Childhood Sexuality Flashcards
What are some important points of sexuality when the child is in infancy stage? (0-1 years of age)
- communication is through touch
- world is sensual, if it feels good they will continue
- orgasms can happen as early as 5mnths
- pelvic thrusting and masturbation
- key is that they are not being sexual, they are simply doing what feels good to them
What happens when the infant is physically or emotionally deprived?
They may rock, bang their hands (self stimulating behaviour) but they will not masturbate
- kids that are generally healthy emotionally will be more invovled in masturbation and pelvic thrusting
How should you treat sexuality with kids that are still infants?
- appropriately name body parts
- since at this point, they do not know what is appropriate and what is not, therefore let the child explore
What are some important points when the child is 2-3 years of age?
- developed natural curiosity
- be specific - use proper naming
- around this age is when potty training begins to happen, therefore important that they are shown how to distinguish btw excretory and sex organs
- “boy” “girl”
- masturbation happens but now social manners are built in
- sex talks confined to people rather than “birds and flowers”
What are some important points when the child is 4-5 years of age?
- at this stage parents are giving less touch to their children
- touch happening more btw them and their peers , more separation from parents
- think that sex is covered in mystery and should be explore under other motivations
- masturbation increases and they have a clear concept of public and private
- by this age they should know the names and general functions of all the parts of their bodies
What are some important points when the child is school age? (6-11)
- reduction of sexual exploration as they hide more of their sexual interest
- since they are still somewhat connected to their parents this is a good time to develop their value system
- focus on competency control and skill building
- exposure to a greater variety of media - use it for an opportunity to have a discussion
- consolidating masculinity and femininity
- little awareness of orientation
What are some important points of pre adolescence? (9-13 years)
- increased self consciousness
- peer approval is important
- sexual urges due to hormone changes
- same/other sex exploration
- most kids by this age know their orientation or have a grasp of it
- at this stage, sexual information and discussion of values becomes more important
What happens in females when they go through puberty?
Sexual secondary characteristics conflict physical development vs. child roles
- increased estrogen production
What happens in males when they go through puberty?
- go through nocturnal emissions (wet dreams)
- increase in hormone levels, more erections
- first ejaculation happens from 8-20 yrs of age, and the avg is around 14 yrs of age.
What is the average age where adolescences begin to have intercourse?
16 yrs for female and 15.5 years for male
Statistics
- 4% of parents think their children are having sex
- for girls, early alcohol use means early intercourse
- girls that have low self esteem and boys with high self esteem results in early intercourse
- over 70% of canadians will have first intercourse before the age of 20
- 25% of teens do not use protection against STI last time they had sex
- 19% of teens are aware of HPV
- 56% of sexually acitve teen girls have not had a pap test in three years
- 20% of teens know gonorrhea or syphilis was transmitted by oral sex
- rates of STIs are increasing for both male and female teens, women aged 15-19 have 6X average rate of chlamydia and gonorrhea
What is the difference between medical approach with sexuality vs sex positive?
Medical - focuses on harm reduction, prevention and protection
Sex positive - focuses on quality of life, and enhancement
Describe some approaches to being sex positive
- seeing sex as a basic human right
- having a comprehensive definition of sexuality
- focusing on life enhancing aspects of sex and the negative
- being non judgemental and open minded
- using inclusive language, not leaving certain sexual orientations out
- assisting individuals to be aware of the choices involved in sexual decisions.
What are the three elements that are in the information motivation behavioural model? (IMB)
- information or knowledge (content)
- motivation or attitudes (understand underlying causes of behaviours)
- behavioural or skills (practice strategies in context)
What are the four points to remember when discussing sexuality with children?
- Facts - provide unbiased factual information
- values - tell your children what you think and feel about those facts
- Responsibility - tell them what you expect of them, and ask them how they can be responsible for sexual decisions
- self esteem - encourage them to feel positive about themselves and their bodies
