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

PSYCHOLOGY OF SEXThe mothers of the immediate past,from this pointof view, may roughly be divided into two classes: a major*ity who, from ignorance or timidity, almost altogether ignoredsex in their children an attitude which oftenturned out well and a minority who suffered from theevils of half-knowledge and displayed a nervous anxietyand apprehensionover this matter which by no meansalways proved beneficial. Today the new mother, livingin a world in which a more wholesome atmosphere beginsto prevailin relation to sex, islearning by herself toassume an attitude towards her children which is differentfrom that of either of these two classes. She is alert andinformed, but at the same time not over eager to interfereeven with those manifestations concerning the nature andtendency of which she may not feel fully assured. She isrealizing sometimes almost instinctively that her childhas various phases to pass through before reaching fulldevelopment, that too great an anxiety tointerfere evenmore mis-with activities that seem undesirable may be yetchievous than the activities themselves, and that the mainthing is to understand the child, to win his confidence,and so to become a trusted adviser in his difficulties. Thisintuition, it may be remarked, is sound. Those who areintimately acquaintedwith children and infants are awarethat, for instance, confirmed masturbation prolonged intowhose mothers have fromadult life may occur in subjectsthe first been energetically attempting to combat thehabit, or that thumb-sucking, which some regard as tendingto pass into masturbation, may be practiced with obviousenjoyment from earliest infancy and later slowlydisappear, if not interfered with, without being replacedby more definitely sexual modes of enjoyment.When we turn from the home to the school difficultiesare increased since the school, in which many children are