Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce

would have made insertion possible and whether
either of us would have experienced orgasm. But
of one fact I am confident: I could have performed
sexual intercourse that day with a total
lack of knowledge, desire, or instinct for reproduction.
It is well known that romances sometimes develop between boys and
girls during childhood. The romance may contain the traditional elements
of respect and affection on the part of the boy, accompanied by
the desire to serve his beloved. He carries her books to and from
school and may protect her from the teasing and torments of other boys.
Traditionally reared girls are more accepting in their attitude toward
romances of other children than are boys. Girls may snicker at and make
jokes about the girl who is having a romance, but they do not exclude
her from their group, as a boy might be excluded from the boys’ gang.
There is evidence that girls are envious of the girl who has a boy to
accompany her to school and who receives thoughtful attention instead
of the annoyances that they have been accustomed to receive from boys.
(Hurlock, 1950, p. 489).
At the tender age of five, I thought the idea of a
boy friend was appealing. I must already have
formed a general concept that heterosexual relationships
were much approved and accepted by society.
I remember us experimenting with kissing on
several occasions, and also remember feeling that
I was in love. When I moved to another town at the
age of six, our parting was quite traumatic. He
continued to visit me there, with his grandparents,
and when I was seven or eight he asked me to
marry him. I was overjoyed and really believed
that we would marry when we “grew up.”
Sometimes the focus of a childhood romance is on parental as well
as lover roles as imitatively acted out by the children.
At this age it was common for the boys to try to
kiss the girls. It was nice and fun to be kissed by
boys because it was what grown-ups did and because
it felt good. By this age the difference in the
sexes was firmly established in my mind as well as
the fact that there was something exciting about
sex, i.e., the difference between boys and girls.
Thoughts of playing the role of a wife were
ingrained in my mind and boys were beginning to be
regarded as prospective husbands or “daddys.”
Fantasy of a romantic nature can have erotic--albeit unconscious--
overtones as early as in childhood, as reported in the following case.
I do remember having erections when I was seven
or eight years old. All I really noticed about
them was that they occurred when I thought about
a young girl I felt romantically inclined
toward. Also, they made it very difficult to
roll over in bed. I never knew the purpose of
37