Before specifically discussing the affectional and sexual behavior of infants, we will more systematically and conclusively establish that infants have the somato-sensory capacity for erotic behavior. Boy babies are sometimes born with erections, and there is no reason to believe that the capacity for such marked physiological response develops any later in girls. In a study of nine male babies of ages three to twenty weeks, tumescence (penile erection) was observed at least once daily in seven of the nine. (Halverson, 1940).
Individual
responses varied greatly from five to forty erections per day. Tumescence
was accompanied in a large percentage of instances by
restlessness, fretting, crying, stretching, and flexing the limbs
stiffly. The behavior following the detumescence was in the nature of
playful activity or relaxation. Parents often report having observed
erections in infant boys. (Conn, 1940a).
Pelvic thrust movements in male and female infants eight to ten
months old appear to occur as part of an expression of affection in
which the baby holds onto the parent, nuzzles the parent, and rapidly
thrusts and rotates the pelvis for a few seconds. (Lewis and Kagan,
1965). It appears to be more an evidence of pleasure, an ecstatic
rather than an erotic mood. This kind of behavior decreases with a decrease
in close holding of the infant as the infant becomes ambulatory.
Pelvic thrusts have also been observed among primate infants;
infantile sexual behavior in all mammals is perhaps the rule. (Bowlby,
1969, p. 158).
A newborn infant is responsive to external stimulation of the genital
area. (Sears, Maccoby and Levin, 1957, p. 176). A gentle touch, or
the rubbing of clothes or bed coverings, seems to attract attention. If
the infant has been active or restless, or is having a crying spell,
genital stimulation appears to quiet and relax. In the third or fourth
month of life, genital stimulation is sometimes accompanied by smiling
and the making of a few soft sounds. The boy baby from birth is likely
to have an erection on such occasions. Girls show similar responsiveness.
Internal sources of stimulation, such as a full bladder or a full
bowel, also produce sensory reactions. (Sears, et al, 1957, p. 175ff).
These reactions are less likely to be accompanied by signs of pleasure
and relaxation than are reactions to external stimulation.
Genital Play-Masturbation
Spitz (1962) makes an important distinction between genital play
and masturbation in infancy. He observes that infants in the first year
of life mostly are not capable of the direct, volitional behavior required
for the behavior pattern that we call the masturbatory act or
masturbation. Any more or less random play with various parts of the
body, including the genitals, that can be observed is nonspecific activity
and should be labelled as genital play and not as masturbation.
Yet occasional infants do specifically stimulate themselves sexually.
Kinsey (1953, p. 142) reports one record of a seven-month-old infant
and records of five infants under one year who were observed to
masturbate. Twenty-three girls, three years or younger, appeared to
reach orgasm in self stimulation. Kinsey's unpublished interview data
contains notations from interviews with a small sample of two year olds
and their mothers. One mother reported that her son had the habit of
rubbing against a doll's head to masturbate. Another reported that her
son's masturbating was deliberate, prolonged, and accompanied by an
erection. Cuddling and kissing parents and others was reported for both
boys and girls.