Exploiting Childhood

November 25, 2013
Editor Wild (Social Care) successfully assembles a deeply disturbing and motivating series of mostly academic essays investigating the exploitation of children. Divided into three sectionsâ"Commercial Exploitation, "Sexual Exploitation," and "Fighting Against Commercial and Sexual Exploitation," the book is highly readable and bristles with infuriating facts. In an essay on child obesity, Tim Lobstein shows how junk food has become "the best-planned andâ¦funded assault on children's health," whereas in another essay Liz Kelly, the director of Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, explains how pornography involving adults dressed in infantile ways puts children at risk. It is worth noting that the editor and most of the contributors are British, which might create a slight disconnect for American readers. Still, the case being madeâthat children are endangered by our cultureâis crystal clear, and although the book falters in providing substantial solutions or suggestions to help combat these insidious norms, it will inspire readers to make immediate changes in how they and their children interact with that culture.