A Note from Steve Biddulph:

“There is now widespread concern in the community about children - especially girls, being portrayed as sexualised objects, in their pre-teens, early teens or even younger. The American Psychological Society in its landmark report has labelled this the greatest current threat to girls’ and young women’s mental health. They found that sexualisation - sexual behaviour imposed from the outside onto girls from the culture around them, leads to problems with body image and diet, being anxious and depressed about appearance, and being more likely to have sex that they did not actually want or were ready for. It also normalises sexual predation of younger and younger children.

Parents are verifying what the research is also saying - that girls have lost four years of childhood, and that “fourteen is the new eighteen”. Girls’ mental health has never been poorer, with problems requiring psychological care or treatment at unprecedented levels.

Dance and Performing Arts schools are a very large part of Australian childhood, and its been identified by many parents that the ideas of dress, the style of dance, the lyrics of music chosen, and the message from teachers themselves may, without realising it, be conditioning a sexualised self-image in children from a young age.

Kids dance, to be health promoting and psychologically positive, needs to be different to this.
I welcome and strongly encourage the adoption of the KidsPace Performing Arts Code of Practice, and will be recommending that parents seek this accreditation before allowing their child to attend a program or school. I hope it becomes obligatory as a matter of good sense."

Steve Biddulph AM
Adjunct Professor of Psychology
Author of 'Raising Girls', 'Raising Boys', and 'Secrets of Happy Children'