WIZO: 1/3 of teenage girls in Israel upload revealing photos of themselves

Survey released ahead of International Women's Day shows that nearly half of the girls view models and reality stars as role models.

By LIDAR GRAVÉ-LAZI
Girl taking selfie (photo credit: JPOST STAFF)
Girl taking selfie
(photo credit: JPOST STAFF)
Uploading revealing photos to social media is not just commonplace among celebrities and models.
Some 72.2 percent of girls said this practice exists in their schools and among their classmates, according to a report WIZO released on Wednesday.
A third of the youngsters said they had posted photos of themselves on social networks in revealing clothing or in a bathing suit.
Furthermore, 1 out of 7 girls experienced a “hurtful incident” where a photo of her was posted online without her consent.
The study, conducted as part of the Women’s International Zionist Organization’s annual campaign exposing the most sexist advertisements, and released ahead of International Women’s Day, aimed to examine the affect of media and digital advertising on teenage girls.
“The presence of sexual representations in the media, who improperly use female sexuality and women’s bodies both in advertising and also in reality shows, causes a distorted perception among youth,” said Gila Oshrat, chairwoman of WIZO Israel.
Nearly half of girls viewed models and reality stars as role models, and 92% said the sexual content in commercials, television shows and online influence the dress style and speech of youth today.
Furthermore, nearly 72% of girls said they had been exposed to pornographic content and 83.4% think there is too much sexual content and revealing dress on television and online.
“Today’s girls are the mothers and teachers of tomorrow, and understanding the place of women in society is critical to shaping our future society. Some of the survey findings are alarming and prove that there is a lot of work ahead of us in educating the young generation about gender equality and reducing gender disparities in all areas of life,” Oshrat said.
Panel4all conducted the survey through an online questionnaire between February 23 and March 2, and it included 250 female respondents aged 15 to18 with a 6.3 percentage point margin of error.