When it comes to fashion and the pop star, the influence they have over our children has always been something that's called into question.
My own niece is now 8 years old and is a big fan of UK girl group Little Mix - my sister recently bought their latest album for her but was a bit worried by some of the lyrical content containing sexual references and by the revealing and racy outfits that the girls sometimes wear on stage and in promotional images.
Of course they need to appeal to all audiences and it's no secret that sex sells, but are they really suitable role models for an easily influenced 8 year old?
People tend to pass comment that this idea of pop stars becoming overly sexualised is a new thing, but I have to disagree - 10 years ago when I ran a childrens drama group the big pop group of the time were the Pussycat Dolls (Yes that really was 10 years ago!) and they were pretty provocative in their dress sense and dance movies - watching my 8 year old students recreate that dance moves was always quite a cringey moment!
And even back in my own childhood, the likes of Madonna and Cyndi Lauper would be wearing their lacy bras as outerwear rather than underwear and singing about underage pregnancies - so has it ever really been any different?
Of course children like to emulate the stars that they admire but do they really put much thought into what they're doing? Do the things that to us as adults seem sexual and inappropriate actually even ping up on their radar? or to their innocent minds, is a bra top simply just a fashionable item of clothing and nothing more?
When I wanted to dress like Madonna, I saw nothing racy about it - I simply wanted to dress up like my idol and dance around like she did. Just as children like to dress up as fire fighters, police officers, and doctors - I wanted to dress up like Madonna and my niece wants to dress up like Little Mix...there's really nothing more to it than that.
The above infographic was created by Gear4DJs - Uk suppliers of DJ equipment.
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