In my last post I argued straight men usually recalled romantic memories earlier than sexual memories, similar to men and women with same-sex attractions. The memories usually consisted of childhood crushes, which were frequently secretive, seldom successfully pursued, and rarely discussed with adults. They were, however, recalled with positive emotions because they frequently helped them feel “normal”—unlike many same-sex attracted men and women. In this post I explore early erotic memories of straight men.

About a quarter of the young men’s first sexual/romantic memory centered not on matters of the heart but on feelings of lust, eroticism, and/or genital contact. The young men explicitly referenced girls and women who inspired them, such as friends, cousins, teachers, and media figures like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Jennifer Lopez. Similar to crushes, erotic fantasies could be recalled as emanating from an early age and were seldom shared with others, especially adults. Most recognized at the time as boys that such thoughts or feelings were inappropriate to have and would result in being punished. Thus, in nearly all cases, adults were unaware that their son, student, or client had experienced erotic situations.

The variety of potential external sexual stimuli was vast for the young men as boys. Among those I interviewed included the following:

Early maturing girls in class whose “boobs........

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