"You're Not Good Enough": Teaching Undergraduate Students about the Sexualization of Girls and Women

Sociologists have developed compelling pedagogical strategies to focus the undergraduate gaze on problems of gender and sexuality. Nested within the social construction of gender norms, the sexualization of girls and women negatively impacts individual, interpersonal, and societal levels of social interaction. Nevertheless, this important issue remains under-explored in the sociology of teaching and learning. This article reports on a pedagogical module that utilizes a multimedia presentation to define and illustrate the sexualization of girls and women. Lesson impacts were assessed through an online survey. Results indicate a critical gap between the social importance of this topic and educational exposure. Students unanimously recommended this module be taught in introductory sociology courses and offered specific examples of individual and interpersonal impacts. Our findings suggest an ongoing need to address the sexualization of girls and women inside, and outside, of the classroom.