MPs baulk at rules on sexualisation

CHILDREN are increasingly exposed to highly sexualised images, a Senate committee has found - but it has stopped short of calling for tougher government regulation, which has angered parent groups.

The issue has been thrown into the spotlight by controversies such as the publication of photos of the 15-year-old Disney star Miley Cyrus topless in the magazine Vanity Fair.

Although the committee rejected tighter standards on what television and advertisers can show, it recommended a national sex education program as a way to teach children about healthy relationships and to help them "deconstruct" sexualised images.

It singled out raunchy music videos and toys such as Bratz dolls, but said "it is the primary responsibility of parents to make decisions about what their children see, hear, read or purchase.

"These parental decisions can have a significant impact on the market for sexualising products and services."

The committee has also suggested that television networks consider a dedicated children's channel and that publishers of magazines such as Dolly and Girlfriend investigate putting content warnings on covers.

Parenting groups were angry the committee did not take a tougher position.

"The reliance on industry bodies to fix most of the issues is misplaced. If these bodies were willing to take effective steps to address the issues they would have done so by now," the vice-president of Young Media Australia, Elizabeth Handsley, said.

The professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University, Clive Hamilton, said: "The report fails to understand or reflect the level of community concern about the ways in which children are being sexualised by the media and advertisers and has largely ignored the evidence of harm presented to the inquiry by psychologists and other experts working with children."

More than a third of the people who made private submissions to the inquiry identified themselves as parents or grandparents who were concerned that their children and grandchildren were being subject to sexualisation by the media.

The Democrats senator Lyn Allison, who instigated the inquiry, denied the committee had failed to take the issue seriously. "This is a call to industry to shape up or we'll get tougher," she said.

A national sex education program would help children make sense of the images they saw, she said.

"People link the resilience of children to their education about relationships and sex. It's not saying education would fix exposure to images, but it would give help kids deal with them."

The advertising and media industry largely welcomed the report.

Helen Willoughby, the chief executive of the Outdoor Media Association, said: "We are yet to see the detail but we have been speaking with the Advertising Standards Bureau to look at ways to address issues over the past six months about addressing content issues as they relate specifically to the outdoor medium."

A spokesman for PBL Media, the owner of ACP Magazines, the publisher of Dolly, said: "We will have a look at whether we put any age-appropriate information on the covers." The peak body for commercial broadcasters, Free TV Australia, said in a statement that it believed there were already "clear protections" in place for both content and advertising. "We are confident that these are in line with community standards and do not sexualise children," it said.

Sexual imagery banned in children's ads

Advertisements for kids' products must not include sexual imagery or imply that children are sexual beings, under changes to the national advertising code of conduct.

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has announced changes to the Advertising to Children Code, after considering 26 submissions from parental groups and health and government bodies.

Included in the changes are regulations which rule out the sexualisation of children - classed as anyone aged 14 or under - in advertising which is published or broadcast in any form.

The code says advertising to children must not include sexual imagery that breaches community standards, or imply that children are sexual beings.

Ads must also not state or imply that owning a product will enhance a child's sexuality.

AANA chair Ian Alwill said the changes would meet the expectations of the Australian community.

"The review has taken note of widespread community concerns, particularly around the sexualisation of children and the portrayal of body image, and we have responded accordingly," Mr Alwill said in a statement.

The changes come as a Senate inquiry, due to report by the end of June, investigates sources of premature sexualisation of children in mainstream media.

A broadening of the definition of alcohol also was included in the rule changes, to prevent any products associated with alcohol being advertised to children.

Another significant change to the code is a prohibition of ads that encourage children to pester their parents to buy a particular product.

Ads targeted at children must also not be placed in media unsuitable for kids.

Major food and beverage advertisers were currently working with international codes and nutrition guidelines to make sure ads directed at children aligned with industry standards, the AANA said.

The Advertising to Children Code is voluntary and compliance is self-regulated by advertisers.

Complaints were handled by the Advertising Standards Board and if an advertisement was found to have breached the code, it would be taken off air, an AANA spokesman said.