So the BBC’s latest manufactured controversy is the shag band. Anyone who grew up in the ’80s or at any point thereafter really will have some vague recollection of these plastic bangles. For those of you that don’t recall, they are a collection of plastic wristbands sold for about 75p per bunch in a variety of colours, each supposedly associated with a different sexual act. The implication is that once a band is broken, you must carry out said sexual act.

Now, were this a hard and fast law of the playground, was the notion of the shag band taken seriously by anyone, were children indoctrinated into the rules of shag band etiquette from an early age; I would agree that this was a serious problem. However, as anyone who has ever owned a shag band will know, this is not the case. They are merely a fashion accessory that engenders a lot of girly giggling about boys and their *tee hee* willies.

To rail against shag bands as the sexualisation of children is to trivialise what is actually becoming an increasingly serious issue. If you want to talk about it, let’s talk about beauty pagents – the wigs, the make-up, the heels. Let’s talk about Bratz dolls. Let’s talk about the legitimisation of school-girl-sexy; not least through the now infamous Vogue cover featuring the fabulous Miss Lily Cole dressed as a school girl hugging a teddy bear.

Let’s not reduce what should be a far-reaching and introspective societal discussion to playground banter. In doing so, we are really missing the point.