The P word, used indiscriminately in recent weeks of Catholic priests who sexually molested minors, has scared a British retailer into withdrawing bikinis with padded bras aimed at seven-year-olds from sale.
The retailer acted within hours of a front-page article in The Sun denouncing the product as a “pedo (pedophile) bikini”.
Now we know how to get rid of this stuff. Good.
Primark, a popular discount chain, is not the first retailer to draw criticism for offering padded bras for kids younger than 10. But the outcry of protest is prompting a growing number of companies to pledge support for Mumsnet’s “Let Girls Be Girls” campaign.
As Mumsnet says, such items “encourages a culture in which children are viewed as sexually available”. And with politicians joining the chorus of condemnation — “completely disgraceful” said Conservative leader David Cameron — Primark showed true penitence:
Announcing the immediate withdrawal of the product, Primark promised to donate any profits from the item to a children’s charity. The product line, it added, “sells in relatively small quantities”.
Good work, you British mums. As for The Sun — good to see that the tabloid draws the line at the pornification of little girls, but what about the older ones who decorate so many of its pages?
