
Sexy Inc.: Our Children Under Influence
Sophie Bissonnette's film asks why six-year-olds are being sold thongs and why toy aisles split so rigidly into pink and camouflage. Psychologists, teachers, and school nurses walk through the marketing that surrounds children from television to shop windows, pointing out how sexualized imagery once aimed at adults now targets pre-teens directly. Advertising executives and media literacy researchers explain the mechanics: how a bra ad for a ten-year-old or a music video's choreography teaches kids what their bodies are supposedly for before they have any other framework to judge it against. The film moves between classrooms, interviews, and examples of ad campaigns and toy packaging to show the pattern rather than just assert it. Parents and educators describe the anxiety and confusion they see in kids caught between childhood and a commercial culture pushing them toward adult sexuality early. The film's case is cumulative: no single ad is the problem, but the volume and consistency of the message is.