CANTON -- A new book co-edited by R. Danielle Egan, professor and chair of the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies at St. Lawrence University, challenges preconceived and accepted theories regarding children, sexuality and sexualization.

The book, titled "Children, Sexuality and Sexualization" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), offers a critical response to a range of popular debates on children’s sexual cultures. The contributions to this collection offer compelling accounts from a range of disciplinary fields and transnational contexts to present original empirical research findings, which offer new ways to make sense of children's sexual cultures across complex political, social and cultural terrains.

“I feel proud of this book because it is completely original,” Egan said. “It is an empirically driven exploration of the ways in which young people think about sexuality. Unlike most media portrays, which offer a picture of sex crazed and hormone driven teenagers, the research offered in this book shows a far more complex picture which will surprise most readers.”

Organized into five sections, the book addresses the history of young sexualities research and theory across disciplinary boundaries; pre-teen sexualities and a re-thinking of sexual agency and innocence; how space, place and history shape young queer sexualities; the representation of young sexualities in the popular cultural imaginary; and the role of new media and digital technology in the formation of children and young people's sexual cultures.

Visit the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies at www.stlawu.edu/gender-and-sexuality-studies.