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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grade girl) was so embarrassed <strong>and</strong> confused at<br />
such activity that I left the party early, went<br />
home <strong>and</strong> cried. I hated that boy from then on <strong>and</strong><br />
refused to go any place with him.<br />
Dancing<br />
Parties involving dancing, <strong>and</strong> sometimes intimate dancing, are common<br />
in preadolescence in middle-class homes <strong>and</strong> in the school. Like<br />
kissing, dancing can bring its moments of unpleasantness as well as<br />
those of ecstasy.<br />
The ability to dance caused a new type of party<br />
to evolve. The girls planned these parties which<br />
always centered around the slow dance. These parties<br />
usually started slow <strong>and</strong> inhibited, the boys<br />
grouping on one side of the room <strong>and</strong> the girls on<br />
the other. As the party progressed, however, the<br />
boys, due to group support, gathered up enough<br />
courage to ask a girl to dance. The dancing was<br />
of the “cheek-to-cheek” kind <strong>and</strong> if the girl had<br />
no reservations about whom she was dancing with,<br />
the couple usually stuck together throughout the<br />
entire evening.<br />
Parties were held in the basement of her home<br />
occasionally (fifth <strong>and</strong> sixth grades), <strong>and</strong> we all<br />
danced in the appealing darkness whether there<br />
was music or not.<br />
I (a sixth grade boy) would have preferred other<br />
games to dancing. For me this came too early <strong>and</strong><br />
pushed me faster than I wanted to grow up; however,<br />
I was caught in the false social whirl of<br />
this group <strong>and</strong> began to think as they did.<br />
Making Out At Parties<br />
Activities of a group or paired nature during preadolescence sometimes<br />
change from games or dancing into more intimate fondling experiences,<br />
often referred to by the ambiguous term “making out.”<br />
The lights were shut off or the parents would<br />
leave <strong>and</strong> the “necking” aspect of the party would<br />
begin.... The silence of the party would be broken<br />
intermittently by someone ‘cracking a joke,’<br />
changing a record, or getting up to dance.<br />
During fifth <strong>and</strong> sixth grade home parties, she<br />
<strong>and</strong> I always managed to get together. More often<br />
than not we crept away to a quiet corner of the<br />
cellar <strong>and</strong> began doing “our things.” Kissing <strong>and</strong><br />
tight embraces proved to be the extent of our<br />
actions, but the opportunity for such behavior<br />
occurred quite frequently. She had a plump<br />
friend who behaved like an older sister in that<br />
she would make sure that we were left alone <strong>and</strong><br />
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