Sharon Lamb is a Professor of Counseling Psychology in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her current research focuses on sexual ethics as a basis for sex education and the moral reasoning of bystanders in 'sketchy' sexual situations. Jen Gilbert is an Associate Professor of Education at York University, Toronto. Her current research explores narratives of LGBTQ sexuality and gender in high schools and the problems and opportunities sexual health education poses for schooling.

'Too often, views of sexuality in childhood and adolescence are negative, presenting children and young people as 'innocent', 'reckless' or 'victims'. At last, we have a book that redresses the balance. Focusing on topics as diverse as the media, family and education, and examining sexuality from the early years to young adulthood, this outstanding book offers a beacon of hope in dark times.' Peter Aggleton, University of New South Wales and Australian National University

• Introduction: interdisciplinary approaches to sexual development in childhood and adolescence Jen Gilbert and Sharon Lamb; Part I. What is Sexual Development?: Section 1. Children: 1. Are children sexual? Who, what, where, when and how? Sharon Lamb, Lindsay White and Aleksandra Plocha; 2. Towards a central theory of childhood sexuality: a relational approach Allison Moore; 3. A sociological exploration of childhood sexuality: a discursive analysis of parents' and children's perspectives Kerry H. Robinson and Cristyn Davies; 4. Not innocent, but vulnerable: an approach to childhood innocence Lucie Jarkovská and Sharon Lamb; 5. The dynamic expression of sexual-minority and gender-minority experience during childhood and adolescence Lisa M. Diamond; 6. Sexual embodiment in girlhood and beyond: young migrant and refugee women's discourse of silence, secrecy and shame Jane Ussher, Alex Hawkey and Janette Perz; Section 2. Adolescence: 7. The diversity of adolescent male sexuality John DeLamater; 8. Developmental trajectories and milestones of sexual-minority youth Ritch C. Savin-Williams; 9. Bad choices: how neoliberal ideology disguises social injustice in the sexual lives of youth Laina Y. Bay-Cheng; 10. From tightrope to minefield: how the sexual double standard 'lives' in adolescent girls' and young women's lives Deborah L. Tolman and Jennifer F. Chmielewski; 11. Gender, class, and campus sexual cultures: white first-generation college students and the transition to college Amy C. Wilkins and Aubrey Limburg; 12. Yellow fever and yellow impotence: the polarity of Asian American sexuality Rosalind Chou and Brittany Taylor; 13. Conceptualizing sexuality in research about trans youth Julia Sinclair-Palm; Part II. How Do We Study Sexual Development?: 14. Critical methods for studying adolescent sexuality Sarah I. McClelland; 15. Loving possibilities in studies of sexuality education and youth Jessica Fields and Lorena Garcia; 16. Difficulties in the study, research, and pedagogy of sexuality Deborah P. Britzman; 17. Numbers and stories: bridging methods to advance social change Stephen T. Russell; 18. Doing it: participatory visual methodologies and youth sexuality research Katie MacEntee and Sarah Flicker; 19. Research under surveillance: sexuality and gender-based research with children in South Africa Deevia Bhana; Part III. Media, Family, Education: What Roles Might Adults Play?: Section 1. Media: 20. Entertainment media's role in the sexual socialization of Western youth: a review of research from 2000–17 L. Monique Ward, Jessica Moorman and Petal Grower; 21. Adventure, intimacy, identity and knowledge: exploring how social media are shaping and transforming youth sexuality Marijke Naezer and Jessica Ringrose; 22. A sociological/psychological model for understanding pornography and adolescent sexual behavior Jennifer A. Johnson and Ana J. Bridges; 23. Young people, pornography and gendered sexual practices Maddy Coy and Miranda A. H. Horvath; Section 2. Family: 24. Puberty as bio-psycho-social enfolding: mothers' accounts of their early-developing daughters Celia Roberts; 25. Stolen childhood: understanding sexualisation of young girls through 'child marriage' in Zimbabwe Sandra Bhatasara, Manase K. Chiweshe and Nelson Muparamoto; Section 3. Education: 26. The fertile, thorny and enduring role of desire and pleasure in sexuality education Sarah Garland-Levett and Louisa Allen; 27. Norm-critical sex education in Sweden: tensions within a progressive approach Anna Bredström, Eva Bolander and Jenny Bengtsson; 28. Robot babies, young people and pregnancy prevention: alternative imaginings of sexual futures Mary Lou Rasmussen and Aoife Neary.