While still in diapers, a boy gets his first erection. Lying on the changing table, he stares into his mother’s loving eyes, feels the gentle caress of the wet nap against his soiled bottom, and grows erect. Most mothers must laugh at the absurdity of these little boners, at the pure egotism of the tiny piece of flesh that’s warming up years before game time. But I doubt my mother did. She probably heaved a sigh, arched her chin toward Heaven, and asked, ‘Why?’ She wanted from nature a moral order that nature couldn’t provide. I imagine she pointed a red fingernail at my face and said, ‘No, Stan. Bad.’ I must have giggled and cooed.

(read on…)