When 5-year-olds acquire Britney's fashion sense

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Turning little girls into eye candy

Bratz dolls that look like strippers, toddler bikinis and a Lingerie Barbie series represent a trend that has stirred US author Dr Jean Kilbourne to start writing a book with the working title of So Sexy, So Soon: The Sexualisation of Childhood. Her co-author, Diane Levin, is an early childhood expert and professor of education. Together they are exploring and documenting a global advertising phenomenon that has many parents, doctors and academics worried, she said during an interview in Sydney.

Just as there is now clear research to demonstrate the toxic impact of fashion, alcohol and tobacco advertising on girls' eating habits and health, so we can expect psychological side-effects from the use of sex to sell clothes, says Kilbourne. In the US, she says, tiny bras and G-string underwear featuring cherries and the words "eye candy" and "wink wink" have appeared in the children's wear sections of Target stores. Children are being bombarded with enormous doses of graphic sexual content they are unable to process but which will affect their "gender identity, sexual attitudes, values, and their capacity for love and connection."

But, in the end, it's not even about sex, says Kilbourne. "What it's really about is selling us on shopping. Our generation didn't shop for recreation, we didn't hang around malls. Learn early about appearance and it turns you into a good little consumer. Teach a seven-year-old that sex is about accessorizing and you've secured a lifetime of lingerie buying." ~ Sydney Morning Herald, Feb 18