Children's bodies are created by the surrounding culture and their bodies, in turn, reproduce the culture. From birth, children are separated from others in the name of scientific rigor, safety, and cultural assimilation. Children move from feeling (trusting their own touching, smelling, and tasting) to seeing, where they recognize that they belong to the world but, at the same time, are not comfortable in it. In many cases, violence to a child's natural curiosity and desire to explore begins with admonitions about and physical reinforcement of acceptable social behavior in the home by the mother. This constraint continues in primary and secondary schools with exhortations, in many cases coming from female teachers, to not fidget and to not talk. Young male adolescents congregate and re-enforce their individual but mutual anger and often direct it toward females. To counter this violence, helpers must both listen attentively and intervene respectfully; helpers and those being helped work together to develop a course of action. Fundamental change of this situation is possible by developing early childhood programs (such as the Servol Parent Outreach Program) which are based in the community, oriented to the parents, and administered by trained teachers. The incorporation of heroes--those women who take total responsibility for their children and those men who are acknowledged, although unofficial, leaders of their communities--as paraprofessionals in the education system could also have a positive influence on young children. (DLH)