Home > Authors > Sacha M. Coupet > Children, sexuality, and the law
Children, sexuality, and the law
American political and legal culture is uncomfortable with children's sexuality. While aware that sexual expression is a necessary part of human development, law rarely contemplates the complex ways in which it interacts with children and sexuality. Just as the law circumstances children to a narrow range of roles - either as entirely sexless beings or as victims or objects of harmful adult sexual conduct - so too does society tend to discount the notion of children as agents in the domain of sex and sexuality. Where a small body of rights related to sex has been carved out, the central question has been the degree to which children resemble adults, not necessarily whether minors themselves possess distinct and recognized rights related to sex, sexual expression, and sexuality. Children, Sexuality, and the Law reflects on some of the unique challenges that accompany children in the...
