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Government launches inquiry over sexualised marketing to children

134 replies

CatherineHMumsnet · 06/12/2010 09:26

We're pleased to hear today's news about the government launching an independent inquiry into the sexualised marketing of products to children, particularly because of our Let Girls Be Girls campaign. Here's the story.

OP posts:
MrManager · 10/12/2010 23:49

Which bit do you think you didn't say?

looklauren · 11/12/2010 13:46

I never said that the virus could pass through a condom.. I'm talking about when they split.. 2 out of a 100 fail. I wouldn't take the chance if my partner had HIV.

If you want to look at stats regarding condoms, fine.. Show me some.. I'd like to see a situation where they're all they're cracked up to be.. They're being handed out free, left, right and centre but they don't solve the problem. Not to say that physically they can't - it's just that by doing that you're not dealing with the issue. In Uganda encouraging people to abstain and be faithful is what has greatly helped reduce the number of people suffering from HIV.

I stand by my comment regarding promiscuity, unfaithfulness and diseases.. We made progress and now we are regressing..

Going to leave it there.. I've expressed my opinions and I think I have defended them adequately enough. As I said I don't have the intention of trying to change your views, I am just giving a different one.

God bless..

MrManager · 11/12/2010 13:53

"consider how much smaller the HIV virus is compared to a sperm cell and then think about whether you would take the risk"

Sounds awfully like it.

Do you think condoms are less or more effective than the pull-out method?

Condoms have nothing to do with promiscuity, unfaithfulness or diseases. That's like saying that vaccinations cause people to go out and be more unhygienic.

MummyDarling · 11/12/2010 14:05

I've recently been working on a university project that involved making a one minute video to promote gender equality and empowerment. We decided to focus on all of the stuff that gets marketed at girls and young women, and in particular the whole pink culture thing.

When we were generating ideas for how we might put the video together we spent a long time looking at toys, clothes, accessories etc and this really brought home to us how much stuff there is out there quietly working away to reinforce some pretty dodgy stereotypes.

Personally I think that any initiative to encourage debate and reflection is a step in the right direction. It's too easy to become immune to it all through gradual desensitisation.

(PS if you're interested in our video search for 'Gendolene' on YouTube)

BadgersPaws · 13/12/2010 10:25

"I never said that the virus could pass through a condom.. I'm talking about when they split."

As MrManager has pointed out you said "consider how much smaller the HIV virus is compared to a sperm cell and then think about whether you would take the risk". Size would be an irrelevance if the condom split, so what was the point of that statement?

"By all means spread 'the knowledge' but are they getting the full knowledge? How many girls know the facts about HPV and that condoms and jabs don't fully protect them"

But that's the point, the RC Church doesn't want to spread the knowledge. It campaigns vigorously in a number of nations to either stop education classes from ever happening or to have them stopped where they do happen.

And then when there is no education and knowledge when Bishops say things like AIDS being able to pass through condoms people are just not informed enough to know that that is nonsense.

"Since contraception has become readily available, promiscuity, unfaithfulness and sexual diseases have become common place."

I'll also take issue with that statement and point back to the countless examples of thousands of years of history to back my view up.

However you're free to say things like that and that's fine as long as people like me are also free to share the truth and the facts.

I have no issue with you being able to tell people what ever you want. My problem begins when you, or any religious group, wants to be able to say whatever it likes and yet demands the door be slammed on the counter view point. That to me is not only damaging to people's health but also an admission that that viewpoint cannot survive exposure to the facts and informed examination.

When you have poorly educated people, who for example believe the statements on AIDS passing through condoms, being left to educate children and there being no education on contraception outside of the home then there will be trouble and people will die through ignorance.

And what does all of this have to do with the topic at hand?

Well my point was that this sort of debate and inquiry can easily end up hijacked by organisations who have their own agenda that goes far beyond what's being talked about and that therefore we need to be careful about where this goes.

looklauren · 15/12/2010 00:11

"Do you think condoms are less or more effective than the pull-out method?"

Depends on whether you're talking about each method as a form of contraception or to prevent the spread of disease.. It's a bit irrelevant. I am not dealing with the contraception issue here because the Catholic beliefs regarding that are spiritually based and it would be a huge tangent. I am talking about the physical implications when the teachings aren't followed.. Here is another example:

www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/an_ecological_blind_spot/?fbc_channel=1&fb_login&fname=opener&guid=0.4620698279856936&installed=1&session={%22session_key%22%3A%222.Jby_Ftsnk_dmRcypfbYRxw_.3600.1290520800-842380373%22%2C%22uid%22%3A842380373%2C%22expires%22%3A1290520800%2C%22secret%22%3A%22bifSNPJ3kuwVclrgQaDAEw__%22%2C%22sig%22%3A%223e8404d6728d571a0267ce9924b7d188%22

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-396612/Third-male-fish-rivers-changing-sex.html

"Condoms have nothing to do with promiscuity, unfaithfulness or diseases. That's like saying that vaccinations cause people to go out and be more unhygienic."

It's not really like saying that; people enjoy having sex but they don't generally enjoy getting unhygienic.

"But that's the point, the RC Church doesn't want to spread the knowledge. It campaigns vigorously in a number of nations to either stop education classes from ever happening or to have them stopped where they do happen.

And then when there is no education and knowledge when Bishops say things like AIDS being able to pass through condoms people are just not informed enough to know that that is nonsense."

That's a matter of opinion.. The Church teaches abstinence; the facts - the NHS do too if you look closely enough: You are only safe when you have sex with one person who has only ever had sex with you.

"I'll also take issue with that statement and point back to the countless examples of thousands of years of history to back my view up."

So you are both saying that despite that fact that society reached a point where it was not as immoral is it is now, it doesn't matter because further in the past and for longer, we were as immoral. Fine, but the fact is, that regression does coincide with the advent of contraception.

"I have no issue with you being able to tell people what ever you want. My problem begins when you, or any religious group, wants to be able to say whatever it likes and yet demands the door be slammed on the counter view point. That to me is not only damaging to people's health but also an admission that that viewpoint cannot survive exposure to the facts and informed examination.

When you have poorly educated people, who for example believe the statements on AIDS passing through condoms, being left to educate children and there being no education on contraception outside of the home then there will be trouble and people will die through ignorance."

You genuinely cannot argue with the definition of safe sex and you are letting down children if you tell them otherwise. That is where the real damage to people's health is being done. People are dying or being left infertile and the numbers are increasing.. I guess time will tell how successful contraception is. I know so many Catholic and Christian families who just don't have to deal with any of those problems because they followed a simple teaching.

"And what does all of this have to do with the topic at hand?

Well my point was that this sort of debate and inquiry can easily end up hijacked by organisations who have their own agenda that goes far beyond what's being talked about and that therefore we need to be careful about where this goes."

My first post just addressed the comment below.. I think that was the first hijacking of the sexualisation topic.

StuffingGoldBrass Mon 06-Dec-10 17:47:58

I'm with BadgerPaws: campaigns like this are very vulnerable to hijacking by awful people woman-hating arseholes, superstition-peddlers and pro-abstinence campaigners. NONE of whom are good influences on DC.
Sex is, don't forget, nice. It's not inherently something to flee from or be scared of.
I'm not wild about 'porn star' t-shirts for todlers myself, but opposition to such things (which are not, after all, bought by many people to actually dress DC in, except for the occasional wind-up) is attractive to the dysfunctional nuts who would rather see women covered from head to foot and all mention of sex prohibited.

We will never agree because we don't agree on the sanctity of life and that when couples come together they should always be open to life. I refer back to my previous posts and how I mentioned that to hand out contraception is just dealing with the symptoms and not the cause. I know you will come back with 'overpopulation' but have a look at this article:

www.lifeissues.net/writers/kas/kas_01overpopulation.html

The truth is that it is corruption and misuse of resources that cause poverty, not overpopulation.

BadgersPaws · 15/12/2010 09:38

"The Church teaches abstinence; the facts - the NHS do too if you look closely enough"

The NHS is prepared to pass on all the information.

The Church wants to only pass on its information and to deny anyone else the chance to educate about anything else.

Once again I say that I have no problem with educating people about abstinence, it's not me that only wishes a very specific sub set of health information to be taught to our young people.

"So you are both saying that despite that fact that society reached a point where it was not as immoral is it is now, it doesn't matter because further in the past and for longer, we were as immoral. Fine, but the fact is, that regression does coincide with the advent of contraception."

No, I am saying that the rise and fall of what you perceive to be "immorality" has happened throughout history and has happened regardless of the existence of contraception. And what you claim is no "fact" at all and that certain groups have to bounce it around as a "fact" to discredit contraception once again speaks volumes about the real confidence they hold in their views and their desperation to dismiss alternatives.

"You genuinely cannot argue with the definition of safe sex and you are letting down children if you tell them otherwise."

No you are letting down children by not giving them all the information. You are letting down children by denying them the facts. You are letting down children by leaving them open to blatant lies about the efficiency of condoms vs. AIDS.

Once again I think they should be taught everything and that includes the failure rates of contraceptives and STD Testing, I am not so insecure in my beliefs and untrusting of people that I want to deny them the facts.

"We will never agree because we don't agree on the sanctity of life and that when couples come together they should always be open to life."

We will never agree because while I'm happy for you to pass on your message and inform people of your opinions your Church seems to feel so insecure in its belief in those messages that it only wants to do that by silencing the educators and denying people information.

"I know you will come back with 'overpopulation' but have a look at this article:"

No I will come back with the argument that people should be able to make their own minds up once they are in full possession of the facts.

Highlander · 15/12/2010 13:41

the only reservation I have about the Tories being behind this is that a more right-wing influence may pervade primary sex education.

call me cynical, but I can see them making a quick jump from banning sexualisation of young girls to banning sex education in primary schools (all in the name of 'protecting' children).

I think the MN campaign needs to be handled very,very carefully

BadgersPaws · 15/12/2010 13:53

"call me cynical, but I can see them making a quick jump from banning sexualisation of young girls to banning sex education in primary schools (all in the name of 'protecting' children)."

That is exactly my fear.

We saw Conservative MP Claire Perry jump into bed with a very right wing Christian group regarding children accessing porn on the internet. The group's beliefs also turn out to include banning sex education, that homosexuality is a deviance and that Steven Seagal is an influential actor.

So while the goal my be understandable there are some very dodgy people with very dodgy agendas attaching themselves to further their own ends.

And MPs either seem to not have the sense to filter such people out or are so obsessed with boosting their own careers that they really don't care.

"I think the MN campaign needs to be handled very,very carefully"

And that is exactly my conclusion, my enemy's enemy is not always my friend.

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