Research examines public concern in order to conceptualize the sexualization of children. Inductive content analysis was used to examine online public discourse in discussion forums, blogs, and comments posted to blogs around the sexualization of children. Discourse focused on sexualization as driven by media and corporate forces, but primarily parents, who are expected to control the visually-cued identity message constructed by the presentation of the girl's body in clothing, leisure pursuits, and images. Anxiety was related to people's reliance on visual signals as markers of childhood/adulthood, sexual availability, and social class, and was also revealed in protection narratives. Conceptualization was further informed by private vs. public gaze distinction, and a narrow range of prescribed, sexually objectifying consumer choices. Themes around economic, cultural, and gender structures of power are explored and future research is suggested.
