Paul Flanagan

Ethical review and reflexivity in research of children's sexuality

Research in the area of childrens sexuality is largely based on observational and retrospective studies. Childhood studies literature increasingly calls upon the inclusion of childrens voices, yet with sensitive topics ethical positions often close research possibilities in the territories of childrens worlds. Children are perceived as a vulnerable group, especially when the investigation focuses on their sexual development and activity – and it is perceived that this research area is too sensitive and potentially harmful to children. Within the context of beginning a qualitative study on childrens sexuality in New Zealand (including interviews with children), this paper reviews a number of studies of childhood research. These studies provide a glimpse at how research focusing on children has been conducted, and explores ethical issues arising in such research. The significance of researcher reflexivity is acknowledged for ethical research practice. The paper concludes that in research on childrens sexuality a process of ethical review is limited, and that researcher competence in sensitive investigations is required. Among other difficulties for this researcher (with a professional background in child and family therapy) is the vulnerability of being a man choosing to research children.

One size does not fit all: Organisational diversity in New Zealand tertiary sector ethics committees

New Zealand tertiary ethics committees may work from similar ethical principles but this article demonstrates that the way in which they operate is idiosyncratic. The paper builds on commentaries offered by current or former members of five New Zealand ethics committees on the organisation and practices of their committees. It examines differences among the committees with the aim of initiating an ongoing conversation about the work of ethics committees in the New Zealand context. It argues for the merits of diversity, transparency and openness as core principles for the work of ethics committees and as a platform for dealing with critique.

Childhood sexuality and AIDS education: The price of innocence,: by Deevia Bhana, New York, NY: Routledge, 2016. 159 pp., ISBN 978-1-138-08588-6.

Deevia Bhanas book, Childhood sexuality and AIDS education: The price of innocence, confronts the reader with the reality of AIDS in Africa and its effects on young children. The author pulls no p...