SHAH ALAM - Children learn through mimicry. If they exhibit sexualised behaviour, it raises serious red flags about what they have been exposed to, says child activist Datuk Dr Hartini Zainudin.
The Yayasan Chow Kit co-founder said when children begin to display sexualised behaviour at a young age, it is rarely innocent or random, it is a warning sign.
Responding to recent reports on worrying cases of sexual activity among children in the country, she said children learn by observing and imitating the world around them.
She said it was not typical for 10-year-olds or other children to seek intimate sexual relationships. Instead, she said such actions were often symptoms of early exposure to inappropriate content, trauma, or active grooming by adults.
"These situations must be viewed as potential abuse cases, not consensual or normal child development.
"The whole way of framing this issue is dangerous. It is abuse and undermines legal protections for children," she told Sinar Daily.
She said the term "mutual consent" was inappropriate and misleading when referring to children especially those as young as 10 years old.
"Children could not legally or psychologically give informed consent to sexual acts. Consent must be informed, voluntary and age-appropriate, none of which apply to minors.
"This framing degrades and dismisses the lived experiences of girls, many of whom are victims of manipulation, coercion, or abuse," she said.
She said using such terms not only confuses the public but also weakens the legal protections in place for children.
It also shifts the blame onto victims and deters families from reporting abuse, out of fear, shame, or stigma.
"It implies a level of autonomy and maturity in children that they do not yet possess, shifting blame onto victims instead of holding perpetrators accountable.
"It is abuse and undermines legal protections for children. It confuses the public and weakens understanding of what constitutes child sexual exploitation.
"Most critically, it can lead to failures in intervention, leaving children vulnerable to repeated harm," she said.
The broader problem: Sexualisation of girls
Gender activist Abinaya Mohan said the rising cases also reflected a much deeper issue which was the increasing sexualisation of young girls.
"On one hand, we cannot condone child marriage and explicit comments made on young girls bodies, expecting young girls to behave as adults while expecting them to remain physiologically innocent.
"This places the burden on them in a world that sexualises girls’ bodies," she said when contacted.
The former Women's Aid Organisation advocacy director added that media and public reporting must be careful and sensitive when covering these cases as victim blaming was dangerous and may distort the truth in situations where girls were sexually violated.
The reporting, she said needed to be objective and unbiased, acknowledging the reality that children in Malaysia were ill-equipped to deal with sexuality and their growing bodies without moral scrutiny.
She added that the term "mutual consent" must be used carefully in this context especially as those involved were children and may not have a full understanding of what they were participating in or agreeing to.
"The indication of consensual relations actually is important to acknowledge as it means that children and young adults are knowingly engaging in sexual activity - this has likely been the case for a long time as we have grappled with teen pregnancies, rape of minors and cases such as this," she said.
Recently, it was reported that Kelantan has seen a worrying surge in sexual offences, particularly involving underage girls, some as young as 10 years old.
State police chief Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mamat said this was based on data collected since last year.
In a media briefing, he revealed that 65 cases of sexual offences, mostly involving rape and incest, were reported in the first three months of this year alone which was more than a 17 per cent increase compared to the 45 cases during the same period last year.