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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My father when undressed was a source of awe;<br />
hair all over his legs, on his chest <strong>and</strong> genitals,<br />
a penis much larger than mine, <strong>and</strong> absence<br />
of foreskin on the penis. The fact of circumcision<br />
troubled me somewhat, for my father <strong>and</strong><br />
most of my friends were circumcised, while I was<br />
not. Though I was curious, I never asked anyone<br />
about it.<br />
There are children who are somewhat disturbed, of course. They feel<br />
that something is “wrong” with what they have seen, something that<br />
should not be. Acceptance is mingled with the feeling that reality has<br />
somehow not come up to expectations. Some boys, thinking in terms of<br />
the presence of external genitalia in the male <strong>and</strong> absence in the female,<br />
assume that girls have lost an existing penis. Some girls also<br />
think that “something is wrong” with what they see. (Conn, 1940).<br />
Young people today generally recall their childhood sexual encounters<br />
including their sex education, as having been almost totally inadequate<br />
in preparing them for experiences with the opposite sex during<br />
adolescence <strong>and</strong> adulthood. If the child received any formal sex education<br />
at all from parents or from the school, it usually has consisted<br />
of a certain amount of information concerning anatomy <strong>and</strong> the mechanisms<br />
of reproduction. Kinsey could say of such instruction in the midforties<br />
that it “has a minimum if any effect upon the patterns of sexual<br />
behavior, <strong>and</strong>, indeed, it may have no effect at all.” (Kinsey,<br />
1948, p. 443). But a young person reflecting on the sexual experiences<br />
<strong>and</strong> education of his childhood is not necessarily a reliable source of<br />
information. Positive encounters of childhood may have no conscious impact<br />
upon his life at the time, <strong>and</strong> hence he does not remember them.<br />
But socio-sexual attitudes are acquired whether the child is aware of<br />
them or not <strong>and</strong> long before the child knows of their significance for<br />
his own socio-sexual maturation <strong>and</strong> experiences. This is in no sense<br />
intended as a defense of the sexual upbringing of the child in the<br />
United States today. It is patently inadequate made up as it is of<br />
large elements of secrecy, repression, anxiety, <strong>and</strong> isolated negative<br />
encounters with adults.<br />
From the time I was old enough to know anything<br />
of what was going on I was told to keep my h<strong>and</strong>s<br />
away from my genitals, even if I had an itch. I<br />
really didn’t underst<strong>and</strong> why, but I took it for<br />
granted that my parents knew what they were<br />
doing.<br />
The first real scolding I received for touching<br />
or playing with my penis was when I was four<br />
or five years old. I was in the bathtub <strong>and</strong> my<br />
father walked out of the room for a few seconds.<br />
When he came back I had worked up a soapy<br />
lather all over my crotch. He scolded me <strong>and</strong><br />
told me not to do that again. Misunderst<strong>and</strong>ing<br />
the chastisement to be not merely for playing<br />
with my genitals, but for washing them too, I<br />
was afraid to wash myself there for a long time.<br />
It is too early to say if the programs of sex education for children<br />
being introduced in the schools today are effective. Given the<br />
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