Play this page as an MP3 playlist  Kids, Sex and the State
Partial & slightly edited transcript of a talk [1][2] by Judith
Levine from The War on Sex.  The age group with by far the
largest number of convictions for sex offenses are people
between 14 and 20 years old.  In 2002 I wrote this book Harmful
to Minors and it argued that the things that we do in America to
try to protect children from sex are way more harmful to them
than sex itself—which is actually a great part of growing up—and
that the things that we do such as criminalize kids sexuality,
or put them into jail, or put them in psychological counseling,
or giving them abstinence-only education—these things really
have terribly grave consequences for kids.  I wish I could say
that that book made a difference in a positive direction but it
didn't. Things have gotten way worse since 2002. Since that time
almost every single state in the union has vigorously
strengthened their sex crime statues. These laws are intended to
protect children from sexual