Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce

first information on sex, they must give that information early or the
child will acquire his knowledge, such as it is, from experience and
from his companions. At the junior high school level (and occasionally
beginning as early as kindergarten), many communities are now sponsoring
sex education in the public school--on human sexuality, understanding
of self and one’s feelings, personality development, and getting
along with others of one’s own sex. If sex education programs are intended
to counter the influence of peers and others they must begin in
the nursery school or kindergarten and continue through senior high
school. If a teacher of sex education is open and receptive, preadolescents
are quite open in asking questions. Questions range from “What is
a ‘hoar’?”, “Why do I feel excited when a boy puts his arm around me?”,
“Is it all right to run around the house without any clothing?”, to
“How could Mary give birth to Jesus if she didn’t have intercourse with
Joseph?” (Avery, 1964, p. 35-36).
Many preadolescents remember encounters in the school that leave an
impression on their sexual attitudes and behavior.
We were having health classes in our fifth grade
physical education course and learning more about
ourselves. There were talks given and movies
shown explaining menstruation to us in detail.
There were movies on dating, teaching us manners
on a date and the correct way to refuse a date,
and so forth. They were all rather general but
helpful, although outdated, and therefore did not
seem as realistic to us as they might have.
My second encounter with sex education came in
the fifth grade. At this time the girls in the
class were shown a film on menstruation. The
boys were given a recess and most of us thought
it was strange that we got recess and the girls
didn’t. Later that day I asked an older girl who
lived next door what the movie was about. She
told me that it dealt with girls bleeding in
their panties. This was her only answer. Her
explanation confused me and I wondered what was
wrong with girls.
The teacher’s frankness is not all that is necessary to good sex
education.
The Church
I feel that my conservative attitude toward sex
was instilled by my sixth grade physical education
teacher. She was a very young but a very
coarse woman. She told us about her sordid sex
life, her illegitimate child, and how sexual
intercourse was the most wonderful thing in the
world--whether one was married or not. After her
talks on sex, anything relating to it, even
kissing, made me sick.
The church has not been known for its openness in discussing human
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