Abstract
In this paper we review some of the literature surrounding childhood sexuality and point to a lack of discussion of the possibility that children may be sexual agents. It is likely, we suggest, that children have some degree of sexual agency that ought to be supported in order to cultivate their present, and not simply their future, well-being. To make this argument we provide support for the claims that sexuality may be a good of childhood, and that a self-chosen and explored sexuality can be an aspect of children’s well-being. We are also aware that not all forms of sexual experience are good for children. We therefore suggest directions for future research that would clarify, among other things: ways in which sexuality may be a good of childhood; the nature of childhood sexual agency; the degree to which it should be respected; and connections between encouraging agency and preventing harm. This kind of discussion is necessary both so that we do not misrepresent the lives of children, and so that we may enable childhood flourishing.
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Notes
- 1.
A reaction dubbed “visceral clutch” by Masters and Johnson (Stainton Rogers and Stainton Rogers 1992: 162).
- 2.
For a defense of this position, not universally held, see Brennan and Noggle (1997).
- 3.
See Brennan (forthcoming), and Brennan (2002).
- 4.
As we discuss below, a person is autonomous when she has and uses the capacity to understand, deliberate between and endorse (or identify with) her desires, values, actions and so on, with the possibility of making significant choices between them. We would argue that she does not need to be self-transparent, perfectly informed, or uninfluenced by others, though she cannot be coerced in order to be autonomous. To be an autonomous agent, rather than simply an agent, is to be able to choose relatively freely rather than simply to chose. See John Christman’s article on “Autonomy in Moral and Political Philosophy” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- 5.
This suggestion resonates with Rousseau’s prescriptions for Emile.
- 6.
This image of the child in danger and in need of protection, and of the threat posed to childhood by sexuality, is explicit in Postman (1982).
- 7.
Daniel Monk concurs writing that “the traditional construction of the child as a non-sexual innocent” is often protected by “excluding the sexual child from the category of childhood itself” this time in using a medical model of childhood (Monk 2000: 187).
- 8.
The knowing child was a figure that was popular during the eighteenth century and which proved especially useful to social reformers who aimed to keep children off the streets, out of the factories and back in homes and schools. The purity movement of the time in fact used such images to strictly control female sexuality and to deny female pleasure (Piper 2000). The knowing child image resurfaced again during the depression in the 1930s and circulates today in discussions aimed at curbing abuse and youth pregnancy, restricting child pornography and international sex tourism, and even in discussions that advocate for abstinence-only sex education. Our point, and Piper’s, is that this definition of children desexes them so that, while it is crucial in many of these circumstances, protection comes at a price. Though in many cases protection is absolutely necessary the knowing child figure helps to solidify an image of children as victims and as passive non-agents who cannot be sexually autonomous—this is an image that can greatly limit the rights they are accorded regarding sexuality.
- 9.
- 10.
See Collins (1999) and government information available at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/09/teenpregnancy_chart.html, http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/09/teenpregnancy_abstinencegrants.html, and www.aids.gov/federal-resources/pacha/meetings/2012/may-2012-cse-resolution.pdf.
- 11.
See Brown (2011).
- 12.
See The Guardian (2011).
- 13.
See BBC News Online (2005).
- 14.
This empty understanding of childhood, writes Ellis Hanson, allows us to project our fantasies of innocence and corruption onto children “to construct, watch, enjoy the erotic child without taking any responsibility for our actions” (Hanson 2004: 134).
- 15.
For further information on teenage sexual behaviour in a Canadian context see McKay and Bissell (2010).
- 16.
For a discussion of adolescent sexuality and sex education that explicitly rejects this focus on danger see Moore and Rosenthal (1998).
- 17.
See The Oprah Winfrey Show (2002).
- 18.
Meeker (2004).
- 19.
The public response to the BBC article on teen pregnancy again illustrates this point. Respondents cite children’s mothers, schools and, though rarely, the older fathers of the girl’s babies as responsible, rarely examining the choices girls themselves make. One person writes, for example, “This mother is entirely to blame and her children should have their children taken away to be adopted by adults ready and willing to take on the responsibility of children” (BBC News Online 2005). Of course there is still a question of whether or not these girls could be expected to choose differently given their circumstances and lack of education, but that does not mean that children of this age are naturally incapable of responsible choice.
- 20.
- 21.
Collins (1999).
- 22.
See Christman (2009).
- 23.
On this point, Corrine Packer adds “any young individual seeking information on sex and human reproduction demonstrates ipso facto a certain degree of maturity and competency to deal with the subject matter” so that children ought to be given the information they seek (Packer 2000: 169). The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child agrees, saying in article 13.1 “The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice.” See also article 17.
- 24.
We do not address her ability to consent to sexual health care, though perhaps there are similarities between this and the case of sexual activity.
- 25.
Note the similarity here to the Gillick test to determine a child’s competence to give medical consent (Downs and Whittle 2000: 202–203).
- 26.
See Rees et al. (1998).
- 27.
See McCreery (2004) for a review of work by three such authors, including Judith Levine.
- 28.
Her book resulted in what some have called “a culture-war” and threats of action against her publisher. See Bronski (2002).
- 29.
See, for example, Anca Ghaeus, “The intrinsic goods of childhood and the good society,” in this volume. Also Brennan (forthcoming).
- 30.
At the 9th International Conference on Bisexuality held in Toronto in June 2006 the Focus on Youth Issues panel was presented by a group of older teenagers and young adults from a group called “Fluid.” All members of the panel had felt pressure to identify as gay/lesbian/transgendered and reported wishing they had more scope for exploring these identities earlier and reported wanting more information about the range of possibilities at a much earlier age.
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Brennan, S., Epp, J. (2015). Children’s Rights, Well-Being, and Sexual Agency. In: Bagattini, A., Macleod, C. (eds) The Nature of Children's Well-Being. Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9252-3_14
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