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Children’s Sexuality and Nudity in Discourse and Images in a Danish Education and Care Journal over 50 Years (1970–2019): The Emergence of “The Child Perpetrator of Sexual Abuse” in an International Perspective

Archives of Sexual Behavior volume 52, pages 49–78 (2023)Cite this article

Abstract

In the late twentieth century, a new view of children as potential sexual abusers emerged. Today, more research addresses children’s “problematic sexual behavior” than their natural sexuality, and even young children are stigmatized and criminalized because of species-typical sexual behavior. Despite the importance of this new field of research and view of childhood sexuality, studies of this development, its origins, and consequences are extremely rare. This study analyzed the discourse and images related to childhood sexuality in a Danish education and care journal for childcare professionals, from 1970 to 2019, to examine the emergence of “the child perpetrator of sexual abuse” in Denmark in the late 1990s, and traced the travelling of these ideas back to the United States, where this figure originated in the mid-1980s. The study revealed a radical change in views of childhood sexuality in Denmark from 1970 to 2019: from an extreme liberalism in the early decades—illustrated by a rare collection of photos of children’s nudity and sexuality, of which a selection is reprinted in this article—to a view that strongly associates children’s sexuality with sexual abuse. The study showed that the significant attention to and fear of child sexual abuse influenced the new view of childhood sexuality, and that this progressively took root in Danish childcare institutions, creating a panic. This article examines the knowledge, narratives, and the question of proportion regarding the cross-cultural view of children as potential sexual abusers, and discusses its consequences, combining a historical study and a dissection of an important, current phenomenon.

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Notes

  1. In this article, I use the term “natural” about childhood sexuality to refer both to other people’s conception of childhood sexuality and to my own. When I refer to my own conception, this is not meant in any static or absolute way, but to say that children are sexual beings and that sexual behavior is an expected part of their development.

  2. In Denmark, crèches are for children aged approximately 0–3 years old, and kindergartens are for children aged approximately 3–6 years old. At the age of 6, Danish children begin elementary school.

  3. After publishing 11 issues in 1970, B&U published 40–50 issues per year until 2008; 50 issues per year from 1986 to 2003. From 2009 to 2019, the number of annual issues decreased gradually to 15 in 2019.

  4. A detailed statement on the protection of personal data in this article is available on request.

  5. All translations of quoted material have been made by the author.

  6. The cushion room is a tradition in Danish childcare institutions, where children may either relax or play energetically among cushions. The cushion room is a recurrent feature in this article, as this room tends to be where children play doctor or undress (Leander et al., 2018).

  7. The Danish terms used in the discourse introduced in the 1999 B&U feature (Jensen, 1999) to convey the new view of childhood sexuality as potentially abusive were: ”krænke (seksuelt),” “børn krænker børn (seksuelt),” ”krænkere,” ”børnekrænkere,” “seksuelle overgreb,” “krænkelser,” “krænkende adfærd,” ”børns misbrug af hinanden.”

  8. “By “panic,” I refer not only to the fear or the alarm that childhood sexuality may evoke when associated with CSA, but also to the significant discursive and institutional changes that may follow as long-term consequences of this fear or alarm, and as a sign of them.”

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks to associate professor Karen P. Munk, Aarhus University; The Danish Union of Early Childhood and Youth Educators (BUPL); Consultant from BUPL Peter Engelbrekt Petersen; editor of Børn&Unge Lene Søborg; journalist at Børn&Unge Steffen Hagemann; attorney Catrine Søndergaard Byrne; photographer Michael Daugaard and Birk Folke Daugaard; photographer Morten Nilsson; photographer Jonna Fuglsang Keldsen; illustrator Karen Borch; illustrator Pia Olsen; copyright-holders of the photographs by Gregers Nielsen: Søren Gregers Nielsen, Amanda Rohweder Nielsen, and Luka Roné; VISDA—Visual Rights Denmark; English language consultant Michaela Scioscia; Frantz Leander Hansen; Niels Buch Leander.

Funding

The research study presented in this article was partially funded by The Danish Union of Early Childhood and Youth Educators (BUPL).

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    Else-Marie Buch Leander

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Leander, EM.B. Children’s Sexuality and Nudity in Discourse and Images in a Danish Education and Care Journal over 50 Years (1970–2019): The Emergence of “The Child Perpetrator of Sexual Abuse” in an International Perspective. Arch Sex Behav 52, 49–78 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02421-5

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Keywords

  • Children’s sexuality
  • Children’s nudity
  • Problematic sexual behavior
  • Child sexual abuse
  • Discourse analysis
  • Denmark