Mothers’ Union congratulates the Prime Minister and Sarah Teather, Minister for Children for their achievements so far in securing greater protection for children from the pressures of a consumerist and sexualised culture.
Chief Executive of Mothers’ Union, Reg Bailey, met today with the Prime Minister, Sarah Teather and regulators, business and other stakeholders to review the progress made on his June recommendations, and to evaluate what still needs to be implemented to achieve the goals of Letting Children be Children.
Welcoming the launch of the website for parents, Parentport, and the news that major internet providers will now require customers to actively opt in to receive adult content, rather than the less effective opt out control that currently exists Reg Bailey said “We are delighted to see responsible providers now actively helping families to manage media in the home by offering this greater opportunity to protect children. However we do look to other providers to follow suit, and we want robust ongoing monitoring of the implementation of the Bailey Review recommendations to ensure full compliance.
“Still of concern to us is the lack of progress towards reducing the sexualised wallpaper I spoke about in my Review, that affects children outside the home such as ensuring retailers of magazines and newspapers with sexualised images on their covers place them behind modesty boards. What does, and does not constitute sexualised imagery is still very subjective and we are looking for clear guidelines from Government on what is and what is not defined as sexually and commercially appropriate under the age of 16. Mothers’ Union will continue to campaign for and promote a culture and culture-based values that do not define a person by what they wear or what they own, but one that respects everyone equally and without discrimination.”
Mothers’ Union has been concerned with the promotion of family life and the protection of children in society since their founding in 1876.
In September 2010 their Report Bye Buy Childhood: a report into the commercialisation of childhood found that over 60% of parents believed that advertising could be harmful to children, and 80% of parents felt that sexualised or violent content could too easily be accessed by children. In response to this Mothers’ Union launched their Bye Buy Childhood campaign with the purpose of :-
Calling on media, marketing and retailers to make a difference to childhood by not taking advantage of children’s natural inexperience to sell to them; not marketing or selling goods of a sexualised nature to children; and ensuring that children under 16 are not exposed to the marketing and display of sexualised products and imagery.
