Children of the Future

Book excerpt: Translated by Derek and Inge Jordan In Children of the Future, Wilhelm Reich shows how disastrous the exclusion of genitality is to the young and its important influence on their development. In his 1932 work The Sexual Rights of Youth, published here in its revised form, Reich speaks in terms of what he sees as the real meaning of the sexual enlightenment of youth: it is not the mystery and dangers of procreation, but the essential nature of sexuality and the right of youth to genital gratification. Reich presents a new way of seeing the parental compulsion to teach. In other chapters, Reich examines attitudes toward infantile masturbation, the source of the human no, and special disturbances of the young. Reichs work is substantiated by his concrete observations and experiences with children, including case studies from the Orgonomic Infant Research Center.