Since Freud’s exploration of childhood sexuality, there have been a number of clinical and developmental studies in this area. These include the clinical observations of normal and pathological behavior in children and adults, experimental studies of sexuality and patterns of behavior among children and animals, and some longitudinal studies of children who early in life displayed sex-type behavior not congruent with their biological sex assignment.
There is considerable controversy as to what constitutes “sexual behavior” during childhood, since childhood sexual behavior, no matter how closely it imitates the adult sexual experience, does not lead to the orgasm which is the goal of sexual relationship during adulthood. Freud defined sexuality in much broader terms. To him, sexual behavior is motivated by the libidinal drive or its derivatives, and the goal is to discharge energy, as a result of which the individual experiences pleasure and avoids the pain of undischarged energy. The gradual organization and transformation of the libidinal drive’s source, objects, and aims, in the course of development, finally lead to genital sexuality as observed among normal individuals – namely, the capacity for a heterosexual and affectionate relationship with a non-incestuous love object.
Because there is no orgastic experience during the first five years of life when the major organization and transformation of libidinal drives occurs, many investigators have looked for a manifestation of sexuality in male and female differences in children’s behavior. Animal studies among mammals and primates (Beach) show that animals frequently display specific sexual behavior such as mounting and stimulating genitals before they reach adulthood and become capable of sexual intercourse. It seems that these early sexual experiences are crucial for the mature animal to become sexually competent. Inexperienced adult male monkeys often are incapable of sexual intercourse even with a receptive female. Harlow’s study with monkeys has demonstrated clearly the relation between early maternal experiences and sexuality during adulthood. Monkeys raised by wire surrogate mothers during infancy were incapable of sexual intercourse. The females rarely became pregnant and even when they did succeed in giving birth, their maternal behavior was atypical. Instead of exhibiting the usual maternal behavior such as holding, feeding, grooming, and protecting their young, they showed aggressive and assaulting behavior aimed at the destruction of their offspring.
Sex-type behavior can be differentiated much more readily in young animals than in human children. The behavior of the male infant rhesus monkey is visibly aggressive, and the female infants display more “passive” behavior such as sitting quietly and allowing other animals to approach them. The preadolescent male monkey plays mostly in a group of the same age and sex. His play consists largely of aggressive, rough-and-tumble chasing. The female preadolescent, especially if she is small and weak, is excluded from the male group. There seems to be some similarity between the preadolescent monkey’s social behavior and that of preadolescent humans in Western societies. Boys and girls lean toward exclusive homosexual grouping at around eight to twelve years of age (Thumpson and Horrocks).
Prepubertal sex play is common among most mammals (Beach). This includes not only the display of behavior usually leading to sexual contact among adults, but also direct genital stimulation. In humans there also is evidence (from everyday observation by parents and nursery and kindergarten teachers) of different sex-play roles and sexual activities among the very young (Issacs). In societies and cultures in which the expression of sexuality is not repressed as it is in Western cultures, there are reports (Malinowski) that there often is sexual play among children that does not violate the kinship taboos of the culture.
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