SEX

AVOIDED SUBJECTS DISCUSSED IN
PLAIN ENGLISH

By

HENRY STANTON

SOCIAL CULTURE PUBLICATIONS
151 FIFTH AVENUE· NEW YORK

Copyright, 1922
Social Culture Publications
MANUFACTURED IN U. S. A.

CONTENTS[3]

CHAPTER I[5]

SEX

The happiness of all human beings, men and
women, depends largely on their rational solution
of the sexual problem. Sex and the part it
plays in human life cannot be ignored. In the case
of animals sex plays a simpler and less complex
rôle. It is a purely natural and instinctive function
whose underlying purpose is the perpetuation of
the species. It is not complicated by the many incidental
phenomena which result, in man’s case, from
psychologic, economic, moral and religious causes.
Climate, social conditions, individual modes of life
and work, alcohol, wealth and poverty, and other
factors affect sexual activity in human beings.

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

The average man, woman and child should know
the essential sex facts in order to be able to deal
with the sex problems of life. Of late years there
has been a greater diffusion of such knowledge. To
a large extent, however, children and adolescents
are still taught to look on all that pertains to sex
as something shameful and immodest, something
[6]not to be discussed. Sex is an “Avoided Subject.”

This is fundamentally wrong. Sex affects the
very root of all human life. Its activities are not
obscene, but Nature’s own means to certain legitimate
ends. The sex functions, when properly controlled
and led into the proper channels, are a most
essential and legitimate form of physical self-expression.
The veil of secrecy with which they
are so often shrouded tends to create an altogether
false impression regarding them. This discussion
of these “Avoided Subjects,” in “Plain English,” is
intended to give the salient facts regarding sex in a
direct, straightforward manner, bearing in mind the
true purpose of normal sex activities.

The more we know of the facts of sex, the right
and normal part sex activities 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 our own lives and that of our descendants. Mankind,
for its own general good, must desire that
reproduction—the real purpose of every sexual
function—occur in such a way as to perpetuate its
own best physical and mental qualities.

THE LAW OF PHYSICAL LIFE

It is a universal rule of physical life that every
individual being undergoes a development which we
know as its individual life and which, so far as its
physical substance is concerned, ends with death.
Death is the destruction of the greater part of this
individual organism which, when death ensues,
once more becomes lifeless matter. Only small
portions of this matter, the germ cells, continue[7]
to live under certain conditions which nature has
fixed.

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

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

We will not go into the very complicated details
of the actual process of the growth and division of
the protoplasmic cells. It is enough to say that in
the case of living creatures provided with more
complicated organisms, such as the higher plants,
animals and man, the little cell units divide and
grow as they do in the case of the lower organisms.
The fact is one which shows the intimate inner
relationship of all living beings.[8]

THE LADDER OF ORGANIC ASCENT

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

A tree, for instance, may be grown from a graft
which has been cut off and planted in the ground.
And ants and bees which have not been fecundated
are quite capable of laying eggs out of which develop
perfect, well-formed descendants. This last
process is called parthenogenesis. It is a process,
however, which if carried on through several generations,
ends in deterioration and degeneracy. In the
case of the higher animals, vertebrates and man,
such reproduction is an impossibility.[9]

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

THE TRUE MISSION OF SEX

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

The intimate fact knowledge necessary in this[10]
connection is of a peculiarly personal and sacred
nature, and represents information which is better
communicated by the spoken than by the printed
word. The wise father and mother are those naturally
indicated to convey this information to their
sons and daughters by word of mouth. By analogy,
by fuller development and description of the reproductive
processes of plant and animal life on which
we have touched, the matter of human procreation
may be approached. Parents should stress the point,
when trying to present this subject to the youthful
mind, that man’s special functions are only a detail—albeit
a most important one—in nature’s vast
plan for the propagation of life on earth. This will
have the advantage of correcting a trend on the
part of the imaginative boy or girl to lay too much
stress on the part humanity plays in this great general
reproductive scheme. It will lay weight on the
fact that the functional workings of reproduction
are not, primarily, a source of pleasure, but that—when
safeguarded by the institution of matrimony,
on which civilized social life is based—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 so in a sober and instructive
fashion. The attention of a mother, perhaps,
need not be called to this. But fathers may
be inclined, in many cases, to inform their sons
without insisting that the information they give
them is, in the final analysis, intended to be applied
to lofty constructive purposes. They may, in their[11]
desire to speak practically, forget the moral values
which should underlie this intimate information.
Never should the spirit of levity intrude itself in
these intimate personal sex colloquies. Restraint
and decency should always mark them.

In making clear to the mind of youth the fact
data which initiates and governs reproduction in
animal and in human life, the ideal to be cultivated
is continence, the refraining from all experimentation
undertaken in a spirit of curiosity, until such
time as a well-placed affection, sanctioned by the
divine blessing, will justify a sane and normal exploitation
of physical needs and urges in the matrimonial
state. To this end hard bodily and mental
work should be encouraged in the youth of both
sexes. “Satan finds work for idle hands to do,” has
special application in this connection, and a chaste
and continent youth is usually the forerunner of a
happy and contented marriage. And incidentally,
a happy marriage is the best guarantee that reproduction,
the carrying on of the species, will be
morally and physically a success. Here, too, the
fact should be strongly stressed that prostitution
cannot be justified on any moral grounds. It represents
a deliberate ignoring of the rightful function
of sex, and the perversion of the sane and natural
laws of reproduction. It is in marriage, in the
sane and normal activities of that unit of our whole
social system—the family—that reproduction develops
nature’s basic principle of perpetuation in
the highest and worthiest manner, in obedience to
laws humane and divine.

CHAPTER II[12]

THE TRANSITION FROM CELL TO
HUMAN BEING

In the functional processes alluded to in the preceding
chapter, the male germ-cell and the female
germ-cell unite in a practically equal division of
substance. We say “practically” because the maternal
and the paternal influences are not equally
divided in the offspring. One or the other usually
predominates. But, as a general rule, it may be
said that in the development of the embryonal life
the process of cell division proceeds in such a way
that every germ of the child’s future organism represents
approximately one-half maternal and one-half
paternal substance and energy.

In this process lies the true secret of heredity.
The inherited energies retain their full measure
of power, and all their original quality in the
growing and dividing chromosomes (the chromosome
is one of the segments into which the
chromoplasmic filaments of a cell-nucleus break
up just before indirect division). On the other
hand, the egg-substance of the female germ-cell,
which is assimilated by the chromosomes, and which
is turned into their substance by the process of
organic chemistry, loses its specific plastic vital
energy completely. It is in the same way that food[13]
eaten by the adult has absolutely no effect on his
qualitative organic structure. We may eat ever
so many beef-steaks without acquiring any of the
characteristics of an ox. And the germ-cell may devour
any amount of egg-protoplasma without losing
its original paternal energy. As a rule a child
inherits as many qualities from its mother as from
its father.

DETERMINATION OF SEX

Sex is determined after conception has taken
place. At an early stage of the embryo certain
cells are set apart. These, later, form the sex
glands. Modern research claims to have discovered
the secret of absolutely determining sex in the
human embryo, but even if these claims are valid
they have not as yet met with any general application.

EARLY DEVELOPMENT

Some twelve days after conception, the female
ovule or egg, which has been impregnated by the
male spermatazoön, escapes from the ovary where
it was impregnated, and entering a tube (Fallopian)
gradually descends by means of it into the cavity
of the womb or uterus. Here the little germ begins
to mature in order to develop into an exact counterpart
of its parents. In the human being the womb
has only a single cavity, and usually develops but
a single embryo.

TWINS

Sometimes two ovules are matured at the same
time. If fecundated, two embryos instead of one
will develop, producing twins. Triplets and quadruplets,[14]
the results of the maturing of three or four
ovules at the same time, occur more rarely. As
many as five children have been born alive at a
single birth, but have seldom lived for more than
a few minutes.

GESTATION

The development of the ovule in the womb is
known as gestation or pregnancy. 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 it and incloses it.

THE EMBRYO

The Primitive Trace, a delicate straight line appearing
on the surface of the growing layer of cells
is the base of the embryonic spinal column. Around
this the whole embryo develops in an intricate
process of cell division and duplication. One end
of the Primitive Trace becomes the head, the other
the tail, for every human being has a tail at this
stage of his existence. The neck is marked by a
slight depression; the body by a swollen center.
Soon little buds or “pads” appear in the proper
positions. These represent arms and legs, whose
ends, finally, split up into fingers and toes. The
embryonic human being has been steadily increasing
in size, meanwhile. By the fifth week the heart
and lungs are present in a rudimentary form, and
ears and face are distinctly outlined. During the
seventh week the kidneys are formed, and a little
later the genital organs. At two months, though[15]
sex is not determined as yet, eyes and nose are
visible, the mouth is gaping, and the skin can be
distinguished. At ten weeks the sexual organs
form more definitely, and in the third month sex
can be definitely determined.

THE FOETUS

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

PLACENTA AND UMBILICAL CORD

During gestation the unborn infant has been supplied
with air and nourishment by the mother. An
organ called the Placenta, a spongy growth of[16]
blood vessels, develops on the inner point of the
womb. To this 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,
absorbing it through the thin walls which separate it
from the mother’s blood. Only through her blood
can the mother influence the child, since the Umbilical
Cord contains no nerves. The Umbilical
Cord, attached to the body of the child at the navel,
is cut at birth, and with the Placenta is expelled
from the womb soon after the child has been born.
Together with the Placenta it forms a shapeless
mass, familiarly known as the “afterbirth,” and
when it is retained instead of being expelled is apt
to cause serious trouble.

CHILDBIRTH OR PARTURITION

At nine month’s time the foetus is violently thrust
from that laboratory of nature in which it has
formed. It is born, and comes into the world as a
child. Considering the ordinary size of the generative
passages, the expelling of the foetus from
the womb would seem impossible. But Nature, during
those months in which she enlarged the womb
to hold its gradually increasing contents, has also increased
the generative passages in size. She has
made them soft and distensible, so that an apparent
physical impossibility could take place, though it is
often accompanied by intense suffering. Modern
medical science has made childbirth easier, but the
act of childbirth is usually accompanied by more[17]
or less suffering. Excessive pain, however, is often
the result of causes which proper treatment can remove
before and at the time of confinement.

TWILIGHT SLEEP

The so-called “Twilight Sleep,” a modern development,
by which the pangs of childbirth are
obviated by the administration of drugs or by hypnotic
suggestion, has its opponents and defenders.
The advantage of a painless childbirth, upon which
the mother can look back as on a dream, is evident.
The “Twilight Sleep” process has been used with
the happiest results both for parent and child.
Opponents of this system declare that the use of
powerful drugs may injure the child. A method
commended is the administration of a mixture of
laughing gas and oxygen, 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 half pounds. It is insensitive
to pain for the first few days, and seems deaf (since
its middle ears are filled with a thick mucus) for
the first two weeks. During the first few days, too,
it does not seem able to see. The first month of
its existence is purely automatic. Evidences of
dawning intelligence appear in the second month
and at four months it will recognize mother or
nurse. Muscularly it is poorly developed. Not
until two months old is it able to hold up its head,
and not until three months does voluntary muscular[18]
movement put in an appearance. 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 paternal grandfather, a maternal
aunt or a maternal great-grandmother. This is
known as avatism. There are many curious variations
with regard to the inheritance of ancestral
traits. Some children show a remarkable resemblance
to their fathers in childhood, others to their
mothers. And many qualities of certain individual
ancestors appear quite suddenly late in life. Everything
may be inherited, from the most delicate
shadings of the disposition, the intelligence and the
will power, to the least details of hair, nails and
bone structure, etc. And the combination of the
qualities of one’s ancestors in heredity is so manifold
and so unequal that it is extremely difficult to
arrive at fixed conclusions regarding it. Hereditary
traits and tendencies are developed out of the
energies of the original conjugated germ-cells
throughout life, up to the very day of death. Even
aged men often show peculiarities in the evening
of their life which may be clearly recognized as
inherited, and duplicating others shown by their
forbears at the same period of life.

As has already been mentioned every individual
inherits, generally speaking, as much from his paternal
as from his maternal progenitors. This in[19]
spite of the fact that the tiny paternal germ-cell is
the only medium of transmission of the paternal
qualities, while the mother furnishes the much
larger egg-cell, and feeds him throughout the embryonic
period.

THE ENGRAM

An interesting theory maintains that the external
impressions made upon an organism which
reacts to them and receives them, might be called
engrams or “inscriptions.” Thus the impression of
some object we have seen or touched (let us say
we have seen a lion) may remain engraved on our
mind as an impression. Hence every memory picture
is one of engrams, whether the impression is
a conscious one or an unconscious one. According
to this same theory the reawakening of an older
impression is an ecphory. Some new stimulation
may thus ecphorate an old engram. Now the entire
embryonal development of the human child is in
reality no more than a continuous process of ecphoration
of old engrams, one after another. And the
entire complex of our living human organism is
made up entirely of these energy-complexes engraved
on our consciousness or subconsciousness. The sum
total of all these engrams, in a living human being,
according to the theory advanced, is given the name
of mnema. That which the child receives in the
way of energies contained in the germ-cells from
its ancestors is his hereditary mnema. And that
which he acquires in the course of his own individual
life is his acquired or individual mnema.

CHAPTER III[20]

SEX IN MALE CHILDHOOD
(FROM 14 TO 16)

During the first years of child life all those
laws of practical hygiene which make for good
health should be carefully observed. Every organ
of the body should be carefully protected, even at
this early age. The genital organs, especially,
should not be rubbed or handled under any pretext,
beyond what is absolutely necessary for cleanliness.
The organs of generation, which we are apt
to treat as nonexistent in children, just because they
are children, claim just as much watchful care as
any others.

SEX PRECAUTIONS IN INFANCY

Even in infancy, the diaper should fit easily about
the organs which it covers, so as not to give rise
to undue friction or heating of the parts. And for
the same reason it should always be changed immediately
after urination or a movement of the
bowels. No material which prevents the escape of
perspiration, urine or fecal matter should be employed
for a diaper. The use of a chair-commode
as early as the end of the first year is highly to be
commended, as being more comfortable for the
sex organs and healthier for the child. It favors,[21]
in particular, 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 is normal, however, they
should not affect his mind or body. The growing
boy should be encouraged to take his sex questions
and sex problems to his parents (in his case preferably
the father) for explanation. Thus they may
be made clear to him naturally and logically. He
should not be told what he soon discovers is not
true: that babies are “dug up with a silver spade,”
or make their appearances in the family thanks to
the kind offices of storks or angels. Instead, by
analogy with the reproductive processes of all
nature, the true facts of sex may be explained to
him in a soothing and normal way.

EVIL COMMUNICATIONS

Too often, the growing boy receives his first lessons
regarding sex from ignorant and vicious associates.
Curiosity is one of the greatest natural
factors in the child’s proper development, if rightly
directed. When wrongly led, however, it may have
the worst consequences. Even before puberty occurs,
a boy’s attention may be quite naturally drawn
to his own sex organs.

NATURAL CAUSES OF INFANT SEXUAL PRECOCITY

Sexual precocity in boys may be natural or it may
be artificially called forth. Among natural causes[22]
which develop sex precocity is promiscuous playing
with other boys and girls for hours without supervision.
It may also be produced by playful repose
on the stomach, sliding down banisters, going too
long without urinating, by constipation or straining
at stool, irritant cutaneous affections, and rectal
worms. Sliding down banisters, for instance, produces
a titillation. The act may be repeated until
inveterate masturbation results, even at an early age.
Needless laving, handling and rubbing of the private
parts is another natural incitement to sexual
precocity.

PRIAPISM

Priapism is a disease which boys often develop.
It may be either a result or a cause of sexual precocity,
and may come from undue handling of the
genital parts or from a morbid state of health. It
takes the form of paroxysms, more or less frequent,
and of violent and often painful erection,
calling for a physician’s attention. If the result
of a functional disorder, and not arrested, it is in
danger of giving rise to masturbation. This morbid
condition sometimes seriously impairs the health.

MASTURBATION

Masturbation, the habit of self-abuse, often
formed before puberty, is an artificial development
of sexual precocity. Most boys, from the age of
nine to fourteen, interest themselves in sex questions
and matters, but these are usually presented to
them in a lewd and improper manner, by improperly
informed companions. Dwelling upon these thoughts[23]
the boy is led to play with his sex organs in secret
and masturbation results. A secret vice of the most
dangerous kind, masturbation or self-pollution is
often taught by older boys and takes place, to quote
an authority “in many of our colleges, boarding,
public and private schools,” and is also indulged
in by companions beneath the home roof. If it
becomes habitual, generally impaired health, and
often epilepsy, and total moral and physical degradation
results. Stains on the nightshirt or sheet
occurring before puberty are 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-fact developments of general natural
laws. Ungratified or improperly gratified curiosity
is what leads to a young boy’s overemphasizing the
facts of sex as they apply to him. Make him your
confidant. Teach him to think cleanly and to act
cleanly, neither to ignore nor to exalt the sexual.
Especially, when he himself is directly disturbed
sexually, either in a mental or physical way, let
him feel that he can apply 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 adolescence present themselves, he
will be prepared to handle them on the basis of
right thinking and right living. Natural and healthy
sport in the open air, and the avoidance of foul
language and indecency should be stressed. The[24]
use of alcohol, coffee and tea by children tends to
weaken their sexual organs. Every boy should
know that chastity means continence. He should
know that lascivious thoughts lead to lascivious
actions, and that these are a drain on his system
which may spoil his life in later years.

In the education of his children the average man
is only too apt to repeat the same mistake of unconsciously
crediting the child with the possession
of his own feelings and his own outlook, that is the
feelings and outlook of the adult. In general,
things which may make an impression in a sex
way on the adult are a matter of indifference to
the sexually unripe boy. Hence it is quite possible
for a father to discuss sex matters with his young
son and inform him constructively, without in any
undue way rousing his sex curiosity or awakening
desire. Such talks, of course, should be in accordance
with the principles already laid down in
the section on “Reproduction.”

If a boy is accustomed and taught to regard sex
conditions and matters in a proper and innocent
manner, as something perfectly natural, improper
curiosity and eroticism are far less likely to be
aroused than when this is not the case. For the
whole subject will have lost the dangerous attraction
of novelty. On the other hand, we find boys
who have been brought up with great prudery and
in complete ignorance of sex matters (save that
which may come to them from impure sources)
greatly excited and ashamed by the first appearance
of the indications of puberty. Secrecy is the[25]
enemy of a clean, normal conception on the part
of the child as to the right place sex and the sex
function play in life and in the world. It stands
to reason, of course, that every least detail of the
sex question cannot be intelligently made clear to a
little child. But his questions should all be answered,
honestly, and with due regard for his age and his
capacity to understand what is explained to him.

One very great advantage of an early paternal
explanation of sex matters to the boy is its beneficial
effect on the mind and the nerves. Many boys brood
or grow melancholy when confronted with sex riddles
and problems for which they are unable to find
a solution; and as the result of totally erroneous
ideas they may have formed with regard to sex
matters. At the same time too much attention should
not be paid the discussion of sex questions between
father and son. A father should, so far as possible,
endeavor to develop other interests and 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 for marriage is reached.

CHAPTER IV[26]

SEX IN FEMALE CHILDHOOD
(FROM 12 TO 14)

What has been said in general about practical
observance of the laws of sex hygiene in the
preceding chapter for boys, applies to girls as well.
If anything the sex precautions taken in infancy
should be even more 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 remain dormant during the period stretching
from infancy to puberty. As in the case of the
boy, so in that of the girl, any manifestation of
sexual precocity should be investigated, to see
whether it be due to natural or artificial causes. In
either case the proper remedies should be applied.

SEX PRECOCITY IN GIRLS

There are cases of extraordinary sex precocity
in girls. One case reported in the United States
was that of a female child who at birth possessed
all the characteristics usually developed at puberty.
In this case the natural periodical changes began at
birth! Fortunately, this is a case more or less unique.
In little girls and boys undue sexual handling or[27]
titillating of their genital organs tends to quiet
them, so nurses (let us hope in ignorance of the
consequences!) often resort to it. Sending children
to bed very early, to “get rid of them,” or confining
them in a room by themselves, tends to encourage
the development of vicious habits. A single bed,
both in the school and in the home, is indispensable
to purity of morals and personal cleanliness. It
tends to restrain too early development of the
sexual instinct both in small girls and small boys.

SEXUAL SELF-ABUSE IN GIRLS

Small girls, like small boys, display an intelligent
curiosity as regards the phenomena of sex at an
early age. And what has already been said regarding
its improper gratification in the preceding
chapter, so far as boys are concerned, applies with
equal force to them. In their case, however, the
mother is a girl’s natural confidant and friend.
Self-abuse in one or another form is as common
in the case of the girl as in that of the boy. As a
rule, girls who live an outdoor life, and work with
their muscles more than their mind, do not develop
undue precocious sexual curiosities or desires. At
least they do not do so to the same extent as those
more nervously and susceptibly constituted. The
less delicate and sensitive children of the country
tend less to these habits than their more sensitively
organized city brothers and sisters. Girls who have
formed vicious habits are apt to indulge in the practice
of self-abuse at night when going to bed. If
there is cause for suspicion, the bedclothes should[28]
be quickly and suddenly thrown off under some
pretense. Self-abuse usually has a marked effect on
the genital organs of girls. The inner organs become
unnaturally enlarged and distended, and
leucorrhea, catarrh of the vagina, attended by a
discharge of greenish-white mucus, 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 permanent irritations
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 advent of puberty. Any decided enlargement
of the labia and clitoris in a young girl may be
taken as a positive evidence of the existence of the
habit of self-abuse. Sterility, and atrophy of the
breasts—their deficient development—when the vice
is begun before puberty, is another result.

PRURITIS AND FEMININE NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS

Pruritis (itching genitals), though not necessarily
caused by self-abuse, may be one of its consequences.
Continued congestion causes the genital parts
to itch terribly. This itching increases until the
desire to manipulate the genitals becomes irresistible.
It will then be indulged in even in the presence
of strangers, though the girl in question at[29]
other times may be exceptionally modest. Girls
addicted to the vice also suffer from nocturnal
emissions. The general effect of self-abuse is much
the same in the case of a girl as in that of a boy,
for leucorrhea is injurious in somewhat the same
fashion as seminal loss. In the case of girls the
greatest injury, however, is due 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. She will not be so, especially with
regard to her sex problems, unless she can appeal
to her mother as a friend and confidant. While
keeping your girl’s mind pure and healthy by precept
and example, do not forget that the best way
to protect her against evil influences and communications
is to tell her the exact truth about sex facts,
as they apply to her, just as the father should his
boy. Keep your girl fully occupied and do not leave
her sex education to the evil winds of chance.

Let sex knowledge take its place as a proper,
necessary part of her general education. If your
daughter feels she can at all times talk freely to
you all will be well. Gratify her natural sex curiosity
in a natural way. See that immediate medical
attention is given inflammations, excoriations, itchings
and swellings of her genital organs. Such conditions
will lead her to rub and scratch these parts—never
to be touched—for relief. If, as a result of
the sensations experienced, masturbation results,
yours is the sin.

CHAPTER V[30]

SEX IN THE ADOLESCENT MALE
(FROM PUBERTY TO MATURITY)

Adolescence is the period when the boy is
lost in the man. It is the time of life embraced
between the ages of fourteen or sixteen and the age
of twenty-five. Every boy, if properly trained,
should reach this period in a state of good general
health and spirits. Hitherto he has been led and
guided. Now he must develop mental strength and
will power himself to choose the good and refuse
the evil in the sexual problems confronting him.

PUBERTY

According to climate puberty, the age when the
human male becomes sexually perfect, varies from
ten to fifteen years. In the United States puberty in
the male usually occurs at the age of fourteen and a
half years. In tropical climates it occurs at nine or
ten, and in cold countries, such as Norway and
Siberia, it may not take place until eighteen or
nineteen. Vigorous physical exercise tends to delay
puberty, 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 vegetable
and farinaceous diet may delay the development of
the sexual system several months or a year.[31]

THE SIGNS AND CHANGES OF PUBERTY

In the boy the signs of puberty are the growth
of hair on the skin covering the pubes and in the
armpits. Chest and arms broaden, the frame grows
more angular, the masculine proportions more pronounced.
The vocal cords grow longer and lower
the pitch of the voice. Hair grows 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 and desires
should never consciously injure an individual human
being or mankind in general. They should be exercised
to further the value and happiness of both.”

THE MALE ADOLESCENT AND CONTINENCE

The perfect carrying out of this general moral
law implies continence on the part of the male
adolescent until marriage. Continence is positive
restraint under all circumstances. Strict continence
is neither injurious to health, nor does it produce
impotence. While self-denial is difficult, since the
promptings of nature often seem imperious, it is not
impossible. It is certain that no youth will suffer,
physically, by remaining sexually pure. The demands
which occur during adolescence are mainly
abnormal, due to the excitements of an overstimulating
diet, pornographic literature and art, and the
temptations of impure association.[32]

WHY YOUNG MEN GO WRONG

Foul thoughts, once they enter the mind, corrode
it. The sensual glance, the bawdy laugh, the ribald
jest, the smutty story, the obscene song may be met
with on street corner, in the car, train, hotel lobby,
lecture hall and workshop. Mental unchastity ends
in physical unchastity. The habit common to most
adolescent boys and young men of relating smutty
stories, repeating foul jokes and making indecent
allusions destroys respect for virtue. In addition
there are such direct physical causes of undue adolescent
sexual excitement as constipation and alcoholism,
and such mental ones as nervous irritability.

To the constant discussion and speculation regarding
sex and its mysteries by the adolescent
young male, must be added the artificial idea that
idle prattling on the subject is a sign of “manhood.”
Thus many young men whose natural trend is in the
direction of decency and right sexual living, “step
out” or “go to see the girls,” as the phrase is, because
they think that otherwise “they are not real
men.” More subtle in its evil effect, yet somewhat
less dangerous physically, perhaps, than the professional
prostitute is the lure of the “hidden” prostitute,
who carefully conceals her derelictions, and
publicly wraps herself in a mantle of virtue.

PROSTITUTION

The training of the average male mind in impure
language and thought during boyhood and adolescence,
the cultivation of his animal at the expense[33]
of the moral nature, often leads the adolescent to
seek satisfaction by frequenting the prostitute.

Prostitution, known as the “social evil,” is promiscuous
unchastity for gain. It has existed in all
civilized countries from earliest times. Prostitution
abuses the instinct for reproduction, the basic
element of sex, to offer certain women a livelihood
which they prefer to 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, harsh treatment of girls at home,
indecent living among the poor, contact with
demoralizing companions, loose literature and
amusements are secondary causes. They all contribute
to debauch male and female youth and lead it to
form dangerous habits of vicious sensual indulgence.

Prostitution seems inseparable from human society
in large communities. The fact is acknowledged
in the name given it, “the necessary evil.” Regulation
and medical control only arrest in a degree the
spread of venereal diseases to which prostitution
gives rise. The elementary laws on which prostitution
rests seems to be stronger than the artificial
codes imposed by moral teaching. It is an evil
which must be combatted individually. Men are
principally responsible, in one way or another, for
the existence of the social evil. In the case of the
young man, abstention is the only cure for the
probable results of indulging his animal passions by
recourse to the prostitute.

Prostitution, both public and private is the most[34]
dangerous menace to society at large. It is the curse
of individual young manhood because of the venereal
diseases it spreads. One visit to a house of
prostitution may ruin a young man’s health and life,
and millions of human beings die annually from the
effects of poison contracted in these houses. “Wild
oats” sown in company with the prostitute usually
bear fruit in the shape of the most loathsome and
destructive sex disorders.

The development of self-control, the avoidance of
impure thoughts and associations, the cultivation
of the higher moral nature instead of the lower
animal one, and, finally, marriage, should prevent
the young man from falling into prostitution. All
the state and medical regulation in the world will
not protect him from the venereal diseases he is so
apt to acquire by such indulgence.

FREE LOVE

Free love is the doctrine of unrestrained choice,
without binding ties, in sexual relations. For altogether
different reasons, however, it is quite as
objectionable as prostitution for the young man. It
may offer better hygienic guarantees. But it is a
sexual partnership which is opposed to the fundamental
institution of marriage, on which society in
general is based throughout the world. And, aside
from the fact that it is a promiscuous relationship
not sanctioned by law or society, it is seldom practically
successful. It cannot admit of true love without
bitter jealousies.

CHAPTER VI[35]

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
or fourteen and twenty-one years. Elasticity of
body, a clear complexion, and a happy control of
her feelings should mark the young girl at this time,
if she has been so fortunate as to escape the dangers
and baneful influences of childhood and infancy.
Her numerous bodily functions should be
well performed. Thus constituted she should be in
a condition to take up her coming struggle with the
world, and the sex problem it will present.

PUBERTY

It has been noticed that in the case of girls,
puberty usually occurs earlier in brunettes than in
blondes. In general, it makes its appearance earlier
in those of a nervous or bilio-nervous temperament
than in those whose temperament is phlegmatic or
lymphatic. In the United States fourteen and a
half years is the usual age of puberty in girls. In
tropical lands, however, it is not uncommon for a
girl to be a mother at twelve. Country girls (and
boys) usually mature several months or a year later
than those living in cities. Too early a puberty in[36]
girls may well arouse concern. It usually indicates
some inherent constitutional weakness. Premature
puberty is often associated 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 than in the
male. Muscles and joints are less prominent, limbs
more rounded and tapering. Internal and external
organs undergo rapid enlargement, locally. The
mammæ (the breasts) enlarge, the ovaries dilate,
and a periodical uteral discharge (menstruation) is
established.

MENSTRUATION

No young girl should feel alarmed if, owing
to the negligence of her parents or guardians to prepare
her, she is surprised by this first flow from
the genital organs. Puberty is the proper time
for the appearance of menstruation. This is the
periodical development and discharge of an ovule
(one or more) by the female, accompanied by the
discharge of a fluid, known as menses or catamenia.
Menstruation, in general good health, should occur
about every twenty-eight days, or once 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 it disappears
a woman is no longer capable of bearing children.
Her period of fertility has passed. In rare cases
menstruation has stopped at 35, or lasted till 60.[37]

HINTS FOR OBSERVANCE DURING MENSTRUATION

When the period arrives a girl or woman has a
feeling of discomfort and lassitude, there is a sense
of weight, and a disclination for society. Menstruation
should not, however, be regarded as a nuisance;
a girl’s friends respect her most when she is “unwell.”
She should keep more than usually quiet
while the flow continues, which it will do for a few
days. Also, she should avoid all unnecessary fatigue,
exposure to wet or to extremes of temperature.
Some girls are guilty of the crime of trying
to arrest the menstruation flow, and resorting to
methods of stopping it. Why? In order to attend
a dance or pleasure excursion! Lives have been lost
by thus suppressing the monthly flux. Mothers
should instruct their daughters when the menses are
apt to begin, and what their function is. During
menstruation great care must be taken in using
water internally. A chill is sufficient to arrest the
flow. If menstruation does not establish itself in a
healthy or normal manner at the proper time,
consult a physician in order to remove this abnormal
condition. Any disturbance of the delicate
menstrual functions during the period, by constrained
positions, muscular effort, brain work
and mental or physical excitement, is apt to have
serious consequences.

CONTINENCE AND THE YOUNG ADOLESCENT GIRL

Continence is, as a rule more easily observed by
the adolescent girl than by the adolescent youth.[38]
Ordinarily the normal young girl has no undue
sexual propensities, amorous thoughts or feelings.
Though she is exposed to the danger of meeting
other girls who may be lewd in thought and speech,
in the houses of friends or at school, she is not apt
to be carried away by their example. Yet even a
good, pure-minded young girl may be debauched.
Especially during adolescence, the easy observance
of natural continence depends greatly on the proper
functioning of the feminine genital organs. These
may be easily disturbed. The syringe used for injections,
for so-called purposes of cleanliness, is in
reality a danger. The inner organs are self-cleansing.
Water or other fluids cast into them disorder
the mucous follicles, and dry up their secretions,
preventing the flowing out of some of Nature’s
necessities. A daily washing of the inner organs
for a long period with water also produces chronic
leucorrhea.

WHY YOUNG GIRLS FALL

Lack of proper early training, abnormal sex instincts,
weak good nature, poverty, all may be responsible
for a young girl’s moral downfall. As a
general thing, right home training and home environment,
and sane sex education will prevent the normally
good girl from going wrong. It should be
remembered, though, that a naturally more gentle
and yielding disposition may easily lead her into
temptation. Girls who are sentimentally inclined
should beware of giving way to advances on the part
of young men which have only one object in view:
the gratification of their animal passion.[39]

The holding of hands and similar innocent beginnings
often pave the way for more familiar caresses.
Passionate kisses—the promiscuous kiss, by the
way, may be the carrier of that dread infection,
syphilis—violently awaken a young girl’s sex instincts.
The fact is that many innocent girls idealize
their seducers. They believe their lying promises,
actually come to love them, and think that in gratifying
their inflamed desires, they are giving a proof
of the depth and purity of their own affection.

Here, as in the case of the young man, self-control
should be the first thing cultivated. And self-control
should be made doubly sure by never
permitting one of the opposite sex to show undue
familiarity. Many a seemingly innocent flirtation,
begun with a kiss, has ended in shame and disgrace,
in loss of social standing and position, venereal
disease, or even death. The pure-minded and innocent
girl often becomes a victim of her ignorance
of the consequences entailed by giving in to the desires
of some male companion. The girl who has a
knowledge of sex facts is less apt to be taken advantage
of in this manner.

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 great increase
in familiarity between the adolescent youth of both
sexes. Many young girls of the “flapper” type,
in particular, are victims of these conditions[40]
of unrestrained sex association. Sex precocity
is furthered in coeducational colleges, in the high
school and the home. Adolescents of both sexes too
often are practically unhampered in their comings
and goings, their words and actions. The surreptitious
pocket flask, filled with “hooch,” is often a
feature of social parties, dances and affairs frequented
by young people. Girls and boys drink together,
and as alcohol weakens moral resistance in
the one case, and stimulates desire in the other, deplorable
consequences naturally result. In the
United States the number of girls “sent home” from
colleges, and of high-school girls being privately
treated by physicians 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 a general idea
of what they are doing or whom they are meeting,
need not be surprised if their morals are undermined.

The Auto.—The advent of the automobile is
responsible for an easy and convenient manner of
satisfying precociously aroused sex instincts in
young girls and boys. Often, unconscientious pleasure-seekers
roam the roads in their auto. They accost
girls who are walking and offer them a “lift.”
When the latter refuse to gratify their desires
they are often beaten and flung from the car. The
daily press has given such publicity to this civilized
form of “head hunting,” that it is difficult to sympathize
with girls who are thus treated. They cannot[41]
help but know that in nine cases out of ten, a
stranger who invites them to a ride, who “picks”
them up, does so with the definite purpose already
mentioned in view.

Poverty.—Poverty, too, plays a large part in
driving young girls into a life of vice. In all our
large cities there are hundreds of young women
who earn hardly enough to buy food and fuel and
pay for the rent of a room in a cheap lodging house.
Feminine youth longs for dress, 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 a hundred and one occupations.
A young woman may go to a large city as
pure as snow, but finding no lucrative employment,
lonely and despondent, she is led to take her first
step on the downward path. Soon daily contact with
vice removes abhorrence to it. Familiarity makes it
habitual, and another life is ruined. The heartless
moral code of the cynical young pleasure-seeking
male is summed up in the cant 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 such a maxim.

VIRGINITY

Both mental and physical purity are rightfully required
of the young girl about to marry. How shall
she acquire and maintain this desirable state of
purity? The process is a simple one. She must let a[42]
knowledge of the true hygienic and moral laws of
her sex guide her in her relations with men. She
must cultivate clean thought on a basis of physical
cleanliness. She need not be ignorant to be pure.
Men she should study carefully. She should not
allow them to sit with their arm about her waist, to
hold her hand, to kiss her. No approach nor touch
beyond what the best social observance sanctions
should be permitted. Even the tendernesses and
familiarities of courtship should be restrained. An
engagement does not necessarily culminate in a
marriage, and once the foot has slipped on virtue’s
path the error cannot be recalled. These considerations,
together with those adduced in the preceding
section, “Why Young Girls Fall,” are well worth
taking to heart by every young woman who wishes
to approach matrimony in the right and proper way.

CHAPTER VII[43]

SEX IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION
THE HUSBAND

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

THE MARRIAGEABLE AGE AND ADAPTATION

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

MEN WHO SHOULD NOT MARRY

Men suffering with diseases which may be communicated
by contagion or heredity should not
marry. These diseases include: tuberculosis, syphilis,
cancer, leprosy, epilepsy and some nervous disorders,
some skin diseases and insanity. A worn-out
rake has no business to marry, since marriage is not
a hospital for the treatment of disease, or a reformatory
institution for moral lepers. Those having a[44]
marked tendency to disease must not marry those
of similar tendency. The marriage of cousins is not
to be advocated. The blood relation tends to bring
together persons with similar morbid tendencies.
Where both are healthy, however, there seems to be
no special liability to mental incompetency, though
such marriages are accused of producing defective
or idiot children. Men suffering from congenital
defects should not marry. Natural blindness, deafness,
muteness, and congenital deformities of limb
are more or less likely to be passed on to their children.
There are cases of natural blindness, though,
to which this rule does not apply. Criminals, alcoholics,
and persons disproportionate in size should
not marry. In the last-mentioned, lack of 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, disparity of race, a
poverty which will not permit the proper raising of
children, undesirable moral character are all good
reasons for not marrying.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION BEFORE MARRIAGE

Medical examination as a preliminary to marriage
is practically more valuable than a marriage license.
Since many entirely innocent young girls to-day
suffer from disease, incurred either through hereditary
or accidental infection, a would-be husband
may be said to be quite as much entitled to protection
as his bride-to-be. Prohibitive physical defects
are also discovered in this connection.

CHAPTER VIII[45]

SEX IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION
THE WIFE

Girls marry, in the final analysis, because love
for the male is an innate natural principle of
the female nature. At its best this love is pure and
chaste. The good woman realizes that its first purpose
is not mere carnal pleasure. It is a special
avowal of the wife’s relations to her husband, and
its natural as well as moral end is the establishment
of the family on the basis of a healthy progeny.

BEFORE MARRIAGE

The wife-to-be, like her prospective husband, will
be well advised to ask for a medical health certificate.
No man, no matter how good his reputation
may be, should marry (on his own account as well
as that of the girl) without thorough examination
by a physician. The consequences of venereal infection
administered to unborn children by their parents
are too horrible to allow of any risk being
taken. Another bit of advice, which cannot be too
highly commended, is that the prospective husband
and wife, before they marry, have a plain talk with
each other regarding individual sexual peculiarities
and needs. A heart-to-heart talk of this kind would[46]
be apt to prevent great disappointments and incompatibilities
which otherwise may become permanent.

THE WIFE AND HER POSITION

The natural instinct of a man is to seek his mate.
On her he depends for an orderly and lawful indulgence
of his sex demands. The greatest longevity
and best health are to be found among happily married
fathers and mothers. No young woman should
marry without a full knowledge of her sex duties
to her husband. And she should never consummate
the marriage vow grudgingly.

CHILDBIRTH HYGIENE

Childbirth is the natural consequence of marriage.
Its processes have already been explained in Chapter
II of this book. There are, however, some
hygienic facts in connection with it which should
be noted. Once pregnancy is established, as soon as
the fact is suspected, the mother-to-be should look
on the little embryo as already a member of the
family. Every act of each parent should now be
performed (at least to some degree) with reference
to the forthcoming infant. The mother’s thoughts
should be directed to it as much as possible. Mentally
she should read literature of a lofty and ennobling
character. The theory is that this serves a
good purpose in producing a more perfect, healthy
and intelligent child. Physically, she should take
plenty of active exercise during gestation. Active
exercise does not, of course, mean violent exercise.
And she should use a “Health Lift.” During this[47]
time she should subsist as far as possible on a farinaceous
diet, fruits and vegetables. The foods
should be plainly cooked, without spices. If all else
is as it should be, the birth of the child at the end
of the customary nine months will be attended by
comparatively little pain and danger.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD CHILDBIRTH TAKE PLACE?

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

MATRIMONIAL ADJUSTMENT

The above paragraph deals with one detail of
what might be called “matrimonial adjustment.”
This adjustment or compromise is a feature of all
successful marriages. The individual cravings of
husband and wife must be reconciled by mutual
good will and forbearance if they are to be happy.
Attention should be paid in particular to not allowing
habit, “the worst foe of married happiness,” to
become too well established in the home, and to cultivate
that love and affection which survives the
decline of the sexual faculties.[48]

THE IDEAL MARRIAGE

The ideal marriage is the one in which affection
combines to bring happiness to both partners in a
sane union of sex and soul. As one commentator
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 and respect must be the
foundation on which the ideal married state is built.
The husband should realize that his wife’s love for
him induces her to allow privileges of a personal
nature which her innate chastity and timidity might
otherwise refuse. In return, he should accept these
privileges with consideration. He should, in particular,
on his wedding night, take care not to shock
his young bride’s sensibilities. He may easily give
her a shock from which she will not recover for
years, 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 of countries during the past fifteen
or twenty years which cannot be attributed to purely
economic causes. They do not seem to depend on
such things as trade, employment and prices; but
on the spread of an idea or influence whose tendency
must be deplored, that of “birth control,” a phrase
much heard in these days.

The fact that a decline in human fertility and a[49]
falling birth rate are most noticeable in the relatively
prosperous countries is a proof that it does not proceed
from economic causes; but is due rather to
the spread of the doctrine that it is permissible to
restrict or control birth. In such countries as the
United States, England and Australasia, where the
standards of human comfort and living are notoriously
high, the decline in the birth rate has been
most noticeable. On the other hand, we find perhaps
the greatest decline in the birth rate in France,
a country where the general well-being probably
reaches a lower depth in the community than in any
other part of Europe. A comparison of the birth
rates of France and of Ireland, for example, offer
a valuable illustration of the point under consideration.
In France, more than half the women who
have reached the age of nubility are married; in
Ireland, generally speaking, less than a third. In
both countries the crude birth rate is far below that
in other European lands. Yet the fertility of the
Irish wife exceeded that of her French compeer by
44 per cent in 1880, and by no less than 84 per cent
in 1900. And since that time the prolificity of the
Irish mother 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 a falling off of childbirth unaccompanied
by a decrease in the number of marriages
occurring at the reproductive ages, we may
attribute this decrease to voluntary restriction of
childbearing on the part of the married, or in other[50]
words, to the prevalance of “birth control.” This
incidentally, is not a theoretical statement, but one
supported by the almost unanimous medical opinion
in all countries. Everywhere and especially here in
our own United States, we find evidence of the extensive
employ of “birth control” measures to prevent
that normal development of family life which
underlies the vigor and racial power of every nation.
These preventive measures which arbitrarily
control human birth had long been in use in France
with results which, especially since the war, have
been frequently and publicly deplored in the press,
and have led the French Government to offer substantial
rewards to encourage the propagation of
large families. From France the preventive practises
of “birth control” had spread, after 1870,
over nearly all the countries of western Europe, to
England and to the United States; though they are
not as much apparent in those countries where the
Roman Church has a strong hold on the people.

As a general thing, the practice of thus unnaturally
limiting families—“unnaturally” since the
custom of “birth control” derives from no natural,
physical law—prevails, in the first instance, among
the well-to-do, who should rather be the first to set
the example of protest against it by having the
families they are so much better able to support
and educate than those less favored with the world’s
goods. If the evil of voluntary control of human
birth were restricted to a privileged class, say one
of wealth, the harm done would, perhaps, not be so
great. But, unfortunately, in the course of time[51]
it filters down as a “gospel of comfort”—erroneous
term!—to those whose resources are less. They
accept and practice this invidious system of prevention
and gradually the entire community is
more or less affected.

The whole system of “birth control” is opposed to
natural, human and religious law. Nature, in none
of her manifestations, introduces anything which
may tend to prevent her great reason for being—the
propagation of the species. Birth as the natural
sequence of mating is her solemn and invariable
law. It is in birth and rebirth that nature renews
herself and all the life of the animal and vegetable
world, and her primal aim is to encourage it. Human
law recognizes this underlying law of nature
by forbidding man to tamper in a preventive way
with her hallowed and mysterious processes for
perpetuating the human race. Religious law, based
on the divine dispensation of the Scriptures, indorses
the law of nature and that of the state.

We may take it, then, that “birth control” represents
a deliberate and reprehensible attempt to
nullify those innate laws of reproduction sanctioned
by religion, tradition and man’s own ingrained instinct.
To say that the human instinct for the perpetuation
of his race and family has become
atrophied during the flight of time, and that he is
therefore justified in denying it, is merely begging
the question. The instinct may be denied, just as
other higher and nobler instincts are disregarded;
but its validity cannot be questioned. Whether
those who practice “birth control” are influenced[52]
by economic, selfishly personal or other reasons,
they are offending in a threefold manner: against
the inborn wish and desire which is a priceless possession
of even the least of God’s creatures, that
of living anew in its offspring; against the law of
the state, which after all, stands for the crystallization
of the best feeling of the community; and
against the divine injunction handed down to us
in Holy Writ, to “increase and multiply.”

“Birth control” is the foe to the direct end and
aim of marriage, which, in the last analysis, is childbirth.
As an enemy to the procreation of children
it is an enemy of the family and the family group.
As an enemy of the family, it is an enemy of the
state, the community, a foe to the whole social
system. Mankind has been able to attain its comparatively
recent state of moral and physical advancement
without having recourse to the dangerous
principle which “birth control” represents. Surely
that wise provision of our existing legal code which
makes the printing or dessimation of information
regarding the physical facts of “birth control” illegal
and punishable as an offense, can only be approved
by those who respect the Omnipotent will, and the
time-hallowed traditions which date back to the
very inception of the race.

CHAPTER IX[53]

SEX DISEASES

The sex diseases are the same in both sexes,
whether developed by direct or accidental
infection. They are the greatest practical argument
in favor of continence, morality and marriage in
the sex relation.

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 a
venereal bacillus, the gonococcus. Under favorable
conditions and with right treatment, gonorrhea may
be cured, though violently painful, in fourteen days.
Often the inflammation extends, becomes chronic
and attacks other organs. This chronic gonorrhea
often causes permanent contraction of the urethra,
which leads to the painful retention of urine,
catarrh of the bladder, and stone. Chronic gonorrhea,
too, often ends in death, especially if the
kidneys are attacked. A cured case of gonorrhea
does not mean immunity from further 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[54]
frequent inflammations and lead to growths in the
belly. Women thus attacked usually are apt to be
sterile; they suffer agonies, and often become
chronic invalids. The child born of a gonorrheal
mother, while passing through the infected genital
organs, comes to life with infected eyelids. This is
Blennorrhea, which may result in total blindness.
Gonorrhea also causes inflammation of the joints,
gonorrheal rheumatism, testicular inflammations
which may lead to sterility. Some authorities claim
that fully half the sterility in women is caused by
gonorrheal infection of the Fallopian tubes. Gonorrheal
infection of the eyes at birth is now prevented
by first washing them in a saturated solution
of boric acid, then treating them with a drop of
weak silver solution.

SYPHILIS

Syphilis is a still more terrible venereal disease.
It usually appears first in small, hard sores, hard
chancres, on the sexual parts or the mouth. Then
the syphilitic poison spreads throughout the whole
body by means of the blood. After a few weeks it
breaks out on the face or body. Its final cure is
always questionable. Syphilis may lie dormant for
years, and then suddenly become active again. It
breaks out in sores on all parts of the body, often
eats up the bone, destroys internal organs, such as
the liver, causes hardening of the lungs, diseases of
the blood vessels and eye diseases. Ulcers of the
brain and nerve paralysis often result from it. One
of its most terrible consequences is consumption of[55]
the spinal marrow and paralysis of the brain, or
paresis. The first slowly hardens and destroys the
spinal marrow, the second the brain. These diseases
are only developed by previous syphilitics. As
a rule they occur from 5 to 20 years after infection,
usually 10 or 15 years after it. And they usually
happen to persons who believed themselves completely
cured. Consumption of the spinal marrow
leads to death in the course of a few years of continual
torture. 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 be overlooked during the first period,
because of the lack of pronounced symptoms. Its
early sores may easily be mistaken for some skin
affection. Mercury and other means are successful
in doing away with at least the more noticeable
signs of syphilis during the first and secondary
stages. The modern medical treatment using mercury
and Salvarsan (606) in alternation, has been
very successful. It is claimed that by following it,
syphilis may be totally cured if taken in hand during
the first stage. The sores developed during the first
two or three years of the disease are very infectious.
In the case of a chronic syphilis of three or four
years’ standing, the sores as a rule are no longer
infectious. It is possible, however, for a syphilitic
of this description to bring forth syphilitic children,
without infecting his wife. Such children either die
at birth, or later, of this congenital syphilis. They[56]
may also die of spinal consumption or paresis between
the ages of 10 and 20. The mortality of
all syphilitic children is very great. In most cases,
however, healthy children are born of the wedlock
of relatively cured syphilitics, though they are
often sterile. Young men who have had recourse
to prostitutes, 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 hard chancre being the first stage of
syphilis). It is the least dangerous of the venereal
diseases, but unfortunately, relatively the one which
occurs most seldom. When not complicated with
syphilis, it appears locally. It is a larger or smaller
sore feeding and growing on the genital organs.

VENEREAL DISEASE AN ADVOCATE OF CONTINENCE

The most tragic consequence of all venereal disease
is the part it plays in the infection of innocent
children, and innocent wives and mothers. Often
a pure and chaste woman is thus deprived in the
most cruel and brutal manner of the fruit of all
her hopes and dreams of happiness. Similarly, a
young man may find himself hopelessly condemned
to a short life of pain and misery. He may also
suffer from the 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 which cannot be ignored!

CHAPTER X[57]

LOVE AND SEX

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

All know the tale of Cupid’s arrow. A man falls
in love with a face, a pair of eyes, the sound of a
voice, and his affection is developed from this trifling
beginning until it takes complete possession of
him. 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 affection
purified from egoism.

When, among the lower animal forms we find
individuals without a determined sex, egoism develops
free from all restraint. Each individual
creature devours as much as it can and feeding,
together with propagation by division, “budding”
or conjunction, makes up the total of its vital activities.
It need do no more to accomplish the[58]
purpose of its existence. Even when propagation
commences to take place by means of individual
male and female parents, the same principle of egoism
largely obtains. The spiders are typical instances
of this: in their case the carrying out of the
natural functions of the male spider is attended
with much danger for him, owing to the fact that
if he does not exercise the greatest care, he is apt
to be devoured immediately afterward by his female
partner, in order that no useful food matter may be
lost. Yet even in the case of the spiders, the female
spider already gives proof of a certain capacity for
sacrifice where her young are concerned, at any
rate for a short time after they have crept from
the egg.

In animals somewhat higher in the creative scale,
more or less powerful feelings of affection may develop
out of their sex association. There is affection
on the part of the male for his mate, and on the
part of the female for her young. Often these
feelings develop into a strong, lasting affection between
the sexes, and years of what might be called
faithful matrimonial union have been observed in
the case of birds. This in itself is sufficient to
establish the intimate relationship between love in
a sex sense and love in a general sense. And even in
the animal creation we find the same analogy existing
between these feelings of sympathy and their
opposites which occur in the case of human beings.
Every feeling of attachment or sympathy existing
between two individuals has a counterpart in an
opposite feeling of discontent when the object of[59]
the love or attachment in question dies, falls sick,
or runs away. This feeling of discontent may assume
the form of a sorrow ending in lasting melancholy.
In the case of apes and of certain parrots,
it has been noticed that the death of a mate has frequently
led the survivor to refuse nourishment, and
die in turn from increasing grief and depression.
If, on the other hand, an animal discovers the cause
of the grief or loss which threatens it; if some
enemy creature tries to rob it of its mate or little
ones, the mixed reactive feeling of rage or anger
is born in it, anger against the originator of its
discontent. Jealousy is only a definite special form
of this anger reaction.

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

In the human animal, speaking in general, these
feelings of sympathy (love) and duty are strongly[60]
developed in the family connection; that is, they are
developed with special strength in those who are
most intimately united in sex life, in husband and
wife and in children. Consequently the feelings of
sympathy or love which extend to larger communal
groups, such as more distant family connections, the
tribe, the community, those speaking the same
tongue, the nation, are relatively far weaker.
Weakest of all, in all probability, is that general
human feeling which sees a brother in every other
human being and is conscious of the social duties
owed him.

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

The mutual adoration of two individuals, husband
and wife, often degenerates into a species of egoistic
enmity toward the remainder of the world. And
this, in turn, in many cases reacts unfavorably upon
the love the two feel for each other. Human solidarity,
especially in this day, is already too great
not to revenge itself upon the egotistical character
of so exclusive a love. The real ideal of sex in love
might be expressed as follows: A man and a
woman should be induced to unite in marriage[61]
through genuine sex attraction and harmony of
character and disposition. In this union they should
mutually encourage each other to labor socially for
the common good of mankind, in such wise that
they further their own mutual education and that of
their children, the beings nearest and dearest to
them, as the natural point of departure for helping
general human betterment.

If love in its relation to sex be conceived in this
manner, it will purify it by doing away with its
pettinesses and it is just into these pettinesses that
the most honest and upright of matrimonial loves
too often degenerate. The constructive work done
in common by two human beings who, while they
care lovingly for each other, at the same time encourage
each other to strive and endure in carrying
out the principles of right living and high thinking,
will last. Love and marriage looked at from this
point of view, are relatively immune from the small
jealousies and other evil little developments of a
one-sided, purely physical affection. It will work
for an ever more ideal realization of love in its
higher and nobler dispensations.

Real and true love is lasting. The suddenly
awakened storm of sex affection for a hitherto
totally unknown person can never be accepted as a
true measure for love. This sudden surge of the
sex feeling warps the 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 causes each to carefully conceal his or her[62]
real inward self from the other. This may be the
case even when the feelings of both are absolutely
honest, especially if the sex feeling is not paired
with cool egoistic calculation. Not until the first
storm of the sex feeling has subsided, when honeymoon
weeks are over, is a more normal point of
view regained. And then love, indifference, or
hatred, as the case may be develops. It is for this
reason that love at first sight is always dangerous,
and that only a longer and more intimate acquaintance
with the object of one’s affection is
calculated to give a lasting union a relatively good
chance of turning out happily. One thing is worth
bearing in mind. Woman invariably represents
the conservative element in the family. Her emotional
qualities, combined with wonderful endurance,
always control her intellect more powerfully
than is the case with man; and the feelings
and emotions form the conservative element in
the human soul.