Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce

I remember one scene very well. He had an older
sister. Now that sex was beginning to interest
me, I wanted to know what his sister was like.
In short, I had very little knowledge of girls.
He described her very unattractively. In fact,
it made me somewhat nauseous to think of a girl
in respect to her genitals.
My first encounter with sex as a reality was
when I was about seven or eight. A helpful older
friend casually offered me a rather vague definition
of coitus. I wasn’t really at all sure of
what he meant. It seemed like a strange thing to
do with a girl as the thought had never entered
my mind before. There was no desire on my part
to learn anything more about it at the time.
The differential encounters provided in the social milieu contribute
more to a child’s sexual knowledge and experience than do his physiological
readiness or his sex interest. Interest in coitus and
knowledge and acceptance of premarital coitus is well established among
boys age seven in some communities, and in some instances as early as
four years of age. (Kinsey, 1948, p. 377). Especially in some urban
communities, by age seven boys know that coitus is one of the activities
which most of their older acquaintances are engaging in; and they
have already learned that coitus is one of the things considered highly
desirable. Much of this sexual sophistication comes from associating
with older companions. Children overhear adolescent boys talking to one
another about naked women and couples who have had sex relations. (Rogler
and Hollingshead, 1965, p. 135). The size and shape of a woman’s
vagina are topics of conversation among boys and men, and younger boys
learn from older males that women are objects of sexual gratification.
As a consequence, they orient their thoughts and behavior in accordance
with what other males expect of them as young, on-the-make machos.
Kinsey found that the boy from the comparatively sheltered upper
socio-economic level home, on the other hand, was not exposed to such
experiences and was likely to confine his sex play to exhibition and
manual manipulation of the genitalia. He does not attempt coitus because,
in many instances, he has not learned that there is such a possibility.
In spite of their limited contact with coitus or information
about coitus, children raised in homes of educated parents have often
seen adult genitalia at an earlier age, however, primarily because of
the greater acceptance of nudity in their homes than in lower-class
homes. (Kinsey, 1953, p. 112).
An adolescent boy who has already experienced coitus is not likely
to make sexual advances toward a child, but if he does, his prior sexual
experience will affect his conduct. The trauma of the girl child
involved in the following case is apparent.
I was five and the oldest. My sister was four
and my brother barely two. We were visiting some
relatives on the farm. For lack of anything better
to do, my cousin suggested that we play
“doctor” and call the tool shed the “doctor’s
office.”
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