"In the best tradition of social criticism, Harmful to Minors offers a cogent and passionate critique of the war against young people's sexuality. An uncompromising humanist and feminist, Judith Levine exposes the moral panic behind such policies as "abstinence-only" sex education and insists on adults' responsibility to give affirmative support to children's and teenagers' sexual development. Many publishers rejected Levine's book (one called it "radioactive") before the University of Minnesota Press took it; afterward the press and the university came under attack from outraged state legislators. Levine and her publisher deserve the highest praise for launching a necessary, overdue debate on one of the most stubborn taboos of our era." —Los Angeles Times Book Prize Judges
"Levine argues effectively that a lot of what teenagers are taught about sex these days makes it seem like a dangerous, dirty business--a message quite different from that of not only, say the free-spirited 1970's but of the strait-laced 1950's as well." —Margaret Talbot, New York Times
"An astute analysis of what's gone wrong between adults and children in the U.S. Drawing on social science and history, Levine makes a strong case that the denial of sexuality is the true cause of harm to minors." —Village Voice
"Harmful to Minors is a sane, provocative, and well-researched effort to make readers think critically about what acts are, exactly, harmful to minors; what we should, and should not, be trying to protect our children from; and how we can separate legitimate worries from irrational panics, and real dangers from false alarms." —Times Literary Supplement (London)
“Harmful to Minors is a potent challenge to conventional wisdom about sex, sexuality, and sex education. Written with verve, humor, and wit, it is a trenchant look at America's failure to extol the erotic, and an insightful observation of our preoccupation with pedophilia, deviance, illness, and misconduct.” —The Progressive
“Harmful to Minors is ‘controversial,’ but it probably shouldn’t be. Levine argues—and backs up with extensive research, interviews and thoughtful analysis—that the American pretense that children and teenagers don’t, or shouldn’t, be sexual or have sexual feelings does more harm to kids than good. . . . This is a professional, accessible, responsible examination of a legitimate social question. . . . A courageous book. Anyone who prefers truth to hysterical anti-sex propaganda should find it illuminating.” —Boulder Daily Camera
"Operating from two decades of research, author Judith Levine explores society's reaction to the effects of masturbation, unmarried sex, molestation, censorship, pornography, sex education, abortion, birth control, etc. on minors. Levine shows us that in situations where recalcitrant gay and straight kids are forced into therapy to keep them away from sex, the coercion often leaves these kids confused and traumatized, even suicidal." —Patricia Nell Warren in Out
"Levine spends a large portion of Harmful to Minors advocating for candid, comprehensive sex education in schools. . . . But the spirit that animates the book is a less programmatic, polymorphous appreciation of the sights and smells, the sounds and language and tactile delights that make a person--adult or child--feel alive in her skin. Levine's central preoccupation, running like a golden thread throughout the book, is the pursuit of happiness, the idea that kids have a right not just to safety and knowledge but to pleasure too." —The Nation
"A sage, intelligent, industriously reported and eminently sane book. . . . Levine draws upon media analysis, cultural history, social science, queer theory and interviews with parents, children and sex educators to construct genealogical accounts of how this modern crisis is managed and maintained. She recounts how the Christian fringe concept of 'chastity education' became the abstinence-only sex education curriculum taught in most schools; how the image of the violent, monstrous stranger-pedophile came to dominate parent's fears, even though the majority of sexual abuse occurs within the home; how normal childhood affection, hostility, mimicry (playing doctor) and sex play (I'll show you mine if you show me yours) became the pathology of 'sexual abuser disorder'; how the catch phrase 'harmful to minors' became appended to movies, music and video games marketed toward minors. There's a lot to skewer in this mass of confusion, and Levine does it with determination." —In These Times
"Finally, in what is likely to be one of the most significant books of the season, journalist Judith Levine exposes the contradictions embedded within our attitude toward 'underage' intercourse, convincingly arguing that socially conservative beliefs and policies are largely to blame for the problems they purport to address." —San Francisco Examiner
"Harmful to Minors is a fresh taste of truth, a surely needed wake-up call to common misconceptions of sexuality and youth." —Philadelphia Daily News
"A vitally important book." —from the foreword by Dr. Joycelyn M. Elders
“Harmful to Minors needs to be read and debated by mental health professionals, politicians, teachers, and the general public. Particular attention needs to be given to her proposal for sex education programs in this country for this is the core idea of the book.” —Sexuality and Culture
“Harmful to Minors brilliantly analyzes this movement in all its incarnations: Attacks on sex education of all kinds, efforts to censor child pornography by criminalizing art that has sexual overtones, witch hunts of teachers who touch their children.” —Tikkun
“Levine’s discussion of sex and the ‘child’ is unavoidably controversial, cheerfully compelling, and anything but conservative.” —Journal of Australian Studies Review of Books
“It is a book that is much needed. Levine advocates a positive approach towards young people’s sexuality. Her suggestions are careful, considered and valuable, and ought to be widely read. This book is both timely and a sane contribution to a debate that needs to happen, but at the moment hardly does. It is to be thoroughly commended.” —Psychotherapy and Politics International
“In the end, what makes Levine’s book so alluring is not only that it challenges current notions about teen sexuality, but also that it questions the extent to which parents and educators control young people at all.” —Teacher Magazine
"Judith Levine's careful and well-documented book says
something very important: that children are sexual beings and
denying that puts them at greater risk than accepting that fact
of life; that we must look at the issue of consent from a psychological
perspective, not just a legal one; and that not everyone who has
been abused ends up traumatized for life. Levine's strong stance
against
abuse, bullying, coercion, and manipulation has one goal: to help
people accept children and teens as sexual creatures so we can
help
them resist coercion and make healthy sexual decisions throughout
life." —Sharon Lamb, author of The Secret Lives of Girls:
What Good Girls Really Do-Sex Play, Aggression, and Their Guilt
"Sharp, extraordinarily informed, and wittily incisive . . . This is a major book, far and away the most wide-ranging, well-informed, and judicious we have on the subject. Levine's wisdom is compelling, and she offers the best kind of sophisticated and skeptical analysis. Each chapter is full of surprises, yet offers sensitive and gentle pointers to all of us, kids and adults, who are looking for ways out of these crushing dilemmas. It's a crusading book that is also kind, a very rare phenomenon, and it comes down always on the side of trusting not only our kids and their pleasures but our own." —James Kincaid, author of Erotic Innocence: The Culture of Child Molesting
"A much needed contribution to the discussion about children's sexuality, adult fears and irrationality about it, and the moral, political, and public health risks of failing to confront anxiety and ignorance about children's erotic desires and needs. Levine makes a compelling case that respecting and celebrating such desires and needs is essential to this country's historic project of promoting 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' for everyone who lives here-including those under 18. . . . An exceptionally smart and readable book." —Debbie Nathan, coauthor (with Michael Snedeker) of Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt
Introduction from Harmful to Minors
Excerpt on censorship from Harmful to Minors