Experts advise parents to have their eyes wide open in this digital age, as sexual predators are targeting children through Social media apps. 

The rise of social media has made the threat of online child grooming easier, resulting in high prevalence of sexual exploitation. Experts have advised that parents need to stay up-to-date with mobile apps to be prepared for potential threats. It has become more apparent that sexual predators and paedophiles have been using social media to groom children and teens, preying on kid’s attachment to their favourite mobile and computer apps.                                                                                                

‘Grooming’ is when a person manipulates a child for sexual purposes, by building an emotional connection to gain their trust. The process may start with sending pornographic images to the child, ‘normalising’ sexual activities, to eventually moving on to requesting naked images or perform a sex act on a webcam.

Netflix 'Stranger Things' all-child cast is sexualised in a raft of new media  

"TV is sexier than ever" with 13-year-old child actor Milly Bobby Brown, who has "turned it up" in the words of recent media reports.

The fine line between sophistication and sexy. The Feed's Andy Park takes a look at how children and sexuality are portrayed in the images we consume and finds that standards are fluid. And they are changing fast.

Every day, everywhere, we are saturated with images of sexuality. Buy this. Click here. Like us.
 
But where these images become taboo is at the fringes of what we find acceptable. Especially when they involve children.

Julie Willis is a Gold Coast based photographer who specialises in photographing children from newborns right up to teenagers.

Many of the children Julie photographs are destined to be featured in magazines and advertising.

She says working with mothers who allow their children to model at an early age can sometimes have its challenges.

But it's the reaction to images of children that are viewed by some as sexual, that she can't understand.

"For me, I don't live in world where I look at children in that way or that kind of thing," says Julie. "I think it's people's interpretation of their own childhood, their own life, and whether they've got that disposition within their own upbringing that triggered something."

So is it all about our subjective view or can you draw some more objective standards on what is, and what is not, appropriate for children in media and advertising?

First let's look at how things have changed.

In the 1960s products still very much reflected social attitudes of the day. Barbie was in the kitchen, Ken was looking sporty.

But then suddenly something happened. We changed and Mattel released a new doll.

A mother has won a battle against a popular retail company, Best & Less who were selling slogan T-shirts with inappropriate messages targeted at young girls. 

A mother has won a battle against teen clothing company Missguided who were promoting child sexual abuse imagery in their shop. A recent blog published by Elizabeth Johnston an Activist Vlogger from theactivistmom.com who educates about current events and topics that are important to families shares the following: 

You know it’s a sick world we live in when you can’t even take your kids out to buy clothes without them being sexualized.

Clothing company “Missguided” came under fire recently for posting a sign on the wall of several of its UK shops that read “send me nudes.”

Yup, in an age where the sexualization of children must be guarded against every single day, “Missguided” – which also operates in the U.S.– just had to take things a step further and literally encourage the creation and distribution of child sexual abuse imagery.

A new 2017 study has revealed that more Australian teens are viewing porn and they are exposed at younger ages than ever before.

Collective Shout is a grassroots campaigning movement fighting the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls in media, advertising and popular culture. In its 2007 Task Force into the Sexualisation of Girls, the American Psychological Association defined sexualisation (as opposed to healthy sexuality) as follows: 

Founder of Kidz Biz Education Wendy Hill told the Sunday Mail that violent pornography is shaping primary school aged children’s behaviour.

According to Ms Hill, more than half of all Year 5 students, and almost all students from Year 6 onwards had viewed pornography online, but almost none told their parents or teachers because they feared being banned from the internet.

We're pleased to report that after years of campaigning against Wicked Campers for their sexist and anti-women slogans and imagery, Tasmania's Legislative Council has voted to deregister offending vehicles. 

Trigger warning: This blog contains references to child sexual abuse, please be aware of and prioritise your own well-being.

Shopping with my with my 10 year old daughter one Sunday afternoon, she suggested she needed new school socks. I could not have envisioned the chain of events that would quickly unfold as a result of her request….