Childhood and Sexuality

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

   Pages 1-21

3. Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Childhood and Sexuality

   • Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

   Pages 23-58

4. Law, Policy and Practice: National and International Dimensions

   • Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

   Pages 59-78

5. The Age of Consent

   • Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

   Pages 79-98

6. Constructing and Managing Risk: The Example of Teenage Pregnancy

   • Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

   Pages 99-120

7. The Sexualisation of Childhood

   • Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

   Pages 121-141

8. Diversity and Difference

   • Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

   Pages 143-169

9. Sex and Sexuality Education

   • Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

   Pages 171-195

10. Sexual Literacy

    • Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

    Pages 197-224

11. Sex, Sexuality and Social Media: A New and Pressing Danger?

    • Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

    Pages 225-246

12. Conclusion: Reconciling Childhood and Sexuality

    • Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

    Pages 247-266

13. Back Matter

    Pages 267-305

    PDF

This book explores how children engage with sex and sexuality. Building on a conceptual and legal grounding in sexuality studies and the new sociology of childhood, the authors debate the age of consent, teenage pregnany, sexual diversity, sexualisation, sex education and sexual literacy, paedophilia, and sex in the digital age. Whilst Moore and Reynolds recognise the necessity of child protection and safeguarding in the context of risk, danger and harm, they also argue that where these stifle children’s sexual knowledge, understanding, expression and experience, they contribute to a climate of fear, ignorance and bad experiences or harms. What is necessary is to balance safeguarding with enabling, and encourage judicious understandings that advance from a rigid developmental model to one that recognises pleasure and excitement in children’s nascent sexual lives. Exploring that balance through their chosen issues, they seek to encourage changed thinking in professional, personal and academic contexts, and speculate that children might teach adults something about the way they think about sex.  

Childhood and Sexuality will be of interest to students, scholars and professionals across a range of subjects and disciplines including sociology, social work, criminology, and youth studies.

• behavior
• childhood
• children
• psychology
• sex
• social science
• sociology
• childhood studies
• sexual behaviour

“A vital contribution to the wider dialogue about sexuality and childhood that our society must have.” (Jeffrey Weeks OBE )

“Moore and Reynolds insightfully illuminate the complexities at the heart of our culture's concerns surrounding children and their sexuality through a deep and thoroughly engaged analysis of the law, education and the media. Beautifully written and […] a must read.” (R. Danielle Egan, Connecticut College, USA)

• Department of Social Sciences, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, United Kingdom

  Allison Moore, Paul Reynolds

Allison Moore is Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences at Edge Hill University, UK.

Paul Reynolds is Reader in Sociology and Social Philosophy at Edge Hill University, UK. 

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