Full Description
This edited book examines the cultural construction of the "public child" and its impact on children's rights in Australia. The "public child" refers to a real child or groups of children whose lives have attracted media attention— either because concerns have been raised about their safety or because they are identified as threats to others. Positioned at the intersection of media, politics, and policymaking, this collection explores how, in an increasingly mediatised political landscape, discursive constructions of the "public child" shape state responses, exerting a logic of control and silencing, with profound consequences for children's lives.
Amid international debates on social media bans for children and increasingly punitive juvenile justice systems, this timely and critical work will appeal to scholars of family and youth sociology, criminology, childhood studies, media and communication studies, gender studies, and education, as well as journalists and legal practitioners specializing in children's rights.
The book includes five sections: Media and Regulatory Theatre, Domestic Family and Sexual Violence, Justice Systems, Sex and Gender, and Speaking Out and Listening In. The final section focuses on how children exercise agency and express their perspectives, and how adults can serve as allies to them.
Contents
1. The Public Child.- Part I Media and Regulatory Theatre.- 2. Child Social Media Ban.- 3. The Aboriginal Child and The Neo Colonial State.- Part II Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence.- 4. Believing Children.- 5. Children As Victims In Their Own Right.- 6. Child Sexual Abuse.- 7. Filicide.- Part III Justice Systems.- 8. Blaming Children.- 9. Child Incarceration.- Part IV Sex and Gender.- 10. Sex Education.- 11. Boys.- 12. Transkids.- Part V Speaking Out and Listening In.- 13. Whistleblowing: Adults As Allies In The Justice System.- 14. Anti-Racism: Making Space In The Classroom.- 15. Children Take Action: Climate Change.
