Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce
Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce
Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce
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long as I had started it, I could read it on my<br />
own, <strong>and</strong> if I came to something I couldn’t<br />
underst<strong>and</strong> to come <strong>and</strong> ask her about it. I was<br />
disappointed. But the reading went fine--until I<br />
read the chapter on venereal diseases. Suddenly<br />
I was on very unfamiliar ground. (The book was a<br />
joint effort on the part of a minister <strong>and</strong> doctor,<br />
<strong>and</strong> was always clouded with ethereal, vague<br />
definitions.) The more I read, the more I was<br />
confused, so I did as told. I went to Mom <strong>and</strong><br />
asked her, <strong>and</strong> for the first time I saw her completely<br />
flustered. She finally told me to read<br />
what I could underst<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> then went on with<br />
her work. Suddenly all the excitement was gone<br />
<strong>and</strong> I could feel a wall go up between us. I went<br />
to my room <strong>and</strong> tried my best to read, but I was<br />
angry <strong>and</strong> hurt, <strong>and</strong> the more I read, the more<br />
confused I got. I will never forget that night,<br />
because while I sat in the dark crying, I swore<br />
a solemn oath that I would never let a daughter<br />
of mine feel the confusion <strong>and</strong> frustration that<br />
I felt.<br />
My mother once in one of our close mother-daughter<br />
talks with me told me about the boy she had<br />
gone with <strong>and</strong> was very serious about <strong>and</strong> then<br />
one night he tried to caress her breasts, <strong>and</strong><br />
from then on she would never see him again. I<br />
was embarrassed by this revelation coming from<br />
her <strong>and</strong> she made it sound so horrible that I<br />
swore that it would never happen to me.<br />
I (a girl who asked her mother “Where did I come<br />
from?”) was never sure if she meant by seed--the<br />
kind that came from apples in our orchard or<br />
from the oranges that we bought. Anyway, I had a<br />
mental picture of Dad putting a seed inside<br />
mother (by h<strong>and</strong>), as she squatted on the floor<br />
<strong>and</strong> my dad sat on a chair in the kitchen.<br />
While on a family trip my mother refused to let<br />
me sleep in the same bed with my sister in a<br />
motel room. I was puzzled, for I saw my father<br />
<strong>and</strong> mother sleep together, <strong>and</strong> I wondered why a<br />
brother <strong>and</strong> sister could not do the same. My<br />
mother quickly explained that boys <strong>and</strong> girls do<br />
not do that sort of thing when they get to be my<br />
age. That is all she said; I was silent, but I<br />
was not satisfied.<br />
She just tried to drill it into my head that<br />
one’s body is a personal thing <strong>and</strong> got across<br />
the point that anything having to do with sex is<br />
evil, a point which was often stressed. I don’t<br />
think she even got around to telling me it was<br />
all right when I got married.<br />
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