(In)Valid Consent: Early Childhood’s Narratives about Consent in Spain

In 2022, the Spanish government enacted a law that centred consent as the key principle for regulating cases of sexual violence. This legislative shift, alongside several high-profile cases of sexual violence in the sports sector, brought consent into the spotlight of public debate around sexuality education. However, the topic remains controversial in Spain, as not all forms of consent are equally valid (Serra, 2022).

The notion of childhood innocence (Robinson, 2013), which positions children as asexual beings in need of protection—a concept particularly reinforced in early childhood (Cela & Malgosa, in press)—complicates the recognition of children as capable and agentic individuals who can make decisions about their own sexuality (Alvarez & Malgosa, 2024). While consent is recommended in numerous sexuality education curricula (Bragg et al., 2021; Gilbert, 2018), adults often validate children’s consent for practices such as hugging and kissing, yet do not extend this validation when it comes to practices perceived as related to adult sexuality, such as peer genital touching (Hulth, 2024).

From a new feminist materialist perspective, which conceptualises consent as part of a sexuality ‘assemblage’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1988), this paper will explore the human and more-than-human elements that, through intra-action (Barad, 2007), shape the (im)possibilities of (sexual)consent for children. Focus groups conducted with children aged 3 to 8 as part of the ethnographic research project SexAFIN of the Autonomous University of Barcelona will serve as the basis for this analysis.