Educational Media Reviews Online

This timely documentary explores the little-talked about impact of pop culture, which now more resembles porn culture, on children and young adults. Namely, how marketing and pop culture no longer recognizes nor respects the developmental needs of children and teens. Moreover, they openly contribute to the sexualization of little girls. Marketing companies have realized how seamlessly the “princess culture” of toddlers transitions into sex culture, as it all revolves around looks. It’s one short growth spurt from being the prettiest little girl to being the hottest little girl. Prepubescent girls are taught to look, act, and dance like porn stars. And the clothes marketed to them go from sassy, to suggestive, to outright sexy, with slogans proclaiming looks over brains. As the film explains, “little girls are strutting their ‘stuff,’ before they even HAVE any ‘stuff.’”

And as porn is the leading, most widely available sex educator for youth, once they have “stuff,” teens are using smart phones and social media to sexualize themselves. Consequently, when girl meets boy, it’s all about the boy...and keeping the boy sexually satisfied. Prepubescent boys having earlier, easier access to porn, frames the sexuality of girls and women as performance for men.

Sext Up Kids is unapologetic in its dissection of current pop culture and porn. Sure, under that pink dress Barbie’s naked proportions are humanly impossible, but the Monster High dolls wear thongs. Should a five year old be able to recognize a thong? This documentary, like all good gender studies classes, is designed to take the rose-colored glasses off and look at just what children are being exposed to. And since the porn culture isn’t going to go away, how can children and teens come through adolescence with their self-esteem intact?

Sext Up Kids interviews kids, teens, doctors, therapists, teachers, parents, and the authors of books such as Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality and Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture. The film is full of current pop culture images including Katy Perry, Jessica Simpson, popular TV and print ads, YouTube videos and reality TV, along with real-life examples to illustrate its point of how women are portrayed in pop culture and marketing. Like the film points out, “You don’t see Bono in a g-string, humping cotton candy to sell his music.”

The film can be viewed as a whole, or by section: Sexualized Children & Marketing, Puberty & Self-Esteem, One Way To Be Female, Acting Sexy For Boys, Teen Boys & Porn, Social Media, and Happily Ever After?. Sext Up Kids is meant to start a dialog among classmates, between parents and kids, and the world in general. It explores many topics, from toddlers playing with dolls, to sexting high schoolers, to gang rape and victim blaming. Each one of these topics could be its own documentary, but Sext Up Kids demonstrates how one issue contributes to another. Some of the footage is noticeably repetitive, which unfortunately gives the documentary a cheap feel for such a deep subject, but overall it is very well produced.

Highly recommended, Sext Up Kids tackles a social issue affecting everyone and that not enough people are talking about. Contains sexual imagery and language.