Child (a)sexual citizenship in a situated discursive analysis: the topical repertoire of the parliamentary debate on the grooming law in Argentina

Abstract

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the way in which the meanings of child (a)sexual citizenship are constructed through the discursive analysis of the parliamentary debate on the grooming law in Argentina in both legislative chambers. The contributions of sexuality(ies) studies and social studies of childhood, from a socio-semiotic methodology, are considered as premises. The analysis focuses specifically on the thematic repertoire of the debate: the dislocations of spatiality, temporality and family authority imposed by new technologies to the government of childhood, as well as the protective role of the state. The survey and analysis of the emerging topics in the debate allow us to show how the discourses of prevention of sexual violence weave a moral axiology that regulates the acceptable ways of experiencing sexuality in childhood and the reproduction of the heterofamilial order.