sexualize

• sexualise (chiefly British)

From sexual +‎ -ize.

sexualize (third-person singular simple present sexualizes, present participle sexualizing, simple past and past participle sexualized)

1. (transitive) To render sexual, or apply sex appeal to an individual or concept.

   Children's beauty pageants sexualize childhood.

   • 1991, Steven Seidman, Romantic Longings page 121

     I have charted a change from a Victorian culture that spiritualized love to modern efforts to sexualize love. The latter contributed, more-over, to the development of a culture of eroticism.

2. (biology, transitive) To distinguish as belonging to separate sexes.

• desexualize

• sexualization