Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce

sexuality nor for the quality of sex education it provides for its
young people. Yet many church-oriented youth remember some experiences
from encounters with the church and with church professionals in the
area of sex. The church has been the source of a good deal of the
general sexual prohibitions in American society. On occasion, the
church has specifically condemned departures from its sex codes, but
more often it has depended upon the force of less tangible concepts
such as purity, cleanliness, sin, uncleanness, depravity, and
degradation to create a climate of repression. The very generality and
indefiniteness of these concepts makes them inclusive. Each person who
places himself under the authority of the church is likely to
categorize himself in accordance with such standards. He is often more
severe on himself than his fellows would be if they were judging his
behavior.
My first source of misinformation about sex came
from my church. From ages six to thirteen I
attended a Missouri Synod parochial day school.
Between the ages of eight and twelve, church and
school were totally integrated for me. What the
school authorities stated was what the church
dictated. Therefore, sex was taboo. As pupils,
we were forbidden to mention the word or any
activities relating to sex. I remember saying
‘sex’ to one of my friends when I was about ten.
I was reprimanded by the teacher and told to
write “I will never say sex” three hundred
times. This seems to me to have been a selfdefeating
punishment because it only served to
reinforce the term.
My liberal upbringing was eventually interrupted
by the church. For a four or five year period,
beginning when I was ten years old, I became
extremely aware of sex taboos via the church.
There were marriage and family classes that
taught me not to “turn boys on” and that
physical contact was a sin that marriage
rectified. I started being very observant of my
mother’s activities (she was a widow). When she
went out with men, I constantly wondered whether
she was having intercourse with them or not. I
would lay awake at night and cry thinking surely
she would go to hell because that was what was
said in the Bible and in church. I’d hear
stories about God’s love and all the rest;
including God’s loving decree that anyone who
had and enjoyed sex was a sinner... including my
mother! Then, for some reason, after I was
confirmed, we stopped going to church. The
discussion with sex was still in my mind, though
it lessened very slightly with time.
My first instructor was my pastor when I was
around twelve and ready for catechism. He took
our co-ed class into a small room to explain
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