The financial firm Deloitte estimates each U.S. family with school age children will spend an average of $501 per child this year on such things as clothes, school supplies, computers, and electronic “gadgets.” American Family Association‘s Walker Wildmon says there are plenty of businesses where families can shop, but he suggests parents should steer clear of one in particular.

“Folks should not go to Target because of their dangerous bathroom policy and fitting room policy,” he tells OneNewsNow. “This is what we’ve been asking of our supporters for the past year and a half now, but especially during this time of year when folks are going to buy school supplies.”

The retailer’s policy puts women and children at risk, says AFA.

Wildmon

“About 18 months ago, Target came out and announced that they would have a restroom policy and a changing room policy that essentially allows anyone to go anywhere, as long as they self-identify,” the AFA spokesman explains.

Wildmon’s concerns have proven to be well-founded. He shares that AFA “has cited over a dozen or more instances of people in Target stores … where they’ve been [victimized by voyeurs] or videoed while in the changing room by someone of the opposite sex.”

Can a boycott make a difference? One and a half million people have signed AFA’s boycott. That represents roughly 660,000 households – and at the average of $501 dollars per child, that’s at least $330 million dollars that wouldn’t be going into Target’s coffers; and even more if families with more than one child follow through on the pledge to shop elsewhere, as AFA says, “until Target makes the safety of women and children a priority.”