Why the kids are not alright

Music videos and advertisements have exploited children by using them in inappropriate poses, wearing inappropriate clothing. It's time we got tough on the people making money from the sexualisation of children before we become desensitised to the horror of child porn, writes Kathryn Holmquist

That the pop duo t.A.T.u. were banned from showing their video by Top of the Pops isn't necessarily a bad thing, from a crass marketing point of view. And having heard of the "ban" on t.A.T.u. - which isn't a ban so much as a public-relations exercise - some parents may feel relieved that they won't have to field awkward questions about this allegedly lesbian Russian girl act.

t.A.T.u. were on TOTP anyway, with only the offensive parts edited out. So everybody's a winner... or are they? Not really, because t.A.T.u.'s uncensored video was playing hourly on MTV the last time I looked. Now I'm wondering whether anyone who watches, buys or records the video is open to charges of possessing child pornography.

It's not the lesbianism that worries me. Lesbianism is a normal part of sexuality. Underage girls titillating each other for the titillation of adults is not.

The disturbing aspect of t.A.T.u. - which is shorthand for "this girl loves that girl" in Russian - is that it celebrates the glamour of sexual behaviour between children, just as child-porn sites do.

Whether the action is girl on girl or boy on boy isn't the issue. The issue is paedophilia. Lena Katina and Julia Volkova were aged 14 and 15 when they made the video for All the Things She Said, in which they are seen kissing each other while dressed in school uniforms. If you were to download such imagery from the Internet, you would be breaking the law.

And in case you think I'm over reacting, consider this. The Svengali behind t.A.T.u., Ivan Shapovalov, has openly admitted that pornographic websites inspired him to make the video. Shapovalov is a former psychologist, who then moved on to the advertising industry. He presents child porn as a stylistic issue. In his hands, all the degradation and abuse of the child pornography industry apparently becomes irrelevant. He brings child sexual abuse down to the level of pretty pastiche.

And he's not the only one doing it. An ad in Marie Claire magazine for Dolce & Gabbana's latest line of children's clothes, could be interpreted as having an undercurrent of child porn. It depicts two children aged about seven years old. One of them is a beautiful boy, nude from the waist up, wearing an oversized pair of boxing shorts, with a school bag strapped to his naked shoulders. The boy, whose pose is meant to be seductive, looks scared. The other child is extremely thin and could be a boy or a girl. It is impossible to tell. This child has a cheeky street urchin look. Both children look lost.

Sexualising children isn't new, of course. Roman Polanski, who had a 14-year-old "lover" and was on the run from the US law for years because of it, used a young Nastassja Kinski in a sexualised way in the film Tess.

But it's the rock music industry that has been most flagrant. Jonathan King and Gary Glitter have been jailed, yet have never shown remorse.Others who have been investigated include Steven Jolley (manager of Bananarama and Spandau Ballet), Tam Paton (former manager of the Bay City Rollers) and Pete Townsend. Malcolm McLaren got into trouble for reenacting Manet's Déjeuner sur L'Herbe on an album cover with a naked 14-year-old, Annabella Lwin, surrounded by fully-clothed men. A series of Calvin Klein ads, using a child Brook Shields, amongst others, was also controversial. So this imagery has been going on for years.

Whether it's t.A.T.u. or Dolce & Gabbana - or whatever - sexualised images of children desensitise us to child pornography, just as Hollywood has been desensitising us to violence for decades.

We can impose superficial "bans" and even look for scapegoats, but the truth is that the sexualisation of children is a dangerous trend. And it's one of the reasons that young girls of 10 are developing eating disorders. Even at this age, they feel judged as objects and are afraid to grow up.

Britney Spears has been acting like an underage porn star for years, to the extent that most of us don't even see the connections any more.

You could sagely dismiss t.A.T.u. as shock tactics, which have a long tradition from Elvis to Eminem. You could say that t.A.T.u. are merely pushing the stylistic envelope. Or you could look at the reality, which is that the music industry is yet again grooming our children to see themselves as sex objects. It's enough to make a sane parent disconnect the TV altogether.

We welcome your feedback and comments.