Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce

ate count as to the number who do, nor the frequency of occurrence for
those who do. Several studies have dealt with the subject, some of them
in a rather cursory manner. Based on data from interviews conducted
prior to 1955 with boys (upper white collar class) with an average age
of 7.2 years (age range was 4 to 14 years), Elias and Gebhard (1969)
report that 38 percent reported having masturbated with more beginning
in the 3-7 year age range than at any subsequent time. Miller and Swanson
(1958) asked parents if, at or before age five, their children had
“touched” their sex organs. About 58 percent of the mothers said that
they had not, while some 34 percent said that they had. In the Sears
study (Sears, Maccoby and Levin, 1957, p. 200), only two-fifths of the
mothers said they had never noticed their children doing anything that
could be referred to as masturbation. In a study involving two hundred
and eighty four boys, Ramsey reports that five percent in the age group
six or less had had masturbatory experience, and ten per cent of those
seven years old. (Ramsey, 1943, p. 224). Many begin to masturbate
later, and much early genital play is not recalled, observed, or reported.
At about the age seven, or so, I first began to
masturbate. I am not sure how I came upon this
discovery. I believe it may have been when,
feeling a need to urinate, I began fingering the
genital area and found it to produce a very
pleasurable sensation.
Touching or holding the genitals is not necessarily associated with
erotic pleasure; it appears to be a source of security for some infants
when learning to walk or under other conditions during childhood,
as in the following case.
Near the age of six or seven holding the genitalia
would give me a vague feeling of security. I
would do this frequently in bed and it seemed
almost an unconscious action that was associated
with security.
The child’s initial attempts at masturbation are inspired in many
instances by the observation of other children engaging in such activity
or through deliberate instruction given by some older child or
adult. In the following case, a boy found a way to stimulate himself by
accident and then passed it on to his peers. According to Kinsey, these
are the first sources of information for most males. (Kinsey, 1953, p.
107). The great majority of females who masturbate, on the other hand,
learn to masturbate by discovering the possibility of such activity by
themselves.
I called the experience the “weiner tickle” when
I spoke to others about it. It consisted of a
form of self stimulation that occurred when I
climbed up a pole in a swing set. The pole was
set at an angle such that the penis was stimulated
by rubbing against the smooth metal surface
during the climbing process. I discovered
this by accident and told certain of my friends
about it. They also proceeded to try the “weiner
tickle.” It was thought to be great fun.
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