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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which the baby holds onto the parent, nuzzles the parent, <strong>and</strong> rapidly<br />
thrusts <strong>and</strong> rotates the pelvis for a few seconds. (Lewis <strong>and</strong> Kagan,<br />
1965). It appears to be more an evidence of pleasure, an ecstatic<br />
rather than an erotic mood. This kind of behavior decreases with a decrease<br />
in close holding of the infant as the infant becomes ambulatory.<br />
Pelvic thrusts have also been observed among primate infants;<br />
infantile sexual behavior in all mammals is perhaps the rule. (Bowlby,<br />
1969, p. 158).<br />
A newborn infant is responsive to external stimulation of the genital<br />
area. (Sears, Maccoby <strong>and</strong> Levin, 1957, p. 176). A gentle touch, or<br />
the rubbing of clothes or bed coverings, seems to attract attention. If<br />
the infant has been active or restless, or is having a crying spell,<br />
genital stimulation appears to quiet <strong>and</strong> relax. In the third or fourth<br />
month of life, genital stimulation is sometimes accompanied by smiling<br />
<strong>and</strong> the making of a few soft sounds. The boy baby from birth is likely<br />
to have an erection on such occasions. Girls show similar responsiveness.<br />
Internal sources of stimulation, such as a full bladder or a full<br />
bowel, also produce sensory reactions. (Sears, et al, 1957, p. 175ff).<br />
These reactions are less likely to be accompanied by signs of pleasure<br />
<strong>and</strong> relaxation than are reactions to external stimulation.<br />
Genital Play--Masturbation<br />
Spitz (1962) makes an important distinction between genital play<br />
<strong>and</strong> masturbation in infancy. He observes that infants in the first year<br />
of life mostly are not capable of the direct, volitional behavior required<br />
for the behavior pattern that we call the masturbatory act or<br />
masturbation. Any more or less r<strong>and</strong>om play with various parts of the<br />
body, including the genitals, that can be observed is nonspecific activity<br />
<strong>and</strong> should be labelled as genital play <strong>and</strong> not as masturbation.<br />
Yet occasional infants do specifically stimulate themselves sexually.<br />
Kinsey (1953, p. 142) reports one record of a seven-month-old infant<br />
<strong>and</strong> records of five infants under one year who were observed to<br />
masturbate. Twenty-three girls, three years or younger, appeared to<br />
reach orgasm in self stimulation. Kinsey’s unpublished interview data<br />
contains notations from interviews with a small sample of two year olds<br />
<strong>and</strong> their mothers. One mother reported that her son had the habit of<br />
rubbing against a doll’s head to masturbate. Another reported that her<br />
son’s masturbating was deliberate, prolonged, <strong>and</strong> accompanied by an<br />
erection. Cuddling <strong>and</strong> kissing parents <strong>and</strong> others was reported for both<br />
boys <strong>and</strong> girls.<br />
Kinsey reported more records of small girls than of small boys masturbating<br />
to orgasm at an early age. This does not agree with the findings<br />
of Levy (1928), however. Levy reports that direct stimulation of<br />
the genitals occurred in over half of a group of boys under three years<br />
of age whose mothers were interviewed by him, as contrasting with only<br />
four out of twenty-six girls. Koch (1935), like Levy, reports more masturbation<br />
among infant boys than among infant girls.<br />
Kleeman (1966) reports on one boy’s discovery of his penis <strong>and</strong> genital<br />
self-stimulation during his first <strong>and</strong> second years as follows. The<br />
boy got an erection from several sources including self-stimulation,<br />
but he was easily distracted. He talked well by age two <strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> asked<br />
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