ABSTRACT
The immaturity of children is a biological fact of life but the ways in which this immaturity is understood and made meaningful is a fact of culture. The concept of childhood is to some extent a social construction; views of childhood have changed over time, and differ across ethnicities and cultures. This chapter highlights how child-rearing practices can change dramatically over time and place, depending on social, cultural, economic, and environmental imperatives. Few people are conscious of the deep influence exerted by sexual life upon the sentiment, thought and action of man in his social relations to others. Sex is sacred and sexual ecstasy is sublime, a source of intimacy and expression of love. Based on the dual human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination, the rights of people of all sexual orientations. People need to locate the sexual abuse of children in the wider context of children in society. Incest has had a chequered social history.
