Sexualisation of Children

There is a media dialogue at the moment about the sexualisation of children - girls obviously. The whole way we in the West bring children up today is a baffling mystery to me. But this, specifically, fills me with concern & horror. What sort of adults think that it's OK to dress little girls in a parody of adult sexual clothing & make up? Why would anyone want children to be anything other than innocent & childlike? When they have childrens bodies, why would anyone think it's acceptable to dress them not only as sexual beings, but provocatively so?

It seems to me that this deliberately put's very young girls in harms way. It knowingly focuses the worst kind of attention on them. No adult today can be unaware of the risks of Paedophiles or males who objectify women & treat them at best with no respect or at worst physically, verbally & mentally abuse them. This sort of behaviour seems to have reached epic proportions, yet here are parents or carers seemingly complicit in encouraging it to continue.

Have we, so called adults, become so used to sex with everything, explicitly portrayed on TV, in films, & in novels that we no longer view it in a healthy way ourselves? Sex is so all pervasive that it seems to me to have become a simple commodity available to all, at any time, in any form. There doesn't have to be a relationship, love or even liking. "Gratification of my needs now" is the mantra and never mind the impact on anyone else.

Not everyone behaves like this of course, but I do believe we have all been conditioned to accept images which my generation find offensive & gratuitous. In this climate how can young parents make choices which are in the best interests of their children. They need to be extremely strong minded when faced with pester power, cheap availability & advertising.

Children mimic adults, it's how they learn. If the adults & role models dress like this & posture sexually & children see it, that is how they will behave. We have shown them it's OK by broadcasting it in every way possible. Well it's not OK and it's about time we did something about it - Collectively & individually. If we don't, future generations will pay the price.