This just appeared on NewsTalk, one of Australia's talk radio blogs, with lots of supportive comments below. I don't know anything about this bra, having never seen one, but the description was certainly interesting ;)

DR MICHAEL CARR-GREGG: Get a load of this:

"We magnify the body, we perfect the silhouette, we help to cheat."

That was said about push-up bras by a woman who manages a French company which invented them.

A bra now being marketed to girls who haven't even hit their teens and, mostly, will not possess anything that needs support, let alone need a lacy push-up number.

In yet another example of the sexualisation of girls, Best and Less is selling the Tween-age Push-up Bra. Tweens have been defined as aged 6-12.

Now, as most people know, push-up bras are designed to show off cleavage. Obviously the inventors of the tween push-up bra don't care if there is no 'cleavage' to start with. They will help a young girl cheat and make it look like there is. Underwire padding, boosting: helping create the illusion that this little girl is much more developed than she really is.

And why would you want to do that exactly?

Why would a child need to have her body magnified? What is a perfect silhouette for a child? Why would a child be required to cheat? Why adultify little girls?

We are telling little girls that their bodies are not acceptable as they are. And that their bodies are supposed to draw attention, primarily male attention. The earlier these messages hit them, the more ingrained they become. They are being groomed to see their bodies as sexual objects.

Normalising and encouraging the appearance of breasts on prepubescent children puts them in danger.

We are witnessing the disappearance of spontaneity, unselfconsciousness, curiosity and fun in girls – qualities that were once valued for their role in developing a strong sense of self identity; enabling girls to journey into adulthood in a natural and healthy way. But now they are body conscious – indeed self-loathing – at younger ages, wracked by fear and self-doubt, wondering if they are good enough.

The manufacturers of the push-up bra for little girls know this, and are preying on it.

They need to be held accountable. Tell Best and Lest what you think. Email: feedback@bestandless.com.au, Phone: (02) 95613400.

This is my email to them:

I am a child and adolescent psychologist who works in the media and I am incandescent with rage with the bone brained individual in your company who thought it would be a brilliant idea to sell push up bras to prepubescent girls!

There are so many reasons why this runs counter to what we know is in the best interests of young girls - it is difficult to know where to start.

I can only refer you to the American Psychological Society Taskforce report on the impact of early sexualisation and hope that you reprimand the cretin who made this decision and immediately withdraw the product.

Sincerely

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg