ABSTRACT
Many adults view children and young people’s agency and citizenship as a challenge to adult power and authority. The idea that sexual citizenship has relevance to children and young people’s lives is often met with even greater resistance and hostility by some adults and is viewed as inappropriately crossing the adult/child boundary. Sexuality is frequently narrowly perceived as physical sexual acts rather than a process of identity that begins early in children’s lives. Children’s sexual citizenship is about: learning to become ethical gendered and sexual subjects, with an understanding of consent and what it means to respect others in relationships; to respect gender and sexuality diversity that exists in life; having an awareness and understanding of their rights as sexual subjects; to be supported in building confidence and resilience in order to become informed sexual subjects; and fostering children and young people’s health and wellbeing. Children and young people’s access to ongoing comprehensive sexuality education, both at home and in schools, and throughout their lives, is central to the building of sexual citizenship early in life. However, it is important to understand the impact that the discourse of ‘childhood innocence’ has on increasing children’s and young people’s vulnerabilities, in terms of their sexual health and wellbeing, especially through denying them access to this knowledge.
