Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce

it. I felt a tingling all over my body that I
had never felt before.
Peers As Sex Educators
Besides having actual physical encounters together, preadolescent
peers of the same sex often serve directly as sex educators for each
other. Conn (1948) found this peer sex education can be direct education
through word or deed or it can be carried on indirectly through
the medium of the “dirty joke.”
When I was in third grade, a girl who was a year
older than I told me point-blank that babies
were conceived when the penis was inserted in
the vagina.
Biz informed our playground jump rope group that
a girl can get pregnant “when a boy sticks his
thing inside of you.”
Just before puberty the subculture of boys my
age began to move into the stage of dirty jokes
and suggestive ideas. This demonstrated a hunger
for knowledge which I also wished for.
While still very young I was introduced to masturbation
by another boy.... I didn’t enjoy it,
nor did I get any sensation out of it at first,
but on his instructions to keep at it, I did
achieve an orgasm without ejaculation.
Our school bus was an educational unit in
itself. It seems as if every crude story and
joke hit it once if not twice.
One day a friend who was about a year older than
myself and I were sitting at a soda fountain
having a coke. My friend quietly mentioned,
“Look at those boxes of sanitary napkins.” I had
heard of Kotex but I had never heard of the term
sanitary napkin. After leaving I asked this boy
about the sanitary napkins. This fellow not only
answered my questions but in doing so he gave me
a very complete explanation of the facts of life
for a boy of only twelve. Where he received this
information I did not ask but I’m sure it must
have been from very responsible parents. I say
this because he gave it in a very understanding
and wholesome attitude.
Sexual Encounters With Older Youth
The learning situation in sex is commonly initiated by someone
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