Jen Baker

"Stranger Danger”: the Public Service film and the protection of Child Sexuality

By Jen Baker May 15, 2014 Childhood and Youth 2 comments

Jen Baker Last month it was announced that Charley the cat, hero of the ‘Charley Says’ British public information films in the 1970s and 80s, would return to television screens voiced by comedian David Walliams. Originally only six shorts were produced, each around a minute long, and used an unnamed boy and his […]

Shirley Temple: The Unwitting Coquette

By Jen Baker February 17, 2014 Childhood and Youth 5 comments

Jen Baker Following the death of Hollywood child star Shirley Temple on February 10th this year, the media focused on her role as a girl who helped break down racial barriers and lift the spirits of a nation in the midst of the Depression, but whose childhood was simultaneously “stolen” […]

"A filthy bruitish offence": Child sex abuse and the law in C17th England

By Jen Baker January 25, 2014 Childhood and Youth, Early Modern 8 comments

Jen Baker Records from the Old Bailey proceedings (the Central Criminal Court for England and Wales) indicate that the acknowledgement and subsequent punishment of sexual offences against children are not modern phenomena. Between 1674 and 1913 – when online public records cease – there are at least 570 documented cases, predominantly from the City […]