Children and childhood is often associated with the notion of innocence. The idea of childhood innocence is portrayed in many different sources

defining the innocence of childhood will have different meanings depending on what people believed conceptualizes it

Children are naturally innocent

Children are blank states

Children are agents of redemption

Childhood is the basis of adult identity

Children exist in a separate state

Children have no place in consumerism

Sheltered innocence is the notion described by cultural historian Garry Cross (2004)

Sheltered innocence in the 21st century, could now be described as adults trying to protect children from negative influences and avoid danger

Alison Pugh (2009) maintains that consumer control can be influenced by parents wanting to protect their children from negative influences in their society

Children can protect themselves from danger with knowledge (often called “street wise”).

Joanne Faulkner (p.g.12) argues that a child’s innocence will be based on the capacity for it to be protected.

Harry Ferguson (2007) claims that some children have their childhood innocence “contaminated”

Images of childhood can be used to show how the idea of childhood innocence has changed over history

pictures are so sacred they can also cause controversy as they are widely available, difficult to control and interpret

Children’s bodies were visually used as the first sign of innocence which could be noted because they are free from sexuality and their minds were blank slates

Golden Age of Illustration was created in the form of photographs, which became increasingly popular and relatively cheap and easy for lots of people to use

photos have also contributed to the current crisis of childhood innocence

Freud and Foucault have both been very influential on understanding how childhood sexuality is understood

Freud believed that children were born with sexual desires and attraction to the opposite sex.

The sexualisation debate is created when young girls who were seen as innocent become aware of their sexuality and thus boundaries between flirting and charming become blurred