SEX IN MALE CHILDHOOD
(FROM 14 TO 16)
During the first years of child life all those laws of practical
hygiene which make for good health should be carefully observed. Every
organ of the body should be carefully protected, even at this early
age. The genital organs, especially, should not be rubbed or handled
under any pretext, beyond what is absolutely necessary for
cleanliness. The organs of generation, which we are apt to treat as
nonexistent in children, just because they are children, claim just as
much watchful care as any others.
SEX PRECAUTIONS IN INFANCY
Even in infancy, the diaper should fit easily about the organs which
it covers, so as not to give rise to undue friction or heating of the
parts. And for the same reason it should always be changed immediately
after urination or a movement of the bowels. No material which
prevents the escape of perspiration, urine or fecal matter should be
employed for a diaper. The use of a chair-commode as early as the end
of the first year is highly to be commended, as being more comfortable
for the sex organs and healthier for the child. It favors, in
particular, a more perfect development of limbs and hip joints.
EARLY SEX IMPRESSIONS
Sex impressions and reactions are apt to develop at an early age,
especially in the case of boys. If the child's physical health is
normal, however, they should not affect his mind or body. The growing
boy should be encouraged to take his sex questions and sex problems to
his parents (in his case preferably the father) for explanation. Thus
they may be made clear to him naturally and logically. He should not
be told what he soon discovers is not true: that babies are "dug up
with a silver spade," or make their appearances in the family thanks
to the kind offices of storks or angels. Instead, by analogy with the
reproductive processes of all nature, the true facts of sex may be
explained to him in a soothing and normal way.
EVIL COMMUNICATIONS
Too often, the growing boy receives his first lessons regarding sex
from ignorant and vicious associates. Curiosity is one of the greatest
natural factors in the child's proper development, if rightly
directed. When wrongly led, however, it may have the worst
consequences. Even before puberty occurs, a boy's attention may be
quite naturally drawn to his own sex organs.
NATURAL CAUSES OF INFANT SEXUAL PRECOCITY
Sexual precocity in boys may be natural or it may be artificially
called forth. Among natural causes which develop sex precocity is
promiscuous playing with other boys and girls for hours without
supervision. It may also be produced by playful repose on the stomach,
sliding down banisters, going too long without urinating, by
constipation or straining at stool, irritant cutaneous affections, and
rectal worms. Sliding down banisters, for instance, produces a
titillation. The act may be repeated until inveterate masturbation
results, even at an early age. Needless laving, handling and rubbing
of the private parts is another natural incitement to sexual
precocity.
PRIAPISM
_Priapism_ is a disease which boys often develop. It may be either a
result or a cause of sexual precocity, and may come from undue
handling of the genital parts or from a morbid state of health. It
takes the form of paroxysms, more or less frequent, and of violent and
often painful erection, calling for a physician's attention. If the
result of a functional disorder, and not arrested, it is in danger of
giving rise to masturbation. This morbid condition sometimes seriously
impairs the health.
MASTURBATION
_Masturbation_, the habit of self-abuse, often formed before puberty,
is an artificial development of sexual precocity. Most boys, from the
age of nine to fourteen, interest themselves in sex questions and
matters, but these are usually presented to them in a lewd and
improper manner, by improperly informed companions. Dwelling upon
these thoughts the boy is led to play with his sex organs in secret
and masturbation results. A secret vice of the most dangerous kind,
masturbation or self-pollution is often taught by older boys and takes
place, to quote an authority "in many of our colleges, boarding,
public and private schools," and is also indulged in by companions
beneath the home roof. If it becomes habitual, generally impaired
health, and often epilepsy, and total moral and physical degradation
results. Stains on the nightshirt or sheet occurring before puberty
are absolute evidence of the vice in boys.
WHAT FATHERS SHOULD DO FOR THEIR BOYS
Make sex facts clear to your boy as interesting, matter-of-fact
developments of general natural laws. Ungratified or improperly
gratified curiosity is what leads to a young boy's overemphasizing the
facts of sex as they apply to him. Make him your confidant. Teach him
to think cleanly and to act cleanly, neither to ignore nor to exalt
the sexual. Especially, when he himself is directly disturbed
sexually, either in a mental or physical way, let him feel that he can
apply to you naturally for relief and explanation. If this be done,
your boy's sex development before puberty will be natural and normal,
and when the more serious and difficult problems of adolescence
present themselves, he will be prepared to handle them on the basis of
right thinking and right living. Natural and healthy sport in the open
air, and the avoidance of foul language and indecency should be
stressed. The use of alcohol, coffee and tea by children tends to
weaken their sexual organs. Every boy should know that chastity means
continence. He should know that lascivious thoughts lead to lascivious
actions, and that these are a drain on his system which may spoil his
life in later years.
In the education of his children the average man is only too apt to
repeat the same mistake of unconsciously crediting the child with the
possession of his own feelings and his own outlook, that is the
feelings and outlook of the adult. In general, things which may make
an impression in a sex way on the adult are a matter of indifference
to the sexually unripe boy. Hence it is quite possible for a father to
discuss sex matters with his young son and inform him constructively,
without in any undue way rousing his sex curiosity or awakening
desire. Such talks, of course, should be in accordance with the
principles already laid down in the section on "Reproduction."
If a boy is accustomed and taught to regard sex conditions and matters
in a proper and innocent manner, as something perfectly natural,
improper curiosity and eroticism are far less likely to be aroused
than when this is not the case. For the whole subject will have lost
the dangerous attraction of novelty. On the other hand, we find boys
who have been brought up with great prudery and in complete ignorance
of sex matters (save that which may come to them from impure sources)
greatly excited and ashamed by the first appearance of the indications
of puberty. Secrecy is the enemy of a clean, normal conception on the
part of the child as to the right place sex and the sex function play
in life and in the world. It stands to reason, of course, that every
least detail of the sex question cannot be intelligently made clear to
a little child. But his questions should all be answered, honestly,
and with due regard for his age and his capacity to understand what is
explained to him.
One very great advantage of an early paternal explanation of sex
matters to the boy is its beneficial effect on the mind and the
nerves. Many boys brood or grow melancholy when confronted with sex
riddles and problems for which they are unable to find a solution; and
as the result of totally erroneous ideas they may have formed with
regard to sex matters. At the same time too much attention should not
be paid the discussion of sex questions between father and son. A
father should, so far as possible, endeavor to develop other interests
and preoccupations in his boy, and turn his mind as much as may be
_away_ from matters sexual, until the age when the youth is ripe for
marriage is reached.