Chapter 5
IMPAIRMENT BY VISION
A closer look at some of those who have been the victims of voyeuristic experience at an early age is interesting. With the entire subject of sex one which, more and more, offers as many curses as blessings in this enlightened time and society; the casualties of voyeurism come under scrutiny next.
One thing should be recognized immediately. Just as each individual of us has a slightly different threshold to pain; a mind which is either more or less "tough" or complacent, a physique which is more or less able to command respect through the possibility of force-so do we vary in the individual fibers of mentality ... the ability to absorb or be dissolved by the emotional peaks and valleys which are part and parcel of human experience. Sex is an area of experience where this latter ability is a highly critical consideration, the fact being evident-as in every other consideration of human worth or failure-that we are far from similar.
Thus it is that some with a psyche capable of absorbing all of the varying shocks of nature versus convention, will sustain no ill effects from whatever impressions, influence or experiences are his lot during the highly impressionable, formative years of his sexual experience. At the other end of the line is the male or female who is incapable of containing the pressures generated by the shocks and emotional peaks of sex experience and, as a result, comes to the status of outward adult maturity with a secret corner of the mind still prey to the fears, mysterious doubts and debilitating fears of childhood and adolescence.
All too often, help is not available to these sufferers since their afflictions must be kept as secret as the means by which they were acquired....
At this point, we resume the story of Betsy F. whose sexual precocity and the revelations of her peeping generated an insatiable hunger in her. After witnessing the uninhibited sexual activity of Nardis and Chuck, Betsy became fascinated with peeping. She was constantly on the alert when her brothers bathed and participated in several sessions of mutual nakedness and masturbation with them. However, the boys were beginning to shy away from including their little sister in their sexual activities, the attitude of their associates in school indicating that sisters were in the same sexually desirable classification as mothers, grandmothers, Aunt Tilly and ugly first cousins.
To gratify her increasing desire to spy on others naked or in the sexual act, Betsy went to great lengths. She found out the bathing time of all the boys in the neighborhood. Several of them said they took their baths after dinner, but Betsy wasn't allowed to prowl the area after nightfall, so this wasn't productive of much opportunity for what she wanted. She weltered in frustration for some months until Nardis' sister was married and departed to another city with her new husband. About a month later, the captain made a deal with one of his commercial fishermen associates to buy into his operation, time beginning to hang a little heavy on his hands. As a consequence, he was gone from home for long weeks at a time and Nardis made good use of his absence. Quite often Betsy was able to sneak out of bed and watch proceedings next door with an avid eye and a lavish indulgence in self-gratification.
She had a couple of narrow escapes and once her mother, getting up in the night, discovered her absence. Betsy, seeing the lights go on in her home, reasoned it was her absence causing the activity and slipped back into her patio, pretending to be asleep on the chaise. When her mother, in frantic relief, "woke" her, Betsy spun a story about not being able to sleep indoors. Thereafter, it was easier to get permission to spend an occasional night in her sleeping bag and an opportunity to peek, if there was activity next door. Her desire turned more and more on the satisfaction she was able to derive from self-erotication when spying and when she was frustrated in this desire, masturbated as she recalled things she had seen.
Betsy's own narrative continues verbatim with an event which occurred shortly after her fifteenth birthday:
"We went up to visit my grandfather and my aunt and uncle in the Valley that summer. It was awfully hot and I didn't like it up there much but I didn't want to go away to a camp with a bunch of girls so, like it or not, I was stuck with it. My brothers were at a summer camp on the coast so they had an excuse not to go.
"It was real busy around the farm for the grownups, but I didn't care anything about riding cultivators or harvesters in the heat and dust, after I'd done it once. So, I poked around, mostly by myself. One afternoon after lunch, I was fooling around in the barn when a boy from a neighboring farm came in. I'd climbed up in the hayloft and there was a steady draft blowing in the open door to the loading stage and I lay down on a bale of hay, enjoying the sensation as the draft evaporated the perspiration and made me feel cool. I heard someone below and, instinctively I crept over to the edge to peep at whoever it was, when I saw this boy.
"The last time I'd seen him was about two years before and he'd teased me by calling me a baby. I'd begun to menstruate a few months after I was twelve and my mother explained what was happening and that I wasn't a child anymore-now I was a woman. Well, I couldn't tell Griff that, but I resented his teasing me about it. He was in the process of stacking some tools in the corner-evidently he'd borrowed them and was returning them. He made about three trips from the truck to bring the things in and when he made the last trip, he stripped open his tight jeans and dropped them to put his shirt; back in tight. It had pulled out while he was returning the tools.
"He didn't have anything on under his jeans and I was shocked at the size of him. He was evidently very proud of his organs, he manipulated and flopped them around a little before he started pulling up his pants. Some hay dust got up my nose and I let out an explosive sneeze which came on so fast I didn't have a chance to squelch it. Fastening his pants, Griff looked up and spotted me spying on him.
" 'Hey, Betsy-baby, what're you doin' up there-peepin' at people?'
"I'm not a baby and I wasn't spying!' I retorted heatedly. T happened to be snoozing up here on a bale of hay. You woke me up and I was just coming down.'
"'Well, why don't I come up, instead?' he grinned and I shrugged.
" 'There's some air moving up here, anyhow,' I said, complainingly. 'Is it always this hot?'
'"Most times it is,' he said, coming up the ladder with a minimum of waste motion. When he reached the top, his eyes widened as he looked at me and his grin broadened. I was wearing 'short shorts' and a thin, knit cotton top and I guess my breasts had developed to the point where they were far from bee-stings. Anyhow, I could tell from the way he looked at me that he regretted the 'Betsy-baby' crack.
"'You still think I'm a baby?' I demanded, sitting down on the bale of hay I'd been lying on, and arching my back to give him the full benefit of my chest development.
" 'Not any more, Betsy,' he grinned. 'Maybe I should have my eyes examined.'
" 'They seem to be doing alright,' I tossed back. They were traveling over me, from face to ankles, busy as bees.
" 'Well, the scenery's alright,' he said, sitting down beside me on the hay bale. 'Maybe that's why.'
" 'You like what you see?' I persisted, still rankling from his designation of baby. He slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.
" 'Pul-lenty!' he said. 'How about smoochin' it up with me?'
" 'You go around kissing babies?' I asked tartly. That set him off, and the next moment I was locked in the hard grasp of his hot arms, his mouth on mine. It was pretty exciting and I didn't resist after the initial contact, and only a token wriggle when one big hand slid up my ribs and closed over my breast.
"It was a long kiss and when we came up for air, I was tingling all over-especially where his hand still held my tingling bosom. I glanced down quickly to see his tight jeans bulging at the crotch and he intercepted the glance, pulling me back.
" 'You know where to check the results, baby-doll,' he chuckled as he kissed me again, his hand dropping to slip under my top and pull it upward. I wasn't wearing a bra and the touch of his rough, hot hand on my skin almost made me jump out of myself. This time, he cupped me and began to roll the nipple between thumb and finger and the tingles spread down to my hips and my excitement was making my heart go like a hammer.
"Then he let go of my breast for a moment and took my hand and held it against his (penis). I could feel it, stiff and throbbing against his tight pants and I tried to pull away but he held it there, placing my fingers around it and squeezing my hand against it. Then his hand went back to my bare breast and he slid the other up between my thighs. I jumped and struggled but he wouldn't let go, and I began to get that old feeling. Griff knew how and it wasn't long before he had opened the zipper at the back and pulled my shorts down over my knees. My panties came with them and they dropped around my ankles as he worked my thighs apart and began to work me up in earnest.
"We broke our kiss again and he let go of my (vulva) and started to unfasten his pants. I tried to get him to stop, but I couldn't make anything but a stupid croaking sound. I couldn't resist looking down as he spread his legs and dipped his hand into his jeans to work his masculinity out into the open. Again, I was overwhelmed. I'd never seen anything to compare with him. He could tell I was impressed.
" 'You like that?' he whispered, hoarsely, his words shaky as we both sat and looked at the rigid, jerking (penis). I nodded, dumbly, as he put my hand around it and he teased me because my ringers weren't long enough. 'Ever play with one?' he whispered again and I could only shake my head.
"Well, he showed me how and after several minutes, I was half out of my mind with excitement and his continued manipulation of my clitoris. When I was just about to climax, he picked me up and put me on a tarp, spread over a pile of loose hay, and pulled my shorts and pants off my ankles.
" 'What are you going to do?' I asked, my eyes fixed on his massive erection.
" 'This is what we do to separate the babies from the grownup girls,' he said, winking. His jeans were below his knees and I was paralyzed as I watched him pull himself down, gritting his teeth, until I felt him touch me. I jumped at the sensation and my breath caught in my throat. It came unstuck right quick because he pushed and the pain made me yip like a stepped-on dog. I hunched back.
" 'I'm sorry,' he whispered. 'Didn't mean to hurt you. Too much for you?'
" T think so,' I said, uncertainly.
" 'Let's try it again, real easy-like,' he urged.
" 'Well-alright-but easy...'
"He moved himself around against me for a little while until the sting had gone and I was beginning to feel myself getting closer to the edge from the friction. When I felt him at the spot again, I tensed and began to shake.
" 'Now jes' relax, baby-doll,' he said, in that hoarse whisper, 'Griff won't hurt Betsy-relax, now...'
"I tried to relax, but when he came on again, I stood it as long as I could, but the pain was fierce. Something gave and he slipped deeper and I began to kick and beat at his shoulders. When he released me, I wrapped my legs around each other and doubled up until the pain stopped.
"I told him it was too big and I didn't want to do that any more. I noticed a trace of blood on him and he removed it with a blue bandanna. He didn't try to penetrate me again, but he made me bring him to a climax with my hand and I had an orgasm when he did. Then he wanted to get me to try him inside me again, but I wouldn't. I told him it hurt too much. He was erect again and wanted me to take it in my mouth, but I was afraid and he couldn't persuade me to. He asked me if I'd like to go swimming with him the next day-he said he had a secret place on the irrigation canal that only he and one other boy knew about-you could even go in naked, for kicks. I felt this was his way of testing me, somehow, so I agreed to go.
"I had some pain in my vagina that night and didn't get to sleep until late and didn't feel too good the next day. When Griff came by to take me swimming, I begged off, walking out to the car with him to tell him why. I agreed to go with him the next day, instead. He came by at the same time and we took off in his pickup. We had to walk the last hundred yards to the swimming spot and it was secret. I didn't even know the canal was there until Griff pulled the bushes aside so I could get through. It was all sandy banks and bottom and I hauled off my muu-muu under which I had my swim suit and headed for the water.
"Griff called out to me that I was a sissy, and I looked around to see him pull his pants off and walk toward me, stark naked, the huge masculine parts of him drawing my attention like a magnet. He talked me into shedding my suit and we went into the water, nude. It was pleasant and we fooled around for awhile in the water, our bodies rubbing together and I got real excited again. We got out and lay down on a big beach towel Griff had brought and he began to get me excited again. When he rubbed my (vulva) and played with my breasts, I got hold of his erection and did what he'd showed me before. Finally, he was so excited he couldn't stand it and I felt an orgasm close and he rolled me over on my back and got between my thighs. I pulled my legs back and pushed against his stomach with my feet to keep him from trying to get in me again. Then he stopped and tried to get me to take it in my mouth but, somehow, I didn't want to, not right then. He didn't say anything for awhile, just sat playing with his erection. I started rubbing my clitoris, watching him, and had an orgasm. When I finished, Griff was red in the face and looking angry.
"Then I heard a noise in the bushes and jerked around to see another boy come through, saying hello to Griff. I tried to grab the towel to cover myself, but Griff pulled it away, telling me this was the other fellow who knew about this swimming place and he was a friend of his. I started to get mad, but I sensed that I was in a bad spot and kept quiet. Then I knew I was when the other boy stripped naked and came over to sit on the towel with us. Griff introduced him as Wilfred and he said:
" 'Hey, looks like you're havin' fun,' Griff said he'd thought so, too, but Betsy had turned off for him. Wilfred's (phallus) wasn't nearly so big as Griff's, I couldn't help but see. It was shorter and not nearly so thick and the (glans) was pink and bare while Griff's was shiny and purplish when he drew the skin back. When Griff was erect, the end was covered all except for the very tip.
Griff was still looking mad and he began to work his hand on it and I couldn't keep my eyes away from him as he became fully erect again. Wilfred, grinning wickedly, began to do the same and I was surprised at how long it was when it became erect. I began to feel excitement, even though the circumstances made me uneasy. This didn't seem to reduce my excitement. Somehow, it seemed to increase my fever. With the two of them sitting there, working with themselves, I couldn't help it-I began rubbing myself. As the silence continued and my eyes were glued to the boys' hand movements, the weird situation began to add to my excitement. I felt my eyes growing droopy as I neared a climax again and I heard Wilfred chuckle.
" 'She looks ready, Griff. Maybe I can open things up for you!'
"Then he was on me and Griff was holding my legs stretched out and apart. That same wicked smile was on Wilfred's face as he reached down to cup me and slip his finger up me. I was too scared and too excited to struggle and Wilfred took his time, entering me very slowly, with little pushes. I gritted my teeth to keep from yelling, and I thought he'd never stop going. I know I began to sob and I guess about half the pain I felt was mental but I could visualize Wilfred's erection ruining me inside and I began to roll and toss but I couldn't get him off. Then I felt him throb as he rocked several times. I was crying out and sobbing
-nothing was happening to me but pain and fear. But the fact I was scared seemed to keep my excitement at a peak. Wilfred became soft and withdrew.
"When Griff moved over me I suddenly felt limp as a dishrag. Maybe I relaxed subconsciously, I don't know. I raised my head to try to see what he was doing just in time to see him draw the covering back. His (glans) was reddish-purple and shining like he'd just come out of the water. I felt his fingers stretch me and then he moved into me. I tried to escape, again, but he kept pushing in quick motions until he was completely inside me. I felt like I was coming apart and I could feel the stinging ache burning clear up to my breasts.
"Griff told me, hoarsely, to put my legs around him and I tried but I couldn't move. Then I felt Wilfred lift them, locking one ankle under the other knee and the pain eased a little, but not much. I thought Griff was going to stay in me forever. I heard Wilfred laughingly ask him if he was trying for a record. Griff replied not to bother him-it was so tight he couldn't move and wanted to hold off. I could hear him gasping and straining; feel him throbbing through the pain; then he moaned like he was hurt and begin to pound against me like a maddened bull. I know I yelled and tried to hold him with my legs but I couldn't feel them. I felt his (penis) jerk and then this hot sensation deep inside me and I guess I passed out for a moment.
"I came to in the water in Griff's arms. He was kneeling with me on his thighs and his fingers were holding me open down there and I could feel the water inside me. After a few minutes, he carried me back up to the blanket and laid me down. I still hurt inside but I felt alright otherwise. Those two clowns smoked a couple of cigarettes and then started fooling with themselves again to get me excited. After awhile they succeeded and knelt beside me, putting one of my hands around each of them and making me work them while they rubbed me and played with my breasts.
"Then, when I was about over the edge, Wilfred slipped around behind me and squatted with my head between his knees, holding my arms over his thighs. Griff straddled me, slipping his hand behind my head and holding his erection with the other. He made me take it in my mouth and when he climaxed I almost strangled. When I came back from the canal, Wilfred said it was his turn but I begged them not to hold me and he sat down and I lay down on my side and did it to him. He kept pushing my head down and making me choke but finally lost control of himself and had an orgasm.
"When Griff took me home, he grinned at me as he was braking the pickup to a stop.
" 'Betsy, you ain't no baby, now,' he told me.
"I called him an SOB and told him if I ever saw him around the place again, I'd tell my uncle what he and Wilfred had done to me-and both of them would end up with their (testicles) nailed to the barn door. He knew I meant it and he stayed away.
"I felt terrible and I was so sore I could hardly walk right, but I covered up, in spite of the pain. I used an antiseptic douche and that helped; and it stopped the bleeding. I told the folks I thought I had stomach flu and stayed in bed the next couple of days..."
Betsy's early and subsequent sexual experiences have made her a sexual "cripple." Her condition is not physiological, entirely-her genitalia are fully developed and normally operative. Her difficulty is a psychological, but nonetheless pathological. She has an adamant aversion to coitus.
Upon leaving home to take a secretarial job, Betsy had an apartment mate who was a lesbian, but did not force the issue. The girl had a circle of friends and, for a few months, there was no sexual activity between them; she had told Betsy of their preference at the time they agreed to share the apartment and adhered to her promise not to involve Betsy in anything she didn't want. But, in a strange city, Betsy found it almost impossible to find sexual satisfaction by the only means which gave her complete relief: looking at male genitals and masturbating.
Confiding her difficulty to her friend, Betsy agreed to try the lesbian approach and derived enough satisfaction from the activity to keep her moderately fulfilled. Her apartment mate then suggested that Betsy meet some of her contacts in the swinging society, explaining that single girls, who fit in, were highly acceptable; and that Betsy might have no difficulty finding, in group sex, the stimuli to provide complete satisfaction.
Betsy, in her early twenties, became an initiate of the swinging world. While refusing coitus, she is widely acceptable in swinging groups-she submits to lesbian acts, passively; performs fellatio upon request but cannot achieve orgasm in this latter activity unless she stimulates herself, digitally, during the process. Participation is mildly enjoyable to her, but Betsy derives her greatest peaks of sexual satisfaction-her only achievement of full release by observing the sex organs of males and masturbating while she is looking at them....
With the preponderance of numbers of the male over the female incidence of voyeurism, it would seem that peeping-for the distaff member of society-would almost imperatively be an acquired taste. Further, the acquisition would probably have to antedate the impact of other, more numerous impressions. The fact that the female is the sex-symbol in our culture-and its numerical superiority in incidence of display almost obliterates any consideration of the male in this guise-could, also, have a bearing upon the relative rarity of voyeurism in females. The ubiquitous presentation of the seductive female would not excite in the heterosex-ually-oriented woman any emotion other (perhaps) than jealousy, envy, or even admiration.
There is no doubt about the fact that in the myriad bids for public attention by exploiters, promoters and advertisers, there is a type of pressure generated. It is similar to that of magnetic attraction-a pressure pulling toward an object or objects calculated to win attention and impress upon it a message. Thus, the pressure of those attractions which excite the greatest voyeuristic response from the male might have the reverse effect on the female. All those public manifestations of a culture exert a certain pressure of influence upon the members of the society which engenders that culture. Thus, it might well be that this conditioning has helped to anesthetize or render passive the voyeuristic response of the female.
Certain it is that in those inferior numbers of voyeuristic cases among women, the urge seems no less attractive than in the cases of masculine voyeurism. It is a common male error to expect that, just as the sight of a feminine entity seductively presented to his view stirs desire, a corresponding exposure of masculinity will elicit the same response from the opposite sex.
In this supposition, the male is most often doomed to disappointment. For one thing, the male has little to offer other than his face, his mucles and his genitalia. Quite often, the first two of these is insufficient attraction to advance his wooing; the third probably possesses far more shock value than any aid to persuasion. Many women, indeed, find the sight of male genitals unpleasant or ugly.
In lower life forms we encounter this disparity in physical attractiveness-certain birds are more brilliantly feathered among males than females-other life forms display an imbalance of visible attractiveness between male and female. Perhaps it is that an all-wise nature has worked toward this end, deliberately. It may be that her ends are more efficiently accomplished by limiting the overt attraction to eliminate confusion, spur desire and consequent aggressive action toward possession without confounding the situation by equipping both sexes with mutually attractive physical attributes. It could be nature wishes to avert such situations as Subject A being irresistibly attracted to Object B, which, in turn, finds no attraction in A, preferring Subject C. Subject C, however, yearns for object D, creating a pattern in which frustration seems the only identifiable product.
Another theory is that nature has equipped the female, in almost every instance, to stand in the position of making the choice. Because of the superior importance of her function in propagating the race and the necessity for continual improvement of the species, she is better equipped to decide, instinctively, the important question of which mate to choose.
In the human female, definitely, the physiological and psychological manifestations of sex are so different from those of the male, there is small reason to wonder that this difference in voyeuristic influence should exist. The differences between the sexes are so extensive that, despite the fact that both are members of the genus Homo sapiens, the dissimilarities begin at this point and continue indefinitely.
The noted French psychologist, Rene Guyon, points out that this difference between man and woman has been psychologically translated by the male into a belief that the female is inferior. In his book, "A Case For Sexual Freedom," he writes:
"What then, is the explanation of this widespread conviction that woman is man's inferior? The reason is that man and woman are fundamentally different, and that the difference extends into the psychological realm. Physiologically, of course, men and women differ so much that we might regard them as beings of different species. This does not apply to the reproductive organs alone, for the rest of the bodily systems differ no less in the two sexes. It is the same in all the higher mammals. Even when the outward aspect of male and female is much the same, we notice differences of build, gait, and posture, so that at the first glance we can distinguish ... without looking at their sexual organs.
"Psychologically the differences between men and women are no less conspicuous. Their respective understandings do not work in the same way, they do not reason alike and a man's judgment of merits and defects varies from a woman's. The consequence is that men are apt to talk disparagingly of a woman's mental aptitudes-and conversely. Each sex regards the other's way of looking at things as incomprehensible, and does so in all sincerity, this being perhaps the only sincerity in sex relations."
Further, the monograph on "Voyeurism" by Edward Podolosky, M.D. and Carlson Wade states:
"It is believed that the female does not become a peeper because she does not derive any special thrill from viewing the naked parts of a male. In our culture, nude women are the sexual symbol. All of us are subjected to this symbol by the means of billboards, television, motion pictures, magazines, etc. We are surrounded by naked or near-naked symbols of females. This has instilled in the average male a feeling of excitement at the naked parts of the female. It is possible that, in a different society, the male body may be regarded as a sexual symbol and the female figure not so regarded. However, modern psychologists explain that the psycho-sexual components of the two sexes are such that the male becomes more visually stimulated than the female. For this reasons, voyeurists are generally of the male sex."
At the age of eleven, Robert M. witnessed his mother and father engaging in amorous play which was followed by intercourse. His boyhood memory retains the distinct recollection that both his parents engaged in oral stimulation-his father performing cunnilingus on his mother-his mother performing fellatio on his male parent. Although these activities held no special significance for him during this period of his life, he recalls his spying on his elders, thus engaged, brought on a massive excitement and caused a persistent erection while he was occupied in his voyeuristic activity.
While the opportunities to see his parents thus engaged was not too often available, Robert was alert to the possibilities of such activity, noted the signs in his mother and father and would attempt to view their activity together. He also manipulated his erection during the ensuing excitement-when he was successful in being able to spy-and, although he does not recall that he ever attained orgasm, he does remember than the agitation of his erection produced greatly pleasant sensations and heightened the excitement of his peeping activity.
Robert was one of three children. His sister Marion was eighteen months older than Robert; his sister May was a year younger. The girls had a room to themselves, as did Robert, but they shared the use of a connecting bath. On one occasion when Marion did not close her door to the bath completely, Robert saw her for the first time in the nude and his excitement at the sight of his sister without her clothing inspired him to peep, providing a new source of excitement. Becoming aware of the situation inspired Robert to figure ways and means to exploit it. Since the girls were quite often in the bathroom together, and were naked most often during these occasions, Robert would either steal into their bedroom to ease the bathroom door open a crack or peep through the keyhole in his door.
Looking for more effective spying methods, he thought of the transom over the bathroom doors, and by standing on his bureau, he could see almost the entire bathroom when the transom was half open and solved the problem of its being closed by scratching a small hole in the translucent, figured paper which covered the transom glass in the old-fashioned house.
"Watching Marian and May excited me as much or more than trying to get a chance to spy on my mother and father," Robert revealed. "Besides, the chances of seeing the girls were lots more numerous than for seeing my parents. Marian, especially, excited me. Her body was a lot like my mother-her breasts were full and she had a thick growth of hair between her legs. Seeing them always brought on an erection and I regarded this as a signal to masturbate. Since I got the chance to peep at them pretty regularly, I was relieving myself in this manner almost every day."
Quizzed as to his activity in masturbation without the stimulus of his sister or sisters appearing in the nude, Robert stated he did not recall performing the act at times other than when he was excited by peeping at the girls. By the time Robert had reached age fourteen, he and May began to be thrown more together as Marian was then in high school. She was quite attractive, as Robert had noted, and her popularity was high in her school set. She was daring quite often and was away from home much of the time. As her interests became more involved away from her sister, May began to turn to Robert for companionship. She revealed her curiosity about some words she had seen written on a fence behind a schoolmate's house. The other girl didn't know their meaning, so May asked her brother to explain. In the explanation, he had to touch on the male genitals and then May was even more curious. She didn't know what a boy looked like and persisted in asking questions until she got around to asking Robert if he'd show her his.
"I didn't think too much about it at first," Robert recalls, "and then I began to get a little excited about the idea. So, we made a bargain-I'd show her, if she'd show me. This was alright with May and we decided we'd do it in the bathroom and lock the doors so our folks wouldn't catch us.
"So, we did, making sure both bathroom doors were locked, and then taking off all our clothing. It was the first time I'd ever been naked with a girl who was naked and I got excited right away. May, whose eyes were fastened on my sex organs, was curious all the more as she watched it swell and stiffen, and wanted to know why and I tried to explain it to her as best I knew how. Then she asked if she could feel it and I agreed to this when she said I could feel her. When she took hold of me I could tell it excited her and it sure raised my temperature. When I was feeling her she acted like she was enjoying it and we both admitted that we masturbated. I showed how she could do it to me and she instructed me in what she did and showed me how to rub her with the best results.
"Marian broke up that session as we heard her come in downstairs, calling for mother, and we knew she'd be upstairs right away. I grabbed my clothes and hustled into my room to dress, leaving the bathroom to May. That was the beginning of a long series of mutual or individual masturbation sessions between the two of us. Sometimes I'd ask May to do it for me while I looked at her and sometimes, I'd get her to sit or lie with her legs spread while I did it myself. She always wanted me to do it to her, afterward and I enjoyed it. It was exciting when she'd go clear out of herself and reach a climax.
As their intimacy progressed, Robert told May more of what his experience had been, including what he'd seen when he spied on their parents in bed. He had to describe everything he'd seen and May was curious to experience intercourse and pestered Robert to do it with her. However, in
Robert's surreptitious conversations on sex with his schoolmates, such activity with a sister he knew to be beyond the pale. He couldn't define why, at that time, but the incestuous was considered with contempt or aversion by all the boys he knew, most of whom scored their sisters in sibling animosity anyway.
"As much as I wanted to try it," Robert admits, "I just couldn't do it with my own sister. I'd heard one boy say he knew a brother and sister who did it and the sister had a baby with two heads-or something real shocking. So I had to tell May that that was something that just couldn't be done."
When Robert reached high school, he began to have the urge to expand his field of experimentation. The endless conversation among his classmates was now turning more and more to sexual experiences and the attention was on the exploits the boys bragged about. Most of these the listeners took with a grain of salt, because they knew that, in their own turn, the tales they spun were largely imagination, based on wishful thinking. However, one of Robert's more reserved classmates was always scoffing at these tales and Robert began to fall in with his attitude, because he genuinely admired the lad. When in discussions away from the group, the two of them talked, this boy said he knew the others didn't know what they were talking about. He named three girls in school he'd had intercourse with and Robert immediately became excited.
"I asked him if he thought there was a chance I could get a date with one of them," Robert recounted, "and the reply was that I could probably get a date with any of them. However, if I wanted a sure thing, all I had to do was start kissing her and feeling her breasts and the rest was guaranteed. This girl was ready and all it took was for a boy she liked to turn her on.
"So, I had a couple of dates with her," Robert went on. "I was too scared to try anything these times, but the next time I took her out, she agreed to go park with me and we got started necking with no trouble. As my friend had told me, the minute I put my hand on her breasts and started pressing them, she jumped and began to breathe faster. This was encouraging so I started to unbutton her blouse and when she didn't try to stop me, I opened it and worked her bosoms out over her bra.
"By this time she fell into the spirit of things completely. I felt her hand unfastening my trousers and excitement at her act heightened until she reached in and took my erection out. I was conscious of feeling a little apprehensive. Finally I became conscious that my erection was subsiding and I desperately manipulated the girl in an effort to spur my own response. She was begging me to 'do it to me, Bob!, ' her hips thrusting instinctively and excitedly.
"Well, I took her panties off, continuing to rub her, and moved in between her legs, but my (penis) was flaccid and that condition did something more to me. I was doing what I'd wanted to do for so long-I had a girl who was ready for sex-was begging for sex and I couldn't come through. You can imagine that, starting to worry about this situation didn't help me either. As I manipulated her I was thinking this was the same thing I always did with May and it always made my (penis) hard as a rock, but now ... nothing.
"Finally, Arlene had an orgasm, twisting and crying and begging me to keep on rubbing her.
When it was over, she felt OK, she told me. I told her I didn't know what the trouble was-I didn't tell her how worried and ashamed I felt.
"Thinking about it later, I guess I had all sorts of mental excuses for myself-like it was the first time and a girl I didn't know very well, but I still couldn't convince myself that there wasn't something wrong. The next time May came into my room and suggested we have a session, I almost refused. She tried to talk me into it for awhile, but when I still didn't want to, she went on into the bathroom. In a little while she called to me to come there, and I did.
"May was naked, seated on the edge of the bathtub with her thighs open, looking up at me with a pleading look. Immediately I felt an erection begin. Relieved, I stripped out of my clothes and dropped them in my room as I heard May locking the door to her room and I went in, locking my door. Somehow, my excitement seemed much greater than usual and May began to beg me to put it in her, but I refused and we climaxed in the usual fashion-mutual masturbation. Then May began to pester me about why I didn't want to and, I suppose, boy-like, I couldn't help bragging about my daring in trying ... even if the results weren't good. I started to tell May that I had done it, but I finally told her the truth. Of course, she didn't know much of anything, but she pointed out I had just done it, and took hold of me, remarking how swollen and big I was-and I quickly came to erection again. We ended up doing it again and I felt better afterward, but I still had this doubt. However, I determined-after my revival of confidence with May-to try again.
"Before I could manage another date-about ten days later-May and I were alone in the house for the evening. Mother and Dad had gone to a dinner dance, Marian was out on a skating party and May came parading into my bedroom without a stitch on. I had my usual reaction and got my clothes off in a hurry. We stayed in my bedroom and, in the course of our play, May confided the reason she'd been late getting home a couple of days previously. She'd gone home with a boy friend of hers in school and another boy and girl. The boy's parents were away and they danced for awhile and the other boy and girl had started loving each other up. May and her friend followed suit and it wasn't long before the other pair was naked on the sofa, indulging in intercourse. May said she got so excited at this that she agreed, immediately, to do it with her friend and they stripped and stretched out on a white bearskin rug on the floor.
"I asked if she liked it and she confessed that she didn't. She said it hurt when the boy put it into her and he withdrew when she told him. They tried it again and the boy had an orgasm, but May said it hurt worse because he came on pretty strong when he climaxed. We agreed that, maybe, some people did it that way and some people did what we were doing, instead. I told her I was going to try it once more but she said she didn't think she would. It hurt too much.
"I did get another date with a new girl in school my friend tipped me off to," Robert recounted, "and while it was far different than the first time, it still ended up being no good for me. I maintained an erection until I penetrated her, but then it softened and she used her mouth to re-stimulate me. However, a second attempt at coitus had the same result, so we tried mutual masturbation for relief. It worked, but we were both disappointed-and I was convinced that wasn't for me.
"Yet, every time I saw May's naked body, I got excited and, over a period through my graduation from high school, we continued to take care of each other. Then I began going to college, locally, and May and I saw less of each other. The next thing I knew, she had started going steady with a boy and, I guess, I felt rejected and we started to fight. She wouldn't do it with me any more, except at great intervals when she was between boy friends. By the time May finished high school, I felt my sex life was a mess. Then, she eloped with this older boy and that blew the whole thing.
"I had some dates with girls at school and it was alright as long as we didn't get into the area of intercourse, but, of course, this didn't help my situation. During my junior year, Marian got married and the folks had a good offer to sell the house so they suggested I live on campus my senior year. Dad went ahead with plans to build an apartment house and he and mother would five there when it was done-it was understood I could five there when I was through school.
"I got hung up in the start of a homosexual arrangement with a classmate," Robert went on, "but I soon found out this wasn't for me when his ideas got more and more exotic and I gave it up in disgust."
Upon graduation, Robert worked with a national concern and made an excellent impression on his superiors. He was transferred to New Jersey for additional training and experience and, while he was there, May left her husband and came to see him. She was much upset over the failure of her marriage and wanted to move in with Robert and "keep house" for him. By now, he was finding his sex life considerably burdened with guilt reactions from his earlier relationship with his sister and vehemently rejected her proposed arrangement.
May returned home and went to work. About a year later, she was killed in an automobile accident, and it developed that she'd been driving and was loaded on "pep pills"-the authorities suspicioned that her death was suicide. It happened on a lonely stretch of road in good weather with the evidence pointing to the fact that May drove into a concrete overpass abutment at or near top speed.
Robert added this horror to his other guilt feelings, completely convinced his refusal triggered May's death. Convinced that there was nothing for him but to divert his sexual energies into work effort, he has managed to make exceptional strides, has established his own management consultation business. He personally handles those firms which permits him some opportunity to exercise his desire to peep. One of these is a manufacturer of women's undergarments; another is a dress manufacturer. In both of these, on his periodic visits to check the operation, he has managed to be assigned an office location where he can secretly spy on models changing clothes. He uses a "spy camera"-about the size of a cigarette lighter-with which to make shots of naked girls. He dates them, when possible, and then gratifies his urges, afterward, by masturbating to the stimulus of pictures of his date in the nude. He is expert at developing and enlarging his films; some of his other camera work having been published in photography magazines. He also possesses some sophisticated optical equipment of high magnification. Living in a corner apartment, he has an outlook on three sides and can look into apartments which practically surround him and, on occasion, finds gratification by masturbation while watching female nudity or observing a couple engaged in sexual activity.
While Robert has never married, he is a favorite with the girls he dates-probably because he makes no sexual demands upon them and treats them royally. The clothing models, for the most part, look forward to an invitation from him since it involves cocktails, dinner at an expensive restaurant, a show or dancing. He's known among them as a 'fun-type' date and the girls all rate him as a wily bachelor, many of them setting their caps for him. Robert easily avoids the traps, knowing marriage is not for him.
Robert is a true and confirmed voyeur. While he peeps, he is careful not to allow his proclivity to become known. There is no record of his ever having been caught in the act of peeping and, to his other mental burdens, must be added the stress of this additional requirement. He is highly strung-is described as a "regular dynamo" by his clients and acquaintances. It is evident that Robert is possessed of both strong drives and strong control, the latter no doubt buttressed by the guilt he experiences at his adolescent relationship with his sister, May.
Whether it might have been possible for Robert to rescue himself from his sexual predicament is problematical. The fact that his voyeuristic activity was accidentally triggered by the opportunity to spy on his parents-and that this was his earliest exposure to sex-makes it seem unlikely. When he progressed to spying upon his sisters in the nude; going from this to the establishment of the longstanding relationship with his little sister, the-likelihood is that there was no possibility of ever changing his course since the combination of circumstances and events early confirmed in him a pattern of self-gratification spurred by the stimulus of his eyes.
When his next step was to find sexual release in the company of and through the participation of May, it would seem to indicate that, from that point onward, any personal effort to change the direction of his libidinous demands would have been futile; might have, in fact, proved an insurmountable obstacle to the material success Robert has achieved in his life.
There is no doubt that May provided, in all innocence, the coup de grace to any possibility that she or Robert might have attained a "normal" adjustment to sex. The unconscious chain of mental relation, which rendered Robert impotent with girls other than May, seems a clear indication that he was identifying, even at that stage, all sexual stimulation with his sisters and the taboo on incest which he sensed and gleaned from his peers' opinions erected an impenetrable barrier to intercourse with any female partner. In short, in any naked female he observed, he saw May and his reaction was forced into the same pattern which they too observed.
There is not a modicum of doubt that this damage to Robert's psyche stems from early youth and the initial impacts upon his senses. While information is not available as to May's experiences except through Robert's revelations, it seems logical to assume that she became an unwitting victim of the circumstances which centered on Robert. Thus, while he cannot keep himself from feeling that he and he alone is responsible for the tragedy of May's life, he cannot rationalize the fact that he had no way of knowing what the effect and the result would be. Indeed, such results are by no means the rule, many such childhood experiments being abandoned and the subjects going on to a wider, non-morbid sexual plateau which we would describe as "normal."
This consideration, alone, is a definite indication that, as stated earlier, each individual is of a different "thread count" where the weave of his sexual fabric is concerned. What may hopelessly cripple one, may-just as inevitably-leave another untouched. The awesome question of sex, in its kaleidoscopic, mass variation with regard to individual results, needs some of the attention that we devote to the diseases which mankind considers as highly dangerous to his well-being. Sex can be just as vicious a crippler; can lead to just as regrettable an effect on the spiritual entity as cancer, heart trouble or polio to the physical being.
And sex is secret, its morbid effects maintained in invisibility, though nonetheless painful to the sufferer. That the eye is instrumental in producing much of the early experiences which may lead to eventual sexual impairment, makes each individual who is not sightless, vulnerable to the possibility of pathological involvement.
It is not surprising that many sexual attitudes and manifestations which are fixed in adult experience spring from childhood experiences.
Carla M. was born in Yuma, Arizona, her family moving to Tucson and, thence, to Phoenix. During her early years, she was discovered to be mentally precocious and, at the age of five, was tutored at home up until the time she could enter school. Because of her birth date, she would have been unable to enter school until she was seven. She reached high school (tenth grade) at the age of thirteen and, although her classmates were older than she, Carla easily maintained a position in the top six percent of grade achievers.
While her intelligence was superior to those children of her chronological age, she was at a disadvantage physically. She was forced by circumstances of differing mental and physical maturation, to play with children older and bigger than she. Carla's encountered her first experience in sex when she was about ten years of age, in the company of some boys she knew who were about twelve and thirteen. The father of one of them had given his son permission to appropriate an old tool-house for the use of his "gang" as a club. The area in which Carla lived was well out to the edge of the city and the property on which the tool-house had been placed (by a former owner) was isolated and seldom if ever visited by adults.
Evidently Carla had been curious-as had some of her girl acquaintances-to see the inside of the clubhouse. The boys were very mysterious about it and one of their earliest rules was that no girls were allowed. However, after the club had been in existence for about two years, its members began to have second thoughts about maintaining it as off-limits for girls. Carla had been regarded with mixed feelings by the boys in her classes. At first, they were contemptuous of her as all brains and spurned her as the human animal normally does the abnormal. Some of them changed their tune when they were forced to ask Carla for help with their studies and, as she began to exhibit the first elements of physical development beyond her age, others of the boys began to take note of the first signs of budding breasts and buttocks and legs which were also beginning to display the attributes the older lads had begun to look for in more mature females as exciting. As a matter-of-fact, Carla at this time, resembled a miniature woman, her buttocks, thighs and lower extremities exhibiting a symmetry and a shape which was unusual.
"I was pretty flattered when they asked me to their clubhouse," she said, chuckling at the recollection. "When I got inside, it was just what you'd expect. Cobwebs up in the roof comers; furniture they'd knocked together out of scrap lumber and pictures of naked or undressed girls tacked all around the walls. It was a meeting day and they had a cooler with cokes in ice and they gave me one and said I could listen in on the meeting. So, I drank my coke and listened and I was quite impressed. Evidently their business meetings had been a pretty consistent part of their club and they seemed to know the ropes pretty well. There was a lot of discussion about the club treasury and delinquent dues and a couple of the members got fined because they'd failed to pay when they'd said they would.
"When the meeting was over, they all sat around and talked. The two boys who'd been fined were sore and they left immediately after the meeting ended, but it didn't seem to worry the eight or ten who were left. I asked about this, but they laughed, saying those two were chicken and they'd just as soon kick them out if they didn't come into line. They gave me another coke and began to talk about girls. One of them suggested they'd like to see what a girl looked like without any clothes on and another one kidded me, saying I was probably too young. This made me a little angry and I pointed out that I wasn't so dumb and asked if any of the group would like to compare report cards with me. This stopped them and they began laughing at themselves a little when one boy said his home room teacher was so good-looking he couldn't keep his mind on what he was doing.
"Then one of the boys suggested they all chip in to get me to take off my clothes and stay naked for fifteen minutes. I was beginning to bask in their approval and the pile of nickels on the table turned the trick. Too, I was anxious to show them I was no baby, so I said 'yes.' I really got some satisfaction out of the way they looked at me when I got my clothes off. They asked me to sit with my legs apart so they could see me there better and the slight bulge of my bosom came in for quite a lot of eye-balling.
"When the time was up (the secretary-a studious boy with glasses kept track) I put my clothes back on, picked up my nickels and left. I went home, elated, thinking that was the easiest and quickest forty-five cents I ever came by. Also, I got a kick, as I remember it, after my initial embarrassment was over, at being the center of all the attention. Having all those boys eyeing me so intently did something for me-or to me.
"A few days in advance of the next meeting day (they had meetings every two weeks) the president fell into step beside me at school and asked if I'd like to come to the next meeting. He said all the guys had said they'd like for me to-so, again, I agreed. The price was right, in my eyes. This time, the business meeting was more hurried than usual. I noticed the two delinquents had paid up and were back in good standing. Doing a rapid count of the "house" I determined this time, my fee would be fifty-five cents. After the business was over, the president announced that Carla has come back to visit us and everybody who wants to stay for the next thing, chips in a nickel. It didn't take long for everybody to get his nickel on the line-evidently there had been some conversation among the club members. When I was naked and had performed a couple of requests, the president asked if I'd ever seen a boy naked. I told him I hadn't, and he asked if I'd like to. I was as curious as they were and told him quickly that I'd like to.
"They decided they'd all get undressed if I'd stay for a half-hour instead of fifteen minutes. I figured I was getting much the best of this bargain. There were eleven of them for me to look at-and I agreed. So, they stripped down, and soon I was surrounded by almost a dozen, naked and excited boys. Some of the older boys-one was fourteen-had much larger (penises) than the others. They began to experience erections and soon all of them were crowding around me, eager to display their masculine equipment. I was excited, too, and even more so when the fourteen-year old and a couple of the younger ones began to masturbate ... I was fascinated by the actions of the older boy, for some reason.
"Anyhow, because of me-I suppose-they began to hold club meetings every week. I was the star attraction. Things progressed to the point that they paid extra, teaching me to masturbate them, and I'd do it to them, in turn. Then, later, they proposed feeling me and I got extra nickels for that. They'd play with my breasts and my genitals, some of the boys getting me to masturbate them while they did it (for an additional fee, of course). The fourteen-year-old boy was pretty advanced, sexually I guess. He offered me a quarter to put his (perform fellatio) and I did. I was reluctant to do it, but I was fascinated by his size and the importance he assigned me.
"However, it wasn't long after we'd reached this stage (I was doing several of the boys pretty regularly) that one of the boys' parents got suspicious, having seen me going into the tool-house. His mother cornered him and wanted to know what a girl was doing in their meetings, since it was a boys-only thing. She kept at him until he admitted that I was stripping down and showing myself. He was afraid to admit anything else and stoutly maintained that was all that we did, not wanting to get himself in any deeper, I guess. Anyhow, that blew the whistle on the whole operation. One of the parents filled my parents in on the situation and my father gave me an awful tongue-lashing and restricted me from playing with anybody, boys or girls, for almost a year.
"Later, I got caught peeping at some of the members of the football squad in the locker-room. There was a store room right off the locker-room and once, when I was on a committee to decorate the gym for a party, we went in there after hours to get the bunting and flags and all. When we were through, I was supposed to lock up and return the stuff to the office. My folks, in the meantime, had bought a motel and my father, now and then, had me go to a hardware store to have duplicate keys made. I recognized the key to the store-room was the same type of key the motel used, so I kept it and had a duplicate made next lunch hour before I returned the key to the office. Both boys and girls used the same gym-the store-room was between the girls' locker room and the boys'. My next gym period, I found opportunity to try the key in the girls' side door-and it worked. I slipped in, and, pressing my ear to the opposite door, realized the squad wasn't in from practice yet. I fooled around in the library and, when they finished practice, I hustled down and secreted myself in the storeroom, just cracking the door and blocking it with a little chip of wood, so I could peep through the opening on the hinge side.
"It was great! I saw about thirty-five or forty boys naked in the process of showering. This in itself was exciting enough, but when I began to masturbate, I noticed two boys in the shower room with erections and their teammates were kidding them about them-which made them show off all the more and go through some sexy motions. I reached one climax and was working on a second, some time later, when-as I thought-all the boys got out and sort of left me with it. I opened the door a little to get the wood chip out when the boy who'd been the oldest in the club group came around the corner and caught me. He pushed his way into the store-room and we renewed acquaintance. With the door locked, he took out his (genitalia) and urged me to perform fellatio on him again. When I was reluctant, he threatened to tell the coach. I knew that was all I needed. For his promise to keep quiet, I did what he wanted, stimulating myself to orgasm at the same time.
"Since this same boy was on both football and basketball squads, that broke up my play house and I threw the duplicate key away and gave up. I used to he in bed at night and remember the sight of all those males naked and masturbate. I was not popular because of my advanced grade situation, most of the kids thinking I was a freak. So, I had to depend pretty much on solitary self-gratification. My father kept such a strict watch on me, I really had no opportunity to establish a relationship with the boys I'd known in the club escapade. Now and then I'd buy nudist magazines that had photographs of both females and males. I used this as a stimulus for awhile, but this soon wore pretty thin.
"Things didn't go too well with the family, financially, and instead of going to college, I took a course in computer programming. I was pretty good at mathematics and got a job with a company which offered me the opportunity to take some advanced math courses in college classes at their expense. I was pretty much of a fair-haired girl and, while I wasn't any prettier, I had learned how to make the best of what I had. My figure was alright, though. I know because I used to get a lot of passes made at me.
"I think my earlier experiences made me even more reticent about getting involved with older men. I longed to go to bed with a man and used to have involved fantasies about it while I indulged in self-erotication, but the opportunities which were offered for dates I refused on the excuse that I was dated up or busy studying or had other work to do.
"However, one fellow in another section refused to be put off and finally I broke down and had a date with him. He made a pass at me and I wouldn't play. He didn't give up and, on several succeeding dates, he'd try every time. One night he persuaded me to go and park with him on the desert after we'd been out to dinner. We necked up a pretty good storm and he made another pass at me, but I was still afraid. He kept putting my hand on his (penis). It was erect and I know he must have been as hot and bothered as everything. I'd let him play with my breasts awhile and we'd kiss like crazy-but that was as far as I had the nerve to go. This night, after putting my hand on him several times, he just unzipped his trousers-and produced his erection. The sight of it almost made me climax but I resisted his efforts to get me over into the back seat.
"Finally, he suggested I (perform fellatio) and I agreed. I was pretty well turned on myself-not to the point of being able to overcome my aversion to intercourse-but when I saw his (penis and testicles) I just fell apart. When I fellated him, I experienced an orgasm that was like nothing I had ever known. It was a tremendous experience..."
Carla revealed that on rare occasions, she has been forced into intercourse but the process was painful, distasteful and did absolutely nothing for her so far as sexual satisfaction is concerned. She is on a fixed course of depending on fellatio for her sex activity, quite often climaxing without any resort to digital or other friction on her genitals. Hers is a peculiar situation-while not being averse to physical contact with the opposite sex, her desires are limited to this one form of activity ... a fixation on the male penis engentlered by her voyeuristic exposure to many of them, simultaneously, at a very early age. Cunnilingus does not satisfy her and the fact that she is able to reach climax most often without physical stimulation other than fellatio, indicates that her sexual excitement and satisfaction are dominated by the intelligence and imagination. Her involvement with fellatio goes back to the club, and the members who taught her the act; her realization that she can bring satisfaction to a male partner as well as herself by this means, confirming it as the most acceptable sexual activity for her.
Thus, the results of early voyeuristic experience are clearly unpredictable. There is no guarantee-no indication of the end results of a child's early impressions. Sometimes, these have no bearing on what happens when the subject reaches adulthood, since the youngster may not know enough to link what is seen with sex impulses he or she may experience. The crippling or impairment of sexual attitudes and manifestations would seem to be a product of the excessive secrecy surrounding sex-and particularly of the heavy veil of "modesty" thrown about nudity. It is certain that this has contributed, in a considerable degree to the impairment of the individuals involved in the foregoing experiences. Certain it is that, had the sight of a member of the opposite sex without clothing not been a subject for such consuming curiosity and the resulting desire to see, people such as these would not be in the sexually incomplete condition in which they exist now. But, to alleviate this situation would require the revamping of an entire moral code and this is a task which is beyond the ability of contemporary society, even though that society might be convinced of the desirability of such a re-vamping.
In many considerations, the life we experience as humans is much like war. No one of us can escape eventual death-but the demise of some occurs much sooner than that of others-and there are many maimed in the process of living. Still others bear invisible scars of their living which vary in severity. Although invisible, these scars are critical. Everyone is familiar with cases of combat veterans who have gone over the edge-unable to adjust to the differing pressures and demands of civilian life. Similarly, there are many victims of early sexual impressions and experiences (some of voyeuristic nature) who are unable to adjust to the accepted norm in sexual activity.
Thus, as we continue keeping sex locked in the closet of conventional behavior, the results spread and multiply as the population burgeons and the increasing, competitive demands to achieve success or a life which satisfies the individual, makes the task even more difficult. The danger is widespread, in our way of life, of accidental involvement which can permanently cripple, due to the ever-present possibilities of initial sexual impressions at an early age. It would appear that any parent who sincerely wishes to guard offspring against the possibility of such eventual impairment should evolve a definite attitude which removes sex and nudity from the artificially sacrosanct consideration in which these seem to be held by the majority of parents.
Sex education seems hardly the answer because sex is not an impulse which can be easily disciplined, artificially colored nor yet willfully directed. like hunger, its demand is for satisfaction. If we take the attitude that the demand should be ignored, we are but asking for trouble which we now, most often and gratuitously, receive. The reaction of "naughty-dirty" to sex manifestations or curiosity on the part of children is manifestly an error. All too often, children (who are shrewd practitioners of psychology on their own) have caught their parents over-stressing the undesirability of other things which have proved to be incapable of living up to their advance billing in such consideration.
Thus the child takes this description with a grain of salt and knows only that the parent wishes to prohibit his exercise of further curiosity or his urge to participation. Prohibition is the best way to attach a false value to anything; and the most effective means of inducing an inordinate desire for that which is prohibited.
So, all too often, we-as parents-have a proximate position in those factors in a child's life which can eventually cripple him or her sexually, permanently and irrevocably.
Beware the eyes of the young. They can cripple, maim and deform with the worst of diseases....