Bras for 6 year olds wrong, NZ store decides

Photo / Herald on Sunday

A range of bras for girls as young as six, attacked in Australia as "irresponsible", will not be sold in New Zealand.

The brightly coloured bras, known as "bralettes", are available in Australia, and critics say children as young as six years old have been pressuring their parents into buying them.

The garments, made by Bonds underwear, are being sold in Australian K-Mart stores and start in a child's size six. They have come on to the market after padded bras, which have been developed for girls as young as eight.

But Bonds New Zealand spokeswoman Nicola Brook said the company had made the decision that selling bras for girls that young was wrong.

The decision has been welcomed by Family First leader Bob McCoskrie, who hoped other clothing manufacturers would take heed.

He believed exposing young girls to bras at that age could lead to other disorders later in life.

"It's effectively pornification of children; some people have labelled it corporate paedophilia," he said.

Auckland University associate professor in clinical child psychology Dr Ian Lambie said there was scientific evidence suggesting that girls were developing earlier than they were a century ago.

But he questioned the company's intentions in introducing the range of clothing.

"You really wonder if it sexualises young girls, which is obviously inappropriate, and it's not a good message that they need to wear this to feel better about themselves or to feel fashionable," he said.

"It's not a good message for themselves to have and not good for society to have. You can't see logically why this would be warranted at all."

The Herald Sun reported that child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg had urged people to boycott Bonds to send the company a strong message opposing the "adultification" of children.

" The only thing you can do is hit them where it hurts. I would call for a national boycott of all Bonds' products," he said.