Mumsnet votes to #topshelfpornpapers

Oct 21, 2014 by Child's Eye Line UK Editor

Mumsnet users have overwhelmingly voted for supermarkets to put The Sun, The Star and The Sport on the top shelf.

A survey of Mumsnet users has revealed that the majority of parents agree tabloids with sexual front pages and content should be placed out of children’s eye line.

In answer to the question ‘Do you agree or disagree that The Sun/The Star/The Sport should be placed on the top shelf, out of children’s eyelines in shops?’ Mumsnet members overwhelmingly agreed that all three titles need to be kept on the top shelves:

78% agree The Sun should be top-shelved
82% agree The Star should be top-shelved
86% agree Daily/Sunday Sport should be top-shelved

Over 1800 Mumsnet users took part in the survey, between 7-13 October. The data is not weighted.

The survey comes amidst increasing complaints from Child’s Eye Line UK supporters to retailers nationwide about the in-store display of the Sun, Star and Sport – supporters often tweeting under the hashtag ‪#‎topshelfpornpapers

There is increasing awareness that the current placement of these papers is illegal. In a recent meeting with Child’s Eye Line UK at the Home Office, Minister for Crime Prevention, Norman Baker MP, told Child’s Eye Line UK that supermarkets who display magazines and newspapers with sexualized front covers at child height are “not observing current legislation in relation to the Indecent Displays Act 1981.”

Justine Roberts, Mumsnet CEO, said:
‘Porn for enthusiastic, consenting adults is one thing; but, as our survey clearly shows, people are fed up with it in mass-circulation newspapers. Anyone who thinks this has no effect on women and girls is living in a dream world.’

Child’s Eye Line UK said:
‘We are delighted to have the support of Mumsnet. The responses to this survey confirm what we already knew – that sexualisation is a huge concern for parents in the UK and needs to be properly addressed by the supermarkets. We would like to see supermarkets put children’s welfare before profit and become safe, family-friendly places for children.’

About Child’s Eye Line UK:
Child’s Eye Line UK is a national campaign run by volunteer parents fed up of their children being confronted with sexualized and degrading images in their local shops and supermarkets.
The campaign launched a petition in March 2013 and has 25,000 signatures, a busy website, Facebook and Twitter following and cross-party support from MPs and all the leading teaching unions and children’s charities.
A recent government report by the Children’s Commissioner, “Basically Porn is Everywhere” 2013, found that exposure to sexualized images is “damaging to children, negatively affecting their sexual development, relationships and self esteem and makes risky sexual behaviour more likely.” The images and content found in publications like The Sun, The Star, The Sport and lads’ mags were also linked with attitudes that underpin violence against women

Here are the results of the survey in detail:

MN Position of Newspapers Survey Oct 14 1849 respondents 7-13 October 2014

1. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements:

The Sun newspaper should be placed on the top shelf, out of children’s eyelines in shops

Strongly agree Tend to agree Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Don’t know Response Count

928 509 310 50 52 1849

The Star newspaper should be placed on the top shelf, out of children’s eyelines in shops

1038 487 200 42 82 1849

The Daily/Sunday Sport newspaper should be placed on the top shelf, out of children’s eyelines in shops

1146 440 163 37 63 1849

1849 answered question 0 skipped question

1. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements:

The Sun newspaper should be placed on the top shelf, out of children’s eyelines in shops

Strongly agree Tend to agree Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Don’t know Net Agree Net Disagree

50% 28% 17% 3% 3% 78% 19%

The Star newspaper should be placed on the top shelf, out of children’s eyelines in shops

56% 26% 11% 2% 4% 82% 13%

The Daily/Sunday Sport newspaper should be placed on the top shelf, out of children’s eyelines in shops

62% 24% 9% 2% 3% 86% 11%

1849 answered question 0 skipped question

3. Are you female or male?

Female 96% 1784

Male 3% 47

Not stated 1% 18

1849 answered question 0 skipped question

4. How old are you?

Under 20 0% 8

20-30 17% 315

31-40 50% 922

41-50 24% 451

Over 50 7% 125

Rather not say/not stated 2% 28

1849 answered question 0 skipped question

5. Where do you live?

Answer Options

North East 4% 68

North West 9% 167

Yorkshire & The Humber 7% 133

East Midlands 5% 92

West Midlands 7% 128

East of England 8% 142

London 14% 263

South East 20% 376

South West 12% 224

Wales 3% 61

Scotland 8% 151

Northern Ireland 1% 22

Isle of Man 0% 2

Channel Islands 0% 2

Not stated 1% 18

1849 answered question 0 skipped question

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Supermarkets are breaking the law, Home Office Minister tells Child’s Eye Line UK

Oct 8, 2014 by Child's Eye Line UK Editor

Monday 6^th October, 2014
Minister for Crime Prevention, Norman Baker MP, today confirmed that supermarkets who display magazines and newspapers with sexualized front covers at child height are “not observing current legislation in relation to the Indecent Displays Act 1981.”

Child’s Eye Line UK is campaigning for legislation to make it illegal to display pornographic images around children.

“Child’s Eye Line UK’s concerns about publications with inappropriate or indecent images or text are fully understood and I believe the problem lies with the retailers, not the publishers,” said Minister Baker in a letter to Child Eyes founders following a meeting at the Home Office.

Not observing current legislation
“I am grateful to the work of Child’s Eye Line UK and I am particularly struck by the difficulties and resistance parents have been experiencing when seeking the cooperation of supermarkets who are often not observing current legislation.”

Minister Baker has written to the Prime Minister, David Cameron, on Child Eyes’ behalf and received a “positive reply.” David Cameron referred Minister Baker to the Bailey Review into the sexualisation of children, “Letting Children Be Children” (commissioned in 2012), which made a series of recommendations that shops and supermarkets should ‘ensure that magazines and newspapers with sexualised images on their covers are not in easy sight of children’.

Minister Baker said that it is “vital that a robust approach to promoting the self-regulation is in place and that the Indecent Displays Act is able to provide for sufficient protection on matters raised by Child’s Eye Line UK.”

Child’s Eye Line UK said:

“We are delighted with Norman Baker’s response to parents’ concerns about their children being exposed to sexualized and pornographic images every day in our shops and supermarkets. We have been campaigning hard for legislation to protect children but Minister Baker has confirmed that supermarkets are already breaking the law under existing legislation. We look forward to Minister Baker’s continued support in asking retailers to comply with the law as we campaign to make supermarkets and shops safe, family-friendly places.”

Notes to Editors:

About Child’s Eye Line UK:
Child’s Eye Line UK is a national campaign run by volunteer parents fed up of their children being confronted with sexualized and degrading images in their local shops and supermarkets.

The campaign launched a petition in March 2013 and has 25,000 signatures, a busy website, Facebook and Twitter following and cross-party support from MPs and all the leading teaching unions and children’s charities.

A recent government report by the Children’s Commissioner, “Basically Porn is Everywhere” 2013, found that exposure to sexualized images is “damaging to children, negatively affecting their sexual development, relationships and self esteem and makes risky sexual behaviour more likely.” The images and content found in publications like The Sun, The Star, The Sport and lads’ mags were also linked with attitudes that underpin violence against women

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High Street Retailer removes t-shirts from sale – with immediate effect !

Jul 18, 2013 by childeyes

Good afternoon fabulous supporters!

We have some wonderful news to report!!

We are delighted to have been informed by Ark, a high street clothing retailer, that they have decided to remove T-shirts displaying sexualised imagery from their shops with immediate effect. Not only that, they have also removed many more of these type of t-shirts from their website too! This was following several requests from us and some of our supporters to their head office, along with reference to the brilliant Guardian article yesterday which describes one of their T-shirts.

If you wish to see the type of garments we are referring to they can be seen in this PDF file.

Trigger warning- Please be advised that the t-shirts are of a nature that many find offensive.

The T-shirt that the Guardian article refers to is the one top-left.

Thank you all for your continuing support. Little by little together we are making a difference.

The Child Eyes Team.

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