The Sport Newspaper Should be Above Kids Eye Level

[webwahm]

I've posted about this before when we had a giant topless woman on Election Day, and eventually let it go...not wanting to be branded a prude.

BUT, once again we've just called into the shop and my 8 year old shrieks 'oh my God that's gross'...

The Sport, woman bent over, arse in the air and to my ASTONISHMENT vaginal lips on show!

I stayed calm and asked DD1 why this was gross..."why take pictures that are rude, what if children come in and see people's privates".

I'm not against porn, but I am against kids seeing inappropriate stuff - and some of the images on The Sport front page are just far too much to be on the bottom at kids level (both our local shops have them on the bottom shelf). They are supposed to cover the pics up but as the day goes on they get messed up etc.

Angry.

[GillianLovesMarmite]

I'm in support of this. I'm not against my child (or myself) seeing adults naked in an appropriate context, but the context of this is NOT what I would want to be promoting to my child/children as it is demeaning and exploitative. I think anything with female nudity of this type should be above child view.

[redhappy]

I posted about this recently in AIBU

"just a bit miffed to see the Co-Op is the only large supermarket to stock The Sport since I shop there for their ethical stance" is exactly how I feel too. Had considered a boycott, but even if lots of us did it, felt too indirect.

Everytime I go in now I look to see the Sport. I don't make a special trip, so I don;t see everyday's. If I feel it is exceptionally graphic/explicit I complain in the store.

I have had a queue of people behind me start shuffling their feet and getting embarassed because they heard me say " I don't want my 3 year old son to see the naked girls pretending to have sex" (but they don't mind seeing those images

Otherwise, I turn over the top copy of the stack of papers, so it really is the sports news showing! It still had a header so the name of the newspaper can be seen.

I suspect that most people who buy the sport do so because the images of naked woman have caught their eye. Therefore when those images are hidden sales will go down. Having worked in retail myself, I know it is only a matter of time before the store manager starts to look into why sales for that product are down.

[Tortoise]

I support this campaign too.

[Marjee]

Count me in. This picture is disgusting, knickers or not I don't want my son seeing it.

[cosysocks]

Count me in... I turned all the sports around in WH Smiths at a service station as I didn't want me 4 year old seeing to girls semi naked. I am no prude either...just think very inappropriate.

[webwahm]

I have no problem with nudity either, and try not to make it an issue with the kids...so stuff like this just pisses me off because it undermines it all - having to answer questions about 'why is she doing that', 'why take pictures like that', 'why do girls show their boobies' etc. is not the way I want to educate my kids about the body/sex/relationships

[MoonFaceMama]

Not ok.

[VictoriasLittleKnownSecret]

I have mailed their customer services. I think everyone should - it gives them work

I will also boycott their stores until they retract these papers.

Quite happy to defect to the tesco superstore

[webwahm]

Has anyone heard back from The Cooperative about this? They're taking ages

[webwahm]

Just found out that the chain of 'One Stop Convenience' stores are part of Tesco - and they stock the Sport on the bottom shelf as part of a 'plan-o-gram' i.e. the shop has to put the papers where Tesco says they have to put them.

So Tesco themselves do not stock The Sport (which makes you think they are doing it on family friendly grounds) but their off-spin shops ARE selling it AND they tell them to put it on the bottom???

When I told the manager that he should be putting it out of kids' view according to voluntary guidelines, and that theoretically he could be reported to Trading Standards, he said he did what Tesco told him and couldn't move it unless they allow it.

Interesting, especially since these are 'local' shops and potentially on display to more kids going for sweets and stuff, rather than the family shop in a big supermarket.

[webwahm]

Just an update - heard back from my MP today:

"I agree that children and indeed any other customers in shops selling newspapers and magazines should not be confronted with such images and that every effort should be taken to protect people from inappropriate images"

She is 'pursuing' the issue and has written to the Dept for Culture, Media and Sport and will be back in touch

[AmyK1]

Thanks everyone for your interest and support in this. Just wanted to let you all know that we've launched a new complaints service that you can use online, to report complaints to us whether you've had a satisfactory response or not. We can even contact the retailer for you if you find it difficult:

www.thefrontpagecampaign.org.uk/Complaints.aspx

Also the more people we can get to sign up to the Front Page Campaign site, the more power the campaign will have. Do people think we should start a petition? We have a management meeting in October which is a kind of "where do we go from here" meeting, and it may be time to gather the public voice on the issue. It gives everyone and easy way to get involved too.

[AmyK1]

Sorry that link had a space in it. Try this!

www.thefrontpagecampaign.org.uk/Complaints.aspx

[tabouleh]

AmyK1 - I have started a thread in our feminist section so that you get more traffic/publiciy.

Would you like to pop over to that thread and tell us about your organisation and campaign?

I know we have talked about this issue on the feminist section - particularly wrt to the sexualisation of young people.

Have you read the Linda Papodopulous report?

<a class="break-all" href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100418065544/www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/Sexualisation-of-young-people.html" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">Link here.

[tabouleh]

Sorry link to thread in feminist section is here.

[megfleet]

I work for the only campaign/charity that is actively fighting to get lads mags age restricted and out of sight from children. Go to our website www.thefrontpagecampaign.org.uk we would really appreciate being featured on here. We come from a childs point of view, and have alot of political backing.
Please also sign our petition which can be found on the website. Visit our facebook group: front page campaign

We'd love to hear your comments :-)
Thanks

P.S We can send letters to shops on your behalf, and we can also give you all the info you need on what laws there is on the issue.

[sophis]

i agree. i was at my local garage recently and saw a woman in a thong bending over backwards on the front cover of the sport and the newspaper was on shelving so low it was practically the floor. it was the worst thing i've ever seen on the front cover of something, worst that chests exposed i think

[sophis]

another fb group- bring back the watershed, protect children from inappropriate material

www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=127951171932

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

sophis, in your haste to resurrect old threads, you have plainly missed the fact that The Sport went into liquidation a few weeks ago.

[sophis]

im not trying to resurrect old threads, just commenting on the ones i feel strongly about. i have seen nothing about it going into liquidation but will look into it. you could have just said that instead of being a bitch. anyone who is rude to me will get rudeness back. i will look into it and am happy to hear of that if true. great. shame no1 put that up anywhere!!!! was only a few weeks ago i last saw it displayed in shops.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

It closed a few weeks ago; today's update is that the Sunday Sport has been resurrected yet again by David Sullivan. The liquidation was mentioned in the feminist threads at the time.

I wasn't being a bitch, but hey, if you want to hand it out, feel free. [cbiscuit]

[athenet]

I think complaining to the co-op would be a great idea, they recently stopped giving divi on cigarettes because of pressure from members and unbelievably, abandoned a policy on not offering free bags automatically, only if asked for, because of a campaign-(and we're only worried about the next generation)! Does anyone else think gossip mags with obscene phrases on the front should also go on the top shelf?