Children are Sexual

"... we have examined the histories of 5300 males ... It would be difficult to show that masturbatory activities have done measurable damage.... On the other hand, the record does include thousands of boys living in continual conflict...occasionally attempting suicide--as a result of the teachings concerning masturbation."
(Kinsey et al., 1948, p. 514)

With the assumption that children aren't sexual, inevitably follows is the expectation that they are less than human. These criteria are intertwined--to unravel one is to destroy the unity of both. Denial has always been the strongest weapon waged against those who are subordinate from those who are in control--denial of the ability to procreate; denial of the ability to communicate; to travel; to be educated; to have money; to have human rights...etc.--and denial continues to be the weapon of choice used against young people for the purpose of maintaining adult power. The strongest one used in this day in age? The denial of children to their own sexuality. With it, children are turned into criminals waging war with their own flesh, and adults turned into heroes, waging war with the very same thing, justifying all the horrific recourse that follows on the grounds that doing such protects children.

The fact of the matter is, children enjoy pleasuring themselves, as all human beings do, and they enjoy pleasuring themselves sexually. Even if they don't have the terms to understand what form of pleasure the stimulation takes, the ability to feel pleasure exists. Nature does not cower at the feet of man, it doesn't kill off ugliness simply because mankind deems it ugly, and children are not born as asexual drones just because adults need something to subjugate and exploit.

However, the fact of the matter is that children, particularly smaller children, are not always aware of what their sexual feelings mean. This small fact is the jumping off point for all adult sexual oppression of children--whether forcing them into sexual assault or forcing them to ignore their impulses. Adults perceive the ability to procreate as the criterion for sexual capability, when in reality, it has more to do with sexual maturity. Imagine if children were prohibited from learning to walk (if such could be done) until some pre-set date where they were considered "mature" enough? Should we consider such a poor soul, as indicated, a mature individual? Maturity is an indication of learned experience, it is not a date on a calendar. Children mature mentally at different rates, so in spite of that, society is incorrect in its understanding that there can be one set standard, by which a law can be crafted on, that sets the legal age all youth completely understand the benefits, risks, and consequences of sex.

Just as rapists and child molesters are sexual deviants, the enforced celibacy children endure is one placed upon them by another kind of sexual deviant. It is not natural to inhumanly ignore sexual urges, burying them deep inside of oneself to be released in a rage of anticipated climax. It is not natural to allow sexual urges to overwhelm the rational and logical decisions, thereby allowing oneself to actively rape another human being, man or woman, adult or child. Both are on the end of a pendulum, neither one being centered, or in anyway near a balanced, "mature" normality. Childhood sexual fantasy is worthy to be explored in youth to create a healthier child and a sexually healthy adult later in life.

Repercussions will follow from these socially-created extremes, whether or not those sudden occurrences or emotional breakdowns are ever disclosed to anyone but oneself. Too many children have been forced to accommodate this abstinence against their will, causing too many to suffer the repercussions and emotional breakdowns later in their lives. Too many have been forced to accept sexual attention against their will because they were risen in a world where they must fear their adults in order to survive, and such action has caused repercussions and emotional breakdowns later in life. A balance must occur to end these learned repercussions regarding sexual expression, association of pride and love in one’s sexual feelings, and these balances must extend to childhood. Childhood sexual fantasy is worthy to be explored. It is part of what makes them human, whether we label them "children" or not.