British children over-exposed to sex: report



LONDON- Children in Britain are being exposed to too much sexual imagery through the Internet, music videos, computer games and magazines, a report commissioned by the Home Office said Friday.
The study called for a ban on "sexualised" music videos being shown on television before 9:00 pm and said "lads' mags" -- magazines for young men which feature pictures of scantily-clad women -- should only be sold to over 15s.



London skyline
London skyline
It also wants games consoles to be sold with the parental lock -- which controls access to graphic violent or sexual content -- turned on.
"Children and young people today are not only exposed to increasing amounts of hyper-sexualised images, they are also sold the idea that they have to look 'sexy' and 'hot'," said the report by psychologist Linda Papadopoulos.
"As such, they are facing pressures that children in the past simply did not have to face."
The issue of child sexualisation has been raised by both main political parties in Britain ahead of a general election expected to be called for May 6.
The leader of the main opposition Conservatives David Cameron said earlier this month he wanted to clamp down on the "inappropriate sexualisation" of youngsters.
The report found girls are suffering particularly from the situation, which it links to depression, eating disorders and violence. But boys are also facing pressure to "be macho, be strong, don't show your emotions".
Bratz dolls and stationery for school children bearing the Playboy logo are examples of how marketers "are effectively encouraging young girls to present themselves in a sexual way", the report said.
It also criticised how music videos often show women "in provocative and revealing clothing and are depicted as being in a state of sexual readiness", while men were typically shown as "hyper-masculine and sexually dominant".
Frank Furedi, a professor of sociology at Kent University in southern England, said the root of the problem lay with society as a whole.
"The whole of society is hypersexualised -- sex becomes the common currency through which adults make their way in the world and continually send a signal to children that sex is all that matters," he told BBC radio.
"One of the big problems that we are faced with is that increasingly adults have lost the capacity to draw a line between their own attitudes and those of children."
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Saturday, February 27th 2010
AFP
           


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