Adolescent Sexuality

Covering major issues in adolescent sexuality in the United States from colonial times to the present, this work provides an account of how adults, from policymakers to police and parents, have attempted to intervene in the sexual lives of adolescents, and how adolescent sexuality has been and continues to be a subject of social concern and control. This balanced, nuanced, and data-grounded view of the past and present of adolescent sexuality provides readers with a store of valuable and reliable information. Covering major issues in adolescent sexuality in the United States from colonial times to the present, the book provides an account of ways in which adults—from policymakers to police and parents—have attempted to intervene in the sexual lives of adolescents, and how adolescent sexuality has been, and continues to be, a subject of social concern and control. Original essays cover juvenile sex in history, as well as trends such as statutory rape laws, teen pregnancy, media portrayals of adolescent sexuality, and sex education. The perspective is further broadened by a collection of primary documents such as a petition from the Women's Christian Temperance Union to raise the age of consent, court cases, Freud's theories on sexuality, images used in the early 20th century for sex education, and current statistics on adolescent sexuality. This important and well-informed work will prove a central resource for students, educators, parents, journalists, and those working on behalf of youth.

Carolyn Cocca is Associate Professor of Politics and Director of the Women's Center at the State University of New York, Old Westbury. She is the author of Jailbait: The Politics of Statutory Rape Laws in the United States (2004) and numerous articles about adolescent sexuality and statutory rape laws.