The woman who sells pap for me was complaining to my neighbor that her 9-year-old daughter has started developing breasts, and to make matters worse, the girl has started menstruating. She was almost in tears. I asked her what was wrong with a 9yr old growing breasts and she said, “She is too young. Men will start pursuing her. How will I explain that this girl is only 9 years old? In our time, 9-year-olds didn't have breasts.” At first, her fear sounded almost funny to me. Because children developing early is not some indication that they are ready for men. Puberty doesn't suddenly make a 9-year-old an adult. But then I remembered something. Even when I was in school, particularly in junior secondary school, the girls who some male teachers went after were often the ones who developed breasts early, had fuller bodies and looked more physically mature than the other girls. Those of us who looked like broomsticks? Nobody sent us. And suddenly, I understood why this woman was afraid. Her fear wasn't completely irrational. She wasn't worried because she thought her daughter had suddenly become a woman. She was worried because she knows there are men who look at a child's developing body and choose to ignore the fact that she is still a child. And that is what bothers me. Why should a mother have to fear her daughter developing breasts early because men might start pursuing her? Does a child's body suddenly make her less of a child? A 9yr old with breasts is still 9 years old. A 9 yr old who menstruates is still 9 years old. Her body developing early does not give any adult permission to sexualize her. Maybe the conversation shouldn't be about teaching mothers not to fear puberty. Maybe we should be asking why there are grown men who need to be taught that a child is a child, regardless of what her body looks like.