|
A Lesson Plan from Life Planning Education: A Youth Development Program
Leader's Resource for the Circles
of Human Sexuality Lesson Plan
Sexual Development
through the Life Cycle
Many people cannot imagine that everyone—babies, children, teens,
adults, and the elderly—are sexual beings. Some believe that
sexual activity is reserved for early and middle adulthood.
Teens often feel that adults are too old for sexual intercourse.
Sexuality, though, is
much more than sexual intercourse and humans are sexual beings
throughout life.
Sexuality in infants and toddlers—Children are
sexual even before birth. Males can have erections while
still in the uterus, and some
boys are born with an erection. Infants touch and rub their
genitals because it provides pleasure. Little boys and
girls can experience
orgasm from masturbation although boys will not ejaculate
until puberty. By about age two, children know their
own gender. They are aware of
differences in the genitals of males and females and in
how males and females urinate.
Sexuality in children ages
three to seven—Preschool children are
interested in everything about their world, including sexuality. They
may practice urinating in different positions. They are highly affectionate
and enjoy hugging other children and adults. They begin to be more
social and may imitate adult social and sexual behaviors, such as holding
hands and kissing. Many young children play "doctor" during
this stage, looking at other children's genitals and showing
theirs. This is normal curiosity. By age five or six, most
children become
more modest and private about dressing and bathing.
Children
of this age are aware of marriage and understand living
together, based on their family experience. They may role-play
about being married or having a partner while they "play house." Most
young children talk about marrying and/or living with
a person they love when they get older. School-age children
may play sexual games
with friends of their same sex, touching each other's
genitals and/or masturbating together. Most sex play
at this age happens because
of curiosity.
Sexuality in preadolescent youth ages eight
to 12—Puberty,
the time when the body matures, begins between the ages
of nine and 12
for most children. Girls begin to grow breast buds and
public hair as early as nine or 10. Boys' development
of penis and testicles usually
begins between 10 and 11. Children become more self-conscious
about their bodies at this age and often feel uncomfortable
undressing in
front of others, even a same-sex parent.
Masturbation increases
during these years. Preadolescent boys and girls do not
usually have much sexual experience, but they often have
many questions. They usually have heard about sexual intercourse,
petting, oral sex, and anal sex, homosexuality, rape
and incest, and they want
to know more about all these things. The idea of actually
having sexual intercourse, however, is unpleasant to
most preadolescent boys and
girls.
Same-gender sexual behavior is common at this age.
Boys and girls tend to play with friends of the same gender
and are likely to explore
sexuality with them. Masturbating with one's same-gender friends and looking
at or caressing each other's genitals is common among preadolescent
boys and girls.
Such same-gender sexual behavior is unrelated to a child's
sexual orientation.
Some group dating occurs at this age.
Preadolescents may attend parties that have guests of both genders,
and
they may dance and play kissing
games. By age 12 or 13, some young adolescents may pair
off and begin dating and/or "making out."
Sexuality in
adolescent youth (ages 13 to 19)—Once youth have
reached puberty and beyond, they experience increased
interest in romantic and sexual relationships and in
genital sex behaviors.
As youth mature, they experience strong emotional attachments
to romantic partners and find it natural to express
their feelings within sexual relationships. There is
no way to predict
how a particular
teenager will act sexually. Overall, most adolescents
explore relationships with one another, fall in and
out of love, and participate in sexual
intercourse before the age of 20.
Adult sexuality—Adult sexual
behaviors are extremely varied and, in most cases,
remain part of an adult's life until
death. At around
age 50, women experience menopause, which affects their
sexuality in that their ovaries no longer release eggs
and their bodies no longer
produce estrogen. They may experience several physical
changes. Vaginal walls become thinner and vaginal intercourse
may be painful as there
is less vaginal lubrication and the entrance to the vagina
becomes smaller. Many women use estrogen replacement
therapy to relieve physical
and emotional side effects of menopause. Use of vaginal
lubricants can also make vaginal intercourse easier.
Most women are able to have
pleasurable sexual intercourse and to experience orgasm
for their entire lives.
Adult men also experience some
changes in their sexuality, but not at such a predictable
time as with menopause in women. Men's testicles
slow testosterone production after age 25 or so. Erections
may occur more slowly once testosterone production
slows. Men also become less
able to have another erection after an orgasm and may take
up to 24 hours to achieve and sustain another erection.
The amount of semen
released during ejaculation also decreases, but men are
capable of fathering a baby even when they are in their
80's and 90's. Some older
men develop an enlarged or cancerous prostate gland. If
the doctors deem it necessary to remove the prostate
gland, a man's ability to
have an erection or an orgasm is normally unaffected. Recently,
There are medications to help older men achieve
and maintain erections.
Although adult men and women go through some
sexual changes as they
age, they do not lose their desire or their ability for
sexual expression. Even among the very old, the need
for touch and intimacy remains, although
the desire and ability to have sexual intercourse may lessen.
Adapted from Life
Planning Education, a comprehensive sex education curriculum. Washington,
DC: Advocates for Youth, 2007.
|
Send this page to a friend