Emma Cowing: Sexualising children just to pad out profits

Published on Monday 14 March 2011 16:52

THERE are many things I wanted when I was eight years old. A proper stable for my collection of My Little Ponies. A pair of patent white Startrite buckle shoes from Clarks.

Something nebulous about saving the dolphin, probably connected to the latest Blue Peter appeal. What I am quite clear that I never wanted , mainly because I had no idea what it was, is a padded bra.

Thank goodness then for Matalan, that well-known pioneer of the British High Street, which is here to keep all eight-year olds on trend this spring in the form of a pink, gingham, padded bra priced at a very reasonable 4.50.

The bras are cleverly designed to give the appearance of a bosom to girls who have yet to develop one, and have proved so popular that they have already sold out in some sizes - which are available down to a "28aa".

It is at this point that you may be forgiven for banging your head off a wall, but please, let me stop you there, because I have already done it for you.

Perhaps Matalan don't read the newspapers. Perhaps they are unaware that a year ago Primark was forced to pull a selection of padded bikinis aimed at seven to eight years olds after David Cameron decried them as "disgraceful", or that Tesco got into hot water in the same month after producing a range of high-heeled Disney princess shoes for the over-threes, or that Asda was also forced to withdraw a range of pink and black lacy underwear which included a push-up bra aimed at nine to ten year olds. Or perhaps they do know all this, and they just don't care.

Call it what you like - from "a bit of fun" to a "starter bra" - but as far as I am concerned, a pink, padded bra for an eight-year old comes down to nothing less than the sexualisation of children.

In 2007, a survey by the American Psychological Association concluded that the increasing sexualisation of young girls was having a negative influence on their development. It could, according to the organisation, lead to eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression.

Others went further. Dr Jean Kilbourne, author of So Sexy, So Soon: The Sexualisation of Childhood, suggested that there was a direct link between the sexualisation of young girls and underage sex.

Part of the pressure comes from the celebrity world - a world where teenagers (think Miley Cyrus) dress provocatively and sexually, despite the fact that the majority of their audience are children. Kids see their idol in a short dress, and they want to look the same. Then there are the infamous Bratz dolls, which outsell Barbies by two-to-one in Britain and come dressed in fishnet stockings and feather boas. Even Disney characters are not immune, with females such as Pocahontas and the Little Mermaid boasting cleavages and body shapes that were never seen in the innocent days of Snow White.

Perhaps then, it's no wonder that Matalan are already selling out of their disturbing little padded, gingham bras.With pressure coming from children on their parents to "please Mummy, buy me the top that makes me look like Hannah Montana", it is perhaps the easy option to give in to the child who simply wants to fit in, while ignoring the disturbing message that purchasing such items for a pre-pubescent child gives not just to them, but to society at large.

The irony, of course, is that these same mothers who dress their nine-year olds in t-shirts reading "so many boys, so little time" are likely to be the same ones who kick up merry hell should they find a sex offender living next door to them. They do not make the connection that sexualising children contributes to a sexualisation of society, which in turn leads to an increase in sexual crime. Nor do they realise the damage that it is doing to their own children, or the effect it may have on those children as they grow up.

All little girls want to grow up too fast. Every little girl has tried on her mother's dresses and make-up, tottered around in high heels ten sizes too big for them and pouted in the mirror. But surely society's role is to make sure that it never goes further than that, that little girls be allowed to stay just that - little.

Designing a padded bra for an eight-year old makes a mockery of that. Matalan should be ashamed of themselves.