Childhood and sexuality are western sacred cows of the present age. When combined in the form of ‘childhood sexuality’, the result is invariably a taboo strong enough to ward off all but the very persistent. When this taboo of the discursive construction of childhood sexuality is violated, the reaction is swift and precise: punishments that we accept in almost no other circumstance - physical mutilation, hormonal alteration and total ostracism from society - are readily dreamt up and effected. It is to these (over-) reactions that this article is addressed. Several ways in which the underlying concepts and conceptual relations that are foundational to any discussion of the punishment of paedophilic sex offenders falter are presented in an attempt to shed new light on the discourse and practice of punishment of paedophilic sex offenders. Problematic distinctions between childhood and adulthood, sexuality and asexuality as well as corporal punishment and carceral punishment appear to be no longer applicable in their contemporary articulations. New subjectivities are being created which force a reconsideration of the intersections of these apparently innocuous conceptual delineations.
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