Treading very gently is perhaps the best way to describe the article wanting to avoid the lynch mob hysteria, being tarred and feathered, drawn and quartered and run out of town. Is fair enough.

There are groups who get an emotional high from being outraged. It focuses their anger, and gives them an excuse to be angry, but however as one issue is resolved they have to find another fix, anger, outrage to them is like a drug of addiction. They begin to suffer withdrawal symptoms.

Loose focus and purpose in life, when they are not outraged over something.

At least whilst they are angry and hostile, they do not have to look at themselves too closely in the mirror.

In psychological terms of projection and transference. Would make for an interesting study.

Daphne Patai in Heterophobia pointed out about how claim makers went about creating a problem amd how there is an esculation as society begins to accept, the problem then gets expanded as more and more instances are found.

Emotive annologies are used in order to trick the logical thinking part of the brain, as demonstrated in this article such as associating sea foam, with semen.

These people who make these associations are incredibly warped and sick. but also very dangerous.

Some folks like being aggressive and are constantly looking for a reason to be "outraged". These folks are like snakes lying on footpaths, just waiting to be stepped on so they can strike. This sort of aggression is a power play and the "offence" is nothing more than justifying their egotistical finger waggling.
Sex is a highly variable thing, across cultures, ages and personalities. Indeed the very concept of two sexes: Male/Female is an over simplification when you look at medical records. Many people are in some way in between...up to 10% of us!
There is nothing like a bit of "unnatural" variability to get the snakes all excited. The irony of Christians objecting to God's little jokes like homosexuality and trans-sexuality is amusing. First they must ignore Gods work so they can substitute their own version of "natural" then get all upset about the discrepancy with reality! I can just imagine God tutting every time a Christian decides that a member of His flock is inherently evil because they are born differently or do not act in accordance to a highly arbitrary moral code.
I agree that sexualising tweens is a bad idea...and I really feel for parents under the barrage of advertising that is targeting vulnerable minds but all efforts to curtail adults will fail. As prohibition shows telling someone not to do something that you have *no right* to influence tends to make people do just that: We are primed to rebel against tyranny...and snakes.

Aaah right – thanks Jay Thompson for mentioning Kids Free 2B kids in an article that does not represent the group’s intentions or actions correctly. There is a distinction between sex, sexuality and sexualisation – which are all frequently conflated when discussing this issue. It is important that children and early teens have access to age appropriate sex education and I encourage parents to have open and honest discussions with their children about sex and sexuality. Indirect sexualisation of children is about involuntary exposure to adult sexualised imagery and text which children are not psychologically, emotionally or cognitively ready for. Direct sexualisation is portraying children in adult like poses – adultifying kids or imbuing them with an adult sexualised knowingness that they have no understanding of.
Discussing sex, depictions of sex and attitudes to sex are not the same as discussing the harms of sexualisation.
Kids Free 2B Kids and child development professionals are rightly concerned about the mental health and well being of children who are bombarded with imagery that no generation before has had to deal with. Increasing research and concern from professionals working with children at the coal face validate the need to demand proactive responsibility from advertisers, marketers, retailers and broadcasters.
Raising awareness about these issues is not “warped and sick. but also very dangerous” as suggested by James H in the comments.
Branding those who raise awareness on the issue as ‘outraged, angry or hostile” (James H) or ‘hostile’ (Jay Thompson) merely serve to discredit, and do not accurately depict Kids Free 2B Kids, child development professionals,The Australian Psychological Society and many others who express concern.
Jay – in the future if you want to ”closely examine some of the assumptions underpinning their responses to sex in public” how about you contact me and have a discussion first. This will save you time and energy making up straw man arguments to pull apart....and save me having to read inaccurate representations of my group.
Julie Gale - Director Kids Free 2B Kids

The author writes "imagery which appears on magazine covers and billboards is degrading, especially to women and children. Demeaning public images of any group are unacceptable."

If he is concerned with demeaning groups, have a look at the whole picture. For example TV comercials. These virtually always demean men and maleness.

Sit down with a piece of paper in three columns. Column 1 is for ads with no gender-based power relationships. Car ads which only show cars, or ads where everybody is just beautiful. Ignore these.

The second column is for ads that demean men, that show a man being bashed, insulted, ridiculled. That show a man trying hard and being laughed-at by a woman, despite his best efforts. Where the man is weak and the woman is the ruler.

The third column is for the inverst, the bimbo, the powerful man exploiting women etc.

Almost every ad thet shows a gendered power relationship, or which admires/degrades typical gendered behaviours, show the woman as superior and the man as the slave.

Any wonder why for every ten suicides, nine of them are men (after including estimates of the drug ODs and car crashes that are officially recorded as accidents, but are almost certainly really suicides). Most male suffering and suicide is swept under the carpet, ignored and ridiculed. And often country cops will record a suicide as accidental for the sake of the family, the life insurance or to allow a church burial.

Now try to get some funding for programs to help. To reduce male suicide. Write some journal articles about this and see if you can get them published?

Do something about discrimination... do something to help males.

I suggest that you allow 3 and 4 year old kids to be kids. They don't need to know why auntie is hooked on drugs or uncle Sam has chosen to be a homosexual. Parents are often stupid enough to allow their kids to view music porn on the ABC and go to Ga spew concerts and wonder why they turn out promiscuous. Not rocket science even though the author seems to make out it is.

"We need to think of ways to discuss and represent s*x that do not entail exploitation."

We need ways to talk about the number 'six' that are not exploitative?

Or does the author (editor?) mean; sux as in... nah, that can't be right, or is it 'sox' - put equal pairs of socks in the washer out come singles - like a reverse dating bar.

Ooooooh, penny finally drops; the 's*x' was meant to be 'sex' as if the word 'sex' is some kind of expletive.

Well for as start we can write the word 'sex' without the asterisk. That would at least stop a little of the prudish hypocrisy that abounds these pages about human behaviour.

Sex, sex, sex, lovely.