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Innocence Affect Our Understanding Of Childhood And Children's Lives

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How does the concept of ‘innocence’ affect our understanding of childhood and children’s lives?

Introduction
Everyday lives challenge the construction of childhood as a time of innocence

Explain the idea of innocence – romantic discourse of childhood and how it shaped our view of childhood

Barnados and ‘Painted babies’

Representation of childhood innocence in sexuality and criminality, and the roles, the age and gender play in portraying children as innocent of guilty

Innocence

Children enjoy dressing up and experimenting with clothes and make up as part of their play – a way to explore gendered identities and expectations.

There is suggestion that ‘painted babies’ something more sexualized and provocative is going on promoted from a commercial venture and encouraged by parents

Adults are quick to dismiss any loss of innocence or links with sexuality in the girls dressing up or performance.

Although childhood innocence is a very powerful discourse …show more content…
Although such advertisements are more common now, this set of images was one of the first to use shock tactics to raise money to confront threats to childhood innocence

Historical studies have a rich source of knowledge about childhood and childhood in the past and present

Childhood experience in the west and the non- west world and western anxieties about children in the new media age can be usefully explored by recourse to history

Childhood reconceptulaised in the UK between the late nineteenth century and the beginning of World War

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