Exploiting Childhood: How Fast Food, Material Obsession and Porn Culture are Creating New Forms of Child Abuse

Children deserve to live a life that is safe from exploitation and harm, but are we failing in our duty to protect them? Childhood today is big business - it is impossible for any child growing up to avoid pervasive and intense marketing from companies. Whether it be for fatty foods resulting in childhood obesity, expensive franchised toys which encourage tension within families and stigma among friends, or 'pornified' role models who pervert children's ideas of sexuality, research clearly shows that commercial pressures are having a direct impact on children's psychological development and health. This book draws together a series of hard-hitting articles contributed by key thinkers on child welfare and child psychology including Oliver James, Susie Orbach and Gail Dines. Together they identify new and emerging forms of child exploitation, and editor Jim Wild constructs a powerful argument for why current child protection procedures designed to protect children from abuse are no longer adequate. Outspoken and challenging, this book invites us to consider our responsibility for preventing the harm children are experiencing, and is required reading for anyone concerned with the welfare of children.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction. Jim Wild, The Centre for Active & Ethical Learning, UK. Section I: Commercial Exploitation. 2. Introducing Selfish Capitalism. Oliver James, Psychologist and Author, UK. 3. Arguments, Bullies and Feeling Poor: How Consumer Culture Affects Children's Relationships. Professor Agnes Nairn, EM-Lyon Business School, France. 4. Child Obesity and the Junk Food Marketeers. Tim Lobstein, Curtin University, Australia. 5. The Science of Violent Entertainment. Dr. Wayne Warburton, Macquarie University, Australia. 6. Changing Childhoods: Nature Deficit. James Hawes, counsellor and psychotherapist, UK. 7. The Myth of Choice for Children and Parents: Why We Deny the Harm Being Caused to Our Children. Professor Renata Salecl, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Section II: Sexual Exploitation. 8. The Commercialisation of Girls' Bodies. Susie Orbach, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst and writer, UK. 9. Grooming Our Girls: Hypersexualisation of the Culture as Child Sexual Abuse. Gail Dines, feminist anti-pornography activist, author and professor, Wheelock College, Massachusetts, USA. 9. The Internet: A Global Market for Child Sexual Abuse. Sharon Girling OBE, UK. 10. Sex, Sexuality and Child Sexual Abuse. Professor Liz Kelly CBE, London Metropolitan University, UK. 11. Children, Childhood and Sexualized Popular Culture. Dr Maddy Coy. Section III: Fighting Back Against Commercial and Sexual Exploitation. 12. Helping Children to Stand Up to Society - Critical Challenges and Culture Jamming. Professor Stephen D. Brookfield, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, USA. 13. Still Waters in a Storm: The Power of Collective Learning. Stephen Haff, Still Waters in a Storm, New York, USA. 14: Riots, Rebellion and Finding New Utopias. Adam Barnard, Nottingham Trent University, UK. 15. Conclusion: A New Category of Child Abuse. Jim Wild.