T-shirts with slogans such as “So Many Boys, So Little Time” should be banned because they sexualise children, says a Daily Telegraph columnist.
Judith Woods writes in light of comments made earlier this week by the head of a Sexual Assault Referral Centre.
Dr Catherine White of St Mary’s Hospital Manchester said provocative clothing and explicit music videos put children at risk by changing their view of what is unacceptable.
She said: “We have to look more fundamentally at what’s happening. There’s an increasing sexualisation of children. When you see a little girl wearing a T-shirt with a Playboy bunny, that’s wrong isn’t it?”
Mrs Woods says Dr White was “right to speak out against the increasing sexualisation of children through slogans”.
She writes: “Dr White refers to the subconscious ‘drip, drip, drip effect’ of imagery and example that is eroding values and turning girls into provocative Lolitas and boys into rutting stags.”
Mrs Woods points to the “furore” in New Zealand last month when a newly imported Australian brand, Cotton On Kids, began selling T-shirts featuring slogans such as ‘I’m Living Proof My Mum is Easy’, and babygrows saying ‘The Condom Broke’.
She says: “Adults, children, babies, there’s a yobbish, crude catchphrase for everyone these days. The internet is heaving with purveyors of clothes emblazoned with them.
“The infamous ‘So Many Boys, So Little Time’ T-shirt once pedalled by Next has been replaced elsewhere by such unforgettable gems as ‘You Wish’ and ‘0 to Naughty in 6 Seconds’.
“Can there be anything more depressing than a ten-year-old wearing ‘I’m Not Superficial, I Just Don’t Like Ugly People’ on her T-shirt? Hang on a minute, yes there is: it’s ‘Don’t Touch What You Can’t Afford’.”