I believe that we would be in general agreement, Cornflower, on the unsuitability of at least some of the clothes which are promoted for young children. And I also believe that there is an almost total lack of ethics amongst manufacturers of a wide range of goods and of the marketing people who promote them.

My point is, what can we effectively do about it? There is a clear case to ban tobacco advertising, but even that took far too long and is still legally circumvented in some ways. The same health angle could possibly be used to control junk food and I am hopeful of that eventually happening. But we can't use that angle on dolls and kids' clothes.

If you read my link, you will be aware that I was one of a group of people who effectively campaigned against the glorification and glamourisation of tobacco. And that took far more time and effort than going onto a forum and saying that something ought to be done about it. I'm not having a go at you, because I'm in general agreement. But I'll ask you straight out, what do you propose we do about it?

In regard to paedophiles drooling over our children.
1. We have no way of knowing what is going through anyone's mind, regarding anything, so there's no point in getting worked up about it.
2. We have no way of controlling what goes through anyone's mind anyway.
3. Paedophiles are interested in children and getting access to them. What the children are wearing is irrelevant. To suggest that children are more vulnerable [in effect, asking for it] if they are dressed in a certain way is exactly the same discredited argument as saying that if women are raped, then it's their own fault for dressing and/or acting in a certain way.

I feel so strongly about sexual predators that I would like to see at least some of that category surgically castrated, but trying to campaign politically for that would also be a waste of time.

Rex. Children are not asking for it if they dress a certain way but they certainly make themselves more of a target if they dress provocative. Our role is to protect children, before the event, as afterwards it is too late. Anything that puts our children at a greater risk, even if it is small, should be considered.

The fashion is influenced by by the video clips, magazines and stars and it is led by adults in positions of power and fed to teenagers. The younger girls just dress like the teenagers do.

I must say that the fashion at the moment is much more conservative than it has been previously. I have a 15 year old girl and a 10 year old girl and there was a while there when my girls found it difficult to shop because the outfits didnt' cover enough anywhere. At the moment teenage girls are not showing as much clevage and/or as much mid-drift as they are wearing tops under tops and it looks great. Skirts are also longer and/or they wear leggins underneath. Am I the only one that has noticed this?

We need to encourage our girls to cover up a bit, just in case, as they dont need to show thier body to look great.

Hijabs, maybe?

Yes, Snout. I've also noticed some Taliban-like ideas implicit in some contributions to this debate (and, indeed the debate about nudity on beaches in the General forum). I was under the impression that in our society, the onus is on individuals to keep their sexual impulses under control, rather than relying on (sharia?) law to prevent exposure to the temptations of the flesh.

I have to say that some of the more strident commenters on this subject have far more salacious imaginations than mine - at least with respect to imagining intrinsic sexual connotations in the display or adornment of people's bodies - including those of children. Perhaps they could lift their minds from the gutter, lighten up a bit and allow kids to be kids - including dressing (or undressing) in the current fashions.

There seems to be a fair bit of good old Freudian projection going on in this debate.

Extremist thinking maybe?

I note than an ancient bronze age cuneiform tablet from Mesopotamia has recently been translated. It turns out to be a message from a father to his young daughter, and reads, “You’re not going out dressed like THAT!”

I think some of the posters here have forgotten what the primary purpose of young people’s fashion is. That is, to give us something to cringe about as we get older. (There have to be some consolations to ageing!) I personally experience a creeping sense of horror when I remember the skin tight stretch acid wash denim (with the crotch subtlely bleached) that I wore in my youth. No doubt middle aged women in 2030 will shudder as they recall the muffin top, and their menfolk will scratch their heads as they try to remember how difficult it was to ride a skateboard with your pants waist located somewhere south of the tropic of Capricorn.

Look, why can’t kids just wear what they’re comfortable with, whether it’s a burkha or a bikini? I know that child sex abuse is an important issue, but it seems to me that over the last 30 years we’ve gone from total denial to moral panic, seeing paedophiles in every shadow. Neither response is terribly helpful: the issue is abuse of adult power, not kids playing dress ups.