In the following case, mother lost her composure...

In the following case, mother lost her composure ("she became quite upset") and gave unambiguous instructions ("never to touch this object again") with no explanation as to the reason for the unambiguous instructions and without indicating that the injunction would ever be removed. It is doubtful that the mother really meant that her daughter should never touch a contraceptive again!

When rummaging through my mother's chest-ofdrawers I discovered a circular, rubbery object (a diaphragm). Too wide and flat to be a balloon, I was fascinated by the fact that I could stretch this piece of rubber, and so I did.
I was caught by my mother who became quite upset and told me never to touch this object again without any explanation as to what it was. The words "never again" come easily to the lips of a repressive mother.

My friend and I were in the basement of our home, hiding behind the furnace, about to do something "nasty." My friend dropped his trousers, bent over, and manly spread his "cheeks" in order for me to get the best view possible. I exclaimed.
Then I did the same thing for him and he exclaimed. Later my mother asked what we were doing in the basement. I finally told her that we were showing butts.
She told me never to do anything like that again. I felt almost certain that I had done something which would prove to be irreparably damaging to my future life.

The effects of a good tongue-lashing stayed with me for approximately one year, after which time I had grown out of my fixation and eventu ally realized myself that it was probably not that horrible a thing to do.
Sexual encounters between peers often end abruptly when mother en ters the scene. Mother spanks, reprimands, separates the participants, and threatens, as in the following case. Mother viewed the situation in an extremely negative manner and reacted accordingly. But it was "ef fective"-"we discontinued our sex play."

One of my girl cousins was only a few months older than I (a boy) so we played together quite often when we were in grade school. Our games included sex play with her genitals.
We were quite aware that what we were doing was "wrong," but we continued this type of activity until her mother caught us. She gave us both a spanking, said what we were doing was very bad, and put us in different rooms in the house for the rest of the day.
She threatened to tell my mother, but I don't think she ever did. We discontinued our sex play after that time.

Even something so innocent and spontaneous as an erection may meet with scolding and slapping from a repressive adult thus "frightening the sexual dickens" out of a little boy. When an erection would occur our mother would scold us and this tended to frighten us.
I remember one time I was visiting my grandmother. I had just taken a bath and she wanted to see if I was clean or not. As she cleaned my navel I had an erection. She said, "Oh, Gary!" and gave it a little slap.
It just frightened the sexual dickens out of me. Showing one's age mate of the same sex results of one's recent cir cumcision can meet with "screaming and hollering" and spanking from mother. It is bad to be "caught in the act" as the following two cases attest.