Why does the group sometimes react with teasing?

Why does the group sometimes react with teasing? It is partly because the appearance of pubic hair is a new phenomenon that must be recognized. Yet, knowing what we do about the quality of sex information of youth in the United States, the group members are not sure what the proper reaction should be. Teasing may well be a good compromise. It recognizes the phenomenon without clearly designating its meaning or importance.The preadolescent boy begins to exchange his sexual information with others by age eight or nine if he has not done so earlier. There is "hunger for knowledge" at this age. Many boys of this age are not so lucky as to find helpful literature readily available. Just before puberty I (a boy) had a hunger for knowledge. I read all the sex literature I could get my hands on. This literature was sexually arousing in the true sense of the word, and I would become quite stimulated. I began having frequent erections and found new pleasure associated with the genitals.

Erection comes on much more quickly in preadolescent boys than in adults though the speed in which climax is reached in preadolescent males varies considerably in different boys as it does in adult males. In preadolescents, the capacity to achieve repeated orgasms in limited periods of time exceeds the capacity of teenage boys, who in turn are more capable than are men. (Kinsey, 1948, p. 178-179). Ramsey (1943), in studying the erotic responsiveness of nearly 300 boys from an urban junior high school in a middle-sized Midwestern city (the respondents were mostly white, middle-class, and Protestant), asked each boy to rate his response to each item on a list of erotic stimuli. Ramsey found a wide variation in the erotic responsiveness of each individual.

The following thirteen items are arranged in a declining order based on the item's rating as a stimulant by the group as a whole: sex conversation, female nudity, obscene pictures, motion pictures, day dreaming, burlesque or stage shows, nude art, motion when riding, literature, own body, male nudity, dancing, and music. About fifty percent of the boys reported erections resulting from some type of non-erotic stimulus, as well. The situation in which non- erotic responses occurred usually involved elements of fear, excitement or other emotional situations. The items reported as non-erotic stimuli included carnival rides, war motion pictures, being late to school, reciting before class, fast rides, playing a musical solo, band music, fear or punishment. These responses were most frequently reported for boys aged 10, 11 and 12 years.

Boys also reported on dream content in which they found themselves with an erection on awakening. Dream content often contained non-erotic stimuli-fighting, accidents, wild animals, falling from high places, giants, or being chased or frightened. The incidence of masturbation among preadolescent boys of various ages is not known with precision. Ramsey (1943) summarized five personal- interview studies that, when taken along with his own study, indicate that masturbation occurs at some time in the sexual histories of nearly all males. Three-fourths reported their first experience to have been between that ages of ten and sixteen. Masturbation apparently begins for the majority of males during the years immediately preceding or very soon after puberty, for some it begins during infancy or early childhood.

In Ramsey's sample, fourteen percent of those eight year olds reported having had masturbatory experience, twenty-three percent of those nine years old, twenty-nine percent of those ten years old, fifty-four percent of those eleven years old, seventy-three percent of those twelve years old, eighty-five percent of those thirteen years old, ninety-five percent of those fourteen years old, and ninety-eight percent of those fifteen years old. The highest percentage increment came at ages 11, 12, 13, and 14 and in that order. The increment at each age from age six to age fifteen was 5.3, 4.2, 4.6, 8.8, 5.9, 24.7 (age eleven), 19.1, 12.2, 10.2, and 3.1. Note the marked increment between age ten and age eleven. Boys can recall these preadolescent experiences with masturbation.I was first told about masturbation in a movie theater by one of my friends who said, "Man, I don't know how, but I was just rubbing and all of a sudden this great thing happened to me." It was considered the "Great, new fad." I have masturbated since grade school. I experience very few wet dreams which I account for by the fact that I did masturbate often. Boys often learn of masturbation from each other. For girls, this is not common. Here is a case where a girl did learn from her sister, however.