Page:Homo-sexual Life by William John Fielding (1925).pdf/10

 dency toward automatic masturbation, or other forms of so-called sexual precocity, which may unduly alarm parents. However, it is well for parents to know that these manifestations are not abnormal—unless grossly over-emphasized—but are merely indicative of the passing stage of autosexuality. They will in due course be outgrown and replaced by other manifestations of sexual interest, unless unwise methods of repression are used.

HOMOSEXUALITY means a state in which one is sexually attracted toward members of the same sex. This is normally a primitive characteristic of childhood, which prevails up to the time of adolescence, but which may persist in adult life. Some degree of it does normally hold over in every adult, but it remains in the background of the unconscious, and is sublimated along social lines.

Young boys and young girls usually have little interest in the opposite sex—in fact, are frequently quite scornful of them. On the other hand, they form strong friendships with members of their own sex, and, as is well known, when their sexual interests have not been successfully sublimated, engage in mutual sexual practices and masturbation.

Before the full development of the genital organs, the sexual tendencies are predominantly homosexual, although the influence of the preceding stage (autosexuality) is still considerably in evidence, and there is also present the germ of the succeeding stage of heterosexuality (erotic desires toward members of the opposite sex). If the youth has been reared in a healthy, constructive environment, condu-