Review urges clampdown on children's exposure to sexualised imagery
Janaki Mahadevan
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Sexually explicit music videos, outdoor advertising and sexual content in family television programmes have all come under fire in a review into the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood.
Reg Bailey, chief executive of the Mothers' Union, who led the independent review, said parents are concerned by the increasingly sexualised culture surrounding their children.
The six-month review also calls on businesses and media to help end the drift towards the "sexualised wallpaper" that surrounds children.
Bailey has recommended that parents be provided with a single website to make it easier to complain about any programme, advert, product or service.
Age restrictions on music videos, covering up sexualised images on the front pages of magazines and newspapers and restricting outdoor adverts containing sexualised imagery where large numbers of children are likely to see them are also among the proposals.
Bailey said: "Society has become increasingly full of sexualised imagery. This has created a wallpaper to children’s lives. Parents feel there is no escape and no clear space where children can be children.
"I want to put the power back in parents’ hands so they can better manage the pressures on their children and make it easier for them to bring up their children the way they want."
Bailey urged retailers to sign up to the British Retail Consortium's new guidelines, which check and challenge the design, display and marketing of clothes, products and services for children.
He also said it was necessary to make it easier for parents to block adult and age-restricted material from the internet by giving every customer a choice at the point of purchase over whether they want adult content on their home internet, laptops or smart phones.
The review calls for a ban on the employment of children under 16 as brand ambassadors.
Children's minister Sarah Teather said: "It is not government's role to interfere in family life. But parents often tell me that they would like more support so that they can navigate the rapidly changing technological and commerical world. Reg's review shows the way for business and government to give them this support."
