Even primary school children are being affected by Britain’s hypersexualised society and it is a problem we’re not tackling, two feminist authors have said.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Kat Banyard and Natasha Walter hit out at the sheer amount of pornography in society.
Kat Banyard said: “All the research shows that watching pornography leads to – as you would expect – an increase of attitudes which support violence against women and aggressive behaviour.”
Problem
The author added: “There is a massive problem – we are nowhere near tackling it.”
Remarking on the huge amount of pornography available online, she said: “We have never had pornography or sexual exploitation on this scale.”
“The effects are untold but we are likely to see them played out over the next few decades”.
Sexualising
Natasha Walter, while warning about primary school children being damaged by sexualisation, said that teenage boys who did not watch pornography were viewed as strange.
Their comments come after top music producer Mike Stock criticised the music industry over provocative pop videos which resemble soft pornography.
He said such videos were sexualising young children.
Values
Mr Stock said: “The music industry has gone too far. It’s not about me being old fashioned. It’s about keeping values that are important in the modern world.”
And he commented: “Kids are being forced to grow up too young. Look at the videos. I wouldn’t necessarily want my young kids to watch them.
“I would certainly be embarrassed to sit there with my mum.”
Pornified
Earlier this year teen girls hit out at modern liberal mums who do little to protect them from ‘pornified’ boys.
Journalist Penny Marshall, writing for the Daily Mail, disclosed harrowing stories of young girls who say demands from teenage boyfriends are often both “disturbing and upsetting”.
A 16-year-old told Miss Marshall that, while many girls might moan about their parents being too strict, she actually resented her parents’ “forward-thinking” liberal attitude.
High heels
Over the past year there have been multiple stories of stores selling products which could sexualise young children.
In June it emerged that Asda, Tesco, Next and Gap Kids were selling high heels for girls.
In May it was revealed a padded bra aimed at seven-year-olds was on sale at Sports Direct.
And in April padded bikinis for young girls on sale in Primark were dropped by the chain following an outcry.