Childhood Sexuality


Book Description

What is “normal sexual behavior” in a child? Childhood sexuality is an often neglected field in sex research. There is very little literature about what one might call “normal child sexual behavior.” The existing literature on child sexuality gives the impression that the only way in which children figure in sexological research is as objects of sexual abuse. The child, as a subject learning about sexuality and capable of experiencing sexual pleasures, doesn't seem to exist in scholarly papers. Childhood Sexuality: Normal Behavior and Development does not focus on sexual abuse but instead deals with what can be described as “normal” sexual behavior and development in children under age 12. This valuable book offers information about the relationship between age and sexual development, both mental and physical, in both males and females. Childhood Sexuality: Normal Behavior and Development explores several issues, including: what children ages two to six think or know about sexuality the ways that children learn about sexuality and procreation the process of body discovery among children what normal sexual behaviors to expect in children of various ages the importance of growing up in a positive environment the differences in sexual development between children of the same age and gender ways to get honest answers from children and parents about sexuality Comprehensive and enlightening, Childhood Sexuality examines the difficulties of gathering this information from children and gives insight into questions that need to be answered in the future. This guide delivers a diverse look at the complex and intriguing topic of normal child sexuality and the progress that is being made in this area of research.




The Fear of Child Sexuality


Book Description

Continued public outcries over such issues as young models in sexually suggestive ads and intimate relationships between teachers and students speak to one of the most controversial fears of our time: the entanglement of children and sexuality. In this book, Steven Angelides confronts that fear, exploring how emotional vocabularies of anxiety, shame, and even contempt not only dominate discussions of youth sexuality but also allow adults to avoid acknowledging the sexual agency of young people. Introducing case studies and trends from Australia, the United Kingdom, and North America, he challenges assumptions on a variety of topics, including sex education, age-of-consent laws, and sexting. Angelides contends that an unwillingness to recognize children’s sexual agency results not in the protection of young people but in their marginalization.




Gender and Childhood Sexuality in Primary School


Book Description

This book is an ethnography of teachers and children in grades 1 and 2, and presents arguments about why we should take gender and childhood sexuality seriously in the early years of South African primary schooling. Taking issue with dominant discourses which assumes children’s lack of agency, the book questions the epistemological foundations of childhood discourses that produce innocence. It examines the paradox between teachers’ dominant narratives of childhood innocence and children’s own conceptualisation of gender and sexuality inside the classroom, with peers, in heterosexual games, in the playground and through boyfriend-girlfriend relationships. It examines the nuances and finely situated experiences which draw attention to hegemonic masculinity and femininity where boys and girls challenge and contest relations of power. The book focuses on the early makings of gender and sexual harassment and shows how violent gender relations are manifest even amongst very young boys and girls. Attention is given to the interconnections with race, class, structural inequalities, as well as the actions of boys and girls as navigate gender and sexuality at school. The book argues that the early years of primary schooling are a key site for the production and reproduction of gender and sexuality. Gender reform strategies are vital in this sector of schooling.




Trauma and Sexuality


Book Description

Examine the effects of childhood trauma on sexual orientation and behavior! This pioneering book examines the effects of childhood trauma—including sexual abuse—on sexual orientation and behavior. It will help you expand your sensitivity and expertise in a critically important way: by providing a nonjudgmental look at the profound effects of long-standing early abuse on the sexual identities, orientation, behaviors, and fantasies of the people who come to you for help. From the editors: “In the modern era of trauma studies, clinicians and researchers have been treating and investigating the effects of trauma—including the sexual abuse of children—for more than two decades. And yet, we know far more about sequelae such as post-traumatic and dissociative symptoms, disrupted attachment, addictions, eating disorders, and somatoform symptoms than we do about the effects of trauma on sexual behavior. With the exception of a relatively few articles in the scientific literature (many of which were written by the authors in this collection), little has been published about the sexual effects of sexual abuse and other childhood maltreatment. “Why have we neglected this obvious and important area? Perhaps the reason can be simply attributed to our Victorian legacy of reluctance to openly discuss sexuality. Or, perhaps the reason may be related to some of the expressions of sexuality that are sometimes seen in persons with childhood trauma. At times, expressions such as sexual addiction, homosexuality, sadomasochistic behavior, and prostitution have been classified as deviant. This may have contributed to our reluctance to discuss them openly. Or, perhaps the reason is that we collectively wish to deny the effects of abuse on one of the core aspects of ourselves—to deny that early traumatic events forever change the sexual lives of persons in such an intimate and profound way.” The co




Sexual Development in Childhood


Book Description

Approached with either "indifference" or "panic" in our culture, discussion of childhood sexuality remains submerged within political and moral debates that have historically impeded its understanding. In contrast, Sexual Development in Childhood brings together respected researchers and clinicians to assess the current state of knowledge about childhood sexuality. The result is a comprehensive presentation of the latest research that is rational, balanced, and thorough. The wide-ranging essays in Sexual Development in Childhood seek collectively to answer many of the most vital questions in the field of childhood development. What is childhood sexuality, and why should it be studied? How should it be measured, and what research methods are most useful? What are the current empirical results of research, and in what direction do these studies intend to go in the future? The essays offered in answer to these questions propose to help us understand both the normal range of sexual development in children and the consequences of abusive sexual experiences—objectives that should make this volume an essential resource for teachers, advocates, and social policy professionals as well as for researchers and clinicians.




Childhood and Sexuality


Book Description




The Cambridge Handbook of Sexual Development


Book Description

The Cambridge Handbook of Sexual Development is a carefully curated conversation that brings together the top researchers in child and adolescent sexual development to redefine the issues, conflicts, and debates in the field. The Handbook is organized around three foundational questions: first, what is sexual development? Second, how do we study sexual development? And third, what roles might adults - including the institutions of the media, family, and education - play in the sexual development of children and adolescents? As the first of its kind, this collection integrates work from sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, education, cultural studies, and allied fields. Writing from different disciplinary traditions and about a range of international contexts, the contributors explore the role of sexuality in children's and adolescents' everyday experiences of identity, family, school, neighborhood, religion, and popular media.




Understanding Your Child's Sexual Behavior


Book Description

When a child under 12 engages in sexual behaviours, many parents wonder if this is a cause for concern, or natural and healthy. The author, a clinical psychologist, uses her expertise on child abuse and child sexuality to answer questions and to provide guidelines to help parents understand which behaviours are problematic and which are a normal part of exploration and play.




Rethinking Gender and Sexuality in Childhood


Book Description

'Here be dragons' was the traditional warning used by ancient mapmakers to indicate dangerous, or simply unknown, lands. These were the dwelling places of fantastical beasts, creatures such as dragons, sea serpents, unicorns, griffins and mermaids. Throughout the ages, such beasts have been viewed in complex and contradictory ways because they embody both our fear and our fascination of the unpredictable natural world around us. They appear in the earliest myths and accompany the heroes of medieval romance and folktales. Whether as the symbolic creatures of myth, or as the marvellous beasts of medieval legend and travellers' tales, fantastic animals have always inspired art and literature. Today they feature among the many marvels that populate the alternative worlds of fantasy and the outer reaches of cyberspace. Drawing on sources as diverse as myth, history and folklore, this book explores the ways in which mythical beasts continue to inhabit our fantasies and to define our constantly changing relationship to both real and imagined worlds.




Childhood Sexuality and AIDS Education


Book Description

Primary schoolchildren are frequently shielded from education on sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases in an effort to protect their innocence. In countries like South Africa, where AIDS is particularly widespread, it is especially important to address prevention with younger boys and girls as active social agents with the capacity to engage with AIDS as gendered and sexual beings. This volume addresses the question of children’s understanding of AIDS, not simply in terms of their dependence but as active participants in the interpretation of their social worlds. The volume draws on an interview and ethnographic based study of young children in two socially diverse South African primary schools, as well as interviews conducted with teachers and mothers of young children. It shows how adults sustain the production of childhood sexual innocence, and the importance of scaling up programs in AIDS intervention, gender and sexuality. It makes significant contributions to the global debate around childhood sexualities, gender and AIDS education.