Sexualization

Sexualisation or child sexualisation is a modern term used to describe the loss of "sexual innocence" or rendering "impure" of something or someone, especially a child. "Sexualisation" can be used as a virtually unchallengeable weasel word, obscuring the contested claim that children are asexual.

Feminists R. Danielle Egan and Gail Hawkes have deconstructed the concept of child sexualization in several papers. They point out that the "sexualization" of girls has been most problematized, while boys have recieved little attention. The "construction of girls in the discourse of sexualisation mirrors earlier patriarchal discourses on the pathological nature of women's sexuality, its susceptibility to corruption and its resistance to autonomous control."

Commentary

The really dangerous term is sexualized/sexualization. Implicit in its use is the idea that children are asexual until some bad man sexualizes them. Since the idea is implicit, people can make the claim without needing to back it up. If someone stated in so many words that "children are asexual", they could be challenged, and a useful discussion might follow. Using a term like "sexualization" is the way the hysterics make sure that that discussion never happens.