Games play a part in sexualising young audiences – report

Videogame consoles should be sold with parental controls switched on in an effort to curb exposure to the sexualisation of young people and violent content, according to a new report published today by the Home Office.

The Sexualisation of Young People Review, by Dr Linda Papadopoulos, was commissioned last year by Jacqui Smith, the then home secretary, as part of the Home Office's plans to address violence against women and girls.

The report looked at videogames, music videos, social networks, magazines and other media, and suggested that as well as tighter restrictions to access content, corporations and the reporting media have a duty to act responsibly to reduce young people's exposure to sexual and violent media.

"Many games feature highly sexualised content and there is a notable lack of strong female characters," wrote Papadopoulos. "In a recent content analysis, 83 per cent of male characters were portrayed as aggressive, while 60 per cent of female characters were portrayed in a sexualised way and 39 per cent were scantily clad. The equivalent figures for male characters were 1 per cent and 8 per cent respectively."

"Violence against women is often trivialised," noted the report, pointing to controversial title Rape-Lay, in which players stalk and rape a mother and her two daughters.

"There has also been a marked increase in the number of games depicting various forms of sexual abuse. Many popular videogames effectively reward children for engaging in violent, illegal activity, albeit virtually."

"With advances in technology, games are becoming increasingly graphic and realistic. At the same time, children are more and more likely to play games without adult supervision: three-quarters of 12–15-year-olds have a games console in their bedroom," said the report.

Research for the report highlighted that while parents would restrict minors from watching adult-rated films, they were more lenient when it came to 18-rated games, partly due to a lack of understand of the content and technology.

"The potential negative effects are compounded by the fact that so many children are playing these games alone," stated Papadopoulos, who pointed to research from the Byron Review and Ofcom that said children are more susceptible to violence in games than other media.

"The link between violent content and aggression has been cited in several studies and although it is overly simplistic to make a direct link between cause and effect, Byron concluded it is widely accepted that exposure to content that children are either emotionally or cognitively not mature enough for can have a potentially negative impact."

"This is backed up by children themselves: in a recent Ofcom survey, two-thirds of 12–15-year-olds said they believed that violence in games had more of an impact on behaviour than violence on TV or in films. Several studies in the past have suggested that violent content can impact behaviour increasing aggression in children and young people. The same learning processes that underlie these effects are also likely to work with sexualised content affecting sex-role beliefs, emotions and behaviour."

One of the key recommendations of the report is that games consoles should be sold with parental settings on as default. "Purchasers can then choose to unlock the console if they wish to allow access to adult and online content. This idea should be extended to ‘child friendly’ computers and mobile phones," added the report.

"Businesses and the media have a part to play, too," it continued. "To take just one example, how many people must have been involved in the development of the game Rape-Lay? How many people either pretended not to notice its content, or pretended that it didn’t matter? That game is now no longer available through Amazon.com’s online marketplace, and there are many other examples of age inappropriate games and clothing being put on sale and subsequently withdrawn."

Other recommendations by the report include launching an online website to allow the public to voice concerns regarding irresponsible marketing which sexualises children, and encouraging the government to support the Advertising Standards Agency to take steps to extend regulatory standards to include commercial websites.

"Changing attitudes will take time but it is essential if we are going to stop violence against women and girls," commented Home Secretary Alan Johnson.

Papadopoulos said that she understood the issues raised by the report are emotive and the evidence in the document was based on empirical data from peer reviewed journals, and evidence from professionals and clinicians.

“Behind the social commentary and the headlines about inappropriate clothing and games for children, there are the real statistics, on teenage partner violence, sexual bullying and abuse that need to be acknowledged and addressed.”

"I believe that providing our kids with a set of realistic, non-exploitative representations of gender and sexuality would go a long way towards ensuring their healthy emotional – and sexual – development and promoting gender equality."