Psychology of sex - Total No. of Records in System :: 2032

PSYCHOLOGY OF SEXshown in the child's equal or greater liking to suffer itsinfliction. Games of "punishment" with much reciprocalsmacking have always been privately popular among childrenof both sexes, perhaps especially girls, the hair-brushoften being used for this purpose. Self-flagellation is alsosometimes practised,and even after puberty,when thegenital centers are fully active, may be jit adopted byeither sex to heighten the solitary pleasure of the sexualimpulse in the absence of a person of the opposite sex.Day-drearnsof torture are a not uncommon source ofpleasure even among young children, and at a rather laterage one has heard of Foxe's Book of Martyrs proving asource of thrilling delight. Sometimes the child experiencesan irresistible impulse to inflict pain on himselfand often on his penis, which indicates that, even if nota source of sexual excitement in the adult sense, thepenis is already a center of emotional interest. Such factsrecall the castration-complex to which some psycho-analystsattach enormous importance. A string may bestrongly tied round the penis; or it may even be violentlystruck; and the case has lately been recorded of a girl ofnine who tied a thread round her clitoris and was unableto remove it,so that surgical interference became necessary.Sensation and emotion are still in a comparativelydiffused and as it were uncrystallized form. As the realizationof pain is so early necessary in life for self-preservationit is inevitable that painful emotions should be those inwhich the stillvague pleasure impulses tend to take shape.all beHamilton found that among his subjects, who maysaid to be of high character and culture, only 49 per cent,men and 68 per cent, women never experience pleasure ininflicting pain; while nearly 30 percent, of both menand women had had pleasure in experiencing pain.How far we are here from adult isdevelopments shown[901