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When I was asked to review this book, my first thought was: I don't know anything about childism. Then I remembered that if you read anything by Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, you can be confident that she will tell you all there is to know. No academic, historical, or political stone will be left unturned, and she will deliver her findings and ideas with both passion and dispassion. Young-Bruehl is one of the few writers who can write about a topic about which she is passionate, and yet present every side of the conflict without bias. This book is no exception.
The kernel of the book is presented on the first page:
People as individuals and in societies mistreat children in order to fulfill certain needs through them, to project internal conflicts and self-hatreds outward, or to assert themselves when they feel their authority has been questioned. But regardless of their individual motivations, they all rely upon a societal prejudice against children to justify themselves and legitimate their behavior, (p. 1)
The rest of the book explains why this is so. In her first chapter, “Anatomy of a Prejudice,” Young-Bruehl explores the concept of prejudice, and explains why we need this concept to understand how we treat children. She writes, “Prejudice is a belief system not a knowledge system.” Sexism is justifying the assertion of control on the basis of sexual difference. In the same way, childism justifies acts of control and unempathic treatment on