When Does Sexuality Begin?

Stages of the beginning of sexuality

There had been times when sex and sexuality were one of the least discussed topics, they were more like taboos. But nowadays it’s perfectly normal to discuss them; these are still fairly personal but no more considered as forbidden knowledge. The terms Sexuality and sexual orientation are sometimes alternatively used for each other and to a great extant its well justified. Sexuality is about understanding your personal sexual feelings and attractions towards others while sexual orientation is exploring your sexuality and placing yourself in pre-defined categories such as heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality and asexuality. There is no definite age at which sexuality begins as there are multiple environmental and social factors that are responsible for it. Biological and socially the age of beginning depends upon Gender, hormonal balance, ethnicity, family values, substance and drug use, socioeconomic makeup, religious beliefs, cultural views about sex, women liberation etc.

It’s not justified to say that sexuality only begins when a child starts understanding its environment because we all are sexual beings, even  an infant have a different overall body structure and organs distinctly a male or a female or sometimes both, these factors through some extant can predict a child’s sexual orientation. On the other hand young children are usually curious about their bodies, between ages zero to five, it is considered normal for them to touch their own body parts and also ask questions about related topics.

Gender plays a very important role in the onset of sexuality. It refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that are assigned to men and women in any given society There are defined gender roles and expectation in every society that how men and women should behave. There are cultures where it is alright for men to talk about sex whether women are expected to stay silent on these matters. They cannot be assertive about their sexual preference and orientation; simply they are not given enough liberation to express their sexual desires.

The hormonal theory of sexuality and gender identity explains in detail that, exposure to certain hormones  at early stages of development plays a very important role in fetal sex differentiation, such exposure also has a strong influence on the sexual orientation and or gender identity that emerges later in the adult. Differences in brain structure that come about from chemical messengers and genes interacting on developing brain cells are believed to be the basis of sex differences in countless behaviors, including sexual orientation. Prenatal factors that affect or interfere with the interaction of these hormones on the developing brain can influence later sex-typed behavior in children. On the other hand hormonal production and balance biologically determines the increased awareness of sexual behaviors in children. Usually children start facing hormonal changes after the age of ten that greatly impacts their attitude towards sex and sexuality.

Socioeconomic and environmental issues have long been discussed as key role players in the onset of sexuality in children. Within sound socio economic settings, children are more exposed to facilities such as internet, magazines, sex educations guides and most importantly social media at an early age. Also in cultural settings where public show of affection is culturally accepted, children possess early beginning of sexuality. They have more references to real life so they could understand their own desires in a much better way as compared to those children who do not have access to our basic information systems and facilities. The trends of proper sex education in a culture can enhance the rates of children getting involved in sexual habits at an early age. On the other hand educated families tend to be more open about sex and sex education with their children. The question “what is the appropriate age?” for discussing such personal and sensitive topics with children has haunted parents and psychologists for a long time, but now it’s an established fact that healthy sex education can greatly reduce the risk of children developing aberrant sexual habits due to wrong information from wrong sources.

In societies where children can have easy access to drugs and other similar substances, it has been seen that sexual behavioral abnormalities and early understanding of sexual practices occur as one of the many side effects of these drugs. The concept of normal and abnormal habits is totally relevant to the age of a child. There are practices that are considered for a child five years of age but the same practices are normal for a child around ten years of age.

One more important parameter in determining the commencement of sexuality is religious practices. Religious practices often forbid extra marital sex, and private habits like masturbation. From a psychological perspective it is perfectly normal a child to have inappropriate thoughts and touching their own body parts but these same practices are at time forbidden, when these practices are strictly followed, children are kept socially isolated from being getting indulged in such activities that can delay social inception of sexuality.

In conclusion, the commencement of sexuality can not only be based one or few factors, it’s a complex process which has equal involvement of biological processes and social and environmental practices around the individuals. Sexuality cannot be generalized, every individual is unique and so are their experiences towards life, there are multiple encounters that shape the sexual orientation of a child. Even once decided and sorted out, there are significant chances that a person’s sexuality can change over the period of time. These intricate matters still need a lot of discussion to answer more complex questions related to this basic knowledge. For this purpose we have arranged Integrative Addiction Conference which focuses on more sensitive issues of human sexuality and addiction. It is a great opportunity for health professionals. Students, psychologists, policy makers and every related field experts to join this platform and help build an integrated system for the solution of current problems related to above mentioned issues.