Growing Up Sexually

The Sexual Curriculum (Oct., 2002)

 

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Janssen, D. F. (Oct., 2002). Growing Up Sexually. Volume II: The Sexual Curriculum. Interim report. Amsterdam, The Netherlands

 

 

 

Sidestep: "Latency" and the Use of Ethnograhy


Contents

 

Sidestep: "Latency" and the Use of Ethnograhy. 1

 

Introduction.. 1

Latency and Society 1

Redoing Freud 2

Redoing Latency 2

Cases in Favour? 2

Contemporary Disqualifications 2

Privacy and Curriculum: Money's Argument 3

Secrecy and Curriculum 3

Curiosity and Curriculum 4

Shame and Curriculum: Control and Self-Control 4

"Sex Guilt": Intergenerational Transmission and Cultural Determination 5

Closing Remarks 6

 

Introduction

 

Freud never undertook direct research in his "latency" concept. According to modern views, the "feeling" of Freud's latency is most productively accommodated within curiosity, privacy and secrecy concepts. The cross-cultural elucidation of these "modern latencies" is less fruitful than the ethnographic refutation of its dogmatic precedent.

This sidestep suggests that a vacuum has been created in contemporary sexology in explaining prepubertal sexual behaviour dynamics.

 

Latency and Society [up] [contents]

 

The idea of a total or partial sexual latency period[1] included a biologically determined[2] erection of dams, inhibitions of in the expression of psychic (libidinous and aggressive) forces of the child, to safeguard the child from an otherwise castrating civilisation, and redirect his drives to accepted forms of endeavour, creating the possibility for mankind to reach further into the heights of intellectual and artistic achievements, introducing neurosis as a trade-off. The interruption forcing impulses to become latent was exactly that, which announced the phylogenetic and ontogenetic superiority and evolution of man, who sacrificed the primordial perversions for the erection of a society based on sophistication, which could only develop in the absence of erotic distraction. Education was not necessary for this process, although it would contribute to its onset. Reaction-formation and sublimation were postulated as the basic elements of latency.

 

Further on Origin and Function [up] [contents]

 

A range of authors have speculated on the biological and phylogenetic dimensions of latency[3], but these seem largely to be ignored by clinicians. Hermann (1942)[4] stated that it can best be explained as the result of the interplay of psychosocial and biological factors. Székely pointed to primates being apt to live to maturity when able to abstain from engaging the dominant male in combat for the desirable females. Badcock (1984)[5] suggests that the oral-anal-phallic phases of psychosexual development in children vary across societies, and that the pattern of instinctual renunciation and control is derived from evolution in which comparable stages originally occurred in the order phallic-oral-anal. Children would recapitulate in their personal development the evolution of culture, with the stages following the order in which the gratifications were frustrated and inhibited. Hippler (1977)[6] suggested that "civilised" societies utilise the latency period more effectively than do "primitive" societies for the development of human potential. Kardiner[7] suggests that the postponement of sexual behaviour from childhood to maturity was effected because of the negative effects of in-group sexual contacts. This made the family a form of distribution of sexual opportunity.

 

 

Redoing Freud [up] [contents]

 

The ethnographic discussion of psychosexual development theory has addressed many issues, as redoing Freud has become a way of living for many academics. R. J. Fromm[8], for instance, explained infantile penis envy as an anatomical rationalisation of girls' jealousy of boys in a patriarchal culture. The latency case has been addressed frequently from a comparative perspective. Broderick (1966:p8-9, 16)[9] used ethnographic data in support of "the fact that prepubertal children are capable of learning to respond sexually several years before puberty", and in contradicting the universality of the Oedipus complex. He would later (1972:p17)[10] argue: "An informal survey of friends turned up similar [as author's autobiographical] childhood stories or fond anecdotes about their own young children's romantic attachments, which were not limited to the early childhood period. Both my own memory and those of my friends were full of romantic feelings and fantasies right through the "latency" period" [ital.in orig.]. Róheim (1952)[11] had used anthropological data proving the opposite[12]. In challenging Freud, Guyon (1929:p81-3)[13] learned from the "primitive" case that

 

"il existe chez l'enfant, dès les premières années, et bien avant toute possibilité de copulation et de reproduction, une joussance sexuelle sui generis diffuse et atténuée: elle se traduit par un attrait invincible qu'exercent les organes sexuels et une satisfaction puissante à leurs divers attouchements solitairement ou conjointement".

 

Borneman suggested that in nonrestrictive cultures there is no infantile nor pubertal amnesia (1979:p146; 1990:p208). A bold statement, there would also be no Oedipal phase, no latency, and no puberty associated psychology (Borneman, 1992:p66)[14].

 

Redoing Latency [up] [contents]

 

Well known cases against latency were presented for Melanesia (Malinowski, 1927:p49-58, 78)[15], specifically among New Guinean tribes (cf. Lidz and Lidz, 1986)[16], Australian aborigines (Róheim, 1932:p91[17]; 1956:p3[18]; Children of the Desert, I:p244), Mohave (Devereux, 1950b,c; [1967:p90-2]), and Americans (Fine, 1986:p64)[19]. The Goldmans extensively discussed the concept and finally argued against it (1981:p381-3), stating responses of "latency-aged" children were not more inhibited than before, and existing inhibitions did not ease off after.

Although it seems possible to challenge latency on other grounds than the erotic and the anthropological[20], authors have recycled anthropological data to deny latency as a universal pause in development, specifically from the 1970s onward.

 

Apart from those who seemed to refute the idea of latency in any culture (e.g., Stekel), authors such as the later Reich[21], Seligman (1932:p213-4)[22], Sears (1951:p32, 45)[23], Tarachow (1952)[24], Székely (1957:p99), Honigmann (1967:p312-4)[25], Broderick (1970:p136), Rutter (1971:p262/1980:p325)[26], Renshaw (1972)[27], Martinson (1973:p2, 119-21, 130), Sarnoff (1976:p38, 69, 376-7), Fine (1975:p47-8, 49)[28], Kolodny et al. (1979:p53)[29], Gordon and Johnson (1980:p214-6)[30], Marmor, Fenichel ([1946] 1982:p62)[31], Spiro ([1958 [1975:p227]), Gadpaille (1975:p193-4)[32] and Yates (1978:p14; 1991:p210) pointed to ethnology (primarily Malinowski) disproving the anthropological universality of latency needed for a biogenetic theory. Ford and Beach (1951) did not comment on the concept of latency. Kinsey et al. (1953:p116) refuted the biological concept of latency on the basis of peripubertal masturbatory continuity.

 

Cases in Favour? [up] [contents]

 

Other have argued in favour of a period of latency; for instance among the Athabascans (Hippler, 1974:p58-60)[33], and, surprisingly, the Pacific "East Bay" society (Davenport, 1965:p196; 1966)[34]. Firth admits his impotence in solving the question of Tikopian latency: "My information regarding the sex life of children is inadequate. I have no value on the question of a possible latency period in childhood". More obscurely, Cipriani argues for the Andamanese Onge: "Once more [[35]] I affirm that the evidence of Onge sexual behaviour positively denies Freudian theories with regard to the sexual life of children. Furthermore, young anthropoids and primitive people behave identically in this respect". Suggestive cases were further described for the San Ildefonso by Whitman (1947:p51-2[36]; 1963:p423)[37], Comanche, and even Jamaica (Cohen, 1955:p279-80, 284)[38].

The main problem in these cases remains the methodological one. There is no accepted measure of latency.

 

 

Contemporary Disqualifications [up] [contents]

 

McClintock and Herdt (1996)[39] qualified Freud's latency concept "seriously flawed" on the hypothetical basis of a role for adrenarche, an interesting suggestion awaiting elaboration (cf. §5.1.1). Interestingly, Herdt's "Sambia" case was cited as providing "particularly compelling counterevidence to a simple learning theory model" of sexual orientation. The authors (Herdt, 2000[40]; Herdt and McClintock, 2000)[41] compare data on New Guinea the United States to support the thesis that subjective sexual arousal and attraction are universally, in "western and nonwestern societies", reckoned from age ten onward. A wider anthropological view does not seem to support this claim.

 

 

Privacy and Curriculum: Money's Argument [up] [contents]

 

Göppert (1957)[42] preferred the term "aesthetic" period, issuing the appreciation of beauty providing the necessary conditions for developing "an integrated personal experiencing of sexuality". Later, Money[43] preferred the term privacy, and suggests a connection with the phylogenetic gains in copulatory privacy. "Modesty" has predominantly been recognised as an area of "child training", and discussed in the contextual proximity of "sex training", fusing areas of nudity, excretory acts, nonexcretory genital acts and the act of sexological discussion. Hite ([1994:p105]) suggested that 93% of parents were unaware of the masturbatory behaviour of their "latency-aged" children.

It seems that the public nature of sexual behaviour has been the foremost important factor promoting ethnographic "observation" rather than speculation. In the Tepoztlán case, children's need for privacy left Redfield empty-handed, while Lewis apparently got his deal of information. Publicness is a major theme in 20th century medicalising of masturbation, and in Euro-American socialisation of sexual behaviour. It seems that some contemporary authors prefer the "sensitive" sexology of childhood to be done by computers[44].

The culturally specific development, curricularisation and regulation of privacy and secrecy has not been adequately discussed in the case of sexual socialisation. Ethnologists are known to use widely such epiphets as "private parts" (although very public in many cultures), and "the secrets of life" (although by no means a secret in any life phase). In infancy, one might want to believe that observations are arrived at without much notice of the observed. A number of these observations have been offered, especially in the preschool setting[45].

 

Frankness is noted for some societies[46], especially Australia. Yoruba boys are not punished for public masturbation (LeVine). Among 1980 Toka (Zambia), the supposedly secret dances of the girl's initiation, which imitate desirable sexual movements were actually common knowledge of all small children, boys and girls, who liked to play at practicing them "in public and in full view of annoyed adults" (Geisler). Small Thonga boys occasionally engage in mutual masturbation in public. Wagena boys aged 5 to 7 were observed "openly" performing coitus with girls. "Sexless" Ijo boys play with their penises in public with impunity while girls would be severely chastised if they touch their own genitals. "Young Seniang children publicly simulate adult copulation without being reproved (Ford and Beach). Childhood public intercourse was seen among the premodern Marquesans. In a Sierra Tarascan village "[m]asturbation by small boys is simply ignored by everyone even though it be in public" (Beals); this was also seen in the Tarascan and Pilaga. The Tukano case seems more complex. Da Silva noted that the initiation rite marks the start of the public sexual life, because up to this time "[…] they can only practice it secretly", which may also be true for girls. The Vaupé "conceive the sexual relations between the two sexes as a normal pleasure for the individuals who have reached the legal majority by the puberty rite, and therefore such relations are practiced publicly, in front of their own parents of their own spouse […]".

The sex life of Meru boys and girls is regarded as normal so long as they do not do it openly. Among the Dayak (Borneo), children "have a modicum for modesty, or are taught it. They would be corrected if they played sexually in public, but they never seem to do so. No one worries about what they might do in private". Among the Alorese, early childhood masturbation (penile manipulation) is public.

 

Secrecy and Curriculum [up] [contents]

 

Nagy (1926)[47] examined the concept of sexuality in thirty-five "secret societies" of boys from nine to eighteen years old and girls from twelve to eighteen, including twenty-six in large cities and nine in small ones. The "secrecy" quality implied here is hardly ever researched. Sexological teachings and other tribal folklore are almost universally "secret" over both the gender, kinship and age barrier[48]. Homosexual initiation occurred when the Keraki boy could "be trusted to keep the secret from his mother". Secrecy, as opposed to privacy, has also been a central element in contemporary arguments against age disparate sexual interactions; it is attributed traumatogenic qualities.

 

There seem to be two ethnologically reckoned phases of (private) sex acts (at times divided by puberty), but no doubt these are illustrative of a continuous socialisation of sex/genitals as secret, though it may be discontinuous in some societies.

 

"Même avant la puberté, [Baluba] garçons et filles se fixent des rendez-vous secrets, dans les herbes ou sur le bord de la rivière" (Colle). A favorite game played by small Luo children is house-keeping, an "openly" performed mock marriage, "but often a sexual element enters into the game which must be kept secret. For this they go into the bushes […]". Baiga children seek the privacy of the jungle for their erotic meetings, although parents "simply laugh tolerantly" when observing sexual games. The Bantu "jeu des huttes" have been noted to include a secret language to escape the surveillance of authorities. Similarly: in the early 1940s, Baushi 12 to 15-year-olds invented a secret language to exchange vulgarities and to practice coprolalia[49]. Among the Maragoli (Kenya), sex was to be kept secret, and done in the bush or girl's dormitory. For the Nupe, it was argued:

 

"As regards the institution of the parallel age-grades its practical value seems to be that it prepares the ground for the first experiences of sex relations. Or rather, it aims at circumventing, and dulling, this unsettling first experience. Enabling the sexes to meet in the critical age, between 13 and 16, as it were on neutral ground, openly and respectably, it tends to remove some of the secrecy and unhealthy curiosity that is part of the mental transition from the self-contained experience of early youth to the new awareness of the new polarity of sex" (Nadel).

 

Erikson for the Yurok: "By the time the girl had passed the menarchy [sic] and in some ways becomes more secretive […], the heterosexual relationship has already found a firm place within the established system of property values, based as it is on the modes of considered intake and clever retentiveness".

Young Mangaian children imitate the work and activities of their elders as a basis of play. In the course of this, according to some informants, they are thought to play at copulation. "But this activity is never seen in public", which would be in tune with Mangaian sense of "public privacy" (Marshall).

Dogon parents request active privacy. Guang boys (Ghana) are "gently rebuked" for handling their penises in public. This rebuke is never addressed directly to the boy but is made to a third person: "Why does he finger his penis in that way?".

 

Secrecy may be an essential factor modifying the psychobiological basis of human erotogenesis[50], and its study is to be held critical for the understanding of growing up sexually[51]. Some authors have argued that the developmental construct of sex as secret may be significantly different for both sexes[52]. While the process of eroticisation in boys is controlled by "the principle of intrapsychic secret", Bleichmar argued, the same process is controlled in girls by the principle of perceived "complicity" that generates shame and guilt. In one in-depth study of American men[53], the major conclusion was that "[…] men had learned early in life that sexual matters were very secret and not to be discussed. Secrecy lead to a sense of isolation in sexuality and related areas of experience, subsequently reinforced by peer teasing and gossip". So much so, the concepts of eroticism and secrecy have a very uniform basis in everyday life of childhood.

 

Friedl (1994)[54] stated that "hidden sex" is believed to stem from the evolution of new mental qualities, in casu the evolution of social intelligence and the concept of self. In hidden sex, humans are manipulating social attention to increase reproductive success. However, hidden sex leads to the need for children to learn about sex through indirect methods. This influence on children's sexuality (eroticism) is just that: erotic sexuality is replaced by erotic sexology, an academic pursuit that is informed by the vertical sphere of enforcement rather than the predominantly horizontal theme.

 

Curiosity and Curriculum [up] [contents]

 

As discussed elsewhere[55], "sexual" curiosity is a major theme in Euro-American psychosexual development, modifying and being modified by experience. A culturally pervasive argument suggests that by modifying curiosity one can control the entire curriculum from the inside out[56]. Or, as Nadel (1942 [1970:p204])[57] has interpreted matters for the Nuba, "[e]nabling the sexes to meet in the critical age, between 13 and 16, as it were on neutral ground, openly and respectably, it tends to remove some of the secrecy and unhealthy curiosity that is part of the mental transition from the self-contained experience of early youth to the new awareness of the new polarity of sex". Most contemporary authors agree that the single most pressing factors to "sexual" behaviour in childhood is "curiosity" (i.e., self-sustained ignorance), which goes for some of adolescent expressions as well.

 

Curiosity as a motive for coitarche, a recurrent theme in American sexology[58], was indicated by 35.7% of Serbian sexually active adolescent females, aged 19 years[59], 15% in Slovenian secondary-school students aged 15-19[60], 12.5% in a Bulgarian sample[61], and was the most common factor among male teenagers in Pune, India[62], among the most common factors in Norway[63], and a major factor in Marseilles, France[64]. Curiosity about sex would account for teenage sexual delinquency in 40.8% of cases in Japan[65], where it is also one of the leading motives for male coitarche[66]. Predictably, curiosity seems more pressing at a young age[67]. Male "survivors" of sexual "abuse" identified their sexual "curiosity" and "ignorance" as the primary contributors to their "victimization"[68].

 

Specifically, genital-bound behaviour could be rephrased and reissued as curiosity-based[69]. The curiosity theory of genital behaviour predicts initial experiences in an information restricted environment; the "incidents" would stop "when curiosity is satisfied". The social genesis of curiosity is well illustrated by Isichei (1970; 1973:p682-5)[70] on the Asaba Ibo.

 

In theory the child before puberty was not to know anything about sex; parents "preferred to think that children under eight years could not know any undesirable significance of their sexual differences […]".Questions were answered by fables, not answered, or avoided. Children were segregated in tasks by pressure of parents, so that it was "almost impossible for children of different sexes to meet". This would lead to "stupendous ignorance about the facts of sex", although some data were gathered through knowledgeable age-mates. Boys of certain age are given riddles to solve, but for children "to pry into sex would have been an unpardonable crime"; however, some would offer their share of fish for satisfaction of their curiosity.

 

One study[71] showed that that premature ejaculation and lack of desire were connected to less curiosity in childhood.

 

Shame and Curriculum: Control and Self-Control [up] [contents]

 

With shame, "the fear of decreasing his self-confidence through self-expression conquers the urge to express oneself"[72]. Classical psychodynamic theory explained female shame on the basis of their supposed genital deficiency[73]. Authors also suggested a relationship between early vaginal sensations and shame development[74]. An early author[75] pointed to two theories to explain concealment, that of adornment[76], and that of suppression of the physical.

 

Shame does not centre upon the genitals alone[77]. Anthropologists have conceptualised "shame" as covering all-pervasive standards of inferiority and immobility said to be enforced on women's entire curricular existence. Kressel (1992)[78], for instance, offered a comparison of gender segregation among groups of Bedouin living in Ramia, Israel, versus the Negev Highlands. Both groups leave to the mother the task of inculcating in girls the notions of claustration and propriety and, frequently, of supervising genital mutilation. The perpetuation of women's inferiority is located, says Kressek, in "the code of symbols underlying community politics". This point was previously discussed by Paige (1978)[79] in a more cautious fashion.

Both the nuclear interpretation of shame as pertaining to genitalia or other body parts and functions, and the broader issue of shamed femininity are central anchors in curricularisation theory.

Limiting this discussion of shame to that pertaining to genital and genitiosexual avoidance, a central debate took place between Norbert Elias[80] and Hans Peter Duerr[81], in which Duerr tried to refute Elias's theory by means of empirical evidence showing that peoples of the world have always had a sense of propriety and sexual shame (chronicled in Wouters; Bogner; Pallaver)[82].

 

Early genitalia-associated avoidance seems to be informed by the sexual factor but this point has, to the author's knowledge, never been substantiated.

Authors generally suggest shame is "taught"[83]. Lewis[84] argued that cultures, in return, are shaped by the ways in which children are "taught to deal with shame". Anthropologists suggest shame regulates avoidance of (genital) association according to kinship, gender, autosexuality, allosexuality, etc., and also predicts attitudes to bodily functions (excretion, menses). An example may clarify the extreme implications of "shame".

 

"[Tahahumara g]irls after the age of seven or eight are prevented from almost any sort of social contacts with boys. Interviews with young schoolgirls showed that they were taught to refuse to talk to boys and that it is shameful simply to look freely into the eyes of a man, much less to carry on an active conversation. The fear of sexual abuse as a consequence of contact produces an extreme form of modesty which is overtly manifested by the downcast eye, the turned face, and the half-whispered response to questions. Unlike the situation in the South Seas (Samoa, for example) or parts of Africa, where children form definite groups providing steady contacts, spreading knowledge, and insuring confidence in social situations, the Tarahumara child is the product of the isolation of the scattered settlement pattern. It is only during the tesguinada [drinking gathering] and the fiesta that social intercourse is permitted. But young children are not supposed to go to tesguinadas, and even these tesguinadas do not provide an adequate opportunity for deepening acquaintanceships. To a great extent, Tarahumaras marry without an adequate opportunity to learn how to adjust to a stranger of the opposite sex" (Fried, p68).

 

Shame is frequently a measure of maturity:

 

"The Dogon express the idea of sexual maturity in two ways: [...] "he who knows speech" and [...] "he who knows shame". Mastery of speech and decent behavior are prerequisites to marriage according to Dogon rules. Among the Pangwe, Tessmann (1904 [I]:p131)[85] noted that boys have sexual acquintesses with older men, the boys apparently being excused because they "have neither understanding nor shame", the men with the assertion a bele nnem e bango ("he has the heart (that is, the aspirations) of boys"). Among the Rungus Dusun, initial life stages are indicated by clothing:

 

"While not yet self-conscious about running around naked, boys and girls are still referred to with one term, amupo ilo ikum—"do not yet know enough to be ashamed". As soon as they start to wear clothes (about three or four years old for girls, a bit older for boys) a girl is referred to as manintepi—"wearing a skirt"—and a boy as maninsuval—"wearing trousers". By about the age of ten, before her breasts begin to enlarge, a girl starts wearing a sarong over her skirt. This period is referred to as maninsukalab—"wearing a sarong". When breast development is apparent, a girl is called sumuni—which can be translated as "maiden" (Appell-Warren 1987 [1991]).

 

Among the Swazi, full sexual penetration before marriage is considered "shameful", all the more so if the girl is made pregnant. The Kisii tolerate extensive sex play among smaller children, although "shame taboos" require that after about age 7, such activities are not to be seen by parents (Brockman). Bala adults consider boyhood group masturbation "shameful" and break it up whenever possible.

 

"Sex Guilt": The Question of Intergenerational Transmission and Cultural Determination [up] [contents]

 

The concept "sex guilt" has been a classic item in Western sexology (e.g., Mosher). It is used in adolescent and adult samples. In one study[86], "sex guilt" was defined as "the experience of unease whenever internal sexual standards are violated in thought or in deed" . The presumed cause, according to studies, would be disappointment[87], sexual abuse, and more insidious cultural traumata. Cultural differences were sporadically found[88].

The cause of "sex guilt" is commonly situated in socialisation curricula. One study[89] suggested that the same sex parent is perceived as more influential in determining the sex guilt of the child, whereas the perceived sex guilt of the mother may have more influence on the sexual arousability of the son and the sexual activity of the daughter. Other studies[90] suggest that parental practices, or at least the retrospective image of it, is correlated to aspects of "sex guilt"; Francoeur and Francoeur (1976)[91] explain how Americans "teach" sexual guilt to children. However, the relationship between sex guilt and permissive/restrictive family background is more complicated than might be expected[92].

Closing Remarks [up] [contents]

 

The "latency" concept is better studied in the light of privacy, curiosity, secrecy and shame. The cross-cultural study of the development of these issues is fragmentary, and few theoretical anchors have been offered. This compromises any concept of curricular breaks, delays or decelerations in (hetero)erotic development. The biological factor in these developments is a matter rarely discussed critically, and new theories (e.g., adrenarche) need to be verified. This also included the redefinition of eroticism that covers developmental realities, a task that requires quality insights to "psychophysical" experiences. Specifically, both the ethnographic and historical account of puberty as a "libidarchal storm" does not save this mission, until controlled studies are realised.

 


Notes [up] [contents]

 



[1] The term was borrowed from his contemporary and intimus Wilhelm Fliess, but Fliess never used it in his writings. However, Sulloway argued that it was more than a linguistic debt; also, Von Krafft-Ebing and Havelock Ellis used rudimentary terminology for related issues. See Sulloway, F. (1979) Freud, Biologist of the Mind: Beyond the Psychoanalytic Legend. London: Burnett Books, p175-9. Cf. Cluckers, G. (1984) De notie latentietijd bij S. Freud. Onderzoek naar de oorsprong [The latency period: A study of the foundations of the concept in the work of S. Freud], Psychol Belg [Belgium] 24,1:27-53

[2] Freud remarks that an zoological equivalent was not found. This was further discussed by Harlow, H. F. (1975) Lust, latency and love: Simian secrets of successful sex, J Sex Res 11,2:79-90. Reprinted in Byrne, D. & Byrne, L. A. (Eds.) Exploring Human Sexuality. New York: Crowell

[3] Hutchinson, G. E. (1930) Two biological aspects of psychoanalytic theory, Int J Psycho-Anal 11:83-6, at p83; Levy-Suhl, M. (1934) The early infantile sexuality of man as compared with the sexual maturity of other mammals, Int J Psycho-Anal 15:59-65. Orig. in Imago 19,1(1933); Badcock, C. R. (1990) Is the Oedipus complex a Darwinian adaptation? J Am Acad Psychoanal 18,2:368-77; Endleman, R. (1984) Psychoanalysis and human evolution, Psychoanal Rev 71,1:27-46; Lampl-De Groot, J. (1953) The influence of biological and psycholical factors upon the development of the latency period, in Loewenstein, R. et al. (Ed.) Drives, Affects and Behavior. New York: International Universities Press, p380-7; Yazmajian, R. V. (1967) Biological aspects of infantile sexuality and the latency period, Psychoanal Quart 36:203-29; Székely, L. (1957) On the origin of man and the latency period, Int J Psychoanal 38:98-104; Lehrer, S. (1984) Modern correlates of Freudian psychology: infant sexuality and the unconscious, Am J Med 77, Dec.:977-80. See further Jonas, A. D. & Jonas, D. F. (1975) A biological basis for the Oedipus complex: an evolutionary and ethological approach, Am J Psychia 132,6:602-6; Mourant, A. E. (1973) The Evolution of Brain Size, Speech, and Psychosexual Development, Current Anthropol 14,1/2:30-2

[4] Op.cit.

[5] Badcock, C. R. (1984) Madness and Modernity. Oxford: Basil Blackwell

[6] Hippler, A. (1977) Cultural evolution: Some hypotheses concerning the significance of cognitive and affective interpenetration during latency, J Psychohist 4,4:419-38. Comment by Martin H. Quitt, and reply at page 439-60

[7] Panel / Waelder, R. (1956) Re-evalutation of the libido theory, J Am Psychoanal Assoc 3:299-308. Discussed by L. Rangell, in Ann Survey Psychoanal 6(1955):p34-6

[8] Fromm, R. F. (1995) Female psychosexuality, J Am Acad Psychoanal 23,1:19-32

[9] Broderick, C. B. (1966) Sexual Development Among Pre-Adolescents, J Social Issues 22,2:6-21

[10] Broderick, C. (1972) Children's romances, Sexual Behavior, May:16-21

[11] Róheim, G. (1952) The anthropological evidence and the Oedipus complex, Psychoanal Quart 21:537-42. See also Róheim, G. (1946) The Oedipus complex and infantile sexuality, Psychoanal Quart 15:503-8

[12] See also Spiro, M. E. (1988) Is the Oedipus complex universal? In Pollock, G. H. & Ross, J. M. (Eds.) The Oedipus Papers. Classics in Psychoanalysis, Monograph 6. Madison, CT.: International Universities Press, p435-73

[13] Guyon, R. (1929) La Légitimé des Actes Sexuels. Saint-Denis: Dardaillon

[14] Borneman, E. & Biermann, G. (1992) Zur Sexualpathologie der sogenannten Latenzphase, in Biermann, G. (Ed.) Handbuch der Kinderpsychotherapie. 5th ed. Vol. V. München: E. Reinhardt, p66-73

[15] Malinowski , B. (1927) Sex and Repression in Savage Society. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co. Inc.

[16] Lidz, Th. & Lidz, R. W. (1986) Turning women things into men: Masculinization in Papua New Guinea, Psychoanal Rev 73,4:521-39

[17] Róheim, G. (1932) Psycho-analysis of primitive cultural types, Int J Psycho-Anal 13,1:1-224

[18] Róheim, G. (1956) The individual, the group, and mankind, Psychoanal Quart 25:1-10. Discussed by R. J. Almansi, in Ann Survey Psychoanal 7 (1956), p406-7

[19] Fine, G. A. (1986) The dirty play of little boys, Society, Nov/Dec:63-7. Reprinted in Kimmel, M. S. & Messner, M. A. (Eds., 1992) Men's Lives. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Press. See also the author's 1983 Shared Fantasy: Role-Playing Games as Social Worlds. Chicago: Chicago University Press; and 1987 With the Boys: Little League Baseball and Pre-Adolescent Culture. Chicago: Chicago University Press

[20] E.g., Ferraro, A. (1979) Triology of Freud's Major Fallacies. New York: Vantage Press, p178-83

[21] Reich, W. (1932) Der Einbruch der Sexualmoral. Berlin: Sexpol Verlag. Cf. Reich, W. (1975) Der Einbruch der Sexuellen Zwangsmoral. Fischer, 1981 ed., p159-60

[22] Seligman, C. G. (1932) Anthropological Perspective and Psychological Theory, J Royal Anthropol Instit Great Britain & Ireland 62:193-228. "All this [Róheim, Malinowski, Blackwood, Evans-Pritchard, Schapera] seems definite evidence that the latency period does not exist among primitive peoples, at any rate in the form in which it was stressed a few years ago by psychoanalysts".

[23] Sears, R. R. (1951) Survey of Objective Studies of Psychoanalytic Concepts. New York: Social Science Research Council

[24] Tarachow, S. (1952) Applied psychoanalysis. I. Anthropology, Ann Survey Psychoanal 1:298-312

[25] Honigmann, J. J. (1967) Personality in Culture. New York [etc.]: Harper & Row

[26] Rutter, M. (1971) Normal psychosexual development, J Child Psychol Psychia 11:259-83; Rutter, M. (1980) Psychosexual development, in Rutter, M. (Ed.) Scientific Foundations of Developmental Psychiatry. London: Heinemann Medical, p322-39

[27] ; Renshaw, D. (1972) Not so latent latency..., Sexual Behavior, May:19

[28] Fine, R. (1975) Psychoanalytic Psychology. New York: J. Aronson

[29] Kolodny, R. C., Masters, W. H., Johnson, V. E. & Biggs, M. A. (1979) Textbook of Human Sexuality for Nurses. Boston: Little, Brown

[30] Gordon, Ch. & Johnson, G. (1980) Readings in Human Sexuality: Contemporary Perspectives. 2nd ed. New York [etc.]: Harper & Row

[31] Fenichel, O. (1946) The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1982 reprint

[32] Gadpaille, W. J. (1975) The Cycles of Sex. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons

[33] Hippler, A. E. (1974) Patterns of Sexual Behavior: The Athabascans of Interior Alaska, Ethos 2:47-68. "Customarily Athabascan children in the latency period from about ages 5 to 12 engaged in and still engage in very little sexual exploration […] yet there is a continual covert and very strong interest in sex".

[34] Davenport, W. (1965) Sexual patterns and their regulation in a society of the south west Pacific, in Beach, F. (Ed.) Sex and Behaviour. New York: Wiley, p164-207; Davenport, W. (1966) Sexual patterns in a southwest Pacific society, in Brecher, R. & Brecher, E. (Eds.) An Analysis of Human Sexual Response. New York: Signet Books, p175-200. "These years [7-8 to 10-12] seem to constitute a true latency period for boys and also for girls, for the latter evince little or no interest in the other sex. […] Despite the apparent latency period for both sexes, youthful attempts at copulation are sometimes discovered, especially between sister and brothers". This may be closely related to the strict "gender role training" beginning as soon as walking is mastered, and resulting in the taboo of touching and even, to some extent, approaching the other sex at age five.

[35] "The sexual tendencies that prevail in Little Andaman are a strong criticism of Freud's theories on sexual life, but I will not discuss this here".

[36] Whitman, W. (1947) The Pueblo Indians of San Ildefonso, a changing culture, in Whitman, M. W. (Ed.) New York: Colombia University Press

[37] Whitman, W. (1963) The San Ildefonso of New Mexico, in Linton, R. (Ed.) Acculturation in Seven American Indian Tribes. Gloucester, Mass.: P. Smit, p390-62

[38] Cohen, Y. A. (1955) Character formation and social structure in a Jamaican community, Psychiatry 18,3:275-96

[39] McClintock, M. & Herdt, G. (1996) Rethinking puberty: the development of sexual attraction, Curr Direct Psychol Sci 5: 178-83

[40] Herdt, G. H. (2000) Why the Sambia Initiate Boys Before Age 10, in Bancroft, J. (Ed.) The Role of Theory in Sex Research. The Kinsey Institute Series, Vol. 6. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, p82-109

[41] Herdt, G. & McClintock, M. (2000) The magical age of 10, Arch Sex Behav 29,6:587-606

[42] Göppert, H. (1957) Das Erlebnis des Schönen im Rahmen der Libidoentwicklung, Psyche 11:270-4

[43] Money (1963:p1697-8; 1981:p390-1); Money & Ehrhardt (1973/1996:p21, 183, 201). Money concludes with Harlow that latency is not observed in monkeys nor in humans, that "sexual rehearsal play" is "species-typical" and that humans are the only species that restrict the sexual behaviour of their young.

[44] Romer, D., Hornik, R., Stanton, B., Black et al. (1997) "Talking" computers: a reliable and private method to conduct interviews on sensitive topics with children, J Sex Res 34,1:3-9

[45] For references, see Appendix III

[46] Yoruba, Toka, Thonga, Wagena, Ijo, Seniang,

[47] Nagy, L. (1926) A sexualitas hatasa az ifjak tarsas eletenek kialakulasara [The influence of sexuality upon the development of social life in youth], A Gyermek [The Child] 19:65-76. Not seen by the author.

[48] Examples include Afikpo Igbo

[49] See also Gerber, Th. A. (1986) A secret vice: A study of private language and imaginary kingdoms in childhood and adolescence, Child Adol Soc Work J 3,3:151-60

[50] This is further discussed in Proto-Erotiek: Agogische Exotiek tussen Leererotische en Psychodynamische Realiteit. Unpublished article by the author

[51] E.g., Lamb, Sh. (2001) The Secret Lives of Girls. New York: Free Press; Pollack, W. S. & Todd, Sh. (2000) Real Boys' Voices. New York: Penguin Books

[52] Bleichmar, E. D. (1996) Topica intersubjetiva del significado sexual in la niña, Rev Psicoanal 53,2:413-28

[53] Halloran, J. (1995) The sexual education of ten men: Understanding male gender socialization through retrospective interviews, DAI-B 56(4-A):1249

[54] Friedl, E. (1994) Sex the Invisible, Am Anthropol 96,4:833-44

[56] The issue of sex education initially was primarily halted by ideas about setting off an inappropriate quest for details. See Kirkendall, L. (1970) Does sex education arouse unwholesome curiosity? In Rubin, I. & Kirkendall, L. (Eds.) Sex in the Childhood Years. London & Glasgow: Collins, p30-2

[57] Nadel, S. F. (1942) A Black Byzantium. London: Oxford University Press. Critical passages reprinted in Middleton, J. (Ed., 1970) From Child to Adult. New York: Natural History Press, p173-206

[58] See Cullari, S. & Mikus, R. (1990) Correlates of adolescent sexual behavior, Psychol Rep 66,3 Pt 2: 1179-84; Thompson, Sh. (1990) Putting a big thing into a little hole: Teenage girls' accounts of sexual initiation, J Sex Res 27,3:341-61; Rosenthal, S. L. et al. (1996) Issues related to the sexual decision-making of inner-city adolescent girls, Adolescence 31,123:731-9; Rosenthal, S. L. et al. (1997) Heterosexual Romantic Relationships and Sexual Behaviors of Young Adolescent Girls, J Adolesc Health 21,4:238-43

[59] Sedlecki, K., Markovic, A. & Rajic, G. (2001) Zdravstveni aspekt seksualnosti kod adolescenata.
[Medical aspects of adolescent sexuality], Srp Arh Celok Lek 129,5-6:109-13

[60] Pinter, B. & Tomori, M. (2000) Sexual behavior of secondary-school students in Slovenia, Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care 5,1:71-6

[61] Vasileva, P. & Iustiniianova, B. (1998) Za niakoi aspekti na defloratsiiata i seksualnata aktivnost v adolestsentna vuzrast [The loss of virginity and sexual activity in adolescence], Akush Ginekol (Sofiia) 37,3: 46-8

[62] Urmil, A. C. et al. (1989) Medico-social profile of male teenager STD patients attending a clinic in Pune, Indian J Public Health 33,4:176-82

[63] Traeen, B. & Kvalem, I. L. (1996) Sexual socialization and motives for intercourse among Norwegian adolescents, Arch Sex Behav 25,3:289-302. Cf. Kvalem, I.. L. & Traeen, B. (1995) Seksuelle motiver blant norske ungdommer Nordisk Sexol 13,2:83-92

[64] Nicole, R. M. (1974) [Initiation of the young girl to sexual life], Vie Med Canad Franç 3,9:874-89

[65] See Akahori, S. et al. (1999) Social pathology and sexual delinquency in Japan, Int Med J 6,1:33-7

[66] Asayama, Sh. (1975) Sexual Behavior in Japanese Students: Comparisons for 1974, 1960, and 1952, Arch Sex Behav 5,5:371-90

[67] Rosenthal, S. l. (2001) Sexual initiation: predictors and developmental trends, Sex Transm Dis 28,9:527-32

[68] Briggs, F. & Hawkins, R. (1995) Protecting boys from the risk of sxual abuse, Early Child Developm & Care 110:19-32

[69] Schuhrke, B. (2000) Young children's curiosity about other people's genitals, J Psychol & Hum Sex 12,1/2: 27-48. Cf. Schuhrke, B. (1998) Die offene Toilettentür: Sexualität, Scham und Neugier in der Familie, Pro Familia [Germany] 26,3/4:18-20; Conn, J. (1940) Sexual curiosity of children, Am J Dis Child 60:1110-9

[70] Isichei, P. A.C. (1973) Sex in traditional Asaba, Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines 13,52: 682-99. Chapter from a B. Litt. Thesis for Oxford University, 1970

[71] Rogrigues, O. M., Monesi, A. A. & Costa, M. (1991) Curiosidad sexual infantil y adulta: Prevalencia e implicaciones para el tratamiento de las disfunciones sexuales masculinas, Rev Latinoam Sexol 6,1:45-54

[72] Grau, K. J. (1928) Eitelkeit und Schamgefühl. Eine Sozial- und Charakterpsychologische Studie. Leipzig: Meiner

[73] Matthis, I. (1981) On shame, women and social conventions, Scand Psychoanal Rev 4,1:45-58

[74] Eicke, S. M. (1988) Über Schuld- und Schamgefühle bei Frauen, Zeitschr f Psychoanal Theory & Prax 3,1:77-93; Kramer, P. (1954) Early capacity for orgastic discharge and character formation, Psychoanal Stud Child 9:128-41

[75] Siegmund, H. (1933) Die Entwicklung des Schamgefühls und seine Auswirkungen, Psychol Rundschau 4:203-6

[76] CF. Rosenthal (1933) Schamgefühl und Sittlichkeit, Sexus 1:51-6

[77] Nunberg, H. (1932) Psychoanalyse des Schamgefühls, Psychoanal Bewegung 4:505-7

[78] Kressel, G. M. (1992) Shame and Gender, Anthropol Quart 65,1:34-46

[79] Paige, K. E. (1978) Codes of Honor, Shame, and Female Purity. Paper for the International Sociological Association

[80] Elias, N. (1939) Über den Prozeß der Zivilisation. 2 vols. Basel: Haus zum Falker

[81] Duerr, H. P. (1989) In polemica con il sociologo Norbert Elias – Nudita' e pudore. Reflessioni di un etnologo sulle diverse manifestazioni della sensualita, Prometeo 7(26):110-6; Duerr, H. P. (1993) Der Mythos vom Zivilsationsprozess, Vol. 1: Nacktheit und Scham. Suhrkamp: Frankfurt am Main

[82] CF. Wouters, C. (1994) Duerr und Elias. Scham und Gewalt in Zivilisationsprozessen, Zeitschr f Sexualforsch 7,3:203-16; Rehberg, K. S. (1994) Civilizing Theory and Philosophical Anthropology. Paper for the International Sociological Association; Bogner, A. (1992) The Theory of the Civilizing Process-An Idiographic Theory of Modernization? Theory, Culture & Soc 9,2:23-53; Pallaver, G. (1989) Der Streit um die Scham. Zu Hans Peter Duerrs Demontage des "Zivilisationsprozesses", Osterreich Zeitschr f Soziol 14,4:63-71

[83] Resneck, S. H. (1991) Shame, sexuality, and vulnerability, Women & Ther 11,2:111-25

[84] Lewis, M. (1992) Shame: The Exposed Self. New York: The Free Press

[85] Tessmann, G. (1904) Die Pangwe. Berlin: E Wasmuth. Vol. I; Murray and Roscoe (1998:p142)

[86] Derflinger, J. R. (1998) Sex guilt among evangelical Christians in the 1990s: An examination of gender differences and salient correlates of sex guilt among married couples, DAI-B 58(9-B):5111

[87] Moore, N. B. & Davidson, J. K. Sr. (1997) Guilt about first intercourse: an antecedent of sexual dissatisfaction among college women, J Sex & Marit Ther 23,1:29-46

[88] Consider: Wyatt, G. E. & Dunn, K. M. (1991) Examining predictors of sex guilt in multiethnic samples of women, Arch Sex Behav 20,5:471-85; Abramson, P. R. & Imai-Marquez, J. (1982) The Japanese-American: A cross-cultural, cross-sectional study of sex guilt, J Res Pers 16,2:227-37; Fantl, B. & Schiro, J. (1959) Cultural variables in the behavior patterns and symptom formation of 15 Irish and 15 Italian female schizophrenics, Int J Soc Psychol 4:245-53

[89] Abramson, P. R., Michalak, P. & Alling, Ch. (1977) Perception of Parental Sex Guilt and Sexual Behavior and Arousal of College Students, Percept Mot Skills 45,1:337-8

[90] Joffe, H. et al. (2001) Parental non-verbal sexual communication: Its relationship to sexual behaviour and sexual guilt, J Health Psychol 6,1:17-30; Herold, E. S. (1981) Contraceptive embarrassment and contraceptive behavior among young single women, J Youth & Adolesc 10,3:233-42

[91] Francoeur, R. T. & Fraincoeur, A. K. (1976) The Pleasure Bond: Reversing the Antisex Ethic, Futurist 10, 4:176-80

[92] E.g., Propper, S. & Brown, R. A. (1986) Moral reasoning, parental sex attitudes, and sex guilt in female college students, Arch Sex Behav 15,4:331-40