Healthy Childhood Sexuality

It's easy to find information about distorted childhood sexuality, but there is far too little discussion of healthy childhood sexuality.

Sexuality is a key feature of many developmental axes in a child's life. In the current climate of sexual fear, however, most parents, teachers, and the media prefer to err on the side of caution and repression. They focus primarily on discouraging and controlling childhood sexual expression, rather than understanding and supporting it.

The most common strategy is to withhold information and access to health care, prevent discussion, and discourage understanding. Kids are a sexually disenfranchised minority--with the attendant, predictably disastrous, consequences.

While this may be understandable (barely), it is fundamentally unhealthy. We are raising kids who can't take care of themselves sexually, because they are not taught to value their eroticism or their bodies. Sexuality is the only aspect of health where kids are not encouraged to caretake themselves.

This talk presents a model of healthy childhood sexuality. It discusses the obstacles to promoting sexual health in children, how you may be unintentionally undermining it, and how you can support parents in raising sexually healthy kids.