Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce

At first I was rather stunned. I couldn’t comprehend
that this old man whom I had been
friends with for so long would be doing something
so “awful.” I was going through the stage
where even washing my genitalia seemed bad
because I was touching them. Therefore, this
seemed truly terrible. The thing that strikes me
now is the way he kept talking in a normal tone
of voice looking directly at me. When I had pictured
this type of thing in my mind, I had visualized
rather maniacal behavior. He continued to
rub and I continued to sit there dumbfounded. I
don’t remember feeling any type of sensation in
my genitals (or anywhere else, for that matter).
After what seemed like an eternity, he
moved his hand and started to pull my zipper
down. That was all it took to get me moving. I
started crying on the way, but I really don’t
remember why. I hadn’t been injured in any way,
and he hadn’t been mean.
Four-fifths of the girls who had had sexual contacts with adults
had but one experience in childhood, 15 percent had less than six experiences,
and 5 percent had nine or more experiences before preadolescence.
Kinsey reports that where repetitions occur the child is
aggressive in seeking the experience.
Our next door neighbors had their grandfather
living with them, whom I admired very much for
the stories he told. One day while sitting on
his lap, he started rubbing my genitals. I tried
to make an excuse to leave, but he would not let
me. I was scared. Finally, I broke away from the
old man. This happened every time I would visit
there until I refused to go in the house anymore.
Thirty-five of the boys in the Ramsey (1943) sample had been approached
by adult males desiring homosexual relationships, and eight of
these boys had accepted the proposals and had participated in relationships
with older men. All the boys involved were 11 years old or more.
In 75 percent of the cases the adults making the approach were strangers
to the boys. In none of these approaches or relationships was any
sort of physical force used, but in about one-third of the cases the
boys were offered some reward, such as money, an automobile ride, or an
invitation to a motion picture show or some athletic event. The approaches
were made in school, on the street, in theaters, at athletic
events, in boys’ camps, from automobiles, at carnivals, on journeys,
and at other places and occasions.
In most societies, adults are active in trying to prevent children
and preadolescents from having sexual encounters rather than in initiating
them into such encounters. In some societies adults attempt to
deny young people any form of sexual experience or sex education. This
has been a prevailing attitude in middle- and upper-class societies in
the United States. Many adults avoid mentioning matters of sexual sig-
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