ABSTRACT
Books about childhood seldom deal with issues of sexuality at any length. The reasons for this are obvious. In themselves, sex and sexuality are topics that excite embarrassment and controversy for most people whatever society they live in. Despite the prevalence of sex and sexually related material in much of the popular media, there remain taboos and social limits placed on discussing or describing sex in public and in private. When we deal with sex in any setting, we raise issues which go beyond the biological processes involved. Sex is concerned with power and the way different people exert power over others in their relationships. It is deeply implicated in issues of morality and deeply held views of how we should live. Indeed for some people morality and acceptable sexual behaviour are virtually synonymous. How often do we hear people who condemn gay relationships or teenage promiscuity with a passion that they are unable to display when talking about cruelty or avarice? Sex makes a link between our personal lives and the social relationships we enter into. It is intimately related to gender and gender differences and our personal models of what gender identity means. In religious terms sex is closely tied up with issues of sin, guilt and innocence. Unsurprisingly this has always been an area fraught with difficulty and anxiety. When there is any attempt to link sexuality and children, the difficulties and potential for embarrassment and offence are redoubled.
