<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></SPAN>CHAPTER III<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</SPAN></span></h2>
<h3>SEX IN MALE CHILDHOOD<br/> <small>(FROM 14 TO 16)</small></h3>
<p class="newchapter"><span class="firstword"><span class="dropcap">D</span>uring</span> 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.</p>
<h5>SEX PRECAUTIONS IN INFANCY</h5>
<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</SPAN></span>
in particular, a more perfect development of limbs
and hip joints.</p>
<h5>EARLY SEX IMPRESSIONS</h5>
<p>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.</p>
<h5>EVIL COMMUNICATIONS</h5>
<p>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.</p>
<h5>NATURAL CAUSES OF INFANT SEXUAL PRECOCITY</h5>
<p>Sexual precocity in boys may be natural or it may
be artificially called forth. Among natural causes<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<h5>PRIAPISM</h5>
<p><i>Priapism</i> 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.</p>
<h5>MASTURBATION</h5>
<p><i>Masturbation</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<h5>WHAT FATHERS SHOULD DO FOR THEIR BOYS</h5>
<p>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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p>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 <i>away</i> from matters sexual, until the age when
the youth is ripe for marriage is reached.</p>
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