Editorial: Combating violence against children and adolescents: a challenge for Brazilian society

Abstract

The idea of childhood has varied over the centuries and between cultures. According to Narodowski, childhood is a historical phenomenon and not merely a natural one, and in the West its primary characteristics can be classified as heteronomy, dependence and obedience to an adult in exchange for protection ¹ . This perspective is in line with Philippe Ariès’s proposition, which suggests that we must accept that childhood, as it is understood today, did not exist before the sixteenth century ².