CHILDHOOD SEXUALITY: EARLY CHILDHOOD
The early childhood years (here defined as ages three through eight) witness a marked intensification of sexual interest, and capacity for erotic response. Kinsey reports an increase in the percentage of individuals able to reach a sexual climax, from thirty-two percent of boys two to twelve months of age, and fifty-seven percent of those two to five years of age, to nearly eighty percent of preadolescent boys ten to thirteen years of age. The genitals supercede other organs as a main source of bodily pleasure. The Child Study Association of America in its publication “When Children Ask About Sex,” treats sex play as so integral to childhood as to say that masturbation is a necessary phase of sex maturing, and that parents would do well to think of masturbation as part of the growing up process instead of as a dangerous habit.
In interviewing three- and four-year-olds and their parents, Kinsey found that at three they were showing awareness of genital differences between male and female. Handling of their own genitals, cuddling, kissing mother and father, touching, and kissing others were common. Three-year-olds enjoyed a great deal of kissing. Among four-year-olds there was kissing, some homosexual and heterosexual play, mild masturbation, cuddling with family members, touching, and tickling. According to Bell relationships between the sexes or the “emotion of sex-love” may appear in the life of the child as early as the middle of the third year. The presence of the emotion in children between three and eight years of age is characterized by “hugging, kissing, lifting each other, scuffling, sitting close to each other; confessions to each other and excluding others, grief at being separated; giving of gifts, extending courtesies to each other that are withheld from others, making sacrifices such as giving up desired things or foregoing pleasures; jealousies, etc.”
In American society, at four years of age the child shows interest in sex questions pertaining to where babies come from and how babies get out of their mothers. The attitudes they find associated with elimination and the genital area as a portion of the excretory rather than reproductive system are influential in the period following toilet training. The game of “show” is common and often contains verbal play about elimination. Interest in other people’s bathrooms is high, and while the child may demand privacy for itself, the four-year-old child is extremely interested in the bathroom activities of others. Under social stresses the young child reacts by grasping the genitals and experiencing a need to urinate.
Five-year-old American children commonly behave in ways quite contrary to those demonstrated only one year earlier. They appear to be more self-contained, serious about themselves, and impressed with their ability to imitate grown-up behavior. Their interests lie in immediate experiences. They are more realistic than younger children, undertaking those things they know they can do. An interest in babies in general, as well as an interest in having a baby of one’s own is present and may be dramatized. Both boys and girls relate to when they were in mother’s stomach or to the future when they will have a baby of their own. Despite this interest in pregnancy, they often do not make the connection between the appearance of a pregnant woman and the presence of a baby. Sex play and games of “show” decrease in frequency at this age as children become more modest and less apt to expose themselves. Less bathroom play and interest in strange bathrooms is characteristic of five year olds. They are familiar with, but not as much interested in, the physical differences between the sexes, although they may wonder as to why the father does not have breasts or a sister does not have a penis. In play, boy-girl pairs occur frequently. Domestic play continues with imitative attempts at playing house, store, and hospital. Boys may reject girls’ roles but still take part in house play, imitating adult male activities. Dolls are given roles as babies and cared for appropriately, especially by girls.
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