Peter Reynolds

No disrespect to the victims and survivors of the diabolical Manchester attack.  Neither do I wish to undermine the courage and generosity of Ariana Grande returning so soon to Manchester for a benefit concert.  But what are the parents of her teenage and pre-pubescent fans up to?    How has this phenomena happened in a world that is one minute sex-obsessed and the next overly-protective of children?

I’m not too old (yet) for my immediate reaction to images of Ms Grande to be “…phwooar!” but then I check myself because she’s hardly past childhood herself.  What is going on?  On the one hand we have the handwringing and pious condemnation of our highly sexualised society, on the other we have kids wearing ‘Porn Star’ t-shirts, thigh-high boots and all sorts of PVC, leather and even ‘chained’ fashion accessories.  We have the righteous prosecution of more and more sex offenders but also the terrible persecution of a small number of innocent men who are pursued by both media and prosecutors with a mixture of prurience and blind, injudicious revenge.

I don’t even know whether Ms Grande can sing but she certainly can dance and flaunt herself in very sexy, provocative fashion.  Surely more suitable for a night out in Amsterdam or Berlin rather than a children’s pop concert?