Multiple Orgasm in the Human Male

<< Pre-Adolescent Orgasm >>

In the technical literature there seem to be only a few references (e.g., Moll 1912, Merrill 1918, Moses 1922, Krafft-Ebing 1924, Rohleder 1921, Hamilton 1929:427) to the possibility of the pre-adolescent child experiencing orgasm. But, as we have already indicated, orgasm is not at all rare among pre-adolescent boys, and it also occurs among pre-adolescent girls. Since this significant fact has not been well established in scientific publication, it will be profitable to record here the nature of the data for the male in some detail.

What seem to be sexual responses have been observed in infants immediately at birth, and specifically sexual responses, involving the full display of physiologic changes which are typical of the responses of an adult, have been observed in both female and male infants as young as four months of age, and in infants and pre-adolescent children of every older age.

Some of the sexual responses of pre-adolescent children, and even those of infants of a few months of age, may terminate in sexual orgasm. There is no essential aspect of the orgasm of an adult which has not been observed in the orgasms which young children may have. This seems to be equally true of the pre-adolescent female and the pre-adolescent male. The pre-adolescent boy does not ejaculate as adult males do when they reach orgasm, but ejaculation depends upon a relatively minor anatomic structure which is not yet developed in the boy; and the absence of ejaculation does not indicate that the boy does not reach orgasm, any more than . the absence of ejaculation in the adult female indicates that she does not reach orgasm.

Pre-adolescent boys, since they are incapable of ejaculation, may be as uncertain as some inexperienced females in their recognition of orgasm. In consequence, the record on such early experience is incomplete in most of the histories, and it is as yet impossible to make any exact calculation of the incidence or frequency in the population as a whole. Nevertheless, some of the younger boys who have contributed to the present study have described what is unmistakably sexual orgasm in their pre-adolescent histories, and a larger number of adults remember such experience (Table 30).

Table 30. Pre-adolescent eroticism and orgasm in Males

AGE	First Pre-adolescent Erotic Arousal and Orgasm in Males number of cases
	EROTIC Arousal - Response					ORGASM from Any Source
	In Any Sex Play			In Hetero- sexual Play	In Homo- sexual Play	Data from Present Study	Data from Other Subjects	Total Cases	%of Total	%
	Cases	%of Total	%	In Hetero- sexual Play	In Homo- sexual Play	Data from Present Study	Data from Other Subjects	Total Cases	%of Total	%
1							12	12	2.5	2.5
2							8	8	1.6	4.1
3						2	7	9	1.8	5.9
4	10	2.1	2.1	9	2		12	12	2.5	8.4
5	30	6.4	8.5	23	8	5	9	14	2.9	11.3
6	26	5.5	14.0	21	8	15	19	34	7.0	18.0
7	32	6.8	20.8	29	6	21	17	38	7.8	25.8
8	38	8.1	28.9	29	12	27	21	48	9.9	35.7
9	38	8.1	37.0	37	3	24	26	50	10.3	46.0
10	83	17.6	54.6	71	17	56	26	82	16.8	62.8
11	72	15.3	69.9	67	13	54	22	76	15.6	78.4
12	92	19.5	89.4	84	13	51	23	74	15.2	93.6
13	37	7.9	97.3	37	3	15	9	24	4.9	98.5
14	10	2.1	99.4	10		3	3	6	1.2	99.7
15	3	0.6	100.0	2	1
Total	471	100.0		419	86	273	214	*487*	100.0	100.0
Mean Age	10.28			10.41	9.62	10.40	8.51	9.57
Median Age	10.75			10.87	10.26	10.77	9.10	10.23
All data based on memory of older subjects, except in the column entitled “data from other subjects.” In the later case, original data gathered by certain of our subjects were made available for use in the present volume. Of the 214 cases so reported, all but 14 were subsequently observed in orgasm (see Table 31).

Figure 98f. Accumulative incidence: erotic response and orgasm from any source

Tables 146f-147f. Accumulative Incidence: Erotic Arousal and Orgasm in Females
from Any Source by Educational Level

Age	Total Sample	Educational Level				Total Sample	Educational Level
	Total Sample	0-8	9-12	13-16	17 +	Total Sample	0-8	9-12	13-16	17 +
	%	Percent				Cases	Cases
Erotic Arousal from Any Source
3	1	0	—	1	1	5846	176	1002	3245	1137
5	4	0	3	3	6	5799	176	1002	3245	1137
10	16	10	15	15	22	5735	176	1002	3245	1137
12	27	15	26	25	33	5711	176	1002	3245	1137
13	34	25	32	32	41	5697	176	1002	3245	1137
15	53	43	52	52	56	5648	170	1001	3245	1137
20	89	78	90	92	86	4293	124	851	2182	1136
25	95	86	96	98	94	2751	114	678	1021	938
30	97	91	98	99	97	2019	107	494	694	724
35	98	90	99	99	98	1446	89	316	483	558
40	98	92	99	100	98	933	65	188	298	382
45	98		98	100	97	557		121	161	232
Orgasm from Any Source
3	—	0	—	—	—	5873	177	1004	3269	1137
5	2	0	2	1	3	5826	177	1004	3269	1137
10	8	6	8	7	12	5762	177	1004	3269	1137
12	13	10	14	12	17	5738	177	1004	3269	1137
15	23	29	27	20	27	5675	171	1003	3269	1137
20	53	52	58	52	51	4309	125	854	2194	1136
25	77	67	80	79	72	2774	115	683	1034	942
30	86	73	87	88	85	2037	107	499	703	728
35	90	74	93	93	89	1463	89	320	491	563
40	91	79	94	95	89	945	65	192	303	385
45	91		93	95	89	568		125	165	234
48	91		91	99	88	402		98	105	164
Tables based on total sample, including single, married, and previously married females. No calculations are based on less than 11 cases. The dash (—) indicates a percentage or frequency smaller than any quantity which would be shown by a figure in the given number of decimal places.

Table 10f. Accumulative Incidence; Pre-Adolescent Orgasm
from Any Source by Educational Level

Age	Total Sample	Educational Level				Total Sample	Educational Level
	Total Sample	0-8	9-12	13-16	17 +	Total Sample	0-8	9-12	13-16	17 +
	%	Percent				Cases	Cases
3		0	.—	—	—	5908	179	1013	3286	1144
5	2	0	2	1	3	5862	179	1013	3286	1144
7	4	2	4	3	6	5835	179	1013	3286	1144
9	6	4	6	5	9	5772	179	1009	3271	1137
11	9	5	11	8	13	4577	149	844	2533	928
13	14	8	14	13	20	1144	73	286	518	243
The data cover pre-adolescent orgasm from masturbation as well as from socio-sexual contacts. Italic figures throughout the series of tables indicate that the calculations are based on less than 50 cases. No calculations are based on less than 11 cases. The dash (—) indicates a percentage or frequency smaller than any quantity which would be shown by a figure in the given number of decimal places.

Better data on pre-adolescent climax come from the histories of adult males who have had sexual contacts with younger boys and who, with their adult backgrounds, are able to recognize and interpret the boys’ experiences. Unfortunately, not all of the subjects with such contacts in their histories were questioned on this point of pre-adolescent reactions; but 9 of our adult male subjects have observed such orgasm. Some of these adults are technically trained persons who have kept diaries or other records which have been put at our disposal; and from them we have secured information on 317 pre-adolescents who were either observed in self masturbation, or who were observed in contacts with other boys or older adults. The record so obtained shows a considerable sexual capacity among these boys. Before presenting the data, however, it should be emphasized that this is a record of a somewhat select group of younger males and not a statistical representation for any larger group. These records are based on more or less uninhibited boys, most of whom had heard about sex and seen sexual activities among their companions, and many of whom had had sexual contacts with one or more adults. Most of them knew of orgasm as the goal of such activity, and some of them, even at an early age, had become definitely aggressive in seeking contacts. Most boys are more inhibited, more restricted by parental controls. Many boys remain in ignorance of the nature of a complete sexual response until they become adolescent.

Table 31. Ages of pre-adolescent orgasm

Age when Observed	Pre-adolescent Experience in Orgasm
Age when Observed	Total Popula- tion	Cases not Reaching Climax	Cases Reaching Climax	Cumu- lated Popula- tion	Cumu- lated Cases to Climax	Percent of each age Reaching Climax
2 mon.	1	1	0
3 mon.	2	2	0
4 mon.	1	1	0
5 mon.	2	1	1
8 mon.	2	1	1
9 mon.	1	1	0
10 mon.	4	1	3
11 mon.	3	1	2
12 mon.	12	10	2
Up to 1 yr.	28	19	9	28	9	32.1
Up to 2 yr.	22	11	11	50	20	57.1
Up to 3 yr.	9	2	7	59	27
Up to 4 yr.	12	5	7	71	34
Up to 5 yr.	6	3	3	77	37
Up to 6 yr.	12	5	7	89	44	63.4
Up to 7 yr.	17	8	9	106	53
Up to 8 yr.	26	12	14	132	67
Up to 9 yr.	29	10	19	161	86
Up to 10 yr.	28	6	22	189	108
Up to 11 yr.	34	9	25	223	133	80.0
Up to 12 yr.	46	7	39	269	172
Up to 13 yr.	35	7	28	304	200
Up to 14 yr.	11	5	6	315	206
Up to 15 yr.	2	2	0	317	206
Total	317	111	206	317	206	65.0
Based on actual observation of 317 males.

Orgasm has been observed in boys of every age from 5 months to adolescence (Table 31). Orgasm is in our records for a female babe of 4 months.

Masturbation (self-stimulation) is an essentially normal and quite frequent phenomenon among many children, both female and male. Masturbation is not infrequently the source of orgasm among small girls. The typical reactions of a small girl in orgasm, made by an intelligent mother who had frequently observed her three-year-old in masturbation, were described as follows: “Lying face down on the bed, with her knees drawn up, she started rhythmic pelvic thrusts, about one second or less apart. The thrusts were primarily pelvic, with the legs tensed in a fixed position. The forward components of the thrusts were in a smooth and perfect rhythm which was unbroken except for momentary pauses during which the genitalia were readjusted against the doll on which they were pressed; the return from each thrust was convulsive, jerky. There were 44 thrusts in unbroken rhythm, a slight momentary pause, 87 thrusts followed by a slight momentary pause, then 10 thrusts, and then a cessation of all movement. There was marked concentration and intense breathing with abrupt jerks as orgasm approached. She was completely oblivious to everything during these later stages of the activity. Her eyes were glassy and fixed in a vacant stare. There was noticeable relief and relaxation after orgasm. A second series of reactions began two minutes later with series of 48,18, and 57 thrusts, with slight momentary pauses between each series. With the mounting tensions, there were audible gasps, but immediately following the cessation of pelvic thrusts there was complete relaxation and only desultory movements thereafter.”

We have similar records of observations made by some of our other subjects on a total of 7 pre-adolescent girls and 27 pre-adolescent boys under four years of age. These data indicate that the capacity to respond to the point of orgasm is certainly present in at least some young children, both female and male.

As we have previously indicated, specifically erotic responses and sometimes orgasm may be observed in very young infants, both female and male. Among infant females, the incidences of response and completed orgasm were about as high as they were among infant males; but the number of males who had responded sexually had gradually and steadily increased through the early pre-adolescent years, and then had risen abruptly in the later pre-adolescent years. On the other hand, the number of females who had been aroused erotically appears to have increased somewhat more gradually through the pre-adolescent and adolescent years.

About one per cent of the older females who have contributed histories to the present study recalled that they were making specifically sexual responses to physical stimuli, and in some instances to psychologic stimuli, when they were as young as three years of age (Table 146f, Figure 98f). This, however, must represent only a portion of the children who were responding at that age, for many children would not recognize the sexual nature of their early responses.

About 4 per cent of the females in our sample thought they were responding sexually by five years of age. Nearly 16 per cent recalled such responses by ten years of age. All told, some 27 per cent recalled that they had been aroused erotically—sexually—at some time before the age of adolescence which, for the average female, occurs sometime between her twelfth and thirteenth birthdays. However, the number of pre-adolescent girls who are ever aroused sexually must be much higher than this record indicates.

That sexual activity and sexual response are often present in the normal female in childhood, is recognized by such authors as: Bell 1902 (an extensive pioneer study on emotional attachments in young children). Moll 1909, 1912 (an important volume with much original material). Freud 1910:34-58; 1938:580-603. Loewenfeld 1911:454, 525 (but he denies the occurrence of orgasm in childhood). Wulffen 1913:251. Sadger 1921:12, 14. Stekel 1923:14; 1950:26 (“coitus and onanism during childhood are neither signs of degeneration nor of depravity; . . . they are often merely the signs of the budding forth of a keen spirit, and disclose a strong natural endowment . . .”). Krafft-Ebing 1924:11 (genuine sexual arousal long before adolescence). Hodann 1929:33-37 (no asexual children; sex pleasure of a child is no way different from that gained in later life). Bauer 1929:198. Havelock Ellis 1936(1, 2):215ff. Isaacs 1939:113-117 (nursery school observations of sexual interests and activity). Valentine 1942:331-352 (denies childhood sexuality, but has only limited data). For other specific data on pre-adolescent sexual arousal in females, see, for instance, the following: Achilles 1923:49 (10 per cent among 41 females aroused by age 13). Schbankov acc. Weissenberg 1924a:9 ( 20 per cent of 324 Russian females aroused before age 10, 42 per cent before menstruation). Hellmann acc. Weissenberg 1924b:210, 212 (among 338 Russian females, 15 per cent aroused by age 10, 23 per cent at ages 10-14, 30 per cent before menstruation). Gurewitsch and Grosser 1929:521-522 (5 per cent aroused by age 11, 25 per cent by age 14, 16 per cent before menstruation). Davis 1929:230 (46 per cent of 2000 females recalled “sex feelings” before age 14). Hamilton 1929:144, 210, 304-305, 333 (20 per cent of 91 females aroused before first menstruation). Willoughby 1937 (a summary of previous literature). Dück 1949 (24 of 31 females aroused by age 10). A. Ellis 1949:63.

Comparisons of the records contributed by subjects who had terminated their schooling at the grade school, high school, college, and graduate school levels, indicate that pre-adolescent erotic responses may have occurred in a higher percentage of the groups which subsequently obtained the most extensive schooling (Table 146f); but this may simply reflect a greater capacity of the better educated females to recall their experience.

About 14 per cent of all the females in our sample—nearly half of those who had been erotically aroused before adolescence—recalled that they had reached orgasm either in masturbation or in their sexual contacts with other children or older persons (i.e., in their socio-sexual contacts) prior to adolescence. It is not at all impossible that a still higher percentage had actually had such experience without recognizing its nature.

On the basis of the adult recall and the observations which we have just recorded, we can report 4 cases of females under one year of age coming to orgasm, and a total of 23 cases of small girls three years of age or younger reaching orgasm. The incidences, based on our total female sample, show some 0.3 per cent (16 individuals) who recalled that they had reached orgasm by three years of age, 2 per cent by five years, 4 per cent by seven years, 9 per cent by eleven years, and 14 per cent by thirteen years of age (Table 10f, Figure 98f). Thus, there had been a slow but steady increase in the number of girls in the sample who had reached orgasm prior to adolescence. In the case of the male, the percentages of those who had reached orgasm also rose steadily through the early pre-adolescent years, but they began to rise more abruptly in the later pre-adolescent years.
See Davis 1929:115 (6.5 per cent with orgasm in masturbation before twelve years of age).

Ultimately 98 per cent of the females in the sample had had at least one experience in which they recognized arousal, but even in the late forties there were still some 2 per cent who had never recognized any sexual arousal, under any sort of condition. These females reported that they had never been aroused by self-stimulation of their own genitalia or of any other part of their bodies, they had not been aroused by thinking of sexual situations or by dreaming of them at night, and they had not been aroused by any other sort of psychologic stimulation. Neither had they been aroused by physical contacts with other persons, and in most instances they had never had any contacts which could be identified as sexual. It is, of course, not impossible that some of them had reacted erotically without being aware of the nature of their emotional responses; and it is possible that some other method of gathering data, or specific physiologic measurements, might have shown that some of these females had, on occasion, responded to erotic stimuli. On the other hand, their responses must have been so mild, infrequent, or non-specific that it would have been difficult to have identified them as sexual.
Discussions of females who had never been erotically aroused are also in: Dickinson and Beam 1931:128 ( found no such cases among 100 frigid wives ). Landis and Bolles 1942:96 (cases among physically handicapped females).

The orgasm in an infant or other young male is, except for the lack of an ejaculation, a striking duplicate of orgasm in an older adult. As described earlier in this chapter, the behavior involves a series of gradual physiologic changes, the development of rhythmic body movements with distinct penis throbs and pelvic thrusts, an obvious change in sensory capacities, a final tension of muscles, especially of the abdomen, hips, and back, a sudden release with convulsions, including rhythmic anal contractions — followed by the disappearance of all symptoms. A fretful babe quiets down under the initial sexual stimulation, is distracted from other activities, begins rhythmic pelvic thrusts, becomes tense as climax approaches, is thrown into convulsive action, often with violent arm and leg movements, sometimes with weeping at the moment of climax. After climax the child loses erection quickly and subsides into the calm and peace that typically follows adult orgasm. It may be some time before erection can be induced again after such an experience. There are observations of 16 males up to 11 months of age, with such typical orgasm reached in 7 cases. In 5 cases of young pre-adolescents, observations were continued over periods of months or years, until the individuals were old enough to make it certain that true orgasm was involved; and in all of these cases the later reactions were so similar to the earlier behavior that there could be no doubt of the orgastic nature of the first experience.

While the records for very young boys are fewer than for boys nearer the age of adolescence, and while the calculations for these youngest cases are consequently less reliable, the data do show a gradual increase, with advancing age, in the percentage of cases able to reach climax: 32 per cent of the boys 2 to 12 months of age, more than half (57.1%) of the 2- to 5-year olds, and nearly 80 per cent of the pre-adolescent boys between 10 and 13 years of age (inclusive) came to climax. Half of the boys had reached climax by 7 years of age (nearly half of them by 5 years), and two-thirds of them by 12 years of age. The observers emphasize that there are some of these pre-adolescent boys (estimated by one observer as less than one-quarter of the cases), who fail to reach climax even under prolonged and varied and repeated stimulation; but, even in these young boys, this probably represents psychologic blockage more often than physiologic incapacity.

In the population as a whole, a much smaller percentage of the boys experience orgasm at any early age, because few of them find themselves in circumstances that test their capacities; but the positive record on these boys who did have the opportunity makes it certain that many infant males and younger boys are capable of orgasm, and it is probable that half or more of the boys in an uninhibited society could reach climax by the time they were three or four years of age, and that nearly all of them could experience such a climax three to five years before the onset of adolescence.

Out of the 659 females in the sample who had experienced orgasm before they were adolescent, 86 per cent had had their first experience in masturbation, some 7 per cent had discovered it in sexual contacts with other girls, 2 per cent in petting, and 1 per cent in coitus with boys or older males. Interestingly enough, 2 per cent had had their first orgasm in physical contacts with dogs or cats. Some 2 per cent had first reached orgasm under other circumstances, including the climbing of a rope.
Moll 1909:86; 1912:95, also gives nocturnal dreams as a frequent source of first orgasm in pre-adolescent girls, but our data do not bear this out. Hamilton 1929:313 reports only a single case out of 100 females who ever experienced pre-pubertal orgasm from nocturnal dreams.

One per cent of the females in our sample recalled that they were masturbating (in the strict sense of the term) by three years of age, and 13 per cent recalled masturbation by ten years of age (Table 21f). The record does not show what percentage of the early masturbation had brought sexual arousal, but it does show 0.3 per cent of the females in the total sample masturbating to the point of orgasm by three years of age, and 8 per cent by ten years of age (Table 25f, Figure 13f).

Orgasm had been discovered in self-masturbation more often by the girls than by the boys. In earlier pre-adolescence, the boy’s first orgasms are frequently the product of physical and emotional situations which bring spontaneous sexual reactions; and although there is a great deal of incidental manipulation of genitalia among younger boys, it rarely brings orgasm. Among the adolescent boys in our sample, masturbation appears to have accounted for only 68 per cent of the first orgasms (Table 38).

Some sort of finger manipulation of the genitalia, and particularly of the clitoris, seems to have been the commonest technique in the female’s early masturbation. The second commonest technique had been one in which the child had lain face down on the bed, with her knees somewhat drawn up while she rhythmically moved her buttocks, building up the neuromuscular tensions which had ultimately led to orgasm. In many instances the genitalia were rubbed against a toy, a bed, a blanket, or some other object on which the child lay face down. In those cases in which the child had failed to reach orgasm, the failure may have been due to lack of a physiologic capacity to respond to that point, but in many instances it may have been due to the child’s failure to discover the necessary physical techniques for effective self-stimulation. The acquirement of these masturbatory techniques represents one of the learned aspects of sexual behavior.

The child’s initial attempts at self-masturbation had been inspired in some instances by the observation of other children who were engaged in such activity, or through the more deliberate instruction given by some older child or adult. These were quite commonly the first sources of information for most of the males in the sample; but in the great majority of instances females learn to masturbate, both in pre-adolescent and later years, by discovering the possibilities of such activity entirely on their own.

Table 32. Speed of pre-adolescent orgasm

Time	Cases Timed	Percent of Population	Cumulated Percent
Up to 10 sec.	12	6.4	6.4
10 sec. to 1 min.	46	24.5	30.9
1 to 2 min.	40	21.3	52.2
2 to 3 min.	23	12.2	64.4
3 to 5 min.	33	17.5	81.9
5 to 10 min.	23	12.2	94.1
Over 10 min.	11	5.9	100.0
Total	188	100.0
Mean time to climax: 3.02 minutes Median time to climax: 1.91 minutes
Duration of stimulation before climax; observations timed with second hand or stop watch. Ages range from five months of age to adolescence.

Erection is much quicker in pre-adolescent boys than in adults, although the speed with which climax is reached in pre-adolescent males varies considerably in different boys (Table 32), just as it does in adults. There are two-year olds who come to climax in less than 10 seconds, and there are two-year olds who may take 10 or 20 minutes, or more. There is a similar range among pre-adolescents of every other age. The mean time required to reach climax was almost exactly 3 minutes, and the median time was under 2 minutes. From earliest infancy until the middle twenties there is no effect of age on this point, although beyond that older males slow up in speed of response.

Table 33. Multiple orgasm in pre-adolescent males

No. of Orgasms	Cases Ob- served	Percent of Popula- tion	Cumu- lated Percent	Time between Orgasms	Cases Timed	Percent of Popula- tion	Cumu- lated Percent
1	81	44.5	100.0	Up to 10 sec.	3	4.7	4.7
2	17	9.3	55.5	11 to 60 sec.	15	23.5	28.2
3	18	9.9	46.2	up to 2 min.	8	12.5	40.7
4	10	5.5	36.3	Up to 3 min.	10	15.6	56.3
5	14	7.7	30.8	Up to 5 min.	7	10.9	67.2
6-10	30	16.5	23.1	Up to 10 min.	11	17.2	84.4
11-15	9	4.9	6.6	Up to 20 min.	7	10.9	95.3
16-20	2	1.1	1.7	Up to 30 min.	1	1.6	96.9
21+	1	0.6	0.6	Over 30 min.	2	3.1	100.0
Total	182	100.0	100.0	Total	64	100.0	100.0
Mean No. of Orgasms: 3.72 Median No. of Orgasms: 2.62				Mean Time Lapse: 6.28 minutes Median Time Lapse: 2.25 minutes
Based on a small and select group of boys. Not typical of the experience, but suggestive of the capacities of pre-adolescent boys in general.

The most remarkable aspect of the pre-adolescent population is its capacity to achieve repeated orgasm in limited periods of time. This capacity definitely exceeds the ability of teen-age boys who, in turn, are much more capable than any older males (Tables 33, 34, 48, Figure 36). Among 182 pre-adolescent boys on whom sufficient data are available, more than half (55.5%, 101 cases) readily reached a second climax within a short period of time, and nearly a third (30.8%) of all these 182 boys were able to achieve 5 or more climaces in quite rapid succession (Tables 32, 33, 34). It is certain that a higher proportion of the boys could have had multiple orgasm if the situation had offered. Among 64 cases on which there are detailed reports, the average interval between the first and second climaces ranged from less than 10 seconds to 30 minutes or more, but the mean interval was only 6.28 minutes (median 2.25 minutes) (Table 33). There are older males, even in their thirties and older, who are able to equal this performance, but a much higher proportion of these pre-adolescent males are so capable. Even the youngest males, as young as 5 months in age, are capable of such repeated reactions. Typical cases are shown in Table 34. The maximum observed was 26 climaces in 24 hours, and the report indicates that still more might have been possible in the same period of time.

Table 34. Examples of multiple orgasm in pre-adolescent males

Age	No. of Orgasms	Time Involved
5 mon.	3	?
11 mon.	10	1 hr.
11 mon.	14	38 min.
2 yr. {	7	9 min.
2 yr. {	11	65 min.
2.5 yr.	4	2 min.
4 yr.	6	5 min.
4 yr.	17	10 hr.
4 yr.	26	24 hr.
7yr.	7	3 hr.
8 yr.	8	2 hr.
9 yr.	7	68 min.
10 yr.	9	52 min.
10 yr.	14	24 hr.
11 yr.	11	1 hr.
11 yr.	19	1 hr.
12 yr.	7	3 hr.
12 yr. {	3	3 min.
12 yr. {	9	2 hr.
12 yr.	12	2 hr.
12 yr.	15	1 hr.
13 yr.	7	24 min.
13 yr.	8	2.5 hr.
13 yr.	9	8 hr.
13 yr. {	3	70 sec.
	11	8 hr.
	26	24 hr.
14 yr.	11	4 hr.
Some instances of higher frequencies.

About a third of these boys remain in erection after the first orgasm and proceed directly to a second contact. There is another third that stays in erection but experiences some physical and erotic let-down before trying to achieve a second orgasm. In another third, the erection quickly subsides and there is a complete disappearance of arousal as soon as orgasm is reached. Any repetition depends upon new arousal, and that may not be possible for some minutes or hours after the original experience. Among adult males, more individuals belong to this last class, and a much smaller number remains in erection until there is a repetition of the sexual contact.

These data on the sexual activities of younger males provide an important substantiation of the Freudian view of sexuality as a component that is present in the human animal from earliest infancy, although it gives no support to the Freudian concept of a pre-genital stage of generalized erotic response that precedes more specific genital activity; nor does it show any necessity for a sexually latent or dormant period in the later adolescent years, except as such inactivity results from parental and social repressions of the growing child. It would seem that analysts have been correct in considering these capacities for childhood sexual development, or their suppression, as prime sources of adult patterns of sexual behavior and of many of the characteristics of the total personality. There are, of course, some who have questioned the truly sexual nature of the child’s experiences. Moore, for instance, remarks (1943, p. 45): “One would think that psychoanalysts would have confirmed their theories of infantile emotionality by a careful observation and study of large numbers of children ... but I have been unable to find any such study by a member of the psychoanalytic school.” And again (p. 48): “As to the presence of specific sexual experience in infancy and early childhood, we shall never be able to solve the problem by appealing to the introspection of the infant and the child. Neither does the memory of the adult reach back to those early years so that he can tell us whether or not it is really true that in infancy and early childhood he experienced specific sexual excitement, and that this was repressed and became latent, as Freud maintained.”

Moore leans heavily on Bridges (1936) and Bühler (1931) to argue (pp. 46-48) that the earliest manifestations of emotion may be labelled distress or delight; but that, although young children may perform “acts similar to masturbation” and seek a partner for genital manipulation, “there is no evidence ... that these acts are accompanied by specific sexual pleasure . . . even though there are signs that the child in some manner enjoys them.” The conclusion is that although the child is capable of a tender personal love, it is of a non-erotic character and has nothing to do with the beginnings of sexuality. Adding data from endocrinologic sources, he concludes that specifically sexual behavior is the product of biologic growth and of experience.

Complying with the scientifically fair demand for records from trained observers, and answering Moore’s further demand (p. 71) that “writers . . . test their theories ... by empirical study and statistical procedures,” we have now reported observations on such specifically sexual activities as erection, pelvic thrusts, and the several other characteristics of true orgasm in a list of 317 pre-adolescent boys ranging between infants of five months and adolescence in age. Adding the records based on the memories of older subjects concerning their own, and often clearly established, early experiences, there is a record of orgasm in 604 pre-adolescent boys (Tables 30 and 31 combined). The existence of such an early capacity is exactly what students of animal behavior have reported for other mammals (Beach 1947), and it is, therefore, not surprising to find it in the human infant. Important as learning and conditioning may be in the later development of specific types of sexual techniques and in the socio-sexual adjustments of the adolescent and adult, it must be accepted as a fact that at least some and probably a high proportion of the infant and older pre-adolescent males are capable of specific sexual response to the point of complete orgasm, whenever a sufficient stimulation is provided.

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