What is the Age of Onset for Sexual Arousal in Males?

[Meninger]

Some of you are probably wondering how I thought up of the following question...I don't know really know either.

At what age does a male gain the capacity for sexual arousal (through cognition...the whole span, except ejaculation)? I propose that it is as early as 5 years of age...even younger.

Any of you know of any research relevant to this topic?

 

[maximus]

i don't know any exact fiqures but, being a male all my life, i would say well earlier than five. i'd imagine more like three. but keep in mind that these earlier erections probably are not induced by sexual excitment. that won't come for many years later.

 

[LURCH]

Originally posted by maximus
i don't know any exact fiqures but, being a male all my life, i would say well earlier than five. i'd imagine more like three. but keep in mind that these earlier erections probably are not induced by sexual excitment. that won't come for many years later.

Going only by my own experience, I would say that "earlier than five" is right. Perhaps around three, as I have no clear memories earlier than that. Male infants often become erect just before urinating (I've changed enough diapers to have learned THAT one!), and these can certainly be said to be non-sexual in their cause. However, I don't think it's correct to say that none of these early erections are the result of sexual exitement. Perhaps better to say that "most" are not.

 

[Meninger]

By sexual arousal I was referring to both the psychological and physiological realm; one can wonder how arousal can occur without even a vague psychological awareness of the arousal. By this I mean the sexual arousal that can be achieved by any male that has reached sexual maturity; that is the infant/child/adolescent possesses what we can call sexual motivations.

I guess a parsimonious way to answer this question would be to ask at what age does a male develop opiod receptors.

I think that this question is fairly significant as the answer to it could have some important implications. Also, it is quite interesting to draw up related questions. Do we develop sexual motivations throughout childhood? In referring to one's own experience with children one would most likely say that a child has no sexual motivations. That is the child does is not obsess about sex, nor is he capable of obtaining any pleasurable, sexual stimuli-whether through cognition, or contact-arousing. The child is in no way hardwired for obtaining sexual stimuli. However, this is contrary to my observations. To be specific, I had observed what appeared to be a child seeking sexual stimuli. That is a male child of 7 years of age who seemed to have motivated for sexual stimuli from a girl of the same age. I will not go into the details. Nevertheless, this child seemed to be an exception as I have not seen any such bizarre behavior from a pre-adolescent child.

 

[maximus]

Originally posted by Meninger
I think that this question is fairly significant as the answer to it could have some important implications. Also, it is quite interesting to draw up related questions. Do we develop sexual motivations throughout childhood? In referring to one's own experience with children one would most likely say that a child has no sexual motivations. That is the child does is not obsess about sex, nor is he capable of obtaining any pleasurable, sexual stimuli-whether through cognition, or contact-arousing. The child is in no way hardwired for obtaining sexual stimuli. However, this is contrary to my observations. To be specific, I had observed what appeared to be a child seeking sexual stimuli. That is a male child of 7 years of age who seemed to have motivated for sexual stimuli from a girl of the same age. I will not go into the details. Nevertheless, this child seemed to be an exception as I have not seen any such bizarre behavior from a pre-adolescent child.

i have found this to be very true. males especcially (also females) developed a sexual curiosity around the age 3+. oh, the stories i have of the daycare i went to from the ages 6-10 (during which times i do not recall participating in such sexual searching). it should be noted that at this age, because it is more a matter of sexual curiosity than arousal, that the males most commonly will direct their attention to other males. (girls have "cooties", remember?)

 

[Ivan Seeking]

ditto to all.

Of course by age 11 I had great interest in testing the hardware.