Childhood Sexual Development

Girls are gross...mmm no.

Boys are cute...mmm no.

As a child, neither of these experiences fit me. I found neither sex particularly exciting or repulsive. I do remember being excited by the battle between good and evil in Star Wars, and that was where my focus was as a kid. But that wasn’t good enough for the world.

Garrett, go hold her hand. Put your arm around her. Oooohhhh, Garrett has a girlfriend. These pushes toward sexualization were common in my early double digits, and they made me more uncomfortable than either boys or girls ever did. Societal pressure through family and friends tried to make something sexual that was completely innocent to me.

It is difficult for people living in a sexualized society to accept someone who isn’t interested in sexual activity at any age. I think this may be related to people's discomfort with religion and priests, and to the many problems within the religious community and the clergy.

In hindsight, I do not believe that we are all created the same when it comes to sexuality. I wonder sometimes if I would be as sexual as I am if not for the sex saturated world we live in. A world that tells us that sexual expression is the ultimate expression of our identity. Since sex is such an integral part of our identity as human beings, maybe the lack of interest that some of us have as children is not some deviant form of sexuality, but a sign that we are called to be focused in a different direction.

Sexuality develops on its own. It doesn’t need to be pushed on us, nor do we need to be pushed into exploring it. We will do so naturally when the time is right and if we feel that pull. To be clear, I am not saying children should not be taught about their bodies, but we do not need to be taught about sex. I believe it interferes with the natural process God intended, in that some He calls to a life that includes participating in creation, and some He does not. This is His call to make, not that of a stranger on a school board or someone of questionable moral character in a classroom.

I wonder sometimes what I would be like had I not been exposed to porn and other sexual stimulants at a young age. I read of Saints who were drawn to the priesthood and religious life at a very young age and were encouraged to pursue it. I think of the awareness I had in my early teens that God and the devil were fighting over me. I think of my draw to the battle between good and evil in Star Wars. Who would I be right now if I weren’t encouraged in a way that was not occurring naturally in me? If I had been encouraged to explore the real-life version of this battle of good and evil, rather than relegating it to fantasy. There is no way to know for me, but we can make it easier for children now to follow a different path by reminding ourselves regularly that there is another path: a beautiful path that leads to full-time service of the Lord in some way determined by Him, shown to the children of the world and us by keeping their minds uncluttered by sex.

Human-Written, AI Spell-Checked 5/18/21

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