| Popis: |
Sexuality and sexualization are problematically conflated in the context of childhood (birth to twelve years), and sexuality is often problematically perceived as a contributor to the sexualization of children. In Australian contexts children’s sexuality is rarely defined, and seldom the topic for research. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) defines sexuality as a multidimensional construct that “encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy and reproduction,” which is “experienced and expressed in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviours, practices, roles and relationships” (WHO 2006: 5), childhood sexuality is not generally considered in this way by parents, educators, and the general public in Australia. Notions that children are potentially sexual beings from birth remains a challenging concept driven in part by what one Australian researcher has described as a dominant desire to preserve the innocence (or asexuality) of children, at the expense of providing children with appropriate knowledge about sexuality (Robinson 2013). |
