Former Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm has called on female pop stars such as Rihanna to have “more dignity” and stop being so overtly sexual.
Mel C, widely known as Sporty Spice, says she has banned her five-year-old daughter Scarlet from seeing images of Rihanna because of their provocative nature.
“There is little footage of Rihanna that I’m happy for her to see. It’s a shame that a talented, successful woman expresses herself in such an overtly sexual way”, she said.
Narcissistic
Speaking to the Radio Times, the singer raised concerns about “society’s obsession with celebrity”.
She said: “It’s vulgar and narcissistic and I worry about how it affects young girls”.
“There are some great artists out there”, the former Spice Girl commented, “but sometimes we could just do with a bit more dignity”.
Authentic
She urged female pop stars to be mindful of their responsibility to young fans.
The singer’s comments come in the wake of the Prime Minister’s announcement in August that online music videos will be given age ratings in order to protect children.
David Cameron unveiled a pilot scheme with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and YouTube which will rate videos if they are deemed to have inappropriate content.
Parents
A survey in November last year revealed that most parents fear sexually provocative pop stars such as Miley Cyrus and Rihanna are having a damaging effect on their children.
In a Netmums poll of 1,500 members, more than 80 per cent said their children had repeated sexually explicit lyrics and copied overtly sexual dance moves after being exposed to inappropriate pop music.