Campaign to stop retailers selling products that prematurely sexualise children - let us know what you think...

[JustineMumsnet]

So quite a few folk on the MN campaigns thread mentioned that an issue they'd like to see MN get involved in is the premature sexualisation of children.

So we've put together an outline for a potential campaign, along the lines of Let girls be girls, summarising the issues and some of the research. The aim is to encourage retailers to make a simple, public pledge that commits them to selling only products which do not sexualise children.

Please do have a read and let us know your thoughts, ideas, suggestions.

Thanks.
MNHQ

My daughter is grown up now but I do have a young grandaughter and I despair when I look at girls clothes in the 5-10 age range.

I wanted my daughter to enjoy being a little girl as long as possible,talking to her now I know she appreciates this.
I hate to see babies wearing things more suitable for an adult. Walking through Next and a few others the female clothes look very similar from birth to young adult.

Children do not need skimpy tops and hipster shorts or age inappropriate slogans.
Padded bikini tops I think is disgusting and says something rather bad about the designer and shop that looks at little girls and think this is appropriate.

Please let little girls be just that adult hood is long enough.

Glendam

I agree with many of the comments - girls of 7-10 are definitely little girls, not 'tweens', and mine still quite like the pretty dresses that are available in the younger age ranges. I struggle to find suitable stuff for my 7 year old girl. We were in M and S today, and there were some lovely dresses etc in the younger (up to 7) age group, but nothing suitable in her age group.
I noticed an awful lot of very unsuitable girls shoes around in the shops - no good for girls to use for riding bikes, playing in the park, climing trees, etc.
I mostly buy stuff for her in Next (she hates pink, and Next tend to have a good range of other colours). Someone earlier suggested more 'unisex' ranges - definitley a good idea - I often buy her clothes from the 'boy' half of H and M as they have nice bright colours. There were some lovely colours in the boy half of m and s today, but again they were in the younger age range, and we didn't like any of the older kids stuff.

I like 'let kids be kids'.... and may I say about time and nice one on the Primark recall!

After all the sexualisation of girls isn't just a gender issue (nor is it an anti-feminist choice one - as was suggested in the Guardian today)... it has an impact on how kids develop and perform out their gender roles - most problematically between one another. This is not to say that the little-miss who wears high heels, hearts Cheryl Cole, loves Bratz and make-up is on a one way street to WAGdom but it has some role in limiting the imagination.

It comes down to the parents who buy the stuff.
If no one bought it they wouldn't sell it.

I blame people like Jordon. She is scum, she should be put in a creat and shipped of to her own island where she can do what she wants. Why do tv bosses make her out to be some thing she is not? She is a ex porno star...Nothing else.

A shop should be able to sell what it likes.

It's the people who buy it who should be a shamed of them selves.

I totaly agree with 'let kids be kids' I think ther is far to much presure for them to 'grow up' these days. Thankfully my dd1 10yrs is a 'tomboy' and would much rather be running around in the garden/paddocks with her brothers climbing trees, building things, getting muddy and playing with the animals and is more comfy wearing things like jeans and polo tops even at partys she will opt for 'smart jeans' and a blouse or 'smart polo top' as aposed to a dress or one of the legging and 'reaveling'top combos ive seen some girls in her age she has got a few realy 'pretty' skirts and dresses for things like weddings but these are your classic type and not the 'grown up' ones ive seen latley. Her favourite place to shop is 'joules' for 'best stuff' and then places like 'scats' 'millets' and 'oswald bailey' for 'play clothes' when we go swimming dd like me will put 'boardies' over her costume as we have VERY long legs and dd hates people staring at them!(shes soooo much like me as a child its scary)!! I was pretty much a tomboy growing up. I lived in NZ spending most of the summer in boardies and rash top with a surfboard under my feet and the winters on gm and gfs farm in jeans and brothers hand me downs!! the other day we watched a program and saw a little girl simmilar age wearing a outfit. To which dd comented 'I wouldnt even look at somthing like let alone try it on' and was simply horrified when the girl proceded to show her make up colection!. Dd2 aged 4 is already showing a preffrence for 'tom boy' style but still likes her 'pretty' things also.

I have 2 DS's and while this sexualisation of girls does not affect them, I am 100% behind this campaign.

I have read some of the earlier comments where posters have said "Simply stop buying these items of clothing" but things are not always that easy.

Some parents cannot afford to shop at stores other than the likes of primark etc. I know there are times when finanaces are tight and the dc need clothes meaning I have to shop around for the cheapest and most acceptable clothes.

While I like skulls on a few of my clothes I am sick of the slogans available for DS's.

"blah blah blah I hear you I'm just not listening" to fit DS1

"T is for trouble" to fit DS2.

Children do need to remain children especially in todays climate.
We have the likes of Katie Price plastering her daughter in make up and now creating a make up range for little girls using her daughters face for advertising I fail fail to see the need.

I live in what is classed as a poor part of london and the outfits you see young girls in are astounding. Just last night I saw 2 little girls riding bikes one was wearing a neon rara skirt and a strappy vest the other was in what I would class as hotpants and a vest with the slogan "Boys love my ???", these girls were about 8-10 yrs old. It is sickening.

I was in Primark yesterday with DS's getting socks etc and DS1 who had been looking for a t-shirt to buy his only girl cousin for her birthday came over to me and stated "Nothing here mum they are far too grown up for her" he is 11, I had to agree with him. 100% gorgeous etc is not what I would want to buy for a child.

I do wonder what kind of mother puts her little girl in the kind of clothes mentioned. Round here it is common place to see mini skirts, make up and heels on very young girls. I can't count the number of times I have wanted to shake a mother and say "do you realise what your daughter looks like"

The worst thing i ever saw was a girl of around 10 in a string vest and short shorts walking along with her mother, the girl was applying lipstick and the mum said to her "What have I told you too much lipstick will make you look tacky" I literally stopped dead in my tracks - No the outfit she is wearing makes her look tacky.

We need a cheaper range of clothes for the growth spurt/ play stage but we also need them to be decent. We need to stop the bikinis being sold full stop not least because of the sun damage factor.

And MN need to get us mums to work together to make our own brand of clothes - let us show the world how its done!!!

I have rambled enough and shall shut up now.

My niece dresses in clothes too old for her and wears make up, at 11 she looked 16.
Guess what?
Loads of attention/hassle from older boys...she couldn't handle it. Something happened (my brother glosses over this bit) and she has now stopped her out of school activities, and no longer plays in the band she had been in for years.

A major issue about these clothes is how the girls in them, at these young ages can possibly emotionally cope with the male reactions/attentions they will get.

How many 11 year old girls could mentally/physically fight off an older boy who sees her as advertising herself as "available" which is what these clothes are doing...at least in some male eyes.

I'm so glad you have started this campaign and support it totally. I will keep an eye on who refuses to sign up (eg. Next) and will not visit them again.

I hate the colour coding and I hate the ugly violent boys clothing and the silly pink girls clothes. DD is 4 and DS is 2 and I find buying clothes for them can be quite a trial.
Can't write more now - both climbing on me!!!!!

I really suppport this campaign. I feel annoyed that marketing/expectation makes my 4 year old daughter prefer clothes that are less practical for her to be active, but the repulsive 'sexy' clothes for young girls are definitely the nastiest thing.

Are you just looking at clothes? My daughter got the most repulsive Disney Easter egg from a neighbour (it annoys me when people say 'just don't buy it'. How can I force her to give back presents from daft but well-meaning friends and family?)

The Tinkerbell fairy egg comes with a mug, featuring the fairly inoffensive Tinkerbell and her disturbing friends, Vampy and Porny. Both of them have poses and expressions which would be genuinely repulsive if a young girl tried to copy them. Vile.

I don't expect much from Disney, but I was shocked by this one.

As the mom of an eight year old who thankfully still prefers pretty dresses than some of the provocative trash in Next etc, this is an excellent campaign which I wholeheartedly support. That said I have struggled this year to find her a pretty bikini which I find puzzling. Is it considered BAD to do this now????

Great campaign. Have a 2 girls and my 4 year old is obsessed with being pretty. I am disturbed by this. I blame it on the disney princess nonsense which I initially blindly supported but now am beginning to regret. I wont play music tv and will not let her wear vest tops, short skirts, sloganned tops etc but I know we will likely be in the minority when she starts school. Will boycott next until they sign up. Have you seen some of the poses of their young models in their catelogue? Too adult for my liking.

Excellent idea, I wholly support the campaign.. as a mother of a 1 yr old girl I am dreading the pressure she will face all too soon to grow up and wear make up.

I do think the problem actually starts as babies - leaving the whole pink/blue issue (which has driven me mad) aside, baby jeans and trainers may not be sexualising them, but they are putting them into big people clothes from an early age.. planting the idea that it is OK to look like a grown up from the moment they recognise that they are wearing clothes.

Lumping all the kids clothing together is bound to cause problems; like someone has already pointed out, 7 and 13 year olds don't want the same thing, but they might well be almost with the same size depending on their build.

It isn't just clothing either, the TV programs that they are subjected to and the toys they get to play with all contribute so whilst it is a great place to start, there is no way it should stop there!

Excellent campaign! Thank you. It's high time to reclaim childhood and let children be children. Time to make childhood a time of innocence.

I dont think we need to go back to dressing all children the same. boys in short trousers etc liberty bodices for girls, bathing in a nightdress in case we corrupt ourselves. These were the things my parents had to put up with.
I do think bras for young girls is really not great and lets be honest not comfortable,heels are meant to do all sorts of bad things to young bones in the feet and pelvic areas or was that just a line my mother fed me? what next thongs?
It is soooo hard to say no the whole time and I have found long sessions of play acting and dressing up with loads of make up, face paints and trying on mummy and daddys clothes, which is healthy play I hope has curbed my three dd 4,6,8 from wanting to go out looking like tarts.
ok I swipe the red lippy at the door and search pockets and do up buttons etc I want my girls to have a childhood but with Hanna Montana and Barbie every where it is tough. More films like nanny McPhee I think, poo people and the like all vv childish and of course by a mum. Im vv happy that the mums are doing something to try and help.

lets not just stop with clothing, lets consign all of those deeply unpleasant BRATZ doll's to the bin as well.

100% behind this, i've noticed that girls clothes and accessories (which are usually designed or endorsed by a "celebrity mum") are totally unnecessary, why would a 3-4 year old need a pair of heeled shoes and matching handbag to an outfit? and pre-teen? whats all that about? what happened to little/young girls clothes? also i think boys clothes need an overhaul too, im fed up looking for clothes for my son and only finding him things that either make him look like hes off to boot camp, a tractor or train enthusiast, or declaring to the world that his "a cheeky monkey"!

Hello - quick newsflash:

Marks and Spencer have signed up, hip hip hooray!

And we've heard back from Primark at last; they're considering and will get back to us.

Nappy I'm working my way through yr list

I'd love to see proper childrens clothes in larger sizes. My daughter has just turned 9 years but she is VERY tall and skinny. I have to buy her age 11/12 year old clothes and when it comes to tights 12/13 years. Skirts are just a nightmare, if I get the waist to fit it its indecently short, and if I get the length correct- well that's indecent too it would fall down! I've already been told that her next school coat will be adult size and thus attract VAT, and 'coat' is a bit of a joke, it's a 3/4 length jacket on her. It's increasingly difficult to find childrens clothes suitable for a CHILD. I welcome the move away from the provacative type of childrens clothing but unless manufacturers also increase their sizes it will still be a problem for the likes of me as in the next year or 2 I'll definitely be shopping in the adult section for my daughter. As for shoes ....don't get me started!

Hi! Like LynetteScavo I recently saw a child in high heels, only this little girl was about 4 yrs., she could barely walk and her hips were thrown out of alignment. I dread to think what it was doing to her feet. This child's very smartly dressed mother was smiling and remarking how cute and sexy her child looked. We were waiting for older children to come out of school and everyone else was disgusted. It's parents like this who need sorting out.(angry)

Also, for those who asked about the reasons which Next and WhSmith gave us for not signing up, here's a brief resumé:

The final communication with WhSmith was over the phone, so I'm not going to quote them, but their fundamental point was that they didn't feel that they needed to sign up because there own marketing code (which they sent over but I've not yet looked at) was already tight enough to cover this issue.

Next said that although "we applaud your efforts to make age-appropriateness a primary concern throughout the childrenswear sector" and wholeheartedly supported the broad principles behind the campaign, they "cannot offer full endorsement of your campaign simply because the legal parameters (and therefore possible contraventions) of the Code of Practice appear open to a level of subjective interpretation that could compromise the Next brand."

Which I took to mean that they have a legal responsibility to their shareholders not to commit to something which can't be very precisely defined, in case it rebounded on them.

Nice one - I definitely support this as a mum of 2 DD's.

What do people think of the Baby K range in Mothercare...? Do you think these are inappropriate clothes or do you like them?

Hmm - well you could ask Next to stop selling clothes with adult shoes on them to the under-ones as a goodwill gesture...

This annoys me too. I'd rather see one that says "I love climbing trees" But that will never happen, of course

I've not read the whole thread, but fully support this campaign.

My daughter's not even 9m and already I've been shocked at the trashy clothes and sexualised slogans ("porn star in training" on a romper suit, anyone?) so many shops seem to stock. Can't wait till she's 9y...

Hats off to MN!

I have a 3yr old girl so have not reached this stage of frustration yet but the disgust is there.

Last week in a shopping centre I saw what looked like an intelligent, professional mother in her late 30s from the neck up. The mother had truly awful taste in clothes and had dressed her 3/4 yr old to match!!

Minging fur coat and high heel boots!! I was, and still am totally repulsed by that lady, the retailers and the designer (prob some stoopid souless gal with no kids, but who knows).

The Lady Evenstar suggests that MN set up their own line of clothing which is a great idea....can you put it on your to-do list please.
Can I place an order for " I love ABCs, 1 2 3`s & Doe Ray Me" along with Longtalljosie "I love climbing trees".

Hats off to MN!

I have a 3yr old girl so have not reached this stage of frustration yet but the disgust is there.

Last week in a shopping centre I saw what looked like an intelligent, professional mother in her late 30s from the neck up. The mother had truly awful taste in clothes and had dressed her 3/4 yr old to match!!

Minging fur coat and high heel boots!! I was, and still am totally repulsed by that lady, the retailers and the designer (prob some stoopid souless gal with no kids, but who knows).

The Lady Evenstar suggests that MN set up their own line of clothing which is a great idea....can you put it on your to-do list please.
Can I place an order for " I love ABCs, 1 2 3`s & Doe Ray Me" along with Longtalljosie "I love climbing trees".