Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Sexualities, 19 (3), 2016, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2016 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Sexualities page: http://sex.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/
Accepted author manuscript, 199 KB, PDF document
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Tanner's puberty scale
T2 - exploring the historical entanglements of children, scientific photography and sex
AU - Roberts, Celia
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Sexualities, 19 (3), 2016, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2016 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Sexualities page: http://sex.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/
PY - 2016/3/1
Y1 - 2016/3/1
N2 - Globally, increasing numbers of children are thought to be going through early onset puberty. This much debated fact leads to significant concerns about young people’s sexualities, as early developers are thought to be more likely to engage in early sexual activity. Underpinning historical, national and subpopulation (including ‘racial’) comparisons is a standard measurement tool: the Tanner Scale of sexual development. The scale is based on James M. Tanner and R.H. Whitehouse’s ground-breaking longitudinal study of children’s growth undertaken in London between 1949 and 1971. This article explores the largely over-looked and under-theorized significance of the scale’s history, arguing that the study’s focus on children living in an English care institution and its material practices of documenting their growth, including photography, has important ethical and scientific implications for understanding sexual development as a biopsychosocial process.
AB - Globally, increasing numbers of children are thought to be going through early onset puberty. This much debated fact leads to significant concerns about young people’s sexualities, as early developers are thought to be more likely to engage in early sexual activity. Underpinning historical, national and subpopulation (including ‘racial’) comparisons is a standard measurement tool: the Tanner Scale of sexual development. The scale is based on James M. Tanner and R.H. Whitehouse’s ground-breaking longitudinal study of children’s growth undertaken in London between 1949 and 1971. This article explores the largely over-looked and under-theorized significance of the scale’s history, arguing that the study’s focus on children living in an English care institution and its material practices of documenting their growth, including photography, has important ethical and scientific implications for understanding sexual development as a biopsychosocial process.
KW - child growth
KW - Harpenden
KW - norms
KW - puberty
KW - scientific photography
KW - sexual development
KW - Tanner Scale
U2 - 10.1177/1363460715593477
DO - 10.1177/1363460715593477
M3 - Journal article
VL - 19
SP - 328
EP - 346
JO - Sexualities
JF - Sexualities
SN - 1363-4607
IS - 3
ER -