Most children are masturbators. Yet youth has been told that
masturbation is evil, that it prevents growth, that it leads to
disease or what not. If a wise mother paid no attention to her
child's first exploration of his lower body, masturbation would
be less compulsive. It is the prohibition that fixes the interest of
the child.

To a tiny child, the mouth is much more of an erogenous
zone than are the genitals. If mothers took the virtuous attitude
toward mouth activities that they take to genital activities,
thumb-sucking and kissing would become a matter of con-
science.

Masturbation satisfies the desire for happiness, for it is the
climax of tension. But immediately the act is over, the conscience
of the morally instructed takes hold and shouts, "You are a
sinner!" It has been my experience that when the feeling of
guilt is abolished, the child has less interest in masturbation.

It almost seems as though some parents would rather their
children were criminals than masturbators. I find that sup-
pressed masturbation is at the root of many delinquencies.

A boy of eleven who came to Summerhill had the habit of
incendiarism, among other habits. He had been thrashed by
his father and by his teachers. Worse still, he had been taught
the narrow religion of hell fire and an angry God. Soon after
coming to Summerhill, he took a bottle of gasoline and poured
it into a vat of paint and turpentine. Then he set fire to the mix-
ture. The house was saved only by the energy of two servants.

I took him to my room. "What is fire?" I asked.
"It burns," he said.

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