Child Sexuality (and a GM)

Children are way more sexual than some people see (or are willing to see). The funny thing is, I find that children can tell who they can be that way around, and who they can't. It's like a sixth sense. They just know that so-and-so won't be mad at them and in fact really likes them for who they are right now.

As an example, I had a girl moment a few weeks back while at a hockey game. I had taken my seat, and a mother and daughter were sitting down beside me. At first the mother sat next to me, but within a minute the daughter had managed to change seats with her mother so she could sit beside me. The girl was about 10 years old. I had done nothing at all, not even said "Hi" yet, but she had wanted to sit next to me. After a few minutes I said hello to them both and everything was going well. As we talked and watched the game the girl felt even more comfortable with me. She kept stretching her arms, which showed off her belly by lifting up her shirt a bit and she kept giving me this look that said, "Do you like?" She was teasing me, plain and simple. Her mother scolded her once or twice for it. At one point the girl slipped her arm under mine and was leaning my direction. It wasn't obvious except to the two of us. Later on, we were playfully hitting and poking each other with clapper balloons used for making noise. Whenever my attention got pulled back to the game, it wasn't long before I felt a poke from the balloon because she wanted more attention. At one point she slid over to an empty seat in the row below because she didn't want to sit in her own seat anymore. I turned to the mother and began talking with her about the hockey game and work. Within seconds the girl jumped back into her proper seat and gave me this little glare that shouted, "Hey! You're supposed to be talking to me!" At the end of the game we said our good byes, said it was nice meeting each other, and that was the end. It was a great evening.

Mostly the girl was just begging for attention from me, but some of that was obviously sexual too. She wanted the physical connection (the arm under my arm, the poking and playfully hitting with the balloons). And she was showing off her stomach to see how I'd react. This is by no means rare. I've had dozens of little girls go for physical affection on many different levels, many times slipping into the realm of sexual affection (in which case I have always had to buckle down and say, "No, I'm sorry, but we can't do that."). Little things like girls wanting grown up boyfriends or saying they're going to marry a certain adult are just little things that can be hints at what they want. Sometimes they're innocent and don't have anything sexual behind them. But all human beings want physical intimacy, and sexuality is part of that. Among kids, the want for sexual activities can be many things and have many reasons, but the important part is that it is there, however well repressed and denied by mainstream adult culture.