<< Early Sexual Growth and Activity >>

The present work is concerned, for the most part, with the record of the frequency and sources of sexual outlet in the biologically mature male, i.e., in the adolescent and older male. This chapter, however, will discuss the nature of sexual response, and will show something of the origins of adult behavior in the activities of the younger, pre-adolescent boy.

What an individual does sexually will depend on the nature of the stimulus with which he or she comes into contact, on the physical and physiologic capacities of the individual to respond to that stimulus, and on the nature and extent of the individual’s previous experience with similar stimuli.

The child is born with a physical equipment and physiologic capacity which allows it to respond to various sorts of stimuli. As a newborn infant and even before birth it may react to touch, to pressure, to light, to warmth, and to still other types of physical stimulation. Some of its reactions may be of the sort which we call sexual. What distinguishes a sexual response from any other type of response is a matter which we shall not attempt to define until we can examine the nature of those responses in the pages which follow. Suffice it for the moment to point out that a sexual response in any mammal involves a considerable series of changes in the normal physiology of the body. In the course of those changes, there is a build-up of neuromuscular tensions which may culminate at a peak—from which there may be a sudden discharge of tensions, followed by a return to a normal physiologic state. This sudden release of neuromuscular tensions constitutes the phenomenon which we know as sexual climax or orgasm. Orgasm is distinct from any other phenomenon that occurs in the life of an animal, and its appearance can ordinarily if not invariably be taken as evidence of the sexual nature of an individual’s response.

Most of the physiologic changes which occur during sexual response are quite like those which occur during other responses to tactile stimuli and in other emotional situations; but sexual responses always involve a group of physiologic changes of a sort which ordinarily occur only in situations commonly recognized as sexual. They occur during actual coitus—the union of the genitalia of two individuals of opposite sex—but they may also occur in such non-coital situations as masturbation, petting, and homosexual contacts.
Coitus— pronounced co'i-tus, with the accent on the first syllable—refers to a union of male and female genitalia. The term intercourse, used without a modifier, is often intended as an exact synonym of coitus. On the other hand, there may be oral intercourse, anal intercourse, homosexual intercourse, and, in a totally non-sexual sense, social intercourse. The term coitus never carries more than the one meaning, which is genital intercourse between a female and male.

At least some newborn mammals, including some human infants, both female and male, are capable of being stimulated by and responding to tactile stimulation in a way which is sexual in the strictest sense of the term. We now understand that this capacity to respond depends upon the existence of end organs of touch in the body surfaces, nerves connecting these organs with the spinal cord and brain, nerves which extend from the cord to various muscles in the body, and the autonomic nervous system through which still other parts of the body are brought into action. All of these structures are present at birth, and the record supplied by the recall of the adult females and males who have contributed to the present study, and direct observations made by a number of qualified observers, indicate that some children are quite capable of responding in a way which may show all of the essential physiologic changes which characterize the sexual responses of an adult.

Among both young children and adults, there appear to be differences in the capacity to be aroused sexually. Some individuals respond quickly and frequently to a wide variety of physical and psychologic stimuli. Others respond more slowly and infrequently. Even in a single individual the levels of response may vary from time to time as his general health, nutritional state, fatigue, and still other circumstances may affect his physiologic capacities. Levels of response may also depend on the age of the individual. Although all individuals may be born with the necessary anatomy and capacity to respond to tactile stimulation, the capacity to respond in a way which is specifically sexual seems to increase as the child develops physically, and in many children it does not appear until near the time of adolescence. In some females it may not appear until some years after the onset of adolescence. We do not understand all of the factors which are involved, but some of the capacity to respond sexually seems to depend on certain hormones which develop in the body of the growing boy and girl.

Whether the late appearance of sexual responsiveness in some individuals means that they were actually not capable of responding at an earlier age, or whether it means that they had not previously been subjected to sexual stimuli which were sufficient to bring response, is a matter which it has not yet been possible to determine. It is possible that some younger children are not at all capable of responding sexually, or at least incapable of responding to the sorts of stimuli which would arouse an adult, but of this we are not certain. It is certain, however, that there are children, both female and male, who are quite capable of true sexual response.

The sexual activity of an individual may involve a variety of experiences, a portion of which may culminate in the event which is known as orgasm or sexual climax. There are six chief sources of sexual climax. There is self stimulation (masturbation), nocturnal dreaming to the point of climax, heterosexual petting to climax (without intercourse), true heterosexual intercourse, homosexual intercourse, and contact with animals of other species. There are still other possible sources of orgasm, but they are rare and never constitute a significant fraction of the outlet for any large segment of the population.

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