All children are pornographic, sometimes openly, other times
secretly. The least pornographic are those who have had no
moral taboos about sex in their infancy and early childhood. I
am sure that later on our pupils from Summerhill will be less
inclined toward pornography than children brought up under
hush-hush methods. As one boy said to me when he came back
for a visit during his vacation from the university, "Summerhill
spoils you in one way. You find chaps of your own age too
dull. They talk about things I grew out of years ago."

"Sex stories?" I asked.

"Yes, more or less. I like a good sex story myself, but the ones
they tell are crude and pointless. But it isn't only sex. It's other
things, too--psychology, politics. Funny, I find myself tending
to chum with fellows who are ten years older than I am."

One new boy at Summerhill, who had not outlived the smutty
phase of his prep school, tried to be pornographic. The others
shut him up not because he was being pornographic but merely
because he was sidetracking an interesting conversation.

Some years ago, we had three girl pupils who had passed
through the usual stage of talking out forbidden topics. Later,
a new girl came to Summerhill and was assigned to a room with
these three girls. One day, this new girl complained to me that
the three other girls were dreadfully dull companions. "When
I talk about sex things in the bedroom at night, they tell me to
shut up. They say they are not interested."

It was true. Naturally, they had an interest in sex but not in
its hidden aspect. These girls had had their conscience about
sex as a dirty subject destroyed. To a new girl, fresh from the sex

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