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From: jvenner@wateng.UUCP (Jason P. Venner)
Newsgroups: net.kids,net.motss
Subject: Child sexuality, incest and trauma
Message-ID: <702@wateng.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 3-Feb-84 04:11:40 EST
Article-I.D.: wateng.702
Posted: Fri Feb  3 04:11:40 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 8-Feb-84 01:01:06 EST
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 74

[Please mailers, leave this line alone]

     In	my opinion, the	repressive sexual mores	of Puritan based cultures are
responsible for	the trauma that	often occurs after incest, and or expressed
child sexuality.

     Most children that	I have encountered who's parents fall into the follow-
ing categories:

________________________________________________________________
|over thirty at	(the childs) birth			       |
|______________________________________________________________|
|moderately (or	more deeply) dogmaticly	involved  with	       |
|a repressive religion					       |
|______________________________________________________________|
|send their children to	a religiously oriented school system   |
|______________________________________________________________|
|obviously extremely uncomfortable with	any aspect of sexuality|
|______________________________________________________________|

Are usually very self conscious	of what	is "bad" and what is "good" by the age
of seven or eight.  They may be	aware of it earlier, but I, perhaps because of
difficulties with communication, am unable to tell.  They (the children) are
presented with,	and acting out the confused and	guilt ridden life styles of
their role models.  When these children	are exposed to sexual activity,	there
is usually an expressed	desire for secrecy on the part of the adult involved.
This secrecy is	(usually) presented in a manner	that indicates that it is some-
thing to be ashamed of.

     I think that the primary cause of any trauma (not just the	ones currently
under discussion) is the occurrence of a gross contradiction to	the logic that
a child	views the world.  In this case we have children	taught that:

_______________________________________________________
|sex						      |
|______________________________________________________
|sexual	behavior (which	may include teasing)	      |
|______________________________________________________
|anything that	is  (reasonably	 strongly)  associated|
|with sex					      |
|______________________________________________________

is "bad." We also have an adult, who may be the	childs parent, engaging	in
something that is known	(by the	child) to be "bad".  This adult	is probably
trying to require secrecy, another indicator of	"badness".  Needless to	say, I
would say that this situation is likely	to cause situations which the child has
no easy	rational explanation for, and has to deal with in some other (usually
less desirous fashion).	 In my opinion,	this is	the real cause of traumas.

_______________________________________________________________________________

[Things	worthy of note]

     When I speak of religion, I am primarily talking about ones that have
their roots in judaism.	 I do not have enough experience with other religions
to make	statements (in this context) about them.

     The logic that I speak of,	are the	rules that the child has learned about
how it is to interact with the world, and how the world	interacts with it.

     I personally do not see things as inherently evil,	and inherently good.  I
try to see things as cause and effect and shades of gray.

     I personally had my first sexual experience at age	six or seven.  Luckily
for me,	my parents had not instilled a strong guilt complex associated with
sexuality, even	though,	I knew enough to keep it secret.  I am not aware of any
problems arising from these encounters.

-- 
				yours sincerely,
				Jason P. Venner
physical mail: Integrated Studies, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario.,
		Canada.  N2L 3G1
UUCP: {allegra, decvax, cbosg, teklabs,linus, sunybcs}!watmath!wateng!jvenner