A group of young female high school students have called out Frank Body over the skincare company’s product, “Send Nudes” lip and cheek tint.

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.

"How on earth do you think this is acceptable to sell knowing a large percentage of your customers are teens?"

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On May 25 Amy Smith, the CEO of Jenny Craig, will present to a conference of educators for the Alliance of Girls' Schools (AGSA). Described as a "champion of women's health" by Catherine Misson, Principal of Melbourne Girls Grammar School, Jenny Craig's CEO will be enlisted to "inspire" attendees: what they learn will impact on what they bring back to the classroom.

Already letters from health professionals have begun flooding in, with some voicing their protests from as far as the US and Middle East. They all agree on one thing: Global giant Jenny Craig, which profits from the billion-dollar diet industry, is not an appropriate 'leader' for educators of young girls.

Melinda Tankard Reist recently appeared on Sunrise discussing the new online trend of teens asking YouTube users to rate their looks.

When trolls attack, girls are pretty vulnerable

Column published in The Herald Sun and Melinda Tankard Reist's Blog.

City Beach Human Relations Fail

Caitlin Roper who is leading the campaign against City Beach's pornified clothing range received a phone call from City Beach HR, Anita Dorwald. She was the City Beach rep who participated in the conciliation attempt for Caitlin's Human Right's Commission complaint last year. (Read more about that here.)

Caitlin's report on the conversation is as follows:

Ms Dorwald said that if we are going to distribute flyers using their logo, they must be "factually correct" and then proceeded to quote the 'headless, gagged, bruised women' part. (see flyer here)

Earlier in the week we posted on the content and nature of tween magazines. Now there is an opportunity to share your views on a new youth magazine called 'Consume' to be published in 2011. It will be a collaboration between community groups and young people covering issues of body image, health, tolerance and responsibility. The magazine will be distributed to every year 8 student in Brisbane and online for everyone else. The survey takes 5 minutes. Take the survey here.