BrownEyedBoy said:
All I´m trying to say is that the books could definitely do without that subject being brought up.
What do you mean by "sexuality"? Actual sex scenes, complex psychological explorations of the development of sexual identity, etc.? Or do you literally mean that having Prince Charming kiss Sleeping Beauty and ride off with her into the sunset is problematic?
I can tell you from having three of them that young kids DO NOT carry around all the associative baggage adults do when it comes to issues like who is in love with who and why. They may notice and ask about it if they see e.g. two men or two women holding hands at the mall, but all you have to say is "Some men love other men the way Dad loves Mom" or the like, and they'll say "Oh, okay" and that's the end of it as far as they're concerned--they don't want or need a big lecture on sexual identity development.
I wouldn't expect an average 5-year-old to be interested in, e.g., a complex novel sensitively portraying a young gay man's coming to terms with his sexuality, dealing with coming out to his friends and family and so on, just as I wouldn't expect them to be interested in a complex story about e.g. a straight young woman's struggle to learn to trust men after experiencing decades of abuse at the hands of her father. But having actual straight and gay characters in the story, as moms, dads, teachers, fellow students, whatever--sure, why not? Love, couples, and families are a familiar part of young children's social worlds--they accept and understand why Prince Charming kisses Sleeping Beauty, they accept and understand why Harry Potter wants to go to the school dance with whichever girl, they'd accept and understand if Dumbledore had a husband too. Are they interested in hearing about those characters' sexual fantasies or anything much beyond the level of hearts-and-flowers stuff--no. But there's no problem with their seeing reflected in books what they already know from real life--that sometimes people fall in love, and that might mean they kiss, hold hands, dance, or raise children together. I really think it's pushing it to the extreme to call such story elements "sexuality," though--I think that's projecting adult dimensions which are neither apparent nor of interest to children onto them.