, it is often imposed upon them rather than chosen by 
them. Self-motivated sexual exploration, on the other hand, is not sexualisation by our 
definition, nor is age-appropriate exposure to information about sexuality.
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Australia Institute 
Policy think tank The Australia Institute released two discussion papers in 2006, discussing the 
sexualisation of children in Australia. Sexualisation was defined in their first paper, “Corporate 
Paedophilia”, in the following terms: 
Broadly defined, sexualisation is the act of giving someone or something a sexual 
character. Childhood development includes a distinct sexual dimension prior to 
puberty, so the acknowledgement that children have a sexual dimension is not in itself 
of concern. However, the sexualisation of children documented in this paper captures 
the slowly developing sexuality of children and moulds it into stereotypical forms of 
adult sexuality. When we use the term ‘sexualisation’, it is this capturing and moulding 
process to which we refer.
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An important element in this definition is the notion that children are being an image of 
sexuality, modelled on adult sexual behaviour, before they are developmentally ready for it.