Letting kids be kids

Padded bras for four-year-olds, g-strings for five-year-olds. It's enough to make parents sick - and one in particular, very mad.

Julie Gale is a mum on the march. Sick and tired of the "sexualisation" of children, she is launching an Australia-wide campaign to let kids be kids.

"I'm no prude, but I just think my children shouldn't have to know that," Ms Gale said.

"My own daughter says, 'Mum, kids know too much for their age'. She's only 12."

From advertisements and toys, from clothing to video clips, even neighbourhood billboards, sex and sexual imagery is everywhere.

Julie says the constant barrage destroys a child's innocence, leading kids, particularly girls, to believe they must act in a sexual way long before their time.

"There has never been any parent power," Julie said.

"That's what I'm here for. I want to grab all the parents that i can to get behind the campaign "kids free to be kids" and see what we can change", Julie said.

President of the Australian Psychological Society, Amanda Gordon, is right behind the campaign, concerned advertisers, marketers, the media and clothing manufacturers may be doing huge damage to the minds of young children.

"Children who are over-sexualised are likely to be involved with sexual activity at a much younger age", Ms Gordon said

"If the message is, 'you should be sexy and grown up instead of being a kid', then kids aren't practicing and learning how to be whole human beings, that will actually make them into great adults.

"Instead they are only imitating adult behaviour without understanding it and that's very dangerous for their development."

Julie has taken her "Kids Free to be Kids" campaign all the way to Canberra, demanding the establishment of a single, independent regulatory body to oversee all media directed at kids.

She wants all direct advertising to children aged under 12 banned, the creation of a complaints system for concerned parents, and for advertisers and marketing companies to display more creativity in their work, with a move away from the "sex sells" approach.

A research paper from the Australia Institute, entitled "Corporate Paedophilia", supported Julie's move.

The paper said: "Children are only likely to develop freely if government assists parents by limiting sexualizing pressure at it's source - advertisers and marketers. Current regulation mechanisms are failing in this task."

Retailer David Jones has already taken legal action over the report.

"I've witnessed some girls dressing up in fancy dress outfits, police outfits, holding handcuffs together looking seductively into the camera; turning their backsides to the camera, adding the word "sexy" across their backsides," Julie said.

"The list goes on and this is 11-year-old girls."

But aside from Julie's campaign, Amanda Gordon had some advice for parents.

"I'd tell parents, don't buy sexy clothes for your children," Ms Gordon said.

"There's nothing smart about having a four-year-old in a little bra. It's time for adults to take a stand, for parents to take a stand and say 'this is what we want for our children', instead of the children saying, 'this is what I want for me'."

For further information on the Let Kids Be Kids campaign, email Julie at: admin@kf2bk.com.