Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce

infant.
Not only the amount but also the nature of stimulation between the
infant and mother is of consequence. When the infant is suckling he reciprocates
by putting fingers into his mother’s mouth; she responds by
moving her lips on his fingers. He moves his fingers; she responds with
a smile. All the while he studies her face with rapt attention. (Spitz,
1949, p. 291). Infants pat the mother’s breast while sucking, pat her
face, turn a cheek to be kissed, clasp her around the neck, lay their
cheek on hers, hug, and bite. “Such little scenes can be observed in
endless variations in any mother-child couple.” (Spitz, 1949, p. 291).
Some of the expressions of affection through patting and hugging may be
spontaneous, while others are learned in the infant’s encounters with
mother and other adults. (Shirley, 1933).
If a responsive woman is the mother of a non-cuddling infant considerable
challenge is held out to her adaptability, as with a cuddly
baby and a non-responsive mother. Some mothers make it clear that
breast feeding is at best a duty and is not physically nor emotionally
pleasurable. If the suckling experience seems unworthy or shameful to
her, the mother may not be able to acknowledge it or may feel the need
to find acceptable excuses. In the United States illness or physical
inadequacy are commonly accepted as “good” reasons for not suckling infants.
In contemporary United States’ culture, the breasts play a more
prominent part in the erotic encounters of adults than they do in suckling
experiences with infants. In societies where suckling is generally
accepted, infant-mother separation is not easily tolerated by
either participant. In speaking to Ganda women, Ainsworth (1963) relates
that a number of mothers said they enjoyed breast feeding, and
one confessed with embarrassment that it was so satisfactory to her
that though her child was over twelve months of age she was reluctant
to wean him. Mathews, in describing the infant-mother sensory contact
among the Yorubas of Nigeria (as reported in Newton and Newton, 1967),
reports that a strict breast feeding routine would be difficult to attain
because the mothers, determined and obstinate, were not easily
separated from their babies for long. The baby remains from birth until
about the second year of life almost constantly in close physical
contact with the mother who feeds it at irregular intervals, usually
determined by the infant’s crying.
Among the Dahomey, mothers regularly carry the infant about with
them and the infant seldom has other nurses. Close bodily contact and
suckling is continued for two to three years. There is no cohabiting
between husband and wife during this period if the man has other wives.
(Herskovits, 1952, p. 259ff). To what extent the infant becomes a
“lover” surrogate in such long absences from marital coitus is a moot
question. Infant and mother frequently stay in continuously close sensory
contact in many societies characterized by late weaning.
Besides the suckling encounters, in a few primitive societies,
adults participate actively in the erotic stimulation of infants and
young children. This is less common in contemporary American society,
but does occur as will be indicated later. Among the Kazak, adults who
are playing with small children, especially boys, excite the young
one’s genitals by rubbing and playing with them. Autogenital stimula-
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