Sexualisation and the transition from childhood to adulthood in France: From age-related child development control to the construction of civilisational divides

Abstract

This article is based on the study of the forms of the sexualisation of children as constructed by the French authorities between 2000 and 2013. It shows that approaches addressing the transition from childhood to adulthood have combined two types of discourse. The first of these traces the contours of the nature of the child who is to be protected from the disorders related to gender and to growing up more generally; the second draws on the sexualisation of children in disadvantaged urban areas to designate ‘foreigners from within’ and reinforces an ethnocultural conception of the nation. The article concludes with reflections on how the issue of age-related child development is addressed in globalised capitalist societies