Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce

e a fold of skin. I was disappointed. She then
asked, “What is that?” referring to my penis. I
became embarrassed and replied it was where I
“tinkled,” and redressed.
A feeling of blighted hope came over me.
Failure of my expectations. I thought that I had
been swindled. There was not much to see, and
what there was was partially concealed. The game
ended shortly after this.
It was an undermining experience to see her genitals,
that is, what there was to see of them. I
had expected something much more interesting to
play with, for even though I knew she was built
differently I didn’t know it would be that different.
The young child who has been told of what male and female attributes
are involved in producing a baby still remains perplexed as to
the manner in which the elements come together. (Conn, 1948). Even
children who have observed parental coitus do not find this sufficient
to create an articulated sexual image of the mother or father, whatever
else it might do. (Gagnon, 1965).
This is not because of indifference toward adults and their concerns.
Up to the age of two the infant seems unaware of his parents as
persons with interests and feelings of their own which are unrelated to
their love and care of him. He has an egocentric and exaggerated view
of his own importance. But this egocentricity changes and at about age
three he begins to realize that his parents are not only the providers
of his creature comforts but also have concerns, pleasures, and dreams
of their own. (Peller, 1965). The concerns of adults are close to the
child and meaningful to him in his own terms.
By age five children are easily aware of most of the non-coital
content of the marital relationship--cooking, cleaning house, caring
for children, going to work. They practice many of the marriage and
family roles through “playing house.”
One of my (boy) closest friends was a young girl
named Jean. She was one year younger than I. We
often played together, frequently at “house.” We
acted the roles of man and wife as we perceived
them from our parents. I was most often the
father, involved in a job at an office that kept
me away from my family. The wife cared for the
home. Occasionally, when other neighborhood
children joined us, an older boy would take the
role of the father, and I would then become a
son, playing the roles more familiar to me; the
loving son, the diffident, pouty child, and hellion.
It is safe to conclude that I experienced
an imaginary marriage in my early childhood. I
tried to play the various roles involved as
realistically as possible.
They also have a good idea of the field of eligibles from which
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