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HETEROSEXUAL OFFENDERS VS. CHILDREN: MASTURBATION
The incidence of masturbation after puberty is so high (92-100 per cent) in all groups that comparison is meaningless. Neither does the median age at which it began lend itself to comparison in most instances. However, the unmarried offenders vs. children are distinguished in that relatively few of them engaged in self-masturbation in the various age-periods of life. From puberty on into middle age, they are in the lower half of every rank-order in this respect and sometimes are near the bottom. The percentage differences in this age-specific incidence are, however, ordinarily small. As far as married males are concerned the offenders vs. children are in no way unusual; their percentages are quite like those of the control group.
An analysis of masturbation frequencies is best confined to individuals who masturbated during the particular age-periods under scrutiny. These constitute what we term an “active group” as opposed to the “total group” which includes as well individuals who never engaged in the sexual activity under discussion (in this instance, masturbation). Inspection of the average frequencies of masturbation among these so-called active groups reveals that the single (never-married) heterosexual offenders vs. children are in no way unusual; however, their mean frequencies exceed those of the control group. The married offenders vs. children who masturbated exhibit higher frequencies than the married offenders vs. minors and vs. adults. Their median frequencies are fairly high in comparison to most other groups as well, but because of the presence of some individuals with extreme frequencies the average (mean) frequencies are higher by far—in general being exceeded only by the exhibitionists and the married homosexual offenders vs. adults. The rather high frequency of masturbation by these married offenders vs. children is especially noteworthy in light of the fact that they also had the highest frequencies of coitus with their wives. One is tempted to speculate that the high masturbatory frequency reflects some lack of satisfaction in marital coitus.
Studying the maximum masturbation record of an individual in any one week, one sees that most of the offenders’ vs. children maxima were in the once-to-twice-per-week category. However, 16 per cent had at some time masturbated nearly twice daily or more (13 or more times per week); this is a rather high percentage and almost thrice that of the control-group individuals.
Though the masturbation record of the offenders vs. children is not remarkable, this outlet was more important to them than to most other groups. While single, they found a large proportion of their total outlet in masturbation (over 40 per cent in all but one age-period), and while this proclivity was masked during marriage, the postmarital picture is startling. For those males separated, divorced, or widowed in early age-periods, masturbation assumed the importance it had had before marriage, or even more importance. They rank first in all but two age-periods in the proportion of postmarital outlet from self-stimulation, the percentages grading from 60 per cent (at ages sixteen to twenty) to a plateau of around 30-36 per cent which is maintained from age thirty-six on.
The importance of masturbation to these offenders when the easy availability of coitus afforded by marriage was absent suggests difficulty in heterosexual adjustment, a difficulty also reflected in other aspects of their lives. The extremely large masturbatory proportions of total outlet shown by those whose marriages broke up in their teens or early twenties leads one to think that the marital failure aggravated preexisting difficulties in working out sexual adjustments with women.
As is usual, the masturbation was ordinarily accompanied by sexual fantasies. The fantasies of the heterosexual offenders vs. children seem to have been, with two exceptions, similar in general content to those of other sex offenders. The two exceptions to this are fantasies of sexual contact with animals and fantasies of a bizarre or highly specialized nature. Some 8 per cent of the offenders vs. children fantasied, on occasion, contact with animals; this is a small percentage in absolute terms, but it is the second largest exhibited by any group, and more than double that of the control group. Perhaps those who will disregard age taboo are more inclined than other offenders to disregard species taboo, at least in fantasy. However, not an unduly large percentage of the offenders vs. children had had actual sexual contact with animals. About one fifth had bizarre fantasies, the third highest figure within that classification and far in excess of the prison (2 per cent) and control groups (1 per cent).
The offenders vs. children closely match the control-group individuals in the amount they worry about the possible bad effects of masturbation. During 40 per cent of the years in which masturbation occurred there was concomitant worry ranging from mild concern to real anxiety. In terms of rank-order this percentage is neither high nor low.
Turning to the question of how they first learned of self-masturbation, the offenders vs. children reveal no distinctive trends. As in all other groups, the majority obtained this knowledge through a mixture of talking, reading, and observation.
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