Young girls are being hit hardest by a “porn version” of sexuality which is sweeping our society, Labour MP Diane Abbott has said.
The MP, who is also a shadow health minister, says girls are being led to believe that “sexiness” is the most important quality in life.
She says parents should be put “back in control” and the high street needs a “detox”.
Family-friendly
It’s time to tackle raunchy pop videos, and huge billboards featuring sexualised images of women, she said.
She also called for more family values in public spaces, to make Britain a family-friendly country again.
The MP for Hackey North made the comments on the online forum Mumsnet, where she warned of “a very specific form of sexuality that’s being imposed, on children and adults: a porn version”.
Damaging
She added: “It’s particularly damaging to young girls, in my view”.
The MP commented: “And this has been made worse by fast-developing technology.
“I think this culture tells girls in particular that they are only valued as a sex object. It tells girls that the most important quality they need is ‘sexiness’.”
Detox
Diane Abbott also commented: “I think it has reached a point where we need to detox our High Streets, and make Britain a family-friendly country again”.
She said: “I think we need to clear our public spaces of the worst elements of unrestrained markets – including addressing music videos that blare out at us, and our children.”
She raised issues of online bullying including problems around ‘sexting’, “the huge billboards that have very sexualised images of women that loom over our public spaces, and the sexualised figures of women in films that are now commonplace”.
The MP commented: “For me the key is putting parents back in control, and also putting open-minded family values back in our public spaces.”
Sexualisation
Before coming into Downing Street, David Cameron said children should be allowed to enjoy their childhood and be protected from increasing sexualisation.
However last month ministers were accused of failing to follow through on protecting children from online pornography, after a leaked document said work “can be scaled back”.