Sharon Cooper, M.D., FAAP, will present "Too Sexy, Too Young, Too Soon" Thursday, April 23, at 5:45 p.m. at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum in downtown Fayetteville.

This free program will provide information for parents, educators, and other caregivers on society's characterization of girls as sexual objects and what can be done to prevent it.

Beginning at an early age, girls are bombarded with messages from movies, TV, music, advertisements, video games and the Internet telling them that they need to be thin, sexy and objects of desire. The sexualization of girls has long-term negative effects on their self-esteem, academic achievement, physical and mental health, attitudes and beliefs. It is detrimental to boys as well by encouraging inappropriate attitudes and behavior.

Cooper's presentation will provide strategies that parents, school personnel and all adults who work with youth can implement to protect children from these damaging messages.

Cooper is an internationally renowned expert on child maltreatment. She is the CEO of Developmental and Forensic Pediatrics, Pennsylvania. She works regularly with numerous national and international investigative agencies on Internet Crimes Against Children cases.

Cooper spent 21 years in the Armed Forces, retiring as a colonel. She holds faculty positions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. For the past several years, Cooper has served as a consultant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and recently joined the training team for the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Cooper has lectured both nationally and internationally in more than 300 conferences for the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Interpol among others. She is the lead author of the first comprehensive textbook on the medical, legal, and social science aspects of child sexual exploitation and Internet crimes against children.

Cooper's presentation is provided by the Child Advocacy Center and is sponsored by a grant from the Junior League of Fayetteville as a Child Abuse Prevention Month public service.

To register or for more information, visit www.childadvocacycenter.com or call (910) 486-9700.