Supermarkets are breaking the law, Home Office Minister tells Child’s Eye Line UK
Monday 6th 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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