SEX

 AVOIDED SUBJECTS DISCUSSED IN PLAIN ENGLISH

 _By_

 HENRY STANTON

 [Illustration]

 SOCIAL CULTURE PUBLICATIONS 151 FIFTH AVENUE · NEW YORK

 Copyright, 1922 SOCIAL CULTURE PUBLICATIONS MANUFACTURED IN U. S. A. 

 CONTENTS

 PAGE

 I. SEX 5

 II. THE TRANSITION FROM CELL TO HUMAN BEING 12

 III. SEX IN MALE CHILDHOOD 20

 IV. SEX IN FEMALE CHILDHOOD 26

 V. SEX IN THE ADOLESCENT MALE 30

 VI. SEX IN THE ADOLESCENT FEMALE 35

 VII. SEX IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION (THE HUSBAND) 43

VIII. SEX IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION (THE WIFE) 45

 IX. SEX DISEASES 53

 X. LOVE AND SEX 57

 CHAPTER I

 SEX

The happiness of all human beings, men and women, depends largely ontheir rational solution of the sexual problem. Sex and the part itplays in human life cannot be ignored. In the case of animals sexplays a simpler and less complex rôle. It is a purely natural andinstinctive function whose underlying purpose is the perpetuation ofthe species. It is not complicated by the many incidental phenomenawhich result, in man's case, from psychologic, economic, moral andreligious causes. Climate, social conditions, individual modes of lifeand work, alcohol, wealth and poverty, and other factors affect sexualactivity in human beings. 

Sexual love, which is practically unknown to the animals, is a specialdevelopment of the sex urge in the human soul. The deeper purpose ofthe sex function in human beings, likewise, is procreation, thereproduction of species. 

The average man, woman and child should know the essential sex factsin order to be able to deal with the sex problems of life. Of lateyears there has been a greater diffusion of such knowledge. To a largeextent, however, children and adolescents are still taught to look onall that pertains to sex as something shameful and immodest, somethingnot to be discussed. Sex is an "Avoided Subject. "

This is fundamentally wrong. Sex affects the very root of all humanlife. Its activities are not obscene, but Nature's own means tocertain legitimate ends. The sex functions, when properly controlledand led into the proper channels, are a most essential and legitimateform of physical self-expression. The veil of secrecy with which theyare so often shrouded tends to create an altogether false impressionregarding them. This discussion of these "Avoided Subjects, " in "PlainEnglish, " is intended to give the salient facts regarding sex in adirect, straightforward manner, bearing in mind the true purpose ofnormal sex activities. 

The more we know of the facts of sex, the right and normal part sexactivities play in life, and all that tends to abuse and degrade them, the better able we will be to make sex a factor for happiness in ourown lives and that of our descendants. Mankind, for its own generalgood, must desire that reproduction--the real purpose of every sexualfunction--occur in such a way as to perpetuate its own best physicaland mental qualities. 

 THE LAW OF PHYSICAL LIFE

It is a universal rule of physical life that every individual beingundergoes a development which we know as its individual life andwhich, so far as its physical substance is concerned, ends with death. Death is the destruction of the greater part of this individualorganism which, when death ensues, once more becomes lifeless matter. Only small portions of this matter, the germ cells, continue to liveunder certain conditions which nature has fixed. 

The germ cell--as has been established by the microscope--is the tinycell which in the lowest living organisms as well as in man himself, forms the unit of physical development. Yet even this tiny cell isalready a highly organized and perfected thing. It is composed of themost widely differing elements which, taken together, form theso-called protoplasm or cellular substance. And for all lifeestablished in nature the cell remains the constant and unchangingform element. It comprises the cell-protoplasm and a nucleus imbeddedin it whose substance is known as the nucleoplasm. The nucleus is themore important of the two and, so to say, governs the life of thecell-protoplasm. 

The lower one-celled organisms in nature increase by division, just asdo the individual cells of a more highly organized, many-celled orderof living beings. And in all cases, though death or destruction of thecells is synonymous with the death or destruction of the livingorganism, the latter in most cases already has recreated itself byreproduction. 

We will not go into the very complicated details of the actual processof the growth and division of the protoplasmic cells. It is enough tosay that in the case of living creatures provided with morecomplicated organisms, such as the higher plants, animals and man, thelittle cell units divide and grow as they do in the case of the lowerorganisms. The fact is one which shows the intimate inner relationshipof all living beings. 

 THE LADDER OF ORGANIC ASCENT

As we mount the ascending ladder of plant and animal life theunit-cell of the lower organisms is replaced by a great number ofindividual cells, which have grown together to form a completed whole. In this complete whole the cells, in accordance with the specificpurpose for which they are intended, all have a different form and adifferent chemical composition. Thus it is that in the case of theplants leaves, flowers, buds, bark, branches and stems are formed, andin that of animals skin, intestines, glands, blood, muscles, nerves, brain and the organs of sense. In spite of the complicated nature ofnumerous organisms we find that many of them still possess the powerof reproducing themselves by division or a process of "budding. " Inthe case of certain plants and animals, cell-groups grow together intoa so-called "bud, " which later detaches itself from the parent bodyand forms a new individual living organism, as in the case of thepolyps or the tubers in plant life. 

A tree, for instance, may be grown from a graft which has been cut offand planted in the ground. And ants and bees which have not beenfecundated are quite capable of laying eggs out of which developperfect, well-formed descendants. This last process is calledparthenogenesis. It is a process, however, which if carried on throughseveral generations, ends in deterioration and degeneracy. In the caseof the higher animals, vertebrates and man, such reproduction is animpossibility. 

These higher types of animal life have been provided by nature withspecial organs of reproduction and reproductive glands whosesecretions, when they are projected from the body under certainconditions, reproduce themselves, and increase and develop in suchwise that the living organism from which they proceed is reproduced inpractically its identical form. Thus it perpetuates the original type. Philosophically it may be said that these cells directly continue thelife of the parents, so that death in reality only destroys a part ofthe individual. Every individual lives again in his offspring. 

 THE TRUE MISSION OF SEX

This rebirth of the individual in his descendants represents the truemission of sex where the human being is concerned. And reproduction, the perpetuation of the species, underlies all rightful and normal sexfunctions and activities. The actual physical process of reproduction, the details which initiate reproduction in the case of the humanbeing, it seems unnecessary here to describe. In the animal world, into which the moral equation does not really enter, the facts ofconjugation represent a simple and natural working-out of functionalbodily laws, usually with a seasonal determination. But where man isconcerned these facts are so largely made to serve the purposes ofpruriency, so exploited to inflame the imagination in an undesirableand directly harmful way that they can be approached only with theutmost caution. 

The intimate fact knowledge necessary in this connection is of apeculiarly personal and sacred nature, and represents informationwhich is better communicated by the spoken than by the printed word. The wise father and mother are those naturally indicated to conveythis information to their sons and daughters by word of mouth. Byanalogy, by fuller development and description of the reproductiveprocesses of plant and animal life on which we have touched, thematter of human procreation may be approached. Parents should stressthe point, when trying to present this subject to the youthful mind, that man's special functions are only a detail--albeit a mostimportant one--in nature's vast plan for the propagation of life onearth. This will have the advantage of correcting a trend on the partof the imaginative boy or girl to lay too much stress on the parthumanity plays in this great general reproductive scheme. It will layweight on the fact that the functional workings of reproduction arenot, primarily, a source of pleasure, but that--when safeguarded bythe institution of matrimony, on which civilized social life isbased--they stand for the observance of solemn duties and obligations, duties to church and state, and obligations to posterity. Hence, parents, in talking to their children about these matters should do soin a sober and instructive fashion. The attention of a mother, perhaps, need not be called to this. But fathers may be inclined, inmany cases, to inform their sons without insisting that theinformation they give them is, in the final analysis, intended to beapplied to lofty constructive purposes. They may, in their desire tospeak _practically_, forget the moral values which should underliethis intimate information. Never should the spirit of levity intrudeitself in these intimate personal sex colloquies. Restraint anddecency should always mark them. 

In making clear to the mind of youth the fact data which initiates andgoverns reproduction in animal and in human life, the ideal to becultivated is continence, the refraining from all experimentationundertaken in a spirit of curiosity, until such time as a well-placedaffection, sanctioned by the divine blessing, will justify a sane andnormal exploitation of physical needs and urges in the matrimonialstate. To this end hard bodily and mental work should be encouraged inthe youth of both sexes. "Satan finds work for idle hands to do, " hasspecial application in this connection, and a chaste and continentyouth is usually the forerunner of a happy and contented marriage. Andincidentally, a happy marriage is the best guarantee thatreproduction, the carrying on of the species, will be morally andphysically a success. Here, too, the fact should be strongly stressedthat prostitution cannot be justified on any moral grounds. Itrepresents a deliberate ignoring of the rightful function of sex, andthe perversion of the sane and natural laws of reproduction. It is inmarriage, in the sane and normal activities of that unit of our wholesocial system--the family--that reproduction develops nature's basicprinciple of perpetuation in the highest and worthiest manner, inobedience to laws humane and divine. 

 CHAPTER II

 THE TRANSITION FROM CELL TO HUMAN BEING

In the functional processes alluded to in the preceding chapter, themale germ-cell and the female germ-cell unite in a practically equaldivision of substance. We say "practically" because the maternal andthe paternal influences are not equally divided in the offspring. Oneor the other usually predominates. But, as a general rule, it may besaid that in the development of the embryonal life the process of celldivision proceeds in such a way that every germ of the child's futureorganism represents approximately one-half maternal and one-halfpaternal substance and energy. 

In this process lies the true secret of heredity. The inheritedenergies retain their full measure of power, and all their originalquality in the growing and dividing chromosomes (the chromosome is oneof the segments into which the chromoplasmic filaments of acell-nucleus break up just before indirect division). On the otherhand, the egg-substance of the female germ-cell, which is assimilatedby the chromosomes, and which is turned into _their_ substance by theprocess of organic chemistry, loses its specific plastic vital energycompletely. It is in the same way that food eaten by the adult hasabsolutely no effect on his qualitative organic structure. We may eatever so many beef-steaks without acquiring any of the characteristicsof an ox. And the germ-cell may devour any amount of egg-protoplasmawithout losing its original paternal energy. As a rule a childinherits as many qualities from its mother as from its father. 

 DETERMINATION OF SEX

Sex is determined after conception has taken place. At an early stageof the embryo certain cells are set apart. These, later, form the sexglands. Modern research claims to have discovered the secret ofabsolutely determining sex in the human embryo, but even if theseclaims are valid they have not as yet met with any generalapplication. 

 EARLY DEVELOPMENT

Some twelve days after conception, the female ovule or egg, which hasbeen impregnated by the male spermatazoön, escapes from the ovarywhere it was impregnated, and entering a tube (Fallopian) graduallydescends by means of it into the cavity of the womb or uterus. Herethe little germ begins to mature in order to develop into an exactcounterpart of its parents. In the human being the womb has only asingle cavity, and usually develops but a single embryo. 

 TWINS

Sometimes two ovules are matured at the same time. If fecundated, twoembryos instead of one will develop, producing twins. Triplets andquadruplets, the results of the maturing of three or four ovules atthe same time, occur more rarely. As many as five children have beenborn alive at a single birth, but have seldom lived for more than afew minutes. 

 GESTATION

The development of the ovule in the womb is known as gestation orpregnancy. The process is one of continued cell division and growth, and while it goes on the ovule sticks to the inner wall of the womb. There it is soon enveloped by a mucous membrane, which grows around itand incloses it. 

 THE EMBRYO

The _Primitive Trace_, a delicate straight line appearing on thesurface of the growing layer of cells is the base of the embryonicspinal column. Around this the whole embryo develops in an intricateprocess of cell division and duplication. One end of the PrimitiveTrace becomes the head, the other the tail, for every human being hasa tail at this stage of his existence. The neck is marked by a slightdepression; the body by a swollen center. Soon little buds or "pads"appear in the proper positions. These represent arms and legs, whoseends, finally, split up into fingers and toes. The embryonic humanbeing has been steadily increasing in size, meanwhile. By the fifthweek the heart and lungs are present in a rudimentary form, and earsand face are distinctly outlined. During the seventh week the kidneysare formed, and a little later the genital organs. At two months, though sex is not determined as yet, eyes and nose are visible, themouth is gaping, and the skin can be distinguished. At ten weeks thesexual organs form more definitely, and in the third month sex can bedefinitely determined. 

 THE FOETUS

At the end of its fourth month the embryo--now four or five incheslong and weighing about an ounce--is promoted. It receives the name offoetus. Hairs appear on the scalp, the eyes are provided with lids, the tongue appears far back in the mouth. The movements of the foetusare plainly felt by the mother. If born at this time it lives but afew minutes. It continues to gain rapidly in weight. By the sixthmonth the nails are solid, the liver large and red, and there is fluidin the gall bladder. The seventh month finds the foetus from twelveand a half to fourteen inches long, and weighing about fifty-fiveounces. It is now well proportioned, the bones of the cranium, formerly flat, are arched. All its parts are well defined, and it canlive if born. By the end of the eighth month the foetus has thickenedout. Its skin is red and covered by a delicate down; the lower jaw hasgrown to the same length as the upper one. The convolutions of thebrain structure also appear during this month. 

 PLACENTA AND UMBILICAL CORD

During gestation the unborn infant has been supplied with air andnourishment by the mother. An organ called the _Placenta_, a spongygrowth of blood vessels, develops on the inner point of the womb. Tothis organ the growing foetus is moored by a species of cable, the_Umbilical Cord_. This cord, also made up mainly of blood vessels, carries the blood of the foetus to and from the _Placenta_, absorbingit through the thin walls which separate it from the mother's blood. Only through her blood can the mother influence the child, since theUmbilical Cord contains no nerves. The Umbilical Cord, attached to thebody of the child at the navel, is cut at birth, and with the Placentais expelled from the womb soon after the child has been born. Togetherwith the Placenta it forms a shapeless mass, familiarly known as the"afterbirth, " and when it is retained instead of being expelled is aptto cause serious trouble. 

 CHILDBIRTH OR PARTURITION

At nine month's time the foetus is violently thrust from thatlaboratory of nature in which it has formed. It is born, and comesinto the world as a child. Considering the ordinary size of thegenerative passages, the expelling of the foetus from the womb wouldseem impossible. But Nature, during those months in which she enlargedthe womb to hold its gradually increasing contents, has also increasedthe generative passages in size. She has made them soft anddistensible, so that an apparent physical impossibility could takeplace, though it is often accompanied by intense suffering. Modernmedical science has made childbirth easier, but the act of childbirthis usually accompanied by more or less suffering. Excessive pain, however, is often the result of causes which proper treatment canremove before and at the time of confinement. 

 TWILIGHT SLEEP

The so-called "Twilight Sleep, " a modern development, by which thepangs of childbirth are obviated by the administration of drugs or byhypnotic suggestion, has its opponents and defenders. The advantage ofa painless childbirth, upon which the mother can look back as on adream, is evident. The "Twilight Sleep" process has been used with thehappiest results both for parent and child. Opponents of this systemdeclare that the use of powerful drugs may injure the child. A methodcommended is the administration of a mixture of laughing gas andoxygen, which relieves the mother and does not affect the child. 

 THE NEW-BORN INFANT

The average weight of the new-born child is about seven and a halfpounds. It is insensitive to pain for the first few days, and seemsdeaf (since its middle ears are filled with a thick mucus) for thefirst two weeks. During the first few days, too, it does not seem ableto see. The first month of its existence is purely automatic. Evidences of dawning intelligence appear in the second month and atfour months it will recognize mother or nurse. Muscularly it is poorlydeveloped. Not until two months old is it able to hold up its head, and not until three months does voluntary muscular movement put in anappearance. The new-born's first self-conscious act is to draw breath. Deprived of its usual means of supply it must breathe or suffocate. Its next is to suck milk, lest it starve. 

 HEREDITY

We often find children who offer a striking resemblance to a paternalgrandfather, a maternal aunt or a maternal great-grandmother. This isknown as atavism. There are many curious variations with regard to theinheritance of ancestral traits. Some children show a remarkableresemblance to their fathers in childhood, others to their mothers. And many qualities of certain individual ancestors appear quitesuddenly late in life. Everything may be inherited, from the mostdelicate shadings of the disposition, the intelligence and the willpower, to the least details of hair, nails and bone structure, etc. And the combination of the qualities of one's ancestors in heredity isso manifold and so unequal that it is extremely difficult to arrive atfixed conclusions regarding it. Hereditary traits and tendencies aredeveloped out of the energies of the original conjugated germ-cellsthroughout life, up to the very day of death. Even aged men often showpeculiarities in the evening of their life which may be clearlyrecognized as inherited, and duplicating others shown by theirforbears at the same period of life. 

As has already been mentioned every individual inherits, generallyspeaking, as much from his paternal as from his maternal progenitors. This in spite of the fact that the tiny paternal germ-cell is theonly medium of transmission of the paternal qualities, while themother furnishes the much larger egg-cell, and feeds him throughoutthe embryonic period. 

 THE ENGRAM

An interesting theory maintains that the external impressions madeupon an organism which reacts to them and receives them, might becalled _engrams_ or "inscriptions. " Thus the impression of some objectwe have seen or touched (let us say we have seen a lion) may remainengraved on our mind as an impression. Hence every memory picture isone of engrams, whether the impression is a conscious one or anunconscious one. According to this same theory the reawakening of anolder impression is an _ecphory_. Some new stimulation may thusecphorate an old engram. Now the entire embryonal development of thehuman child is in reality no more than a continuous process ofecphoration of old engrams, one after another. And the entire complexof our living human organism is made up entirely of theseenergy-complexes engraved on our consciousness or subconsciousness. The sum total of all these engrams, in a living human being, accordingto the theory advanced, is given the name of _mnema_. That which thechild receives in the way of energies contained in the germ-cells fromits ancestors is his hereditary _mnema_. And that which he acquires inthe course of his own individual life is his acquired or individual_mnema_. 

 CHAPTER III

 SEX IN MALE CHILDHOOD

 (FROM 14 TO 16)

During the first years of child life all those laws of practicalhygiene which make for good health should be carefully observed. Everyorgan of the body should be carefully protected, even at this earlyage. The genital organs, especially, should not be rubbed or handledunder any pretext, beyond what is absolutely necessary forcleanliness. The organs of generation, which we are apt to treat asnonexistent in children, just because they are children, claim just asmuch watchful care as any others. 

 SEX PRECAUTIONS IN INFANCY

Even in infancy, the diaper should fit easily about the organs whichit covers, so as not to give rise to undue friction or heating of theparts. And for the same reason it should always be changed immediatelyafter urination or a movement of the bowels. No material whichprevents the escape of perspiration, urine or fecal matter should beemployed for a diaper. The use of a chair-commode as early as the endof the first year is highly to be commended, as being more comfortablefor the sex organs and healthier for the child. It favors, inparticular, a more perfect development of limbs and hip joints. 

 EARLY SEX IMPRESSIONS

Sex impressions and reactions are apt to develop at an early age, especially in the case of boys. If the child's physical health isnormal, however, they should not affect his mind or body. The growingboy should be encouraged to take his sex questions and sex problems tohis parents (in his case preferably the father) for explanation. Thusthey may be made clear to him naturally and logically. He should notbe told what he soon discovers is not true: that babies are "dug upwith a silver spade, " or make their appearances in the family thanksto the kind offices of storks or angels. Instead, by analogy with thereproductive processes of all nature, the true facts of sex may beexplained to him in a soothing and normal way. 

 EVIL COMMUNICATIONS

Too often, the growing boy receives his first lessons regarding sexfrom ignorant and vicious associates. Curiosity is one of the greatestnatural factors in the child's proper development, if rightlydirected. When wrongly led, however, it may have the worstconsequences. Even before puberty occurs, a boy's attention may bequite naturally drawn to his own sex organs. 

 NATURAL CAUSES OF INFANT SEXUAL PRECOCITY

Sexual precocity in boys may be natural or it may be artificiallycalled forth. Among natural causes which develop sex precocity ispromiscuous playing with other boys and girls for hours withoutsupervision. It may also be produced by playful repose on the stomach, sliding down banisters, going too long without urinating, byconstipation or straining at stool, irritant cutaneous affections, andrectal worms. Sliding down banisters, for instance, produces atitillation. The act may be repeated until inveterate masturbationresults, even at an early age. Needless laving, handling and rubbingof the private parts is another natural incitement to sexualprecocity. 

 PRIAPISM

_Priapism_ is a disease which boys often develop. It may be either aresult or a cause of sexual precocity, and may come from unduehandling of the genital parts or from a morbid state of health. Ittakes the form of paroxysms, more or less frequent, and of violent andoften painful erection, calling for a physician's attention. If theresult of a functional disorder, and not arrested, it is in danger ofgiving rise to masturbation. This morbid condition sometimes seriouslyimpairs the health. 

 MASTURBATION

_Masturbation_, the habit of self-abuse, often formed before puberty, is an artificial development of sexual precocity. Most boys, from theage of nine to fourteen, interest themselves in sex questions andmatters, but these are usually presented to them in a lewd andimproper manner, by improperly informed companions. Dwelling uponthese thoughts the boy is led to play with his sex organs in secretand masturbation results. A secret vice of the most dangerous kind, masturbation or self-pollution is often taught by older boys and takesplace, to quote an authority "in many of our colleges, boarding, public and private schools, " and is also indulged in by companionsbeneath the home roof. If it becomes habitual, generally impairedhealth, and often epilepsy, and total moral and physical degradationresults. Stains on the nightshirt or sheet occurring before pubertyare absolute evidence of the vice in boys. 

 WHAT FATHERS SHOULD DO FOR THEIR BOYS

Make sex facts clear to your boy as interesting, matter-of-factdevelopments of general natural laws. Ungratified or improperlygratified curiosity is what leads to a young boy's overemphasizing thefacts of sex as they apply to him. Make him your confidant. Teach himto think cleanly and to act cleanly, neither to ignore nor to exaltthe sexual. Especially, when he himself is directly disturbedsexually, either in a mental or physical way, let him feel that he canapply to you naturally for relief and explanation. If this be done, your boy's sex development before puberty will be natural and normal, and when the more serious and difficult problems of adolescencepresent themselves, he will be prepared to handle them on the basis ofright thinking and right living. Natural and healthy sport in the openair, and the avoidance of foul language and indecency should bestressed. The use of alcohol, coffee and tea by children tends toweaken their sexual organs. Every boy should know that chastity meanscontinence. He should know that lascivious thoughts lead to lasciviousactions, and that these are a drain on his system which may spoil hislife in later years. 

In the education of his children the average man is only too apt torepeat the same mistake of unconsciously crediting the child with thepossession of his own feelings and his own outlook, that is thefeelings and outlook of the adult. In general, things which may makean impression in a sex way on the adult are a matter of indifferenceto the sexually unripe boy. Hence it is quite possible for a father todiscuss sex matters with his young son and inform him constructively, without in any undue way rousing his sex curiosity or awakeningdesire. Such talks, of course, should be in accordance with theprinciples already laid down in the section on "Reproduction. "

If a boy is accustomed and taught to regard sex conditions and mattersin a proper and innocent manner, as something perfectly natural, improper curiosity and eroticism are far less likely to be arousedthan when this is not the case. For the whole subject will have lostthe dangerous attraction of novelty. On the other hand, we find boyswho have been brought up with great prudery and in complete ignoranceof sex matters (save that which may come to them from impure sources)greatly excited and ashamed by the first appearance of the indicationsof puberty. Secrecy is the enemy of a clean, normal conception on thepart of the child as to the right place sex and the sex function playin life and in the world. It stands to reason, of course, that everyleast detail of the sex question cannot be intelligently made clear toa little child. But his questions should all be answered, honestly, and with due regard for his age and his capacity to understand what isexplained to him. 

One very great advantage of an early paternal explanation of sexmatters to the boy is its beneficial effect on the mind and thenerves. Many boys brood or grow melancholy when confronted with sexriddles and problems for which they are unable to find a solution; andas the result of totally erroneous ideas they may have formed withregard to sex matters. At the same time too much attention should notbe paid the discussion of sex questions between father and son. Afather should, so far as possible, endeavor to develop other interestsand preoccupations in his boy, and turn his mind as much as may be_away_ from matters sexual, until the age when the youth is ripe formarriage is reached. 

 CHAPTER IV

 SEX IN FEMALE CHILDHOOD

 (FROM 12 TO 14)

What has been said in general about practical observance of the lawsof sex hygiene in the preceding chapter for boys, applies to girls aswell. If anything the sex precautions taken in infancy should be evenmore closely followed, as girls are by nature less robust than boys. If children could be raised in entire accordance with natural laws, the sexual instinct of girls as well as boys would probably remaindormant during the period stretching from infancy to puberty. As inthe case of the boy, so in that of the girl, any manifestation ofsexual precocity should be investigated, to see whether it be due tonatural or artificial causes. In either case the proper remediesshould be applied. 

 SEX PRECOCITY IN GIRLS

There are cases of extraordinary sex precocity in girls. One casereported in the United States was that of a female child who at birthpossessed all the characteristics usually developed at puberty. Inthis case the natural periodical changes began at birth! Fortunately, this is a case more or less unique. In little girls and boys unduesexual handling or titillating of their genital organs tends to quietthem, so nurses (let us hope in ignorance of the consequences!) oftenresort to it. Sending children to bed very early, to "get rid ofthem, " or confining them in a room by themselves, tends to encouragethe development of vicious habits. A single bed, both in the schooland in the home, is indispensable to purity of morals and personalcleanliness. It tends to restrain too early development of the sexualinstinct both in small girls and small boys. 

 SEXUAL SELF-ABUSE IN GIRLS

Small girls, like small boys, display an intelligent curiosity asregards the phenomena of sex at an early age. And what has alreadybeen said regarding its improper gratification in the precedingchapter, so far as boys are concerned, applies with equal force tothem. In their case, however, the mother is a girl's natural confidantand friend. Self-abuse in one or another form is as common in the caseof the girl as in that of the boy. As a rule, girls who live anoutdoor life, and work with their muscles more than their mind, do notdevelop undue precocious sexual curiosities or desires. At least theydo not do so to the same extent as those more nervously andsusceptibly constituted. The less delicate and sensitive children ofthe country tend less to these habits than their more sensitivelyorganized city brothers and sisters. Girls who have formed vicioushabits are apt to indulge in the practice of self-abuse at night whengoing to bed. If there is cause for suspicion, the bedclothes shouldbe quickly and suddenly thrown off under some pretense. Self-abuseusually has a marked effect on the genital organs of girls. The innerorgans become unnaturally enlarged and distended, and _leucorrhea_, catarrh of the vagina, attended by a discharge of greenish-whitemucus, often develops. 

 RESULTS OF SELF-ABUSE IN GIRLS

Local diseases, due to this cause, result in girls as well as boys. Temporary congestions become permanent, and develop into permanentirritations and disorders. Leucorrhea has already been mentioned. Contact with the acrid, irritating internal secretions also causes_soreness of the fingers at the root of the nails_, and warts. Congestion and other diseases are other ultimate results of the habit;and these congestions to which it gives rise unduly hasten the adventof puberty. Any _decided enlargement of the labia and clitoris in ayoung girl_ may be taken as a positive evidence of the existence ofthe habit of self-abuse. Sterility, and atrophy of the breasts--theirdeficient development--when the vice is begun before puberty, isanother result. 

 PRURITIS AND FEMININE NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS

_Pruritis_ (itching genitals), though not necessarily caused byself-abuse, may be one of its consequences. Continued congestioncauses the genital parts to itch terribly. This itching increasesuntil the desire to manipulate the genitals becomes irresistible. Itwill then be indulged in even in the presence of strangers, though thegirl in question at other times may be exceptionally modest. Girlsaddicted to the vice also suffer from nocturnal emissions. The generaleffect of self-abuse is much the same in the case of a girl as in thatof a boy, for leucorrhea is injurious in somewhat the same fashion asseminal loss. In the case of girls the greatest injury, however, isdue to the nervous exhaustion which succeeds the unnatural excitement. 

 WHAT MOTHERS SHOULD DO FOR THEIR GIRLS

A healthy girl should be happy and comfortable in all respects. Shewill not be so, especially with regard to her sex problems, unless shecan appeal to her mother as a friend and confidant. While keeping yourgirl's mind pure and healthy by precept and example, do not forgetthat the best way to protect her against evil influences andcommunications is to tell her the exact truth about sex facts, as theyapply to her, just as the father should his boy. Keep your girl fullyoccupied and do not leave her sex education to the evil winds ofchance. 

Let sex knowledge take its place as a proper, necessary part of hergeneral education. If your daughter feels she can at all times talkfreely to you all will be well. Gratify her natural sex curiosity in anatural way. See that _immediate_ medical attention is giveninflammations, excoriations, itchings and swellings of her genitalorgans. Such conditions will lead her to rub and scratch theseparts--never to be touched--for relief. If, as a result of thesensations experienced, masturbation results, _yours is the sin_. 

 CHAPTER V

 SEX IN THE ADOLESCENT MALE

 (FROM PUBERTY TO MATURITY)

Adolescence is the period when the boy is lost in the man. It is thetime of life embraced between the ages of fourteen or sixteen and theage of twenty-five. Every boy, if properly trained, should reach thisperiod in a state of good general health and spirits. Hitherto he hasbeen led and guided. Now he must develop mental strength and willpower himself to choose the good and refuse the evil in the sexualproblems confronting him. 

 PUBERTY

According to climate puberty, the age when the human male becomessexually perfect, varies from ten to fifteen years. In the UnitedStates puberty in the male usually occurs at the age of fourteen and ahalf years. In tropical climates it occurs at nine or ten, and in coldcountries, such as Norway and Siberia, it may not take place untileighteen or nineteen. Vigorous physical exercise tends to delaypuberty, anything exciting the emotions tends to hasten it. Stimulating foods, pepper, vinegar, mustard, spices, tea and coffee, excess meat nutriment hasten puberty. A cool, unstimulating vegetableand farinaceous diet may delay the development of the sexual systemseveral months or a year. 

 THE SIGNS AND CHANGES OF PUBERTY

In the boy the signs of puberty are the growth of hair on the skincovering the pubes and in the armpits. Chest and arms broaden, theframe grows more angular, the masculine proportions more pronounced. The vocal cords grow longer and lower the pitch of the voice. Hairgrows on chin, upper lip, cheeks, and often on the body surface. 

 THE SEXUAL MORAL LAW

The sexual moral law is the same for both sexes, and equally binding. It may be summed up as follows: "Your sexual urges, instincts anddesires should never consciously injure an individual human being ormankind in general. They should be exercised to further the value andhappiness of both. "

 THE MALE ADOLESCENT AND CONTINENCE

The perfect carrying out of this general moral law implies continenceon the part of the male adolescent until marriage. Continence ispositive restraint under all circumstances. Strict continence isneither injurious to health, nor does it produce impotence. Whileself-denial is difficult, since the promptings of nature often seemimperious, it is not impossible. It is certain that no youth willsuffer, physically, by remaining sexually pure. The demands whichoccur during adolescence are mainly abnormal, due to the excitementsof an overstimulating diet, pornographic literature and art, and thetemptations of impure association. 

 WHY YOUNG MEN GO WRONG

Foul thoughts, once they enter the mind, corrode it. The sensualglance, the bawdy laugh, the ribald jest, the smutty story, theobscene song may be met with on street corner, in the car, train, hotel lobby, lecture hall and workshop. Mental unchastity ends inphysical unchastity. The habit common to most adolescent boys andyoung men of relating smutty stories, repeating foul jokes and makingindecent allusions destroys respect for virtue. In addition there aresuch direct physical causes of undue adolescent sexual excitement asconstipation and alcoholism, and such mental ones as nervousirritability. 

To the constant discussion and speculation regarding sex and itsmysteries by the adolescent young male, must be added the artificialidea that idle prattling on the subject is a sign of "manhood. " Thusmany young men whose natural trend is in the direction of decency andright sexual living, "step out" or "go to see the girls, " as thephrase is, because they think that otherwise "they are not real men. "More subtle in its evil effect, yet somewhat less dangerousphysically, perhaps, than the professional prostitute is the lure ofthe "hidden" prostitute, who carefully conceals her derelictions, andpublicly wraps herself in a mantle of virtue. 

 PROSTITUTION

The training of the average male mind in impure language and thoughtduring boyhood and adolescence, the cultivation of his animal at theexpense of the moral nature, often leads the adolescent to seeksatisfaction by frequenting the prostitute. 

_Prostitution_, known as the "social evil, " is promiscuous unchastityfor gain. It has existed in all civilized countries from earliesttimes. Prostitution abuses the instinct for reproduction, the basicelement of sex, to offer certain women a livelihood which they preferto other means. Love of excitement, inherited criminal propensities, indolence and abnormal sex appetite are first causes of prostitution. Difficulty in finding work, laborious and ill-paid work, harshtreatment of girls at home, indecent living among the poor, contactwith demoralizing companions, loose literature and amusements aresecondary causes. They all contribute to debauch male and female youthand lead it to form dangerous habits of vicious sensual indulgence. 

Prostitution seems inseparable from human society in largecommunities. The fact is acknowledged in the name given it, "thenecessary evil. " Regulation and medical control only arrest in adegree the spread of venereal diseases to which prostitution givesrise. The elementary laws on which prostitution rests seems to bestronger than the artificial codes imposed by moral teaching. It is anevil which must be combatted _individually_. Men are principallyresponsible, in one way or another, for the existence of the socialevil. In the case of the young man, abstention is the only cure forthe probable results of indulging his animal passions by recourse tothe prostitute. 

Prostitution, both public and private is the most dangerous menace tosociety at large. It is the curse of individual young manhood becauseof the venereal diseases it spreads. One visit to a house ofprostitution may ruin a young man's health and life, and millions ofhuman beings die annually from the effects of poison contracted inthese houses. "Wild oats" sown in company with the prostitute usuallybear fruit in the shape of the most loathsome and destructive sexdisorders. 

The development of self-control, the avoidance of impure thoughts andassociations, the cultivation of the higher moral nature instead ofthe lower animal one, and, finally, _marriage_, should prevent theyoung man from falling into prostitution. All the state and medicalregulation in the world will not protect him from the venerealdiseases he is so apt to acquire by such indulgence. 

 FREE LOVE

Free love is the doctrine of _unrestrained choice, without bindingties_, in sexual relations. For altogether different reasons, however, it is quite as objectionable as prostitution for the young man. It mayoffer better hygienic guarantees. But it is a sexual partnership whichis opposed to the fundamental institution of _marriage_, on whichsociety in general is based throughout the world. And, aside from thefact that it is a promiscuous relationship not sanctioned by law orsociety, it is seldom practically successful. It cannot admit of truelove without bitter jealousies. 

 CHAPTER VI

 SEX IN THE ADOLESCENT FEMALE

 (FROM PUBERTY TO MATURITY)

Adolescence in the girl is the period when she develops into a woman. It is that stage in female life embraced between the ages of twelve orfourteen and twenty-one years. Elasticity of body, a clear complexion, and a happy control of her feelings should mark the young girl at thistime, if she has been so fortunate as to escape the dangers andbaneful influences of childhood and infancy. Her numerous bodilyfunctions should be well performed. Thus constituted she should be ina condition to take up her coming struggle with the world, and the sexproblem it will present. 

 PUBERTY

It has been noticed that in the case of girls, puberty usually occursearlier in brunettes than in blondes. In general, it makes itsappearance earlier in those of a nervous or bilio-nervous temperamentthan in those whose temperament is phlegmatic or lymphatic. In theUnited States fourteen and a half years is the usual age of puberty ingirls. In tropical lands, however, it is not uncommon for a girl to bea mother at twelve. Country girls (and boys) usually mature severalmonths or a year later than those living in cities. Too early apuberty in girls may well arouse concern. It usually indicates someinherent constitutional weakness. Premature puberty is oftenassociated with premature decay. 

 THE SIGNS AND CHANGES OF PUBERTY

In the girl the sign of puberty is the growth of hair about the pubes, private organs and armpits. Her whole frame remains more slender thanin the male. Muscles and joints are less prominent, limbs more roundedand tapering. Internal and external organs undergo rapid enlargement, locally. The _mammæ_ (the breasts) enlarge, the ovaries dilate, and aperiodical uteral discharge (menstruation) is established. 

 MENSTRUATION

No young girl should feel alarmed if, owing to the negligence of herparents or guardians to prepare her, she is surprised by this firstflow from the genital organs. Puberty is the proper time for theappearance of menstruation. This is the periodical development anddischarge of an ovule (one or more) by the female, accompanied by thedischarge of a fluid, known as menses or catamenia. Menstruation, ingeneral good health, should occur about every twenty-eight days, oronce in four weeks. This rule, however, is subject to great variation. Menstruation continues from puberty to about the forty-fifth year, which usually marks the _menopause_, or "change of life. " When itdisappears a woman is no longer capable of bearing children. Herperiod of fertility has passed. In rare cases menstruation has stoppedat 35, or lasted till 60. 

 HINTS FOR OBSERVANCE DURING MENSTRUATION

When the period arrives a girl or woman has a feeling of discomfortand lassitude, there is a sense of weight, and a disclination forsociety. Menstruation should not, however, be regarded as a nuisance;a girl's friends respect her most when she is "unwell. " She shouldkeep more than usually quiet while the flow continues, which it willdo for a few days. Also, she should avoid all unnecessary fatigue, exposure to wet or to extremes of temperature. Some girls are guiltyof the crime of trying to arrest the menstruation flow, and resortingto methods of stopping it. Why? In order to attend a dance or pleasureexcursion! Lives have been lost by thus suppressing the monthly flux. Mothers should instruct their daughters when the menses are apt tobegin, and what their function is. During menstruation great care mustbe taken in using water internally. A chill is sufficient to arrestthe flow. If menstruation does not establish itself in a healthy ornormal manner at the proper time, consult a physician in order toremove this abnormal condition. Any disturbance of the delicatemenstrual functions during the period, by constrained positions, muscular effort, brain work and mental or physical excitement, is aptto have serious consequences. 

 CONTINENCE AND THE YOUNG ADOLESCENT GIRL

Continence is, as a rule more easily observed by the adolescent girlthan by the adolescent youth. Ordinarily the normal young girl has no_undue_ sexual propensities, amorous thoughts or feelings. Though sheis exposed to the danger of meeting other girls who may be lewd inthought and speech, in the houses of friends or at school, she is notapt to be carried away by their example. Yet even a good, pure-mindedyoung girl may be debauched. Especially during adolescence, the easyobservance of natural continence depends greatly on the properfunctioning of the feminine genital organs. These may be easilydisturbed. The syringe used for injections, for so-called purposes ofcleanliness, is in reality a danger. The inner organs areself-cleansing. Water or other fluids cast into them disorder themucous follicles, and dry up their secretions, preventing the flowingout of some of Nature's necessities. A daily washing of the innerorgans for a long period with water also produces chronic leucorrhea. 

 WHY YOUNG GIRLS FALL

Lack of proper early training, abnormal sex instincts, weak goodnature, poverty, all may be responsible for a young girl's moraldownfall. As a general thing, right home training and homeenvironment, and sane sex education will prevent the normally goodgirl from going wrong. It should be remembered, though, that anaturally more gentle and yielding disposition may easily lead herinto temptation. Girls who are sentimentally inclined should beware ofgiving way to advances on the part of young men which have only oneobject in view: the gratification of their animal passion. 

The holding of hands and similar innocent beginnings often pave theway for more familiar caresses. Passionate kisses--the promiscuouskiss, by the way, may be the carrier of that dread infection, syphilis--violently awaken a young girl's sex instincts. The fact isthat many innocent girls idealize their seducers. They believe theirlying promises, actually come to love them, and think that ingratifying their inflamed desires, they are giving a proof of thedepth and purity of their own affection. 

Here, as in the case of the young man, self-control should be thefirst thing cultivated. And self-control should be made doubly sure bynever permitting one of the opposite sex to show undue familiarity. Many a seemingly innocent flirtation, begun with a kiss, has ended inshame and disgrace, in loss of social standing and position, venerealdisease, or even death. The pure-minded and innocent girl oftenbecomes a victim of her ignorance of the consequences entailed bygiving in to the desires of some male companion. _The girl who has aknowledge of sex facts is less apt to be taken advantage of in thismanner. _

 MODERN CONDITIONS WHICH ENCOURAGE IMMORALITY

_Excessive Freedom. _--The excessive freedom granted the young girl, especially since the World War, must be held responsible for a greatincrease in familiarity between the adolescent youth of both sexes. Many young girls of the "flapper" type, in particular, are victims ofthese conditions of unrestrained sex association. Sex precocity isfurthered in coeducational colleges, in the high school and the home. Adolescents of both sexes too often are practically unhampered intheir comings and goings, their words and actions. The surreptitiouspocket flask, filled with "hooch, " is often a feature of socialparties, dances and affairs frequented by young people. Girls and boysdrink together, and as alcohol weakens moral resistance in the onecase, and stimulates desire in the other, deplorable consequencesnaturally result. In the United States the number of girls "sent home"from colleges, and of high-school girls being privately treated byphysicians to save them from disgrace, is incredibly large. 

Parents who do not control the social activities of their daughters, who permit them to spend their evenings away from home with only ageneral idea of what they are doing or whom they are meeting, need notbe surprised if their morals are undermined. 

_The Auto. _--The advent of the automobile is responsible for an easyand convenient manner of satisfying precociously aroused sex instinctsin young girls and boys. Often, unconscientious pleasure-seekers roamthe roads in their auto. They accost girls who are walking and offerthem a "lift. " When the latter refuse to gratify their desires theyare often beaten and flung from the car. The daily press has givensuch publicity to this civilized form of "head hunting, " that it isdifficult to sympathize with girls who are thus treated. They cannothelp but know that in nine cases out of ten, a stranger who invitesthem to a ride, who "picks" them up, does so with the definite purposealready mentioned in view. 

_Poverty. _--Poverty, too, plays a large part in driving young girlsinto a life of vice. In all our large cities there are hundreds ofyoung women who earn hardly enough to buy food and fuel and pay forthe rent of a room in a cheap lodging house. Feminine youth longs fordress, for company, for entertainment. It is easy enough to find a"gentleman friend" who will provide all three, in exchange for"companionship. " So the bargain is struck. These conditions exist in ahundred and one occupations. A young woman may go to a large city aspure as snow, but finding no lucrative employment, lonely anddespondent, she is led to take her first step on the downward path. Soon daily contact with vice removes abhorrence to it. Familiaritymakes it habitual, and another life is ruined. The heartless moralcode of the cynical young pleasure-seeking male is summed up in thecant phrase anent women: "Find, . . . And forget!" It is these girls, who are victimized by their lack of self-restraint or moral principle, their ignorance or weakness, who make possible the application of sucha maxim. 

 VIRGINITY

Both mental and physical purity are rightfully required of the younggirl about to marry. How shall she acquire and maintain this desirablestate of purity? The process is a simple one. _She must let aknowledge of the true hygienic and moral laws of her sex guide her inher relations with men. _ She must cultivate clean thought on a basisof physical cleanliness. She need not be ignorant to be pure. Men sheshould study carefully. She should not allow them to sit with theirarm about her waist, to hold her hand, to kiss her. No approach nortouch beyond what the best social observance sanctions should bepermitted. Even the tendernesses and familiarities of courtship shouldbe restrained. An engagement does not necessarily culminate in amarriage, and once the foot has slipped on virtue's path the errorcannot be recalled. These considerations, together with those adducedin the preceding section, "Why Young Girls Fall, " are well worthtaking to heart by every young woman who wishes to approach matrimonyin the right and proper way. 

 CHAPTER VII

 SEX IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION

 THE HUSBAND

Marriage is the process by which a man and woman enter into a completephysical, legal and moral union. The natural object of marriage is thecomplete community of life for the establishment of a family. 

 THE MARRIAGEABLE AGE AND ADAPTATION

At twenty-four the male body attains its complete development; andtwenty-five is a proper age for the young man to marry. Romantic love, personal affection on a basis of congeniality, mutual adaptation, asimilar social sphere of life, should determine his choice. Nature andcustom indicate that the husband should be somewhat older than thewife. 

 MEN WHO SHOULD NOT MARRY

Men suffering with diseases which may be communicated by contagion orheredity should not marry. These diseases include: tuberculosis, syphilis, cancer, leprosy, epilepsy and some nervous disorders, someskin diseases and insanity. A worn-out rake has no business to marry, since marriage is not a hospital for the treatment of disease, or areformatory institution for moral lepers. Those having a markedtendency to disease must not marry those of similar tendency. Themarriage of cousins is not to be advocated. The blood relation tendsto bring together persons with similar morbid tendencies. Where bothare healthy, however, there seems to be no special liability to mentalincompetency, though such marriages are accused of producing defectiveor idiot children. Men suffering from congenital defects should notmarry. Natural blindness, deafness, muteness, and congenitaldeformities of limb are more or less likely to be passed on to theirchildren. There are cases of natural blindness, though, to which thisrule does not apply. Criminals, alcoholics, and personsdisproportionate in size should not marry. In the last-mentioned, lackof mutual physical adaptability may produce much unhappiness, especially on the part of the wife. Serious local disease, sterility, and great risk in childbirth may result. Disparity of years, disparityof race, a poverty which will not permit the proper raising ofchildren, undesirable moral character are all good reasons for notmarrying. 

 MEDICAL EXAMINATION BEFORE MARRIAGE

Medical examination as a preliminary to marriage is practically morevaluable than a marriage license. Since many entirely innocent younggirls to-day suffer from disease, incurred either through hereditaryor accidental infection, a would-be husband may be said to be quite asmuch entitled to protection as his bride-to-be. Prohibitive physicaldefects are also discovered in this connection. 

 CHAPTER VIII

 SEX IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION

 THE WIFE

Girls marry, in the final analysis, because love for the male is aninnate natural principle of the female nature. At its best this loveis pure and chaste. The good woman realizes that its first purpose isnot mere carnal pleasure. It is a special avowal of the wife'srelations to her husband, and its natural as well as moral end is theestablishment of the family on the basis of a healthy progeny. 

 BEFORE MARRIAGE

The wife-to-be, like her prospective husband, will be well advised toask for a medical health certificate. No man, no matter how good hisreputation may be, should marry (on his own account as well as that ofthe girl) without thorough examination by a physician. Theconsequences of venereal infection administered to unborn children bytheir parents are too horrible to allow of any risk being taken. Another bit of advice, which cannot be too highly commended, is thatthe prospective husband and wife, before they marry, have a plain talkwith each other regarding individual sexual peculiarities and needs. Aheart-to-heart talk of this kind would be apt to prevent greatdisappointments and incompatibilities which otherwise may becomepermanent. 

 THE WIFE AND HER POSITION

The natural instinct of a man is to seek his mate. On her he dependsfor an orderly and lawful indulgence of his sex demands. The greatestlongevity and best health are to be found among happily marriedfathers and mothers. No young woman should marry without a fullknowledge of her sex duties to her husband. And she should neverconsummate the marriage vow grudgingly. 

 CHILDBIRTH HYGIENE

Childbirth is the natural consequence of marriage. Its processes havealready been explained in Chapter II of this book. There are, however, some hygienic facts in connection with it which should be noted. Oncepregnancy is established, as soon as the fact is suspected, themother-to-be should look on the little embryo as already a member ofthe family. Every act of each parent should now be performed (at leastto some degree) with reference to the forthcoming infant. The mother'sthoughts should be directed to it as much as possible. Mentally sheshould read literature of a lofty and ennobling character. The theoryis that this serves a good purpose in producing a more perfect, healthy and intelligent child. Physically, she should take plenty ofactive exercise during gestation. Active exercise does not, of course, mean violent exercise. And she should use a "Health Lift. " Duringthis time she should subsist as far as possible on a farinaceousdiet, fruits and vegetables. The foods should be plainly cooked, without spices. If all else is as it should be, the birth of the childat the end of the customary nine months will be attended bycomparatively little pain and danger. 

 HOW OFTEN SHOULD CHILDBIRTH TAKE PLACE?

It is most important that the childbearing wife and mother have a longperiod of rest between births. At least one year should separate abirth and the conception following it. This means that about two yearsshould elapse between two births. If this rule be followed, the wifewill retain her health, and her children will also be healthy. It isfar better to give birth to seven children, who will live and behealthy, than to bear fourteen, of whom seven are likely to die, whilethe numerous successive births wear out and age the unfortunatemother. 

 MATRIMONIAL ADJUSTMENT

The above paragraph deals with one detail of what might be called"matrimonial adjustment. " This adjustment or compromise is a featureof all successful marriages. The individual cravings of husband andwife must be reconciled by mutual good will and forbearance if theyare to be happy. Attention should be paid in particular to notallowing habit, "the worst foe of married happiness, " to become toowell established in the home, and to cultivate that love and affectionwhich survives the decline of the sexual faculties. 

 THE IDEAL MARRIAGE

The ideal marriage is the one in which affection combines to bringhappiness to both partners in a sane union of sex and soul. As onecommentator has rather unhappily expressed it: "When married the_battle_ for one united and harmonious life really begins!" It is, indeed, but too often a _battle_! Forbearance, consideration andrespect must be the foundation on which the ideal married state isbuilt. The husband should realize that his wife's love for him inducesher to allow privileges of a personal nature which her innate chastityand timidity might otherwise refuse. In return, he should accept theseprivileges with consideration. He should, in particular, on hiswedding night, take care not to shock his young bride's sensibilities. He may easily give her a shock from which she will not recover foryears, and lead her to form an antipathy against the very act which is"the bond and seal of a truly happy married life. "

 BIRTH CONTROL

Material changes have taken place in the birth-rate of a number ofcountries during the past fifteen or twenty years which cannot beattributed to purely economic causes. They do not seem to depend onsuch things as trade, employment and prices; but on the spread of anidea or influence whose tendency must be deplored, that of "birthcontrol, " a phrase much heard in these days. 

The fact that a decline in human fertility and a falling birth rateare most noticeable in the relatively prosperous countries is a proofthat it does not proceed from economic causes; but is due rather tothe spread of the doctrine that it is permissible to restrict orcontrol birth. In such countries as the United States, England andAustralasia, where the standards of human comfort and living arenotoriously high, the decline in the birth rate has been mostnoticeable. On the other hand, we find perhaps the greatest decline inthe birth rate in France, a country where the general well-beingprobably reaches a lower depth in the community than in any other partof Europe. A comparison of the birth rates of France and of Ireland, for example, offer a valuable illustration of the point underconsideration. In France, more than half the women who have reachedthe age of nubility are married; in Ireland, generally speaking, lessthan a third. In both countries the crude birth rate is far below thatin other European lands. Yet the fertility of the Irish wife exceededthat of her French compeer by 44 per cent in 1880, and by no less than84 per cent in 1900. And since that time the prolificity of the Irishmother has so increased that she is now, approximately speaking, inferior only to the Dutch or Finnish mother in this respect. 

In general, in any country where we find a diminished prolificity afalling off of childbirth _unaccompanied_ by a decrease in the numberof marriages occurring at the reproductive ages, we may attribute thisdecrease to _voluntary restriction of childbearing_ on the part of themarried, or in other words, to the prevalence of "birth control. "This incidentally, is not a theoretical statement, but one supportedby the almost unanimous medical opinion in all countries. Everywhereand especially here in our own United States, we find evidence of theextensive employ of "birth control" measures to prevent that normaldevelopment of family life which underlies the vigor and racial powerof every nation. These preventive measures which arbitrarily controlhuman birth had long been in use in France with results which, especially since the war, have been frequently and publicly deploredin the press, and have led the French Government to offer substantialrewards to encourage the propagation of large families. From Francethe preventive practices of "birth control" had spread, after 1870, over nearly all the countries of western Europe, to England and to theUnited States; though they are not as much apparent in those countrieswhere the Roman Church has a strong hold on the people. 

As a general thing, the practice of thus unnaturally limitingfamilies--"unnaturally" since the custom of "birth control" derivesfrom no natural, physical law--prevails, in the first instance, amongthe well-to-do, who should rather be the first to set the example ofprotest against it by having the families they are so much better ableto support and educate than those less favored with the world's goods. If the evil of voluntary control of human birth were restricted to aprivileged class, say one of wealth, the harm done would, perhaps, notbe so great. But, unfortunately, in the course of time it filtersdown as a "gospel of comfort"--erroneous term!--to those whoseresources are less. They accept and practice this invidious system ofprevention and gradually the entire community is more or lessaffected. 

The whole system of "birth control" is opposed to natural, human andreligious law. Nature, in none of her manifestations, introducesanything which may tend to prevent her great reason for being--thepropagation of the species. Birth as the natural sequence of mating isher solemn and invariable law. It is in birth and rebirth that naturerenews herself and all the life of the animal and vegetable world, andher primal aim is to encourage it. Human law recognizes thisunderlying law of nature by forbidding man to tamper in a preventiveway with her hallowed and mysterious processes for perpetuating thehuman race. Religious law, based on the divine dispensation of theScriptures, indorses the law of nature and that of the state. 

We may take it, then, that "birth control" represents a deliberate andreprehensible attempt to nullify those innate laws of reproductionsanctioned by religion, tradition and man's own ingrained instinct. Tosay that the human instinct for the perpetuation of his race andfamily has become atrophied during the flight of time, and that he istherefore justified in denying it, is merely begging the question. Theinstinct may be denied, just as other higher and nobler instincts aredisregarded; but its validity cannot be questioned. Whether those whopractice "birth control" are influenced by economic, selfishlypersonal or other reasons, they are offending in a threefold manner:against the inborn wish and desire which is a priceless possession ofeven the least of God's creatures, that of living anew in itsoffspring; against the law of the state, which after all, stands forthe crystallization of the best feeling of the community; and againstthe divine injunction handed down to us in Holy Writ, to "increase andmultiply. "

"Birth control" is the foe to the direct end and aim of marriage, which, in the last analysis, is childbirth. As an enemy to theprocreation of children it is an enemy of the family and the familygroup. As an enemy of the family, it is an enemy of the state, thecommunity, a foe to the whole social system. Mankind has been able toattain its comparatively recent state of moral and physicaladvancement without having recourse to the dangerous principle which"birth control" represents. Surely that wise provision of our existinglegal code which makes the printing or dissemination of informationregarding the physical facts of "birth control" illegal and punishableas an offense, can only be approved by those who respect theOmnipotent will, and the time-hallowed traditions which date back tothe very inception of the race. 

 CHAPTER IX

 SEX DISEASES

The sex diseases are the same in both sexes, whether developed bydirect or accidental infection. They are the greatest practicalargument in favor of continence, morality and marriage in the sexrelation. 

 GONORRHEA

Gonorrhea is a pus-discharging inflammation of the canal known as the_urethra_, which passing through the entire length of the organ, carries both the urine and the seminal fluid. It is caused by avenereal bacillus, the _gonococcus_. Under favorable conditions andwith right treatment, gonorrhea may be cured, though violentlypainful, in fourteen days. Often the inflammation extends, becomeschronic and attacks other organs. This chronic gonorrhea often causespermanent contraction of the urethra, which leads to the painfulretention of urine, catarrh of the bladder, and stone. Chronicgonorrhea, too, often ends in death, especially if the kidneys areattacked. A cured case of gonorrhea does not mean immunity fromfurther attacks. New infections are all the more easily acquired. Gonorrhea has even more dangerous consequences in women than in men. The _gonococcus_ bacilli infect all the inner female genital organs. They cause frequent inflammations and lead to growths in the belly. Women thus attacked usually are apt to be sterile; they sufferagonies, and often become chronic invalids. The child born of agonorrheal mother, while passing through the infected genital organs, comes to life with infected eyelids. This is _Blennorrhea_, which mayresult in total blindness. Gonorrhea also causes inflammation of thejoints, gonorrheal rheumatism, testicular inflammations which may leadto sterility. Some authorities claim that fully half the sterility inwomen is caused by gonorrheal infection of the Fallopian tubes. Gonorrheal infection of the eyes at birth is now prevented by firstwashing them in a saturated solution of boric acid, then treating themwith a drop of weak silver solution. 

 SYPHILIS

Syphilis is a still more terrible venereal disease. It usually appearsfirst in small, hard sores, hard chancres, on the sexual parts or themouth. Then the syphilitic poison spreads throughout the whole body bymeans of the blood. After a few weeks it breaks out on the face orbody. Its final cure is always questionable. Syphilis may lie dormantfor years, and then suddenly become active again. It breaks out insores on all parts of the body, often eats up the bone, destroysinternal organs, such as the liver, causes hardening of the lungs, diseases of the blood vessels and eye diseases. Ulcers of the brainand nerve paralysis often result from it. One of its most terribleconsequences is consumption of the spinal marrow and paralysis of thebrain, or paresis. The first slowly hardens and destroys the spinalmarrow, the second the brain. These diseases are only developed byprevious syphilitics. As a rule they occur from 5 to 20 years afterinfection, usually 10 or 15 years after it. And they usually happen topersons who believed themselves completely cured. Consumption of thespinal marrow leads to death in the course of a few years of continualtorture. Paralysis of the brain turns the sufferer into a human ruin, gradually extinguishing all mental and nervous functions, sentience, movement, speech and intellect. 

One danger of syphilis is the fact that its true nature may beoverlooked during the first period, because of the lack of pronouncedsymptoms. Its early sores may easily be mistaken for some skinaffection. Mercury and other means are successful in doing away withat least the more noticeable signs of syphilis during the first andsecondary stages. The modern medical treatment using mercury andSalvarsan (606) in alternation, has been very successful. It isclaimed that by following it, syphilis may be totally cured if takenin hand during the first stage. The sores developed during the firsttwo or three years of the disease are very infectious. In the case ofa chronic syphilis of three or four years' standing, the sores as arule are no longer infectious. It is possible, however, for asyphilitic of this description to bring forth syphilitic children, _without infecting his wife_. Such children either die at birth, orlater, of this congenital syphilis. They may also die of spinalconsumption or paresis between the ages of 10 and 20. The mortality ofall syphilitic children is very great. In most cases, however, healthychildren are born of the wedlock of _relatively cured_ syphilitics, though they are often sterile. Young men who have had recourse toprostitutes, often inoculate their wives with gonorrhea or syphilis, and thus the plague is spread. 

 THE SOFT CHANCRE

The soft chancre is the third form of venereal disease (the hardchancre being the first stage of syphilis). It is the least dangerousof the venereal diseases, but unfortunately, relatively the one whichoccurs most seldom. When not complicated with syphilis, it appearslocally. It is a larger or smaller sore feeding and growing on thegenital organs. 

 VENEREAL DISEASE AN ADVOCATE OF CONTINENCE

The most tragic consequence of all venereal disease is the part itplays in the infection of innocent children, and innocent wives andmothers. Often a pure and chaste woman is thus deprived in the mostcruel and brutal manner of the fruit of all her hopes and dreams ofhappiness. Similarly, a young man may find himself hopelesslycondemned to a short life of pain and misery. He may also suffer fromthe knowledge that he has ruined the lives of those dearest to him. Venereal disease, syphilis in particular, emphasizes the _practical_value of continence--quite aside from its moral one--in a manner whichcannot be ignored!

 CHAPTER X

 LOVE AND SEX

When we take under consideration the higher, truer love of one sex forthe other, that is, an affection which is not simply a friendship, buthas a sex basis, we realize that it may be a very noble emotion. Thereis no manner of doubt but that the normal human being feels a greatneed for love. Sex in love and its manifestation in the life of thesoul is one of the first conditions of human happiness, and a main aimof human existence. 

All know the tale of Cupid's arrow. A man falls in love with a face, apair of eyes, the sound of a voice, and his affection is developedfrom this trifling beginning until it takes complete possession ofhim. This love is usually made up of two components: a sex instinct, and feelings of sympathy and interest which hark back to primal times. And this love, in its true sense, should stand for an affectionpurified from egoism. 

When, among the lower animal forms we find individuals without adetermined sex, egoism develops free from all restraint. Eachindividual creature devours as much as it can and feeding, togetherwith propagation by division, "budding" or conjunction, makes up thetotal of its vital activities. It need do no more to accomplish thepurpose of its existence. Even when propagation commences to takeplace by means of individual male and female parents, the sameprinciple of egoism largely obtains. The spiders are typical instancesof this: in their case the carrying out of the natural functions ofthe male spider is attended with much danger for him, owing to thefact that if he does not exercise the greatest care, he is apt to bedevoured immediately afterward by his female partner, in order that nouseful food matter may be lost. Yet even in the case of the spiders, the female spider already gives proof of a certain capacity forsacrifice where her young are concerned, at any rate for a short timeafter they have crept from the egg. 

In animals somewhat higher in the creative scale, more or lesspowerful feelings of affection may develop out of their sexassociation. There is affection on the part of the male for his mate, and on the part of the female for her young. Often these feelingsdevelop into a strong, lasting affection between the sexes, and yearsof what might be called faithful matrimonial union have been observedin the case of birds. This in itself is sufficient to establish theintimate relationship between love in a sex sense and love in ageneral sense. And even in the animal creation we find the sameanalogy existing between these feelings of sympathy and theiropposites which occur in the case of human beings. Every feeling ofattachment or sympathy existing between two individuals has acounterpart in an opposite feeling of discontent when the object ofthe love or attachment in question dies, falls sick, or runs away. This feeling of discontent may assume the form of a sorrow ending inlasting melancholy. In the case of apes and of certain parrots, it hasbeen noticed that the death of a mate has frequently led the survivorto refuse nourishment, and die in turn from increasing grief anddepression. If, on the other hand, an animal discovers the cause ofthe grief or loss which threatens it; if some enemy creature tries torob it of its mate or little ones, the mixed reactive feeling of rageor anger is born in it, anger against the originator of itsdiscontent. Jealousy is only a definite special form of this angerreaction. 

A further development of the feeling of sympathy is that of duty. Every feeling of love or sympathy urges those who feel it to docertain things which will benefit the object of that love. A motherwill feed her young, bed them down comfortably, caress them; a fatherwill bring nourishment to the mother and her brood, and protect themagainst foes. All these actions, not performed to benefit the creatureitself, but to help its beloved mate, represent exertion, trouble, theovercoming of danger, and lead to a struggle between egoism and thefeeling of sympathy. Out of this struggle is born a third feeling, that of responsibility and conscience. Thus the elements of the humansocial feelings are already quite pronounced in the case of manyanimals, including those of love as well as sex. 

In the human animal, speaking in general, these feelings of sympathy(love) and duty are strongly developed in the family connection; thatis, they are developed with special strength in those who are mostintimately united in sex life, in husband and wife and in children. Consequently the feelings of sympathy or love which extend to largercommunal groups, such as more distant family connections, the tribe, the community, those speaking the same tongue, the nation, arerelatively far weaker. Weakest of all, in all probability, is thatgeneral human feeling which sees a brother in every other human beingand is conscious of the social duties owed him. 

As regards man and wife, the relation of the actual sex instinct tolove is often a very complicated one. In the case of man the sexfeeling may, and frequently does exist independent of love in thehigher sense; in the case of woman it is quite certain that loveoccurs far less seldom unaccompanied by the sex inclination. It isalso quite possible for love to develop before the development of thesex feeling, and this often, in married life, leads to the happiestrelationships. 

The mutual adoration of two individuals, husband and wife, oftendegenerates into a species of egoistic enmity toward the remainder ofthe world. And this, in turn, in many cases reacts unfavorably uponthe love the two feel for each other. Human solidarity, especially inthis day, is already too great not to revenge itself upon theegotistical character of so exclusive a love. The real ideal of sex inlove might be expressed as follows: A man and a woman should beinduced to unite in marriage through genuine sex attraction andharmony of character and disposition. In this union they shouldmutually encourage each other to labor socially for the common good ofmankind, in such wise that _they further their own mutual educationand that of their children_, the beings nearest and dearest to them, _as the natural point of departure for helping general humanbetterment_. 

If love in its relation to sex be conceived in this manner, it willpurify it by doing away with its pettinesses and it is just into thesepettinesses that the most honest and upright of matrimonial loves toooften degenerate. The constructive work done in common by two humanbeings who, while they care lovingly for each other, at the same timeencourage each other to strive and endure in carrying out theprinciples of right living and high thinking, will last. Love andmarriage looked at from this point of view, are relatively immune fromthe small jealousies and other evil little developments of aone-sided, purely physical affection. It will work for an ever moreideal realization of love in its higher and nobler dispensations. 

Real and true love is lasting. The suddenly awakened storm of sexaffection for a hitherto totally unknown person can never be acceptedas a true measure for love. This sudden surge of the sex feeling warpsthe judgment, makes it possible to overlook the grossest defects, colors all and everything with heavenly hues. It makes a man who is"in love, " or two beings who are in love, mutually blind, and causeseach to carefully conceal his or her real inward self from the other. This may be the case even when the feelings of both are absolutelyhonest, especially if the sex feeling is not paired with cool egoisticcalculation. Not until the first storm of the sex feeling hassubsided, when honeymoon weeks are over, is a more normal point ofview regained. And then love, indifference, or hatred, as the case maybe develops. It is for this reason that love at first sight is alwaysdangerous, and that only a longer and more intimate acquaintance withthe object of one's affection is calculated to give a lasting union arelatively good chance of turning out happily. One thing is worthbearing in mind. Woman invariably represents the conservative elementin the family. Her emotional qualities, combined with wonderfulendurance, always control her intellect more powerfully than is thecase with man; and the feelings and emotions form the conservativeelement in the human soul.