{"title":"Law's drawing line: Legal discourse of consent in child sexual abuse cases in Japan","authors":"Hoko Horii","doi":"10.1111/chso.12877","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article examines Japan's age of consent law by delving into court judgements, focusing on unravelling the nuances of how the sexual autonomy of children is interpreted. The study reveals a contradictory stance of the court towards child victim's maturity and capacity, indicating that the legal discourse around a child's autonomy is easily manipulated and framed. It further exposes the susceptibility of children's sexual autonomy to the structural moral values associated with patriarchal gender relations and age. By shaping the contours of consent, <i>law draws a line</i>—delineating punishable acts from consensual sexual activity. While the legal reforms aimed at stricter regulations surrounding child sexual abuse, including raising the age of consent, are narrowing the space for recognizing adolescents' sexual autonomy, this article contends that reforming age consent laws must strike a delicate balance between preventing potential harms and avoiding undue interference with adolescents' sexual autonomy.</p>","PeriodicalId":47660,"journal":{"name":"Children & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/chso.12877","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Children & Society","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/chso.12877","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"SOCIAL WORK","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article examines Japan's age of consent law by delving into court judgements, focusing on unravelling the nuances of how the sexual autonomy of children is interpreted. The study reveals a contradictory stance of the court towards child victim's maturity and capacity, indicating that the legal discourse around a child's autonomy is easily manipulated and framed. It further exposes the susceptibility of children's sexual autonomy to the structural moral values associated with patriarchal gender relations and age. By shaping the contours of consent, law draws a line—delineating punishable acts from consensual sexual activity. While the legal reforms aimed at stricter regulations surrounding child sexual abuse, including raising the age of consent, are narrowing the space for recognizing adolescents' sexual autonomy, this article contends that reforming age consent laws must strike a delicate balance between preventing potential harms and avoiding undue interference with adolescents' sexual autonomy.
期刊介绍：
Children & Society is an interdisciplinary journal publishing high quality research and debate on all aspects of childhood and policies and services for children and young people. The journal is based in the United Kingdom, with an international range and scope. The journal informs all those who work with and for children, young people and their families by publishing innovative papers on research and practice across a broad spectrum of topics, including: theories of childhood; children"s everyday lives at home, school and in the community; children"s culture, rights and participation; children"s health and well-being; child protection, early prevention and intervention.
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