Socialism, class and children's rights

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Common sense requires that we argue that children are sexual from birth, that they learn sexual behaviour, that there is no necessary harm in adult/child sex, that there is no consistency in arbitrary ages of consent; but that there is no possibility of real freedom for children until they have economic independence.

The importance of the argument on the relationship between economics, the family, and sexuality, cannot be overstressed. This means that in the general strategy for the struggle for socialism, and in the small fights of today, the argument has to be made for the bigger battles take place the children will have to be there in the front line. Finally then, categories of child and adult, of education and work in socialism may well have to be broken down.

source: 'Socialism, class and children's rights' by John Lindsay; From the book 'The Betrayal of Youth - Radical Perspectives on Childhood Sexuality, Intergenerational Sex, and the Social Oppression of Children and Young People'; Edited by Warren Middleton; CL Publications, London; 1986