Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce

questions about his penis. He watched it bounce up and down when he
sucked in. He got an erection under water running into the tub when
taking a bath. Perhaps one day in seven he would stimulate himself intensely.
Three days in the week he might explore or stimulate his genitals
slightly to moderately, and the other three days direct little
attention to them. At times he could be quite “seductive.” He suggested
to his mother that she squeeze his penis; she distracted him. On
occasion he put his favorite inanimate companion, his “doggie” between
his thighs and squeezed several times. He had a partial erection. He
began to distinguish between what boys and girls looked like. He was
especially affectionate toward other infants.
It cannot be assumed, of course, that behavior that appears to be
erotic to adults is actually erotic in the consciousness of the infant
since the infant lacks the well developed erotic imagery that is available
and so important in adult sexual activity. Also in the sexual
realm, sociocultural influences come to so modify and interpret biological
influences that a straight-line developmental continuity from infancy
to maturity cannot be assumed. (Simon and Gagnon, March 1969). In
societies that take a tolerant and permissive attitude toward erotic
expression in infancy, fingering the genitals becomes an established
habit of occasional occurrence. (Ford and Beach, 1951, p. 188). One of
any number of examples that can be given is that of the Marquesa. Sex
play was common practice from the earliest ages among the Marquesa and
not only tolerated but encouraged. (Kardiner, 1939, p. 205-206). They
recognized the erotic impulse in childhood and accorded it the right of
free exercise. They eroticized the child by masturbating it to keep it
quiet. In the case of the girls, labia were manipulated as a placebo,
but also to encourage the growth of large labia, which to the Marquesans
was a mark of beauty. Such activity was, no doubt, also erotically
stimulating. There was social recognition of all sexual activity
in childhood, and there were no restrictions against encouragement to
exercise it freely; it was allocated the same place in the child’s
world that it occupied in the adult’s.
In sum, there is sufficient evidence to show a capacity for specific
and intense somato-sensory activity occurring in both male and
female infants. A sensory response system is present beginning in the
early prenatal period. It is necessary to life itself. Some zones of
the body are more responsive to stimulation than are others even in the
first year of life--the so-called erogenous zones--mouth, anus, genitalia.
The capacity for specific response to stimulation develops over
time with more at each age level responding to genital stimulation.
(Gagnon, August 1965). So the infant has the capacity for erotic activity.
He needs to learn how to utilize that capacity as an aspect of
personality, as a part of his fantasy life, and as a resource in interpersonal
relationships.
Infant-Other Interaction
During the first several years of life the infant’s relationship to
others centers mostly on relationships with the mother (or a mother
substitute) and involves having physiological needs met--most
especially the need for food. Feeding is necessary to survival; but
feeding is also an occasion for intimate contact with other persons as
a part of the infant’s exploration of the environment. Objects are
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