ABSTRACT
This chapter describes author experience of journeying into research on the contentious area of sexuality in childhood. Reflecting on positioning, previously as a priest, a counsellor, a practitioner among colleagues, and now as a researcher, he aware of the tightrope I tread in the awful wider context of abuse by men on children, of which they are often reminded. It is with discomfort and acknowledgement of men's abuse on children that he speak to two aspects of positioning, one from being male, a gendered position; the other as a researcher exploring a tricky topic, sexuality in childhood. Sexuality in childhood is a discursively tense construct which invites many responses: suspicion, as well as silence, non-communication, challenge, attack, interest, curiosity, and for some, including his preferred position, a level of ethical inquiry and critical understanding. The world's definitions are one thing and the life one actually lives is quite another.
