Back
Home
Links
To Sites On Sexuality Of Children And Teenagers
Harmful
To Minors: The Perils Of Protecting Children From Sex - By Judith Levine
Sex is a wonderful, crucial part of growing up, and children and teens can enjoy
the pleasures of the body and be safe, too. In this important and crucial book,
Judith Levine makes this argument and goes further, asserting that America's
attempts to protect children from sex are worse than ineffectual. It is the
assumption of danger and the exclusive focus on protection - what Levine terms
"the sexual politics of fear" - that are themselves harmful to minors.
Through interviews with young people and their parents, stories drawn from
today's headlines, and a look back at the ways sex among children and teenagers
has been viewed throughout history, Judith Levine debunks some of the dominant
myths of our society. She examines and challenges widespread anxieties
(pedophilia, stranger kidnapping, Internet pornography) and sacred cows
(abstinence-based sex education, statutory rape laws). Levine investigates the
policies and practices that affect kids' sex lives - censorship, psychology, sex
and AIDS education, family, criminal, and reproductive law, and the journalism
that begs for "solutions" while inciting more fear. Levine provides
optimistic, though realistic, prescriptions for how we might do better in
guiding children toward loving well - that is, safely, pleasurably, and with
respect for others and themselves. (pp 299), hard cover, 40,95
Agee
Of Consent: How Old Is Enough
Age
Taboo: Age of consent
All
About Sex
Sexual
Hysteria: How it hurts people and society
Child
Sexual Development - By Loretta Haroian, Listed in Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality,
Volume 3, 2/01/00
Childhood
Sexuality
"Human beings have the tendency not to make judgments
based on facts, especially in sexual matters, but rather on simplified
abstractions of reality. New facts, including scientific research, are generally
not accepted or respected. This had long been the case with homosexuality.
Misguided notions thrived, and there was active resistance to any revision of
opinion." -Dr. Frits Bernard - Clinical Psychologist
"We know very little about sexual experiences of children. There are
many reasons for this, not the least is the fact that until recently we have not
admitted, and have not wanted to admit, that "normal" children have
sexual experiences. Freud alerted us to the sexual potentialities of the young,
but still we were loath to research the subject.
We need not and should not wait longer in researching the sexual potential
and sexual experiences of normal children, though there will be pockets of
resistance. The rewards will be greater than the fears and threats that will
accompany inquiry and free discussion. Sexually speaking, what are the young
capable of experiencing? What are they experiencing? Many parents, teachers, and
others interested in childhood and the effect of childhood experiences on adult
life will appreciate such inquiry."
The
Sexual Life Of Children - By Floyd M. Martinson
Teenage
Sexuality, Body Politics and the Pedagogy of Display - By Henry A. Giroux
Back
Home
Updated: 7/11/10