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I've discussed the issue of and their impact on young girls with some former and present fans (my 14- and 8-year old daughters) and they say they don't get it. I pointed out some of the objections made in the American Psychological Association report, but they said "wasn't the same fuss made about Barbie?"

(We finally let them have Barbies after vigorous resistance because they kept getting them as presents from friends at birthday parties - they promise me they are unscarred.)

There is a possibility that concerned parents are transferring their own natural fears and insipient guilt to imaginary 'unconcerned parents' - I showed something of that when I spoke on the programme yesterday about my shock seeing five-year-olds wearing T-shirts carrying the word 'flirt' or other apparently sexually provocative slogans. I even said "you wonder what their parents are thinking..."

Maybe their parents aren't thinking at all - but maybe that's just my prejudice. Perhaps their parents have decided that making a fuss just makes a passing fad led by peer pressure more dangerous than just letting it go.

My wife and I certainly worry about the effect on our daughters of pop videos and fashion mags. When my 14-year old showed what I judged was an unhealthy interest in the kind of hip hop music that uses lyrics denigrating women I rushed out and bought her some feminist classics. (Generally that's my solution to most problems - buy a book.)

I'm not a psychologist (well amateur, like all of us) and I wouldn't argue with the APA even if I wanted to - which I don't. Marketing thongs and lacy knickers to 7-yr-olds seems weird and dangerous to me, too.

And I'm surprised and disappointed that in recent years so-called lads mags valuing women only for their body image have become more popular, not less.

But if that's a failure by the whole of society, or just by those who publish and read them, maybe it's too early to say.

And whether girls who are taught to respect themselves however others behave towards them can push through the barriers of ignorance and prejudice (and they'll have to because no one in the West is forcing the dolls off the shelves or closing down TV channels) we're bound to find out.

Below are some of your comments on this issue, to worldupdate@bbc.co.uk

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I'll begin an occasional series of posts monitoring how much blogging and its successors (I'm sure there is already one out there , we just don't know its name) will impact the US presidential election of 2008.

Barack Obama has already turned his website into a . The front page gives anyone who accesses the site a feeling of being part of 'the movement' the moment they pull it up.

Hillary Clinton's site looks more traditional (on the Internet, something more than six monts old becomes a tradition) with more attention to layout than interactivity. But there is a blog button, where you read:

"Soon we'll launch the official blog of HillaryClinton.com, a crucial part of our exciting national conversation about the direction of our country..."

John McCain has hired some websavvy help too, it seems - his site offers:
The ability to create a MyMcCain personal website
The ability to customize the appearance of this website (coming soon)

I'll check other candidates as I have time.

And tell me if you think it's all fluff or serious online democracy.

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It would be nice to think that nearly 18 years after the start of the process which brought Eastern European Communism to an end and more than eleven years since the fighting stopped in Bosnia, the countries of the region were reaching the end of the phase known as 'transition'.

In some cases, that might be said: Hungary and the Czech Republic, for example, have democracies - but they are .

Slovenia is stable and successful. But the other nations in the region, especially those that went through war, are still facing uncertain futures.

We don't report that much these days - there are other more desperate nations that push their way into our headlines day by day.

Professor Zoran Pajic, one of the commentators who made the most sense during the Balkan wars, explains in the latest edition of , just how long it takes to move from no democracy to sustainable, open politics.

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