Growing Up Sexually

UK / GREAT BRITAIN / England (“The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”)

Index → Europe → Great Britain

Historical Matters. 1

“Victorian” Age. 2

Consent Issues. 3

Sexual Behaviour. 4

Sex Education. 5

Historical Matters

“In works dealing with the history of civilisation, we also encounter occasional references to our subject. Take, for instance, the knightly Code of Love (Liebeskodex), a work highly esteemed in the days of chivalry, and legendarily supposed to have originated in King Arthur’s Court. Paragraph 6 of this Code runs: “A man shall not practise love until he is fully grown”. According to Rudeck[1], from whom I quote this instance, the aim of the admonition was to protect the youth of the nobility from unwholesome consequences. Obviously, the love affairs of immature persons must have been the determining cause of any allusion to the matter” (Moll, 1908 [1912:p9]).

A late medieval author on gynaecology matters stated that

“[e]very mayde sholde kepe hir from the man at the lest till her flourys be falle & comyn, that is till she be .xv. yere olde, that nature and the matrice myght fulfylle and bere that longeth to hem. For truly, and she rose to dele with man or that tyme, oon of these iij thyngs or all shall falle to hir: other she shall be bareyne or elles hir breth shall have an evyll savour or she shall be lavy[sh?] of hir body to other than hir husbond”[2].

In the 15^th to 17^th century juvenile marriages were most common in both England and Scotland (Scott, 1960:p75-7)[3]. In Tudor (1485 to 1603) England[4]

“Although the word ‘adolescence’ was almost unknown at the time, Tudor society understood that there was a separate life stage with its own special characteristics following childhood and preceding full adulthood--a time of sexual awakening and physical development leading to romantic activity and marriage. What we might now call adolescence was identified then by the activities (such as courtship) which took place during it and was brought to an end by marriage”.

Margaret Beaufort’s infant marriage to John de la Pole was dissolved in 1453 at Henry Vl’s behest. She was only twelve when her second husband, Edmund Tudor, hastened to consummate the marriage, anxious to establish the rights over her lands which a child would give him[5].

A work by Furnivall[6] revealed that in England, as in France and Italy, children were betrothed and married in infancy, the children sometimes refusing consummation at puberty. As reviewed by Mclaughlin (1997)[7], child (<12 for girls, <14 for boys) marriages would have been a common practice in medieval England: “[…] it was apparently completely non-exceptionable in the 14th century. A social practice which entered the written record in the 12th century, but which seems to have had roots in the barbaric past, that extended from the royal abattoirs down to the lives of neighboring fishmongers and shop-keepers in medieval London, yet that seems to have received little more than passing notice in canon law beyond exhortation to limit it to age seven and ensure mutual consent of the parties […]”. As for consummation, Brundage (1987:p434)[8] had cited Hostiensis[9] in advertising that

“[...] the real criterion of readiness for marriage was sexual capacity; a girl who was able and willing to consummate a sexual union was fit for marriage, whatever her chronological age, and boys who were fit for sex were likewise capable of contracting marriage”.

Statutory rape was codified into English law more than 700 years ago, when it became illegal “to ravish” with or without her consent, a maiden under the age of 12. In 1576, the age of consent was lowered to 10[10]. In 1885 it was raised from 12 to 16[11]. The English Marriage Act of 1653 raised the age of consent to marriage to 16 years for men and 14 years for women[12].

Today, cross-ethnic marriages may raise ethical issues[13].

Further reading:

• Ingram, Martin (2001) Child Sex Abuse in Early Modern England, in Braddick, Michael & Walter, John (Eds.) Negotiating Power in Early Modern England. Cambridge: CUP, p63-84, 257-62

 “Victorian” Age

Kern (1974)[14] argues that the very intimacy that marked the Victorian family, including the increasing nucleation of the Victorian family, its representation and evaluation in literature, the impact of its “explosive intimacy” on childhood sexuality and parent-child interactions, led to a psychologically debilitating institution loaded with conflict, repression, and guilt. It seems that mothers and daughters colluded in a joint awareness of their femininity as a “secret pollution” (Dyhouse, 1981:p20-2)[15]. Menarche was not discussed on beforehand. Bicycles, and other toys requiring straddling threatened girl’ sexual innocence (Garvey, 1995:p74-6)[16]. Money (1985:p131-2)[17] observed that Victorian ideology on childhood sexuality is essential inconsistent between the image of shattered innocence and intrinsic wickedness. Anyhow, sexuality was said to be “an inescapable feature of live”, at least for the urban poor, for whom overcrowding was a specific contributing factor.

In 16th century England lawmakers were prompted to pass a Bill in 1548 protecting boys from sodomy, and in 1576 protecting girls under 10 years from forcible rape, with both offences carrying the death penalty[18]. Medieval marriage age of twelve was in effect until 1753. In Victorian days, child prostitution was said to be rampant (Pearsall, 1969[19]:p358-66; Joseph, 1995[20]:p15-6; Rush, 1980[21]:p62-4; Walvin, 1982:p143-7[22]; Oppenheim, 1991:p260[23]; Trumbach, 1977[24]; Brown and Barratt, 2002[25], Brown, in press[26]), perhaps “aided” with the idea that venereal disease could be cured by means of sexual intercourse with a child (Eliade, cited by DeMause, 1982:p58) or perhaps a peculiarly English liking for “defloration” (Bloch, [1934:p142-3][27]). Or perhaps by the argument that children “could be seduced with near impunity since evidence of young children could be accepted in court only if they showed a complete understanding of the nature of the oath”[28]. This was probably equivalent to America (e.g., Rugoff, 1971:p270)[29]. There was also a small scene in “erotic” depiction of prepubertal girls[30], some of which are collected by Ovenden[31]. Kern (1975:p120)[32] states:

“The severely restrictive sexual morality of the nineteenth century was imposed by the newly triumphant bourgeoisie. Waste, whether financial or biological, became to be viewed as evil, and the class sexual morality called for even more thrift in the sexual sphere. Child sexuality was the persistent reminder of the human tendency to squander, and parents sought to control it both to instil a proper morality in the child and to reaffirm the wisdom of their own self-restraint”.

Fishman (1982:p279)[33] speaks of a “conspiracy of adults” against children, an “obsession” that might “even have produced unusual examples of sexual precocity and prowess”.

The notion (and fear) of violent revolutionary change in late Victorian England found its way into the new science of psychiatry in the form of Henry Maudsley’s creation of the disease “masturbatory insanity” (1868), a malady which supposedly sapped the ambition and manliness of pubescent middle-class youths, thereby placing them as “degenerates” outside the “normalcy” of the bourgeoisie (Cohen, 1987)[34].

In the 19th century many cases of syphilis and gonorrhoea among children were diagnosed. Doctors did not believe that these were a result of sexual contact but rather came from innocent infections, particularly among poor people, who, due to crowded living conditions, were exposed to miasma and germs. In 1913 Dr. Robert Smith concluded children acquired venereal disease through sexual contact (Taylor, 1985)[35].

Upper and middle class children’s lives changed dramatically in the 18th century as the need for absolute subservience and sadistic discipline declined. By the 1740’s a more sensitive attitude toward children, which was part of a larger social change, spread and the aims of education became social rather than religious. Morality remained uppermost but emphasis was placed on equipping a child with skills essential to secure gainful employment. Children were expected to be companions of their parents in ways which were hitherto unknown; thus they gained a materially-richer life but control of their private lives became more rigid and sex became a subject of terror as chastity and abstinence were ruthlessly imposed (Plumb, 1975)[36].

In the 19th century, the characterisation of childhood virtues, which initially stressed their androgynous nature, gave way to one that was more overtly gender-specific. Womanliness and manliness came to be defined in sexual terms as shown in examples from Thomas Hughes’s Tom Brown’s Schooldays, Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, and G. A. Henty’s Bonnie Prince Charlie. This led to changed definitions of abnormality: the early 19th-century concern with excessive sexual activity was replaced by late Victorian fear of effeminacy among boys (Nelson, 1989)[37].

Havelock Ellis published some sexual histories.

Victorian age has been marked by a fascination with little girls[38]. This may perhaps be paralleled by early 20th century Vienna’s ideal of the “child-wife” (Greenacre, 1947)[39].

Consent Issues

For a historical overview see D’Cruze (2004)[40] and EuroLetter [ILGA Europe][41]. The legal concept of a child in need of protection shifted between 1860 and 1885, as the age of consent to sexual intercourse was raised from 10 to 12, to 13, and finally to 16 by the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act (Jackson, 1999:p223)[42]. A four-part newspaper article written by William Thomas Stead, July 1885, succeeded in securing the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts and in raising the age of consent from 13 to 16 (Robson, 1978)[43]. However, the agitation for reform legislation concerning child prostitution began even before the sensational exposé of William T. Stead in 1885. Reformers, who called for a rise of the age of consent from 13 to 18 or even 21, were influenced by their middle-class prejudices about childhood, adolescence, and female sexuality. They failed to understand the social and economic roots of the phenomena (Gorham, 1978)[44].

Under English law, “unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman without her consent” is the definition of rape under the provisions of the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861, and various additional qualifying conditions have been laid down chiefly in the Sexual Offences Act of 1956 and the Lunacy Act of 1890. The maximum sentence can be life imprisonment. Carnal knowledge of an infant female under 13 or of an idiot, whether by force or not, under the Sexual Offences Act of 1956, is a felony; a girl below 13 cannot give consent, and having or attempting to have carnal knowledge of a girl above 14 but under 16 years is a misdemeanour. Furthermore, the range of acts comprising indecent assault is very wide. Penetration of the female even to such a slight extent that the victim could remain virgo intacta still stands as a crime. (The law is concerned with the act, not with its quality or degree). The criminal’s age is no bar; a male under 14 can be convicted of an attempt to commit rape or of indecent assault even though the age of puberty is generally held to be attained at 14 years. A boy of 14 or under who is not capable of unlawful carnal knowledge or rape in law, can still be charged with indecent assault. A woman who deliberately provokes intercourse with a boy can be convicted only of indecent assault. The virtue of the victim is of no importance; a prostitute is entitled to the same protection as any other woman (though an accusation of rape brought on by a prostitute would be carefully investigated). Nor can a husband be charged with rape of his wife -- unless legally separated. However, a possible charge of assault can be made.

Further reading:

§  Simpson, A. E. (1987) Vulnerability and the age of female consent: Legal innovation and its effect on prosecutions for rape in 18th Century London, in Maccubin, R. P. (Ed.) 'Tis Nature's Fault: Unauthorized sexuality during the Enlightenment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 181-205

§  Walkowitz, J. R. (1992) City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London. London: Virago

§  Sexual Offences Act 2003 [http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/20030042.htm]

• Frantzen, Allen J. (1997) Where the Boys Are: Children and Sex in the Anglo-Saxon Penitentials , in Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome & Wheeler, Bonnie (Eds.) Becoming Male in the Middle Ages. Garland Publishing, pp. 43-66
• Frantzen, Allen J. (1996) Where the Boys Are: Same-Sex Relations in the Anglo-Saxon Penitentials. Old English Newsletter 29,3:A-37

Sexual Behaviour

Glaser (1997)[45] stated:

“Little research has been conducted on the sexual behavior of children and adolescents in the United Kingdom. Findings from one study [[46]] of children in different preschool settings show that many children are curious about each others’ genitalia, expressing this curiosity by looking at and touching each other. The extent to which such exploratory behavior has mature sexual meaning is unclear. A smaller proportion of pre-school children enact sexual intercourse, usually by lying on top one another while fully dressed. It is likely that such behavior is imitative of adult behavior based on prior observation. These behaviors do not generally give rise to adult concerns unless the children appear preoccupied by genitally oriented activity or the behavior is coercive towards other children. Oral-genital contact appears to be very rare, as are attempts to insert fingers or objects into another child's vagina or anus. Coercive, preoccupied or very explicitly imitative behavior is associated with previous significant and inappropriate exposure to adult sexual activity, or sexual abuse of the child”.

No arguments are made on masturbation or same-sex behaviours. According to Huish (1997)[47],

“[t]he impression given by sex therapy clients during history taking is that a small number of male clients report self-masturbation between ages 4 and 10, but the highest percentage recall starting masturbation between 10 and 14 years. Female clients report starting to masturbate anywhere between 10 and 25 years, but far greater numbers are concentrated at 15 years and upwards, with an impression that a significant number of women have never chosen self-masturbation as a way of expressing their sexuality”.

Some data are available on first homosexual experiences in Great Britain (Liddicoat, 1956[48]; Westwood, 1960[49]).

Redman (1996)[50] examined boys’ entry into heterosexuality during primary and secondary schooling. Data obtained via classroom observation and semistructured interview with boys in school years 5-10 (N=24) in Birmingham, England, suggest that discourses of heterosexuality serve as a cultural resource that allows boys to practice heterosexuality at a prepubescent age, and particular boys become heterosexual (or begin to identify as homosexual) through a complex process of social negotiations and unconscious identifications that are themselves shaped by schooling. Thus, heterosexual masculinities should be thought of not as biologically determined, but as produced and lived at a dynamic interface between historically available discursive positions, wider social relations, the local social environment, and unconscious processes.

A recent publication by Wellings et al. (2001)[51] based on the second National Survey of Sexual

Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL 2000), revealed that there were some 25% of female and some 30% of male respondents aged 16-19 having had sexual intercourse before age 16. Median ages were 16 in both sexes, with 10 and 90 percentiles of 14 and 19. Data suggest a stabilisation of the downward trend noted before.

Kerr (1958 [1998:p78-80])[52] observed that in a Liverpool slum, “Because of [the] prohibition of speaking about sex, each age-group is left to discover the facts [of life] as best they can. Their knowledge is obtained from three main sources”, including the cinema, men attempting “to lure the children into cars”, and mutual sex play, which would “probably [start] just before adolescence”.

Sex Education

At the outset of the 20th century, girls were instructed in sex between the concept of pathology (impurity, filthiness) and the positive aspects of preparing for motherhood (Mort, p189-93).

Further reading:

§  Lesley Hall, 'Birds, Bees and General Embarrassment: sex education in Britain from social purity to Section 28', in Public or Private Education?: Lessons from History, edited by Richard Aldrich, Woburn Press, 2004

Janssen, D. F., Growing Up Sexually. Volume I. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology

Last revised: Jan 2006