ABSTRACT
Many theorists have alluded to a sensual dimension in the early maternal environment. As professionals we need to be much more open to female sexuality generally and maternal sexuality in particular and resist the temptation to take seriously only that material which conforms to our stereotypes of, the feminine, and the maternal. An important theme which emerged in thinking through maternal responses and their developmental consequences was that the “socially correct” and “moral” responses to child sexuality are potentially psychologically devastating for the individuals concerned. Psychiatrists, psychotherapists and social workers work with the legacy of such “moral matemalism” on a daily basis. A further explanation impinging upon professionals of both sexes is the residue of unresolved feelings about sexuality within their own childhood experience. While S. Freud asserted the fact of father daughter incest, and suffered accordingly, the taboo which surrounds maternal sexual abuse, contemporaneously, is arguably even stronger.
