News:

Even though I read many articles online, every day, I like to have one physical newspaper that I buy from the shop and read. That is usually one of the broadsheet newspapers that cover local and international news with more depth and seriousness. As I walk into the shop to get my broadsheet paper, I sometimes see young people buying the UK’s tabloid newspapers such as the Sun or the Mirror. These tabloid papers thrive on reporting the smallest details of the film, music, and sport celebrities lives as well as the sexual scandals and gossip that they are involved in. Who slept with who? Who cheated on their wife, husband, boyfriend or girlfriend? Who wore the most revealing dress at the latest party? Who beat up their wife or girlfriend and other such matters are the daily staple of such papers. What is this doing to the minds of such young people? How will it shape their views of what is right and wrong? How does it affect their view of women?

Comment:

There have been recent cases of children sexually assaulting other children – even in some schools. These children were born pure and free from the ideas that lead them to undertake such actions. How did they come to commit such actions? What role does the increasingly sexualised environment in Western society play?

Many commentators argue that there is no connection between the increasingly sexualised imagery and content on TV, newspapers and popular culture and the behaviour of some young people towards girls and women. Although, a few people now complain that maybe things have gone too far and that the sexualisation of young children or the objectification of women in tabloid papers must end. However, the trend is that inappropriate images and content which used to be deemed extreme or offensive are now finding their way into mainstream newspapers and TV programs. All in the name of ‘freedom’! Where will this end? What new effects will we see in the young? This is a terrifying thought indeed.

It is no wonder that many Muslims are seeking to shelter their children from this explosion of material of a sexual nature, however this is becoming ever more difficult since such material seems to be all over the place. May Allah سبحانه وتعالى protect them.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Taji Mustafa

Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain