Kids Free 2B Kids founder Julie Gale has called for the action after a Melbourne adult shop featured a window display with a ‘back to school’ theme, including adult sized school uniforms and a blackboard.
Patten said that the display had absolutely nothing to do with children and was aimed at adult women who enjoyed dressing up and playing with fantasy roles.
“These costumes are worn to a variety of events like school reunions and office parties where there is no sexual connotation at all. But even when they are being worn by women who enjoy dressing up sexually for their partners, Ms. Gale has no right to try and tell women how they should behave in the bedroom,” she said.
“This is the same as telling Muslim women they shouldn’t be wearing burquas, nuns that they shouldn’t be wearing habits or young women out for the night that they shouldn’t be wearing provocative clothing. Women should be free to wear whatever they want to.”
Patten said that Australia had a solid tradition of adult performers dressing up in school uniforms.
“Chrissie Amphlett from the Divinyls and Angus Young from AC/DC are creative performers and great role models for aspiring musicians who both chose school uniforms with varying degrees of sexual overtures for their signature acts”, she said. “Plenty of young people have watched these performers over the years without turning into rapists or nymphomaniacs.”
According to industry sources, the three biggest sellers in adult fantasy costumes were french maid, nurse and schoolgirl and that over the last few years sales in fantasy costumes have increased by 70 percent.
