‘Childismo’. Una parola che non esiste, per capire meglio la discriminazione che non vediamo

The contribution addresses the issue of prejudice against children related to age differences. The first two paragraphs refer to contributions from historical research that have highlighted long-lasting processes of discrimination against children (Ariés, 1960; deMause, 1974; Becchi, 1979; Postman, 1982; Cunningham, 1995). The following paragraph focuses on the right of the child to express him or herself and his/her right to be heard (Korczak, 1929): through these rights, the 20th century came to the full recognition of the human dignity of children. The last part focuses on “childism” (Young-Bruehl, 2012), that is, on that prejudice that we are not yet fully able to recognize and that instead it would be important to thematize in order to see more clearly the discrimination that children still suffer and to take action against it