Sasha M. Coupet and Ellen Marrus: Children, Sexuality, and the Law

Excerpt

The editors of Children, Sexuality, and the Law, Sasha M. Coupet and Ellen Marrus explore the position of children in the realm of sex and the law. The beginning chapters discuss the issues with children engaging in sexual activity, which proves to be a more controversial subject due to media exposing children as victims of sexual acts, not consenting actors. While moving through the next chapters, the authors discuss the place of children in the judicial system; they examine the differences between boys and girls, and how officials of the judicial system treat them. Media has become a large part of today’s society, thus the editors chose works that discuss this issue, as well as the need for sex education among adolescents. The last two chapters discuss issues involving LGBT youth both in how they are treated within the judicial system and how they are treated among peers in terms of sexual activity. The editors strategically chose the works to demonstrate that adolescents are not usually the victims of sexual activity, but they are actively engaging in it and in all forms. The book’s primary objective is to inform lawmakers that the regulations on adolescent sexual activity are not serving their purpose. The authors support their claims by offering many statistics and data from empirical studies indicating that teens are consenting to their sexual activity, despite their legal inability to consent for such activity. …