Warning over sexualisation

THE INCREASING sexualisation of society is one of the reasons behind the “shocking” number of women who are victims of sexual assaults, the Bishop of Worcester has said.

Bishop John Inge said the culture created an “enabling environment for sexual offences to develop”.

In a House of Lords debate, he said: “I feel that acutely as the father of two daughters, one aged eight and one aged 13.

“Reg Bailey, the chief executive of the Mothers’ Union, carried out an independent review of that in 2011, and noted the concern of parents on a number of issues, including the sexualised and gender stereotyping of clothing, products and services for children and pressure on children from a range of sources to act as consumers.

“Those are just the background, but I suggest that it is an important one. A lot of what we see is the result of that increasingly sexualised culture. The number of children suffering from sexual offending is one result.”

In the same debate, the Bishop of Derby, Alastair Redfern, called for the Government to take steps to “regulate behaviour”.

He pointed to the “terrible profusion of pornography and the freedom to access, make and trade it - and to involve people in it”.

He added: “Starting from the base of what people feel they want has seen an inordinate explosion of promiscuity in our society in the past 30 or 40 years.”