Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological Perspective - Ipce

me. I repeatedly told her that I was “different.”
Later that year I became bolder. Alice and I ran
back into the woods and undressed in front of each
other. I suggested that we touch each other’s genitals,
but Alice refused.
I remember looking at her genital area, and having
heard the conversation of older people, wondered what
it was all about. When we played with each other in
the nude my penis would become erect. I remember marvelling
at this. She would ask what it was for and I
told her I didn’t know.
When we were in the fort, they asked us to “take down
our pants” so they could see what we looked like and
they in turn would do the same. She and I didn’t go
for the idea but after lots of friendly persuasion we
agreed to do it on the condition that everyone was
sworn to secrecy. We all really gawked after the
pants were down and I remember being rather embarrassed
but also fascinated at looking at the different
penises. This was not my first time seeing a
penis because I had watched my dad get dressed... I
recall that some of the boys would sometimes have
erections and one boy told another that he really had
a “boner,” having an erection with the largest penis
of all the boys.
He told me to pull down my pants and he did the same.
He had an erection and he put his penis between my
legs. He said that this was how to “fuck.” Being
totally unfamiliar with the term and his not knowing
the exact technique, I thought it was a silly thing
to do and never attached any importance to the incidence.
I often wonder what would have happened if he
actually knew what to do. I guess I must have been a
permissive, ignorant child.
Touching and Fondling
Preadolescent touching and fondling is sometimes an expression of
curiosity or even conflict rather than cooperation, affection, or a
budding romantic relationship. “Romances” at this age often involve
rough play, teasing, hitting, hurting, and at least feigned pain, disgust,
and anger.
Something we boys did in junior high quite frequently
was that the guys would go around and ‘bag’
girls, e.g. grab a girl’s breast and squeeze and then
run. Gads!!
The mixed roller skating party we Girl Scouts
arranged turned out to be a free-for-all with boys
chasing the girls around trying to pull their hair.
To play the game it was necessary that we both
take down our pants and expose our genitalia.
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