<b>The child as a subject of sexual rights: the body, the pleasures and affection in childhood

Abstract

This article discusses sexuality during childhood starting from the viewpoint of human rights and education, focusing on the matters of body, pleasures and affectivity presented among children. Their rights to education and information about the social issues involved in the construction of judgments, moral values and attitudes referring the constitution of identities and gender and sexuality differences are considered. The proposed analyzes are part of the Sociology of childhood and theories of sexuality frameworks presented by John Gagnon (2006). Thus, the specificity of being a child is examined, from the point of view of his/her agency and participation in the construction of the society and their sexual rights, discussing them in the context of Human Rights. The results of qualitative research are presented with ethnographic studies inspiration conducted by Cabiceira (2008), whose results reinforce the idea that education in this context, in addition to considering the generational status of the ones involved, should take into account the ways how these are embedded in particular contexts, with their social markers of class, race/ethnicity, nationality and religion. Listening and understanding what the children with whom one works know, think and do is a key element when thinking about the role of educators towards the particular forms of agency and participation of children in the construction of social reality. This article is concluded with the presentation of some possibilities that seeks to work with them in sexuality education.