In XIXth century lower classes families, was it common for kids to witness their parent's intercourse?
Upvote:0
Yes, it was (and is in many places around the world) common for kids to be around while adults are having sex. Before 1900, most people in the Europe and the United States were farmers. So, not only did kids watch their parents having sex, but they watched the animals on the farm having sex on a daily basis. I knew a kid who came from a farm and he told me that one of his duties was to give the stallion a hand job to "get him started" in cases where the horse was bushed and was not mounting on his own.
Upvote:1
This is a question without anything possible but anecdotal answers. The first comprehensive sexual scientific study wasn't until 1948 when Alfred Kinsey produced Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. In 1966, Masters & Johnson produced Human Sexual Response. Unfortunately for your question, neither of these studies concentrated on Sexual Awareness of Children in Lower Class Families of the 19th Century. (First, thank you for allowing me to use the word sexual legitimately so many times and second, that sounds like a great title for a thesis... hmmmm)
During the major industrial revolution, in the cities, families were actually down-sizing, but your description of family nighttime life is pretty spot on, in that there was often a single room, and if lucky a single bed. This was not only true for lower class first world countries, but second- and third-world ones as well. My own thoughts on the matter are that youngsters (pre-pubescent) wouldn't be likely to understand or comprehend the moans and groans and movements they may have witnessed, but the older teenagers certainly would.
However, as the majority of older children worked, be it on the farm, or in the city, they'd be more likely to be sound asleep rather than spying on mom and dad's shenanigans.
Upvote:5
Parents would wait for the kids to fall asleep before intercourse and try to do it quietly.
If a kid would wake up, s/he would usually not understand what was happening.
PS. "sex usually in private" is one of the very long list of "human universals" in the appendix to Pinker's "The Language Instinct" (yes, I know he was citing someone else).
PPS. This is relevant not just to 19th century. Many families in the Soviet Union lived in a single room (kids, parents, and grandparents). This is, actually, my source - anecdotal.
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