014 EU KIds Online: Experiences with sexual content: What we know from the research so far

This report reviews research about children’s experiences with sexual content online from the EU Kids Online and Net Children Go Mobile projects:

i) Children discuss in diverse ways and through different sets of discourses their encounters with sexual content. ii) The number of experiences with sexual content increases with age: as children grow older, so does their knowledge of sexual content.

iii)Cultural differences, national policies and the public debate on children’s experiences with sexual content frame the way in which children talk about sexual content. iv)What is regarded as “sexual” differs across cultures; those interested in children’s safety should take this into account when arguing about children’s harmful online

experiences. v)What children define as “sexual” reflects what adults frame as such. Those definitions also reflect the political and social context in which children are immersed.

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