'I'm too sexy for my age!'

Eight-year-old Anouksha (name changed) was terrified of taking the school bus and threw a tantrum everyday till her dad agreed to drop her to school personally.
Unable to find an answer to her fears, her parents bulldozed her to reveal the truth ��� It turned out that a group of seniors in the bus indulged in a ���game��� where they asked each other to show their body parts, that made the girl uncomfortable.This is the case which sociologist Rashmi Jain stumbled upon while conducting a research on children in schools across Jaipur. A deeper probe into the situation led her to realise that an increasing number of teenagers in Jaipur are developing a propensity towards sexual acts and even indulging in the act itself even as they try to quench their curiosity about things sexual.
Says Jain, ���Oversexualisation (or the early and over exposure to sex) of children is a very disturbing phenomenon. It has disastrous consequences like emotional damage and unwanted pregnancy. Cases of teenage pregnancy have shot up . This is not limited to the metros...abortion clinics in small towns like Jaisalmer and Bikaner get pregnant teenagers as patients.���
And a recent research published by RAND, a non-profit research organisation brings to the fore the same issue that has been highlighted through Jain���s case study. The report says that teenagers who watch TV programmes full of sexual content have double chances of being involved in a pregnancy as compared to others who watch fewer shows. Kids have learnt about sex at a younger age but are not mentally mature to handle the information, say teachers and parents across the city. ���A young adolescent today sees so many sexually explicit images around him. There are sex laden shows that children love to watch. Film songs aired on TV leave nothing to the imagination, even laughter shows have double meaning dialogues... they all stir children to find out more,��� says teacher, Aradhana Singh. Children are also influenced by their friends and tow their lines out of the fear that they may not be accepted in the group, say experts. ���Parents must get rid of inhibitions and explain things to children before someone gives them wrong information,��� says Singh.
A private tutor shares another incident of oversexualisation of young students. Once she asked a class II student who her best friend was. What she got as an answer was disturbing. ���The girl confided that it���s a boy called Mayank in her class. She said he like her because she has pretty lips and a nice figure. I was completely taken aback,��� she says. Teens and tweens are also approaching psychiatrists with problems like broken relationship, not being appreciated by someone of the opposite sex etc which is quite alarming. Psychiatrist Samir Parikh observes that teenage pregnancy is just one part of the complex situation. There are emotional, psychological and social repercussion too. ���Oversexualisation leads to low self esteem, angst and broken relationships. Children are desensitised towards the activities they watch on TV. Their perception of reality is distorted.��� Talking about the action plan to handle the situation, he says, ���Media needs self censorship. Teachers, doctors and counsellors need to be sensitised on how to help children learn life skills and build up positive relationships.���