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Click on the link to view 'Sundays' feature story - Sexualisation of Children featuring Amanda Gordon, President of The Australian Psychological Society, Clive Hamilton, ex-Director of The Australia Institute, Catherine Lumby, Advertising Standards Board member and Julie Gale, Director of Kids Free 2b Kids.
You can also vote in the Channel 9 poll 'Do we need more stringent regulation on children's products & magazines?'

Also click on the link to view '60 minutes' segment - Little Women about the sexualisation of children featuring Danielle Miller, Founder of Enlighten Education, Dr Louise Newman, Professor of Psychiatry, Catherine Lumby, Advertising Standards Board member and Julie Gale, Director of Kids free 2b Kids.

 

Henson schmenson, take a look at Dolly.

Julie Gale Director of Kids Free 2B Kids writes:

Why is it that "artistic" images of a young girl have created such uproar, and yet s-xualised images of children in the advertising, media and clothing industries remain effectively unchallenged? Have we become so desensitised that we only respond to overt nakedness?

Bill Henson used his skills and experience to create photographs which are considered to have artistic merit. The corporate world utilises sophisticated techniques and big dollars to create their marketing and advertising images. They are very adept at manipulating us, and we have failed to recognise the impact on our children.

It is certainly easier to target an individual than take on a big corporation, and that's one of the reasons "they" have got away with too much for too long. We can demand accountability from Bill Henson the artist, the individual - but who is accountable in the ubiquitous corporate world where the notion of "individual" is lost?

• Who made the decision to put the song Ooh I am so s-xy, soft and smooth on a Barbie CD for little girls?
• Who decided that the "woman" in the Premature Ej-culation and Er-ction Problems billboard should look 14 years old?
• Who decided that playboy t-shirts were a good idea for Girlfriend magazine to give away?
• Who decided to put the wallpaper ads for mobile phones in Dolly magazine that read "I'm a good girl dressed in the body of a sl-t" and "Save a virgin do me instead"? These magazines are read by 9-13 year olds.
• Who decided that soft p-rnographic music video clips are acceptable for P and PG time slots where children have every right to be viewing?
• Who decided that a blowup doll titled "Granny I'd like to F-ck" is fine for kids to view in a chain store that markets to children, and is the ‘Official Home of the Beanie Kids' stuffed toys?
• Who decides that it's ok to flog push-up bras and skimpy undies for little girls?
• Who decides that it's acceptable to make young kids look way too grown up and adult-like in catalogues?

Interestingly, in the case of both the Henson exhibition and the corporate s-xualisation of children, many people engage in debates away from the core issue. This is not about moral panic, censorship, freedom of speech or artistic expression.

In the current social and global context where children are increasingly s-xualised in adult ways, the focus must be on the psychological health and wellbeing of the child. We must be guided by children's health professionals who work daily with children and understand the harmful impacts on their development. A body of research supports their concerns. These are independent witnesses whose testimony should be given greater weight than others, whose motives are questionable, entering the discussion.

The current senate inquiry into the s-xualisation of children is a good example. Without exception, the submissions from organisations and experts working with children have expressed major concerns about how children are being portrayed and what they are exposed to in the media environment. Others, with vested interest in the corporate and media worlds are defensive, protective of their product and seemingly ignore concerns expressed by the Australian Psychological Society.

The s-xualisation of children is linked to an increase in anxiety, depression, body image problems, eating disorders, self harm, and s-xually transmitted Infections. Statistics state that one in four girls and one in seven boys will experience some form of s-xual abuse by the time they reach 18 - and these are conservative figures. Child p-rnography is a major global concern and over 1.2 million children are trafficked every year, many for the s-x industry.

Given this social and global context, it is understandable that there is public outcry over the naked images of a young girl, whose ability to understand the ramifications of her actions may be limited.

Previously, silence has rendered us complicit in allowing the pernicious and insidious commodification of our children.

The terms moral panic, prude and wowser are losing traction. It's time to risk being labeled by academics and groups with vested interests. It's time to speak out and put children's wellbeing first.

W-rds altered by Crikey.

Julie Gale, Director of Kids Free 2B Kids recently travelled to Boston to present at the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood annual summit on the sexualisation of children.
Jean Kilbourne, author of the soon to be released book titled ‘So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualised Childhood and How Parents Can Protect Their Kids' said this:

"I thought I was way beyond being shocked by anything after my 30 years of research on media images -- but many of your images shocked me. It seems the situation in Australia might be even more dire than it is here in the U.S."

Many people will be aware of the current Senate Inquiry into the sexualisation of children.
Submissions have now been published and are available to view.
To read all submissions go to:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/eca_ctte/sexualisation_of_children/submissions/sublist.htm

The submissions from Kids Free 2B Kids are numbers 63 and 63a.

KF2BK hopes the Government will instigate decisive action, in line with growing research and the concerns of child development experts. This process may take many months and we will keep everyone updated.

Julie Gale has written an article published on  ABC Online Unleashed .

Unleashed  presents diverse and robust opinion about politics, society, beliefs and behaviour.

This morning the Herald Sun features a story on page 6 titled 'Just let the children Play'.

It features Dr Karen Brooks timely new book Consuming Innocence.

I believe that the intentions of  Kids Free 2B Kids were unclear in the article. These were the comments I originally provided to the Herald Sun:

"Australia is starting to wake up to the influences of popular culture…and many parents need guidance. Dealing with the bombardment of popular culture needs to be tackled on a number of fronts:
The Corporate world needs to take responsibility for what, and how it is marketing to kids.
Parents need to be responsible about what they are buying. We need to educate the Industry and parents about the impacts. We need to help teach our children to be media savvy. (some of the latest research shows that media literacy is failing our children to a large extent)
Parents have the raw end of the deal, because marketers treat our kids as commodities and employ very sophisticated and manipulative techniques to target them. They do not have our kid’s wellbeing at stake – parents do, so its parents who need to stand up and take back the control. We are swamped by popular culture, and unless you moved the family to a deserted island it would be very difficult to escape the impact – therefore, as parents we need to take a sensible approach.
Some things in moderation, and some things not at all! Dressing up as a 5 yr old and pretending to be Batman would hardly have a negative impact – watching the M-rated Batman movie would. Parents need to be responsible about what they buy their children. And they need to be more vocal about what their children are being exposed to.
As long as we stay silent, particularly about all the sexualized imagery in our kids environment, it will continue.
We (parents) definitely need to realise that we are the decision makers, and that we are the role-models for our children".
Julie Gale

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Young Media Australia is Australia's best source of up to date information about media and children. It is a fantastic resource for parents, and provides a Children and the Media - 'Know before you go' child-friendly movie review service.

YMA also provides a 'Let's Talk' helpline for parents. 1800 700 357

It is now one year since Kids Free 2B Kids was founded and we are very pleased to launch the new look website. This means that soon there will be regular updates and regular emails sent to the thousands of people who have registered their names in support of Kids Free 2BKids.

If you have seen any inappropriate imagery (advertising, billboards, magazines etc) or merchandise, we would appreciate knowing about it.

The campaign did have pro bono legal representation for a short period, but due to KF2BK challenging various corporations over the past year - the legal firm withdrew its support, citing ‘conflict of interest'.

We intend to display images on the website soon, and are still confirming legalities.

Unfortunately, the corporate world is slow to respond to the call for responsible advertising and merchandising. At this stage there are no clear leaders in the industry, who are willing to place our children's welfare ahead of the dollar.

Industry needs to be educated about the impact of premature sexualisation on our children and young teens.

Our children are experiencing increased anxiety, depression, body image problems, eating disorders, self harm, sexually transmitted infections, and they are becoming sexually active at younger and younger ages.

Raising community awareness is also challenging. Television, newspapers and radio will frequently not allow conversation, or images, about products being marketed to children, because they are deemed too inappropriate.

The irony, of course, is that if it is too inappropriate for appearing in the media - then it should not available for children.

Latest campaign news will be posted soon.