Hatching Babies and Stork Deliveries: Risk and Regulation in the Construction of Children's Sexual Knowledge

Abstract

Children's access to sexual knowledge has always been considered ‘risky’ and controversial due to the fraught relationship between childhood and sexuality. Based on focus groups with children and their parents, the authors explore the relationship between risk and regulation associated with providing children with accurate knowledge about sexuality. Two main issues are examined: parents' anxieties associated with educating their children about sexuality; and how children actively build narratives around relationships and sexual knowledge based on the fragments of information available to them. The authors argue that dominant constructions of childhood and childhood innocence negate the effective education of children around sexuality, gender and ethical relationships. Additionally, they examine the tensions that exist for many parents around the discourse of child protection and the ways in which this impacts on their education of young children about sexual matters.