Children’s Bodies

Children’s bodies are fundamental matters of interest, research, and disputes in childhood studies. In a risk society, children’s bodies are at the center of increasing moral panics in multiple domains. For instance, on one side, children are threatened by inactivity: Lack of physical activities, screens, and video games are blamed for increasing obesity rates. On the other side, many children are medicated for their excessive activity, as in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Social norms about what children’s bodies have to be like have never been so multiple, precise, and sometimes contradictory. Children also figure to be the first victims of junk food, pollution, climate changes, and the like, and their sexuality is a matter of concern as they grow up.

In some societies, however, the problems ...