Sexualisation of children is big business
At a time when sexual abuse of children is supposedly frowned upon, the sexualisation of 10 and 11-yearolds is accepted without a whimper of protest.
Sex is big business and innocent children are seen as consumers to be targeted. They are being dressed in provocative clothing and bombarded with sexual imagery from newspapers, magazines and television.
Selling contraceptives and morning- after pills to children boosts drug company profits. High street stores can do likewise by flogging tight jeans, cropped Tshirts and high heels to little girls who still hold colouring pencils in their hands. Young schoolgirls turn up at lessons in micro mini-skirts, and no one seems to mind. This abuse of children has flourished because adults have renounced responsibility.
We absolve ourselves from any blame, reflecting, ruefully, "that's just the way children are nowadays".
Although it is rarely admitted, the main reason young girls dress in this manner is that they are copying older women. Children have been abandoned to the hungry mouth of the Celtic Tiger which cares little for their innocence. Rather than trying to halt the sexualisation of little boys and girls, we have opted for a quickfix solution in the form of contraceptives and morning-after pills.
When a nation declares it is acceptable for 11-year-olds to use these dangerous hormonal concoctions, it is effectively telling its children: "Sorry we can't protect you from the world of big business any more. They are going to dictate what you should wear and when you should have sex, and there's not a lot we can do about it. But before we hand you over to them, here's a few contraceptive pills. Don't worry about side effects. Take care now."
Patrick McGinnity
Derrynoose
Keady
Co Armagh
