A Touchy Subject
Childhood masturbation is as natural as it is embarrassing.
by Nancy Hamilton
March 12, 2007
Here's what I learned during that visit. Apparently, masturbation is both a common activity for young children, sometimes even babies, both boys and girls, and a common source of stress and concern among parents — who, like me, want their children to grow up to be socially and sexually well adjusted people -- the kind of well adjusted people who later in life have normal, healthy sexual relationships and who, as children, do not straddle the corner of the coffee table, rocking back and forth until their faces turn beet red during Mommy and Daddy's dinner party.
In my own reading, I discovered that, like all other aspects of human sexuality, the thinking on this particular activity has changed with each generation. Over the centuries, most religions have had something to say on this issue (usually in the form of discouragement), but in the mid-1700s and into the late-1800s, the medical establishment jumped on the bandwagon against what was then known as "self-abuse" or "self-pollution." Health reasons were cited as motivation for preventing children from masturbating, and physicians warned of the horrible physical and mental consequences — blisters, hair loss, seizuresAll the name-brand pediatricians agree that masturbation is safe, healthy and commonly practiced. and insanity — certain to follow the act of self-gratification. A variety of gizmos with names like "the Cage," and the "Penis-Cooling Device," that probably sounded ominous at the time but today might sell like hotcakes on an adult web site — were created to prevent children from engaging in self-stimulation.
Today's medical experts take a far more enlightened view on the matter. All the name-brand pediatricians, from Spock to Sears to Brazelton, reinforce the idea that children will engage in self-exploration, and will derive pleasure from such activity. They all agree that masturbation is safe, healthy and commonly practiced by infants, children and adolescents. According to an article titled the "Unveiling the Secrecy Behind Masturbation," which appeared in the publication Pediatrics in Review, 2002, "Children as young as 5 months of age will commonly manipulate the genitalia, especially the penis." The article goes on to say, "Masturbation may occur at any age, but it is particularly common among toddlers, preschool children, and adolescents."
All of the modern literature on this subject reinforces the sensible and humane idea that shame and ridicule must be avoided when it comes to dealing with such displays on the part of children. (Husbands and co-workers don't enjoy the same pass — but that's just my personal standard.) Finally, the experts seem to agree that it's important to help children distinguish between public and private behavior, thereby not thwarting the activity, just providing socially acceptable limits for Kinsey Junior.
©2007 Nancy Hamilton and Nerve Media
About the Author
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Nancy Hamilton is the pseudonym of a writer living in the south. |
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