“IT’S just the start.”

That is the message from one Hampshire campaigner who is urging all retailers to follow The Co-operative’s lead and cover up “harmful” lads’ mags from children’s view.

Lena Munday, a founding member of campaign group Child Eyes, said all shops must act now to protect children from porn and sexually explicit images.

And the mum-of-one said it isn’t just about scantily-clad female models - children should also be protected from semi-naked male models too.

It comes after the retail group has given publishers of lads’ magazines an ultimatum to cover up raunchy front covers in sealed “modesty bags” or face having them removed from the shelves of its 4,000 stores as a result of concerns from customers.

Titles such as Front, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo have been given until September 9 to deliver the magazines in presealed bags. The Cooperative had already introduced opaque screens on shelves earlier this month to shield children from “lewd pictures” on front covers.

Lena, 36, who became involved with Child Eyes after she was outraged that sexually explicit images are regularly displayed in the eye line of youngsters in Hampshire and sometimes even directly next to children’s comics, said: “We’re completely delighted, this is exactly what we have been campaigning for and I really applaud The Co-op’s social responsibility on this because it is hugely worrying that young children are able to look at potentially harmful images every time they go into shops.

“This isn’t just a few parents who have complained, we are talking thousands of people who have been affected by this so it is vital other shops follow suit to provide a more positive environment for kids.

“This is a triumph but this is by no means complete. It’s a step in the right direction but they are just small steps and there is still a long way to go.

“I hope other organisations – the bigger chains and the independents will see sense and finally create family friendly stores.”

The latest move comes amid increasing debate about the effects of sexual images on children, with David Cameron setting out a raft of reforms which will introduce family-friendly filters that automatically block internet porn unless customers chose to opt out.

Two years ago recommendations in a Government review said that magazines and newspapers should be displayed only on the top shelf or have the images on the front covered by a “modesty sleeve.” The six-month review was launched amid concern about the sexualisation and commercialisation of children in Britain.

Reg Bailey, whose report prompted the review would help tear down the sexual “wallpaper” surrounding today’s young people and give parents a stronger voice in regulation.

The National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) code says adult material should be on the top shelf. It recommends also that men’s lifestyle magazines should not be displayed next to children’s titles or at a level which can be seen by children.

But Lena said that isn’t always the case and is often forced to field questions from her ten-year-old son Finn.

She said once he was looking at a Moshi Monsters magazine next to a stack of tabloids with scantily clad women on their front pages.

But according to Lena shops should also protect children from half-naked ‘hypermasculine’ men on the covers.

The St Denys resident, whose campaigning group calls for the Government to make it illegal to display pornography and sexualised images in public places, said: “In the same way as the lads’ mags, how can hypermasculinity as an ideal not be anything but damaging to young boys?

“Children are really impressionable so growing up they may only have these very one dimensional images to base their own ideals upon.

It’s all about the body but not about what people actually are inside.

“This is a huge social and cultural issue and it is now time for retailers to start being more socially responsible because most people are fed up of being confronted by the sexualised imagery that has become like wallpaper every time they pop out for some milk.”