Empowering narratives: Understanding consent, personal boundaries, and body autonomy in US children’s picture books

Abstract

Consent education for young children primarily revolves around non-sexual interactions, and parents play a crucial role in guiding these early lessons to foster open conversations about personal boundaries and respect. Research highlights children’s books as an effective tool to initiate these discussions between parents and their young children. As such, the present study investigates the content of 102 children’s picture books about consent and child sexual abuse prevention, published from 2013 to 2023, aimed at children under 8 years of age. We used a coding framework to analyze themes related to key tenets of CSA prevention (e.g., body ownership, anatomical language, identifying trusted adults), key tenets of consent (e.g. empowering language, modeling saying “no”, defining boundaries), depictions of perpetrators (e.g. secret-keeping, inappropriate media, grooming behaviors), and depictions of parents (e.g., parent as protector, as a teacher of consent, as an enabler, parent-child dialogue). Results reveal that while most books emphasize bodily autonomy and trusted adults, few use anatomical terms or model adult responsibility, highlighting key gaps in consent education. The gaps and trends in existing materials suggest the need for further research on how these books shape children’s understanding of consent and personal boundaries.