The Bailey Review (titled "Letting Children Be Children") was an inquiry into what was described as "the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood". It was commissioned by the UK
Coalition government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
in response to the manifesto commitments of the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
and
Liberal Democrat
Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties ...
parties in the
2010 general election. The Coalition believed that children in the UK were "being pressured to grow up too quickly", and sought recommendations on how to address what they perceived as public concern about this. On 6 December 2010
Michael Gove
Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...
,
Secretary of State for Education
The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...
, appointed Reg Bailey CBE,
Chief Executive
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of the
Mothers’ Union
The Mothers' Union is an international Christian charity that seeks to support families worldwide. Its members are not all mothers or even all women, as there are many parents, men, widows, singles and grandparents involved in its work. Its main ai ...
(which had previously launched the "Bye Buy Childhood" report and campaign on the issue) to lead the Review. The results were published on 6 June 2011.
Recommendations
The review made 14 recommendations:
# Ensure that magazines and newspapers with sexualised images on their covers are not in easy sight of children.
# Reduce the amount of on-street advertising containing sexualised imagery in locations where children are likely to see it.
# Ensure the content of pre-watershed television programming better meets parents’ expectations.
# Introduce age rating for music videos.
# Make it easier for parents to block adult and age-restricted material from the internet.
# Develop a retail code of good practice on retailing to children.
# Ensure that the regulation of advertising reflects more closely parents’ and children’s views.
# Prohibit the employment of children as brand ambassadors and in peer-to-peer marketing.
# Define a child as under the age of 16 in all types of advertising regulation.
# Raise parental awareness of marketing and advertising techniques.
# Introduce quality assurance for media and commercial literacy resources and education for children.
# Ensure greater transparency in the regulatory framework by creating a single website for regulators.
# Make it easier for parents to express their views to businesses about goods and services.
# Ensure that businesses and others take action on these recommendations.
Criticism
Criticism after publication centred on the remit given by the Government. It was claimed that there was no open inquiry into the issue and the results were presupposed by the terms of reference. There was no attempt to define the "sexualisation" that was the basis of the enquiry, merely acknowledging that it was highly subjective. Questionnaires used were described as containing leading questions. The consultation focussed on the views of parents rather than women's rights organisations or experts on children. The choice of a representative of the Mothers' Union to lead the enquiry was seen, by some, as reinforcing this focus.
The recommendation of a voluntary code of conduct rather than legislation was seen as potentially ineffective. The lack of any reference to mandatory sex and relationships education or a strategy on ending violence against women and girls were seen as significant omissions.
Implementation
Opaque screens on magazine shelves have been introduced by some supermarkets to hide the partial nudity found on some magazine covers from children. In 2013
The Co-operative Food
Co-op Food is a brand used for the food retail business of The Co-operative Group in the United Kingdom.
Prior to reintroducing the brand in 2016, the group used " The Co-operative" branding, which is still used by a number of consumers' co- ...
called for publishers to put such magazines in sealed bags. In 2014 supermarkets
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
and
Waitrose
Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
announced that they would be redesigning their newspaper displays to prevent the front pages of tabloid newspapers being seen by children. The move followed a joint campaign between
No More Page 3
No More Page 3 was a campaign that ran in the United Kingdom from 2012 to 2015, aimed at convincing the owners and editors of '' The Sun'' to cease publishing images of topless glamour models on Page 3, which it had done since 1970. Started by Lu ...
and ''Child Eyes''.
'Active choice' filtering of adult content on the Internet (whereby the customer is required to actively decide whether or not to activate parental controls) in the UK by
ISP
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
s was also introduced in 2014.
See also
*
Sexualization
Sexualization (or sexualisation) is to make something sexual in character or quality or to become aware of sexuality, especially in relation to men and women. Sexualization is linked to sexual objectification. According to the American Psychologi ...
*
Byron Review The Byron Review, titled "Safer Children in a Digital World", was a report ordered in September 2007 by the then prime minister Gordon Brown and delivered on the 27 March 2008 to the UK Department for Children, Schools and Families. It was authored ...
*
Internet censorship in the United Kingdom
Internet censorship in the United Kingdom is conducted under a variety of laws, judicial processes, administrative regulations and voluntary arrangements. It is achieved by blocking access to sites as well as the use of laws that criminalise pub ...
References
External links
The Bailey Review{{Use dmy dates, date=February 2019
Reports of the United Kingdom government
2011 in British politics