ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that children of both sexes between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four months regularly show a marked increase in the manipulation of their genitals, including frank masturbatory behaviour, and curiosity about and reactions to the anatomical difference between the sexes. It proposes that this sharp upsurge in genital interest results from the rather sudden increase in endogenous genital sensation experienced by children of this age. Early sexual interest and activity in children normally serve to consolidate the representations of self and object and to establish a primary schematisation of the genital outline of the body. The developmental records include data from the mother obtained from direct questioning by the observers, direct observations in the nursery by the staff, and home visits and videotapes. When Billy was a little older than fourteen months in the nursery and at home, a series of games that involved his ears, eyes, and mouth.
