Competing meanings of childhood and the social construction of child sexual abuse in the Caribbean

Abstract

This article examines the dynamic interplay between competing meanings of childhood and the social construction of sexual abuse in the Caribbean. Drawing on qualitative data from a study undertaken in six Caribbean countries, the article suggests that Caribbean childhoods are neither wholly global nor local but hybrid creations of the region's complex historical, social and cultural specificities, real or imagined. As childhood is a concept that lies at the intersection of multiple frames of reference, context-specific definitions of childhood -what it means to be a child -have a direct impact on the way in which the issue of child sexual abuse is constructed and understood.

Childhoods in Policy: A Critical Analysis of National Child Protection Policy in the Philippines

“…More broadly, ‘childhoods’ has been utilised as a framework in research to explore child welfare policies in the global South. Examples include, interpretations of childhood and poverty in southern Africa (Ansell, ), ideologies of childhood impact on intergenerational relationships in Ethiopia (Kassa, ), and the social construction of childhoods and child abuse in the Caribbean, focussing on how childhoods are constituted in a local and global way (Pasura and others, ).…”

The virtual simulation of child sexual abuse: online gameworld users’ views, understanding and responses to sexual ageplay

“…As residents may originate and/or be located across the world, and so their legal and cultural understandings of the age, appearance and associated behaviours of a 'child' may vary considerably (c.f. Pasura et al 2012), resulting in a wide scope of child-related representations (although it should be noted that SL operates under the legal code of California, the home of Linden Lab). For example, Jellie posted asking for advice when they were reported for sexual ageplay for "mistakenly" saying they were 17 in SL when they are really 67 in RL (they deliberately wanted to role play a teenager, but believed 17 was acceptable).…”

Voices in thread: Women's childhood experiences of a primary caregiver that remained in a relationship with an alleged or known sex offender, an arts-based inquiry.

“…The existence o f childhood is a socially constructed concept. Rather than being viewed as a global phenomenon, the ideology o f childhood is influenced and governed by complex historical, social, and cultural specificities (Pasura et al, 2012). Dominant conceptualizations' of childhood are uncritically premised of viewing the child as innocent and lacking adult power and capacity (Pasura et al, 2012).…”

“…Rather than being viewed as a global phenomenon, the ideology o f childhood is influenced and governed by complex historical, social, and cultural specificities (Pasura et al, 2012). Dominant conceptualizations' of childhood are uncritically premised of viewing the child as innocent and lacking adult power and capacity (Pasura et al, 2012). Discourse in contemporary Western societies suggests a widely held and unquestioned belief that children are fundamentally different from adults and entitled to nurturing and protection (Pasura et al, 2012;Sorin, 2005).…”

“…Dominant conceptualizations' of childhood are uncritically premised of viewing the child as innocent and lacking adult power and capacity (Pasura et al, 2012). Discourse in contemporary Western societies suggests a widely held and unquestioned belief that children are fundamentally different from adults and entitled to nurturing and protection (Pasura et al, 2012;Sorin, 2005). Laws constructed to protect innocent and defenseless children from CSA make sense.…”