Donegal girls as young as four years are already beginning to see themselves as sex objects, a new survey by a local business has found.
The company, founded by Ballybofey businessman Ian Harkin, said girls are already seeing themselves as sex objects and have a worrying preoccupation with their body image.
Arklu, which is moving its base from London to Letterkenny in the New Year, has recently brought out Lottie, which is being dubbed the world’s first asexual doll for children.
The survey of 350 parents of girls aged 3-9 in Ireland found
• 84% of parents said girls are being pressured into growing up too quickly; it is a real concern.
• 85% of parents said manufacturers and retailers have a responsibility to tackle this.
One of the women surveyed was Lynn Kavanagh agreed that shops are having a huge influence on her 3 year old daughter.
“She sees kiddie versions of adult underwear in the shops and wants to be like mummy and have them. To me they shouldn’t be available, and sexualise girls at too young an age.”
Lucie Follett, Director and co-founder of Arklu, say they hope their Lottie doll will allow children to play with dolls without seeing them as sex objects.
“We were initially influenced by research by Dr Margaret Ashwell OBE which concluded that current fashion dolls on the market could promote girls’ insecurity about their body image.
“We decided to investigate further and look into other concerns that parents have for their young daughters and we fed many of those key points into our doll development. Ultimately, we wanted to create a doll that is fun, but one that provides a refreshing alternative”.