Virginal Innocence and Corporeal Sensuality: Reading meanings of childhood in contemporary fashion advertising

Abstract

Recently, the body of critical childhood studies has emphasized children’s active participation and competence in consumerism. Nevertheless, children’s participation has also aroused concerns about the loss of childhood and childhood innocence. Children are seen particularly vulnerable when it comes to children’s representations, especially fashion and fashion advertising. They are seen as one of the legitimate places where children’s sexualization is possible. This article analyzes samples from children’s contemporary high fashion advertising and shows, through the method of close-reading, the “visual grammar” of innocence and
sexuality. Although childhood is coded with innocence, children’s fashion advertising plays with ambiguity that centers on sexuality.