A Panorama investigation into the sexualisation of children will be screened tonight amid fears that children are being bombarded with sexual images.
The show will be presented by newsreader Sophie Raworth, who says she was inspired to look into the issue after being disturbed by what her daughter was watching.
She described her reaction to viewing a pop music DVD featuring popular acts the Saturdays and Girls Aloud that her six-year-old daughter had been given as a Christmas present.
“Within minutes I felt deeply uncomfortable. As I watched these videos through the eyes of a young child, I saw heavily made-up girls with huge false eyelashes in really skimpy clothes with lots of cleavage and sexy dance moves. My gut reaction was to switch it off.
“But children are surrounded by sexual images all the time – be it on television or the internet, in video games, on billboards or in magazines. They are growing up in a world which seems more and more sexualised.”
A recent report which features in the Panorama investigation has found that 24 per cent of nine to 16-year-olds have seen some form of pornography in the last year and that more than half go online when they alone in their rooms.
Miss Rawls said that her research had reinforced the importance of parents communicating with their children.
“If there’s one message that has come through from all the parents and experts I have spoken to, it is talk to your children, communicate with them and know what they are doing, particularly online.”
Panorama: Too Much Too Young will be screened on BBC One at 8:30pm on Monday 10 January.
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