Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce
Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce
Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce
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little”; “they grow out of the ground”; “they grow <strong>and</strong> then they buy<br />
them”; “the baby comes from the hospital”; “God put ’em in. God makes<br />
’em.” (Conn, 1948). Of twenty-five children of pre-school age (four to<br />
six years of age), God was frequently referred to as the source of babies.<br />
<strong>Child</strong>ren also spoke of babies as being bought from stores. In<br />
about one-third of the cases they mentioned the hospital as a place<br />
where babies are obtained. The idea of the doctor as the person who<br />
brings the baby to the mother was introduced by only two children.<br />
There was no reference to the mother’s role in the coming of the baby,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the concept of the birth process was foreign to these children of<br />
1948 who are the parents of the 1970s. As we will see shortly, children<br />
twenty years later were not giving better answers than were the<br />
children in 1948.<br />
When children under five do ask questions, they are asked in the<br />
following order in terms of interest according to Hattendorf (1932);<br />
origin of babies, physical sex differences, organs <strong>and</strong> functions, coming<br />
of another baby, process of birth, relations of father to reproduction,<br />
intra-uterine growth, <strong>and</strong> marriage. It would appear from this<br />
list that the parent generation that is doing an inadequate job of providing<br />
sex information today was asking fairly sophisticated questions<br />
in its own childhood. No doubt they weren’t receiving answers either.<br />
Even in a family where parents are permissive <strong>and</strong> relaxed, as in the<br />
following encounter involving nudity, the child may meet with an ambiguous<br />
response when he asks questions.<br />
In one area of sex my parents were very open.<br />
They didn’t feel it was necessary to shield our<br />
eyes from their bodies nor from the bodies of<br />
anyone in our family. Thus, the physical<br />
differences between the sexes was made very<br />
apparent to me at that early age (four years<br />
old). One of the resultant experiences I can<br />
distinctly remember, involved my father when he<br />
was in the process of relieving himself. Having<br />
seen myself <strong>and</strong> having completed not too long<br />
before my own toilet training, I (a girl) was<br />
curious to know why he was st<strong>and</strong>ing up, <strong>and</strong> what<br />
it was he had between his legs. When I<br />
questioned him about this though, I don’t<br />
remember exactly what he said, except that he<br />
avoided the question, which left it to my<br />
imagination to figure out.<br />
There is a collection of art work done mostly by first <strong>and</strong> second<br />
graders on the subject “Where was I before I was born?” or “What did I<br />
look like before I was born?” with comments by many of the children on<br />
their drawings that give insight into children’s sex knowledge today.<br />
(Miles, 1967). Teachers were asked to have the pupils answer these<br />
questions with a painting. The response was enthusiastic. The pictures<br />
<strong>and</strong> comments are revealing, for one can glimpse pictorially, the gaps<br />
in a young child’s sexual knowledge. There are gross misconceptions.<br />
One child noted on his picture, “This is me when I was up in heaven <strong>and</strong><br />
God brought me down in my mommy’s stomach.” Many drew pictures of themselves<br />
sitting up in the clouds <strong>and</strong> sky. Imagine these children interpreting<br />
the poetic euphemism, “God sent you,” as meaning that children<br />
sit patiently in heaven waiting for God to magically insert them into<br />
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