No Rock And Roll Fun

DOES BRITNEY COME ROUND TO YOUR HOUSE AND DRESS YOU GIRL UP IN A BOOBTUBE, TOO?: Teachers leader Jim O'Neil has got himself all flustered and angry at what popstars are doing to our kids:

"Someone has to say 'stop' to the dumbing down of standards in our society. Kylie Minogue might be a great singer but in many of these things you can see more of her bottom than you hear of her voice... [Christina Aguilera] is another one who likes to show off her legs. Britney Spears was promoted as being ideal for girls - the virgin thing and everything else. Now that seems to have gone - she's quite raunchy now, when I think back to the fact she was projected as this country girl with flowing skirts and petticoats."

We're not sure who he's thinking of here, but we suspect he might have confused Britney with Billie Jo Spears.

Now, we've mentioned before that we find things like the marketing link-up between Aguilera and Barbie is a bit disturbing, but the general point - that there are raunchy popstars and that is bad is very, very wrongheaded. The problem lays with parents who don't bother to pay any attention or thought into what it is their children are consuming - the ones who will think nothing of letting their eight year old go to see the Stripped Tour, or who dress their preteens up in hotpants because its what Kylie wears. The existence of saucy young popstrels in short skirts isn't a bad thing in itself - we tend to think done well, it can be a very good thing indeed - it's the lack of parental (or guardianial) supervision that causes the problems. Kylie doesn't let your daughter dress like a strumpet. You do.