I remember the first time a stranger openly gawked at my bare legs. It was the summer before I turned 11; I was at a small convenience store near our home. The man stood behind my mother and me at the checkout line, staring me up and down. He looked the same age as my father. But it wasn’t friendliness I detected in his eyes.

As a young girl who developed early and looked older than my age, my mind struggled to catch up with the rapid changes taking place in my body. The stares from older men made me feel anxious and unsafe. Every time a stranger made kissing sounds as I walked by, my heart pounded and my mouth turned dry. If I close my eyes, I can still hear their voices yelling obscenities from passing vehicles; I am once again a 10-year-old child afraid of wearing shorts in public.

Enduring unwanted comments and stares may seem minor compared to other types of sexual violence. Still, studies have shown they can be particularly distressing for a child, putting them at risk of psychological problems that can reverberate throughout their life.

More in the Health Gap:

• ‘Everybody was telling me there was nothing wrong’

• Should we rename women’s body parts?

• Pain bias: The health inequality rarely discussed

Movements like #MeToo have emphasised the frequency of sexual harassment in the workplace. But sexual harassment of minors remains a less common topic of discussion – though it’s one that may have increasing urgency, as puberty seems to be coming earlier for increasing numbers of girls across the globe. While the average age of puberty onset, defined by breast development, for US girls was almost 12 years old in the 1970s, it fell to nine years by 2011. One study found that 18% of white, 43% of black non-Hispanic and 31% of Hispanic girls hit puberty by their ninth birthday. Researchers are still analysing the reasons.

This places children as young as six to eight years old at greater risk for sexual harassment. Girls who reach puberty earlier are sexually harassed more than their peers, regardless of whether they’re engaging in sexual behaviours earlier – one reason researchers had thought they might have been targeted. And the attention comes from their peers as well as adults. Both boys and girls who develop early are more likely to be sexually harassed by their classmates.

In the UK, one recent BBC investigation found that children as young as six years old have been sexually assaulted on trains or in train stations.