Children, Sexuality and Sexualization


Book Description

This volume presents a ground-breaking collection of interdisciplinary chapters from international scholars which complicate, and offers new ways to make sense of, children's sexual cultures across complex political, social and cultural terrains.




Children, Sexuality and Sexualization


Book Description

This volume presents a ground-breaking collection of interdisciplinary chapters from international scholars which complicate, and offers new ways to make sense of, children's sexual cultures across complex political, social and cultural terrains.




The Sexualization of Childhood


Book Description

Only a generation or two ago, childhood in the United States was understood to be a unique and vulnerable stage of development; a time for play and protection from adult preoccupations and responsibilities. In recent decades however, we appear to have jettisoned these norms, and the lines that separate the lifestyles of even very young children from adults are blurring. As widely known experts on the team that created this book explain, children begin formal education now in preschool, dress like adults, listen to the same music, play the same video games, explore the same Internet sites, and watch explicit depictions of sex and violence on TV and in movies. What is the impact of immersing children in a sexualized world? The Sexualization of Childhood first explains the nature of healthy sexual development. It then describes the ways in which children are being sexualized, and the physical and psychological consequences. It then looks at the lower and lower age at which girls are experiencing puberty, that reduction being fueled by the pseudoestrogens in so many of our foods and products, as well as obesity. Finally, it examines what we can do legally, politically, and as caregivers to protect children from developmentally inappropriate sexual experiences.




Children and the Politics of Sexuality


Book Description

This book discusses already established accounts about the sexualization of children through a theoretical and an empirical framework which bring together popular culture, consumption, sexuality, selfhood and childhood. Adopting the view that the debate about the sexualization of childhood is socially constructed, it pushes beyond the dominant preconceptions about ‘the risks of childhood’. Moral judgements about children’s welfare are perhaps nowhere more transient and controversial than when it comes to children’s sexuality, something that has deep historical roots. However, and contrary to recurrent fears and moral panics about the loss of childhood as a result of a tidal wave of a sexualizing culture, this book theorizes the notion of children’s sexualization within the social construction of myths of childhood innocence while also taking into account the extent of young people’s actual engagement with media and technology in contemporary Western societies. It is within such a contextual framework that this book unfolds, bringing together a historical contextualization of childhood, sexuality and pornography with contemporary empirical accounts regarding the ‘presentation of the self’ and self-management.




Children, Sexuality and Sexualization


Book Description

This volume presents a ground-breaking collection of interdisciplinary chapters from international scholars which complicate, and offers new ways to make sense of, children's sexual cultures across complex political, social and cultural terrains.




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.




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 sexualityComprehensive 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.




So Sexy So Soon


Book Description

Risqué Halloween costumes for young girls. T-shirts that boast “Chick Magnet” for toddler boys. Sexy content on almost every television channel, as well as in movies and video games. Popular culture and technology inundate our boys and girls with an onslaught of graphic sexual messages at earlier ages than ever before. Without the emotional sophistication to understand what they are doing and seeing, kids are getting into increasing trouble emotionally and socially. Parents are left shaking their heads, wondering: How did this happen? What can we do? Diane E. Levin, Ph.D., and Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., internationally recognized experts in, respectively, early childhood development and the impact of the media on children and teens, offer parents essential, age-appropriate strategies to counter the assault. Filled with savvy suggestions, helpful sample dialogues, and poignant stories from families dealing with these issues, So Sexy So Soon provides parents with the information, skills, and confidence they need to discuss sensitive topics openly and effectively–so their kids can just be kids.




Media and the Sexualization of Childhood


Book Description

Media and the Sexualization of Childhood examines the on-going debates surrounding the prominence of sexual themes in children’s lives, from clothes and accessories, toys and games, to music, entertainment media, advertising, and new media platforms. Parents, educators and politicians around the developed world have raised concerns about the effects all these experiences can have on the socialisation and psychological development of children and the extent to which the premature introduction of sexuality into their lives can place them at risk of unwanted attention. This book explores these issues using an evidence based approach that draws on research findings from around the world, representing the most comprehensive single account of the field. The book will be invaluable to students studying topics surrounding children and the media and childhood studies, as well as students of communication, media, cultural studies, sociology, psychology and health science.




Letting children be children


Book Description

This review by Reg Bailey, Chief Executive of Mothers' Union expresses the concerns at the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood. We are all living in an increasingly sexual and sexualised culture and many parents feel that his culture is often inappropriate for their children. This leaves many feeling that children are being encouraged to grow up too quickly and that we don't allow them to be children. This is compounded in some new media where there is limited regulation. The review makes 14 recommendations covering 4 themes. The aims of these being: i) that sexualised images used in public places and on television, the internet, music videos and other places are more in line with what parents find acceptable, and that public space becomes more family-friendly; ii) that retailers do not sell or market inappropriate products or services for children; iii) that regulations protecting children from excessive commercial pressures are comprehensive and effective; and iv) that parents find it easier to voice their concerns, are listened to more readily when they so and have their concerns visibly acted on by businesses and regulators. Ultimately of course these recommendations need to be implemented by broadcasters, advertisers, retailers, other businesses and regulators within a reasonable timescale