ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at children ‘out of place’ as a category, focusing on the example of the sexually abused and thus sexually exposed child as experiencing an ‘out of place’ childhood. It focuses on the child who has been sexually abused and exploited, in contexts involving no compensation – monetary or otherwise. A code for childhood sexuality also developed in the West, with the focus on the innocence and malleability of young people. The projection onto children by adults, in terms of what they should be, can thus eventually be damaging. Children are presented as incapable of being responsible subjects with their own agency in the context of sexuality. Children’s agency in the context of their sexuality is highly restricted through laws dictating minimum ages of sexual activity and consent, as well as social expectations of a child as a non-sexual and innocent being.
