Pennys 'paedo' padded bras

HIGH Street chain Primark have pulled padded bikinis aimed at seven-year-olds from their shelves after a Sun investigation - but many stores continue to sell padded bras and other provocative kids' clothes.

Products like these are part of a worrying trend, according to a leading psychologist who wrote a recent Home Office report on the sexualisation of children:

IT is shocking to think how many people would have been involved to get these products on the market. And how desensitised they must have been not to consider their impact.

In the past I found bibs and T-shirts in online stores with sexual slogans on them such as "All daddy wanted was a b*** j**".

There is make-up for children and dolls dressed in six-inch heels and fish nets - and stationery with a global porn brand stamped on it.

The notion of little girls enjoying dress-up is nothing new. What is concerning is that many of the choices now available encourage them to engage and experiment with themes they may not be developmentally ready to engage with.

By over-emphasising their sexuality through fashion it may make it harder for girls to value themselves for other aspects of their identity.

In their report on the sexualisation of girls, the American Pychological Association say that when girls are dressed in miniature versions of adult clothes, there is the danger people will project adult motives and responsibility on to them.

And this in turn may have the impact of normalising the sexual abuse of children.

Sexual curiosity is a normal feature of childhood. Girls have stuffed tissues in their bras to make their chests bigger for decades.

But there is a big difference between that and being sold ways to promote a sexuality they do not have.

It's time we worked together with retailers. Organisations such as the NSPCC and academics working in this area need to advise retailers on what is right and wrong (and why) for children to recover from the situation we are currently faced with.

There is preliminary evidence to suggest a clear connection between STIs, violence in teenage relationships and eating disorders and the sexualisation of our children And what is happening in retail is just part of the bigger picture.

There seems to be a general acceptance that children do not need to be protected from sexual issues at an early age, when clearly they do.