- Transcriber's Note: Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have been preserved. There are many uncommon words in this text. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For a complete list, please see the end of this document. Bold face is indicated when text is enclosed by equal signs (example: bold) -



WOMAN

Her Sex And Love Life

by

WILLIAM J. ROBINSON, M.D.

Chief of the Department of Genito-Urinary Diseases and Dermatology, Bronx Hospital Dispensary Editor of the American Journal of Urology and Sexology; Editor of The Critic and Guide; Author of Treatment of Sexual Impotence and Other Sexual Disorders in Men and Women; Treatment of Gonorrhea in Men and Women; Limitation of Offspring by the Prevention of Conception; Sex Knowledge for Girls and Women; Sexual Problems of Today; Never-Told Tales; Eugenics and Marriage, etc. Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, of the American Medical Editors' Association, American Medical Association, New York State Medical Society, Internationale Gesellschaft fuer Sexualforschung, American Genetic Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Urological Association, etc., etc.

Illustrated

Twenty-First Edition



1929 Eugenics Publishing Company New York

Copyright, 1917, by Eugenics Publishing Company

Press of J.J. Little & Ives Co. New York



THE CREATION OF WOMAN

This old Oriental legend is so exquisitely charming, so superior to the Biblical narrative of the creation of woman, that it deserves to be reproduced in WOMAN: HER SEX AND LOVE LIFE. There are several variants of this legend, but I reproduce it as it appeared in the first issue of THE CRITIC AND GUIDE, January, 1903.

At the beginning of time, Twashtri—the Vulcan of Hindu mythology—created the world. But when he wished to create a woman, he found that he had employed all his materials in the creation of man. There did not remain one solid element. Then Twashtri, perplexed, fell into a profound meditation from which he aroused himself and proceeded as follows:

He took the roundness of the moon, the undulations of the serpent, the entwinement of clinging plants, the trembling of the grass, the slenderness of the rose-vine and the velvet of the flower, the lightness of the leaf and the glance of the fawn, the gaiety of the sun's rays and tears of the mist, the inconstancy of the wind and the timidity of the hare, the vanity of the peacock and the softness of the down on the throat of the swallow, the hardness of the diamond, the sweet flavor of honey and the cruelty of the tiger, the warmth of fire, the chill of snow, the chatter of the jay and the cooing of the turtle dove.

He combined all these and formed a woman. Then he made a present of her to man. Eight days later the man came to Twashtri, and said: "My Lord, the creature you gave me poisons my existence. She chatters without rest, she takes all my time, she laments for nothing at all, and is always ill; take her back;" and Twashtri took the woman back.

But eight days later the man came again to the god and said: "My Lord, my life is very solitary since I returned this creature. I remember she danced before me, singing. I recall how she glanced at me from the corner of her eye, how she played with me, clung to me. Give her back to me," and Twashtri returned the woman to him. Three days only passed and Twashtri saw the man coming to him again. "My Lord," said he, "I do not understand exactly how it is, but I am sure that the woman causes me more annoyance than pleasure. I beg you to relieve me of her."

But Twashtri cried: "Go your way and do the best you can." And the man cried: "I cannot live with her!" "Neither can you live without her!" replied Twashtri.

And the man went away sorrowful, murmuring: "Woe is me, I can neither live with nor without her."



PREFACE

In the first chapter of this book I have shown, I believe convincingly, why sex knowledge is even more important for women than it is for men. I have examined carefully the books that have been written for girls and women, and I know that it is not bias, nor carping criticism, but strict honesty that forces me to say that I have not found one satisfactory girl's or woman's sex book. There are some excellent books for girls and women on general hygiene; but on sex hygiene, on the general manifestations of the sex instinct, on sex ethics—none. I have attempted to write such a book. Whether I have succeeded—fully, partially or not at all—is not for me to say, though I have my suspicions. But this I know: in writing this book I have been strictly honest with myself, from first page to last. Whether everything I have written is the truth, I do not know. But at least I believe that it is—or I would not have written it. And I can solemnly say that the book is free from any cant, hypocrisy, falsehood, exaggeration or compromise, nor has any attempt been made in any chapter to conciliate the stupid, the ignorant, the pervert, or the sexless.

As in all my other books I have used plain, honest English. Not any plainer than necessary, but plain enough to avoid obscurity and misconception.

Science and art are both necessary to human happiness. This is not the place to discuss the relative importance of the two. And, while I have no patience with art-for-art's-sake, I recognize that the scientist can not be put into a narrow channel and ordered to go into a certain definite direction. Scientific investigations which seemed aimless and useless have sometimes led to highly important results, and I would not disparage science for its own sake. It has its uses. Nevertheless I personally have no use for it. To me everything must have a direct human purpose, a definite human application. When the cup of human life is so overflowing with woe and pain and misery, it seems to me a narrow dilettanteism or downright charlatanism to devote one's self to petty or bizarre problems which can have no relation to human happiness, and to prate of self-satisfaction and self-expression. One can have all the self-expression one wants while doing useful work.

And working for humanity does not exclude a healthy hedonism; not the narrow Cyrenaic, but an enlightened altruistic hedonism. And in writing this book I have kept the human problem constantly before my eyes. It was not my ambition merely to impart interesting facts: my concern was the practical application of these facts, their relation to human happiness.

If this book should be instrumental, as I confidently trust it will, in destroying some medieval superstitions, in dissipating some hampering and cramping errors, in instilling some hope in the hearts of the hopeless, in bringing a little joy into the homes of the joyless, in increasing in however slight a degree the sum total of human happiness, its mission shall have been gloriously fulfilled.

For this is the mission of the book: to increase the sum total of human happiness.

W.J.R.

12 Mount Morris Park W., New York City. Jan. 1, 1917.



CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE PARAMOUNT NEED OF SEX KNOWLEDGE FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN 23

Why Sex Knowledge is of Paramount Importance to Girls and Women—Reasons Why a Misstep in a Girl Has More Serious Consequences than a Misstep in a Boy—The Place Love Occupies in Woman's Life—Woman's Physical Disabilities.

II. THE FEMALE SEX ORGANS; THEIR ANATOMY 31

The Internal Sex Organs—The Ovaries—The Fallopian Tubes—The Uterus—The Divisions of the Uterus—Anteversion, Anteflexion, Retroversion, Retroflexion, of the Uterus—Endometritis—The Vagina—The Hymen—Imperforate Hymen—The External Genitals—The Vulva, Labia Majora, Labia Minora, the Mons Veneris, the Clitoris, the Urethra—The Breasts—The Pelvis—The Difference Between the Male and Female Pelvis.

III. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE FEMALE SEX ORGANS 49

Function of the Ovaries—Internal Secretion of the Ovaries— Function of the Internal Secretion—Number of Ova in the Ovaries—The Graafian Follicles—Ovulation—Corpora Lutea—Function of the Fallopian Tubes—Function of the Vagina—Functions of the Vulva, Clitoris and Mons Veneris— Function of the Breasts—Besides Secreting Milk Breast Has Sexual Function—The Orgasm—Pollutions in Women—Secondary Sex Characters—Differences Between Woman and Man.

IV. THE SEX INSTINCT 62

Universality of the Sex Instinct—Not Responsible for Our Thoughts and Feelings.

V. PUBERTY 65

Physical Changes in Puberty—Physical Changes in the Genital Organs and in the Rest of the Body—Psychic Changes—Puberty and Adolescence—Nubility.

VI. MENSTRUATION 71

Definition of Menstruation—Where Menstrual Blood Comes From—Age of Menstruation—Age of Cessation of Menstruation—Duration—Amount—Regularity and Irregularity.

VII. ABNORMALITIES OF MENSTRUATION 75

Disorders of Menstruation—Menorrhagia—Metrorrhagia— Amenorrhea—Vicarious Menstruation—Dysmenorrhea of Organic and of Nervous Origin.

VIII. THE HYGIENE OF MENSTRUATION 78

Lack of Cleanliness During Menstrual Period—Superstitious Beliefs—Hygiene of Menstruation.

IX. FECUNDATION OR FERTILIZATION 82

Fecundation or Fertilization—Process of Fecundation—When the Ovum Matures—Fate of Ovum When no Intercourse Has Taken Place—Entrance of Spermatozoa as Result of Intercourse—The Spermatozoa in Search of the Ovum—Rapidity of Movements of Spermatozoa—Absorption of Spermatozooen by Ovum—Activity of Impregnated Ovum in Finding Place to Develop—Pregnancy in the Fallopian Tube and Its Dangers—Twin Pregnancy—Passivity of Ovum and Activity of Spermatozooen Foretell the Contrasting Roles of the Man and the Woman Throughout Life.

X. PREGNANCY 88

Period of Pregnancy in Human Female—Physiologic Process of Pregnancy—Growth of Embryo from Moment of Conception— Pregnant Woman Provides Nourishment for Two—Her Excreting Organs Must Work for Two.

XI. THE DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY 93

Smooth Course of Pregnancy in Some Women—Pregnancy and Parturition May be Made Normal Processes Through Education in True Hygiene—Morning Sickness and Its Treatment—Necessity for Medical Advice in Pernicious Vomiting—Anorexia—Bulimia— Aversion Towards Certain Foods—Peculiar Cravings—Tendency to Constipation Aggravated by Pregnancy—Dietary Measures in Constipation—Rectal Injections in Constipation—Laxatives— Cause of Frequent Desire to Urinate During First Two or Three and Last Months of Pregnancy—Treatment of Frequent Urination— Cause of Piles During Pregnancy and Their Treatment—Cause of Itching of External Genitals During Pregnancy and Treatment— Cause of Varicose Veins and Treatment—Liver Spots.

XII. WHEN TO ENGAGE A PHYSICIAN 102

Necessity for the Pregnant Woman Immediately Placing Herself Under Care of Physician and Remaining Under His Care During Entire Period.

XIII. THE SIZE OF THE FETUS 105

Approximately Correct Measurements and Weight of Fetus at End of Each Month of Pregnancy.

XIV. THE AFTERBIRTH (PLACENTA) AND CORD 108

How the Afterbirth Develops—Bag of Waters—Umbilical Cord—The Navel—Fetus Nourished by Absorption—Fetus Breathes by Aid of Placenta—No Nervous Connection Between Mother and Child.

XV. LACTATION OR NURSING 110

No Perfect Substitute for Mother's Milk—When Nursing is Injurious to Mother and Child—Modified Milk—Artificial Foods—Care Essential in Selecting Wet Nurse—Suckling Child Benefits Mother—Reciprocal Affection Strengthened by Nursing—Sexual Feelings While Nursing—Alcoholics are Injurious—Attention to Condition of Nipples During Pregnancy Essential—Treatment of Sunken Nipples—Treatment of Tender Nipples—Treatment of Cracked Nipples—How to Stop the Secretion of Milk When Necessary—Menstruation While Nursing—Pregnancy in the Nursing Woman.

XVI. ABORTION AND MISCARRIAGE 117

Definition of Word Abortion—Definition of Word Miscarriage— Spontaneous Abortion—Induced Abortion—Therapeutic Abortion— Criminal Abortion—Missed Abortion—Habitual Abortion— Syphilis as Cause of Abortion and Miscarriage—Dangers of Abortion—Abortion an Evil.

XVII. PRENATAL CARE 121

Meaning of the Term—Misleading Information by Quasi-Scientists—Exaggerated Ideas Regarding Prenatal Care—Nervous Connection Between Mother and Child—Cases Under Author's Observation—Effects on Offspring—Advice to Pregnant Women—Germ-plasm of Chronic Alcoholic—A Glass of Wine and the Spermatozoa—False Statements—Cases of Violence and Accidents During Pregnancy.

XVIII. THE MENOPAUSE, OR CHANGE OF LIFE 128

Time of Menopause—Cause of Suffering During Menopause— Reproductive Function and Sexual Function Not Synonymous— Increased Libido During Menopause—Change of Life in Men.

XIX. THE HABIT OF MASTURBATION 135

Definition of Masturbation—Its Injurious Effects in Girls as Compared with Boys—Married Life of the Girl Masturbator— Necessity for Change in Injurious Attitude of Parents who Discover the Habit—Common-sense Treatment of the Habit— How to Prevent Formation of Habit—Parents' Advice to Children—Hot Baths as Factor in Masturbation—Other Physical Factors—Mental Masturbation and Its Effects.

XX. LEUCORRHEA—THE WHITES 143

Misconception Regarding the Meaning of the Term "Leucorrhea"—A Common Complaint—Severe Cases—Reasons for Resistance to Treatment—Proper Local Treatment of the Disorder—Sterility Due to Leucorrhea—Causes of Leucorrhea—Tonic Medicines—Local Treatment—Formulae for Douching.

XXI. THE VENEREAL DISEASES 149

Derivation of Word "Venereal"—Three Venereal Diseases— Innocent Contraction of Syphilis Through Various Objects— The Hygienic Elimination of Common Sources of Venereal Infection—Measures for Prevention After Sexual Relations.

XXII. THE EXTENT OF VENEREAL DISEASE 151

Former Ban on Discussion of Venereal Disease and Its Evil Results—Present Reprehensible Exaggerations of Extent of Venereal Disease—Erroneous and Ridiculous Statements of "Reformers"—Senseless Fear of Marriage in Girls Due to Lurid Exaggerations—Study by Woman Psychologist Reveals Harmful Results of Exaggerated Statements—Truth in Regard to Percentage of Men Afflicted with Venereal Disease.

XXIII. GONORRHEA 158

Source of Gonorrhea—Mucous Membrane of Genital Organs and of Eye Principal Seats of Disease—Symptoms in Men and in Women—Vagina Seldom Attacked in Adults—Nobody Inherits Gonorrhea—Ophthalmia Neonatorum—Differences of Course of Disease in Men and Women—Gonorrhea Less Painful in Women—Symptoms not Suspected by Woman—Necessity for the Woman Consulting a Physician—Self-treatment When Woman Cannot Consult Physician—Formulae for Injections.

XXIV. VULVOVAGINITIS IN LITTLE GIRLS 164

Former Causes of Vulvovaginitis in Little Girls—Discharge Chief Symptom—Evil Results of Vulvovaginitis—Psychic Results of Treatment—Effects in Hastening Sexual Maturity—Vulvovaginitis a Cause of Permanent Sterility—Measures to Prevent the Disease—Toilet Seats and Vulvovaginitis.

XXV. SYPHILIS 168

Syphilis Due to Germ—Syphilis a Constitutional Disease— Primary Lesion—Incubation Period—Roseola—Primary Stage—Secondary Stage—Mucous Patches—Tertiary Stage—Gumma—Hereditary Nature of Syphilis—Milder Course in Women Than in Men—Obscure Symptoms in Syphilis— Necessity for Examination by Physician—Locomotor Ataxia— Softening of the Brain—Chancroids.

XXVI. THE CURABILITY OF VENEREAL DISEASE 174

Gonorrhea May Be Practically Cured in Every Case in Man—Extensive Gonorrheal Infection in Woman Difficult to Cure—Positive Cure in Syphilis Impossible to Guarantee.

XXVII. VENEREAL PROPHYLAXIS 177

Necessity for Douching Before and After Suspicious Intercourse—Formulae for Douches—Precautions Against Non-venereal Sources of Infection—Syphilis Transmitted by Dentist's Instruments—Manicurists and Syphilis—Promiscuous Kissing a Source of Syphilitic Infection.

XXIII. ALCOHOL, SEX AND VENEREAL DISEASE 181

Alcoholic Indulgence and Venereal Disease—A Champagne Dinner and Syphilis—Percentage of Cases of Venereal Infection Due to Alcohol—Artificial Stimulation of Sex Instinct in Man and in Woman—Reckless Sexual Indulgence Due to Alcohol—Alcohol as an Aid to Seduction.

XXIX. MARRIAGE AND GONORRHEA 187

Decision of Physician Regarding Marriage of Patients Infected with Gonorrhea or Syphilis—Advisability of Certificate of Freedom from Transmissible Disease—Premarital Examination as a Universal Custom—When a Man Who Had Gonorrhea May Be Allowed to Marry—When a Woman Who Had Gonorrhea May be Allowed to Marry—Antisepsis Before Coitus—Question of Sterility in the Man Who Has Had Gonorrhea Easily Answered—Impossibility of Determining Whether the Woman is Fertile or Not.

XXX. MARRIAGE AND SYPHILIS 195

Rules for Permitting a Syphilitic Patient to Marry—Rules More Severe in Cases Where Children Are Desired—Where Both Partners Are Syphilitic—Danger of Paresis in Some Syphilitic Patients—A Case in the Author's Practice.

XXXI. WHO MAY AND WHO MAY NOT MARRY 200

The Physician Often Consulted as to Advisability of Marriage— Venereal Disease the Most Common Question—Tuberculosis— Sexual Appetite of Tubercular Patients—Effect of Pregnancy Contraceptive Knowledge for Tubercular Wife—Heart Disease— Serious Bar to Marriage—Influence of Sexual Intercourse— Cancer—Fear of Hereditary Transmission—Exophthalmic Goiter—Most Frequent in Women—Simple Goiter—Exceptions to Rule—Obesity—Family History—Obesity and Stoutness Not Synonymous—Arteriosclerosis—Danger in Sexual Act—Gout— Real Causes of Gout—Mumps—Parotid Glands and Sex Organs— Mumps and Sterility—Ooephoritis Due to Mumps—Hemophilia— Hemophilic Sons May Marry—Hemophilic Daughters May Not Marry—Anemia—Chlorosis—Epilepsy—Hysteria—Symptoms of Hysteria—Marriage of Hysterical Women—Alcoholism— Effect on Offspring—Alcoholics and Impotence— Feeblemindedness—Evil Effects on Offspring—Sterilization of Feebleminded Only Preventive—Insanity—Functional Insanity—Organic Insanity—Hereditary Transmissibility of Insanity—Fear Resulting in Insanity—Environment versus Heredity in Insanity—Neurosis—Neurasthenia— Psychasthenia—Neuropathy—Psychopathy—Nervous Conditions and Genius—Sexual Impotence and Genius—Drug Addiction—External Causes—Consanguineous Marriages—When Consanguineous Marriages are Advisable—Offspring of Consanguineous Marriages—Homosexuality—Homosexuals Often Ignorant of Their Condition—Sexual Repression and Homosexuality—Sadism and Divorce—Masochism—Sexual Impotence and Marriage—Effect Upon the Wife—Frigidity—Marital Relations and Frigid Woman—Excessive Libido and Marriage—Excessive Demands Upon Wife—Satyriasis—The Excessively Libidinous Wife—Nymphomania—Treatment—Harelip—Myopia—Astigmatism— Premature Baldness—Criminality—Crime as Result of Environment—Legal and Moral Crime—Ancestral Criminality and Marriage—Rules of Heredity—Pauperism—Difference Between Pauperism and Poverty.

XXXII. BIRTH CONTROL OR THE LIMITATION OF OFFSPRING 244

Knowledge of Prevention of Conception Essential—Misapprehensions Concerning Birth-control Propaganda—Modern Contraceptives Not Injurious to Health—Imperfection of Contraceptive Measures Due to Secrecy—Prevention of Conception and Abortion Radically Different—More Marriages Consummated if Birth-control Information were Legally Obtainable—Demand for Prostitution Would be Curtailed—Venereal Disease Due to Lack of Knowledge—Another Phase of the Birth-control Problem—Knowledge of Contraceptive Methods Where There Was a Taint of Insanity, and the Happy Results.

XXXIII. ADVICE TO GIRLS APPROACHING THE THRESHOLD OF WOMANHOOD 261

The Irresistible Attraction of the Young Girl for the Male—The Unprotected Girl's Temptations—Some Men Who Will Pester the Young Girl—Risk of Venereal Infection—Danger of Impregnation—Use of Contraceptives by the Unmarried Woman May Not Always Be Relied Upon—Nature of Men who Seduce Girls—Exceptions—Illegitimate Motherhood—Difficulties in the Way of Illegitimate Mother Who Must Earn Her Living—The Child of the Foundling Asylum—Social Attitude Towards Illegitimacy Responsible for Abortion Evil—Dangers of Abortion—The Girl Who Has Lost Her Virginity.

XXXIV. ADVICE TO PARENTS OF UNFORTUNATE GIRLS 273

Attitude of Parents Towards Unfortunate Girl—The Case of Edith and What Her Father Did—The Pitiful Cases of Mary B. and Bridget C.

XXXV. SEXUAL RELATIONS DURING MENSTRUATION 279

Heightened Sexual Appetite of Many Women During Menstruation— Sexual Intercourse During Menstrual Period—When Intercourse May be Permitted—Injection Before Coitus During Menstruation—Fallacy of Ancient Idea of Injuriousness.

XXXVI. SEXUAL INTERCOURSE DURING PREGNANCY 282

Complete Abstinence During Pregnancy—Bad Results of Complete Abstinence—Intensity of Relations During First Four Months— Intercourse During Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Months— Intercourse During Eighth and Ninth Months—Abstinence After Birth of Child.

XXXVII. SEXUAL INTERCOURSE FOR PROPAGATION ONLY 284

Belief in Sexual Intercourse for Propagation Only—What Such Practice Would Lead to—Nature and the Sex-fanatics—Sexual Desire in Woman After Menopause—Sex Instinct of Sterile Men and Women—Sex Instinct Has Other High Purposes.

XXXVIII. VAGINISMUS 288

Vaginismus—Dyspareunia—Difference Between Vaginismus and Dyspareunia—Adherent Clitoris a Cause of Masturbation and Convulsions.

XXXIX. STERILITY 291

Definition of Sterility—Husband Should First be Examined— One-child Sterility—The Fertile Woman—Salpingitis as a Cause of Sterility—Leucorrhea and Sterility—Displacement of Uterus and Sterility—Closure of Neck of Womb and Sterility—Sterility and Constitutional Disease—Treatment of Sterility.

XL. THE HYMEN 294

Difference Between Chastity and Virginity—Worship of Intact Hymen—Sacrificing Hymen Sometimes Essential for Health of the Girl—Certificate from Physician who has Ruptured Hymen.

XLI. IS THE ORGASM NECESSARY FOR IMPREGNATION? 297

Suppression of Orgasm by Woman to Prevent Impregnation—Bad Results of Suppression by the Woman—Orgasm: Relation of to Impregnation—A Hypothesis—A Fanciful Hypothesis—Why Passionate Women Frequently Fail to Become Mothers—Advice to Passionate Women who Desire to Conceive.

XLII. FRIGIDITY IN WOMEN 301

Meaning of Term Frigidity—Types of Frigidity—Large Percentage of Frigid Women—Repression of Sexual Manifestations and Frigidity—Frigidity and Masturbation—Frigidity and Sexual Weakness of Husband—Frigidity and Dislike of Husband—Organic Causes of Frigidity—A Frigid Woman May Become Passionate— Treatment of Frigidity.

XLIII. ADVICE TO FRIGID WOMEN, PARTICULARLY WIVES 304

Advice to Frigid Women—Attitude of Different Men Towards Frigid Wives—Orgasm a Subjective Feeling—A Justifiable Innocent Deception—The Case of a Demi-Mondaine.

XLIV. RAPE 308

Definition of Rape—Age of Consent—Unanimous Opinion of Experts—Exceptional Cases—False Accusation of Rape Due to Perversion—Erotic Dreams Under Anesthesia Causing Accusations Against Doctors and Dentists.

XLV. THE SINGLE STANDARD OF SEXUAL MORALITY 311

Chastity—Double Standard of Morality—Attempt to Abolish Double Standard—Late Marriages and Chastity in Men—Harmful Advice Given to Young Women—Chastity in Men Not Always Due to Moral Principles—Chaste Men and Satisfactory Husbands—A Statement by Professor Freud—A Statement by Professor Michels—What a Girl has a Right to Demand of Her Future Husband—Three Cases Showing Disastrous Effects of Wrong Teachings.

XLVI. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN'S AND WOMAN'S SEX AND LOVE LIFE 318

Seemingly Contradictory Statements—Faulty Interpretations of Words Sexual Instinct and Love—Difference in Manifestations of Male and Female Sexual Instincts—Man's Sex Instinct Grosser Than Woman's—Awakening of Sexual Desire in the Boy and in the Girl—Woman's Desire for Caresses—Man's Main Desire for Sexual Relations—Normal Sex Relations as Means of Holding a Man—A Physiological Reason Why Man is Held—Man and Physical Love—Woman and Spiritual Love—Preliminaries of Sexual Intercourse in Men and Women—Physical Attributes— Mental and Spiritual Qualities—Difference Between Love and "Being in Love"—Love as a Stimulus to Man—When the Man Loves—When the Woman Loves—Man's More Engrossing Interests—Lovemaking Irksome to Man—Man's Polygamous Tendencies—Woman Single-affectioned in Her Sex and Love Life—Man and Woman Biologically Different.

XLVII. MATERNAL IMPRESSIONS 327

Wide-spread Belief in Maternal Impressions—No Single Well-authenticated Case of Maternal Impression—Birth of Monstrosities—Ridiculous Examples Given by Physicians— So-called Shock Often a Product of Mother's Imagination— Four Cases of Alleged Maternal Impressions—Mother's Health During Pregnancy May Have Effect Upon Child's General Health.

XLVIII. ADVICE TO THE MARRIED AND THOSE ABOUT TO BE 336

Marriage as an Ideal Institution—Monogamic Marriage—Some Reasons for Husbands' Deviations—Importance of First Few Weeks of Married Life—Necessity for Understanding at Beginning—Preventing and Breaking Habits—The Wife's Individuality—Husbands Who are Childish, Not Vicious— Wife's Interest in Husband's Affairs—The "Slob" Husband— The Well-groomed Husband—Bad Odor from the Mouth—Odors from Other Parts of the Body—Treatment for Bad Odor from Perspiration—A Beneficial Powder—Advice Regarding Flirting—Dainty Underwear—Fine External Clothes and Cheap and Soiled Underwear—Delicate Adjustments of Sex Act Required with Some Men—Wife Who Discusses Her Husband's Foibles—A Professional Secret—A Case of Temporary Impotence—The Wife's Indiscretion—The Disastrous Result—A Big Stomach—The Wife's Attitude Towards the Marital Relation—Behavior Preliminary to and During the Act— Congenital Frigidity—Prudish and Vicious Ideas About the Sex Act—Sexual Intercourse for Procreative Purposes Only—Fear of Pregnancy on the Part of the Wife—The Remedy—Other Causes—Wife who Makes too Frequent Demands— Sacrificing the Future to the Present—Esthetic Considerations.

XLXIX. A RATIONAL DIVORCE SYSTEM 356

A Rational Divorce System—Storms and Squalls—Two Sides of the Divorce Question—Outside Help and Marital Tangles—A Husband who was a Paragon of Virtue—The Case of the Sweet Wife—The Proper Untangling of Domestic Tangles.

L. WHAT IS LOVE? 361

Is Love Definable?—Raising a Corner of the Veil—Two Opinions of Love—The First Opinion: Sexual Intercourse and Love—The Second Opinion—The Grain of Truth in Each—The Truth Concerning Love—Foundation of Love—Sexual Attraction and Love—The Frigid Woman and Her Husband—Puzzling Cases of Love—The Paradox—Blindness of Love and the Penetrating Vision of Love—Limits of Homeliness—Physical Aversion and Genesis of Love—Mating in the Animal Kingdom—Mating in Low Races—Love in People of High Culture—Difference in Love of Savage and Man of Culture—Distinctions Between Loves—Varieties of Love and Varieties of Men—"Love" Without Sexual Desire—Refraining and Wanting—Cause of Love at First Sight—"Magnetic Forces" and Love at First Sight—The Pathological Side—Differentiation of Phases of Love—Infatuation—Difference Between "Infatuation" and "Being in Love"—Sexual Satisfaction and Infatuation—Sexual Satisfaction and Love—Infatuation Mistaken for Love—Love the Most Mysterious of Human Emotions—Great Love and Supreme Happiness.

LI. JEALOUSY AND HOW TO COMBAT IT 375

Jealousy the Most Painful of Human Emotions—Impairment of Health—Mental Havoc—Jealousy as a Primitive Emotion— Jealousy in the Advanced Thinker and in the Savage—Jealousy in the Child—Feelings and Environmental Factors—Essential Factors—Vanity—Anger—Pain—Envy—The Impotent Husband's Jealousy—Anti-social Qualities—The Jealous and the Unfaithful Husband—Means of Eradicating the Evil—Iwan Bloch on the Question—Prof. Robert Michels' Statement— Remark of Prof. Von Ehrenfels—Havelock Ellis on Variation in Sexual Relationships—Advanced Ideas—Woman as Man's Chattel—The Change and the Changer—Teaching the Children— Casting Epithets at Jealousy—Free Unions and Jealousy— Feelings, Actions and Public Opinion—The Adulterous Wife of the Present Day—Jealousy Defeating Its Own Object—Jealousy of Inanimate Objects.

LII. REMEDIES FOR JEALOUSY 395

Prevention and Cure—Prophylaxis of Jealousy—Fitting Remedy to Circumstances—The Neglectful and Flirtatious Husband—No Question of Love—Advice to the Wife of the Flirtatious Man—An Efficient Though Vulgar Remedy—Jealousy Must Be Experienced to Be Understood—Necessity for Freedom of Association—Lines of Conduct for the Wife—Contempt for a Certain Type of Wife and Husband—The Abandoned Lover—The Effects of Unrequited Love—Sublimated Sexual Desire— Replacing Unrequited Love—The Attitude of Goethe— Simultaneous Loves Possible—Successive Loves Possible— Eternal Loves—When Sex Relationships May Be Beneficial— Purchasable Sex Relations and Their Value—The Broken Engagement—The Terrible Effects on the Young Man—The Young Streetwalker—Sex Relations with Fiance—Inundating Sense of Shame—Collapse—Attempts at Suicide—An Active Sex Life—The Results—The Prevention of Jealousy.

LIII. CONCLUDING WORDS 409



WOMAN: HER SEX AND LOVE LIFE

CHAPTER ONE

THE PARAMOUNT NEED OF SEX KNOWLEDGE FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN

Why Sex Knowledge is of Paramount Importance to Girls and Women—Reasons Why a Misstep in a Girl Has More Serious Consequences than a Misstep in a Boy—The Place Love Occupies in Woman's Life—Woman's Physical Disabilities.

All are agreed—I mean all who are capable of thinking and have given the subject some thought—that for the welfare of the race and for his own physical and mental welfare it is important that the boy be given some sex instruction. All are not agreed as to the character of the instruction, its extent, the age at which it should be begun and as to who the teacher should be—the father, the family physician, the school teacher or a specially prepared book—but as to the necessity of sex knowledge for the boy there is now substantial agreement—among the conservatives as well as among the radicals.

No such agreement exists concerning sex knowledge for the girl. Many still are the men and women—and not among the conservatives only—who are strongly opposed to girls receiving any instruction in sex matters. Some say that such instruction—except a few hygienic rules about menstruation—is unnecessary, because the sex instinct awakens in girls comparatively late, and it is time enough for them to learn about such matters after they are married. Others fear that sex knowledge would destroy the mystery and romance of sex, and would rob our maidens of their greatest charms—modesty and innocence. Still others fear that sex instruction would tend to awaken the sex instinct in our girls prematurely; would direct their thoughts to matters about which they would not think otherwise; and they argue that the warnings about venereal disease, prostitution, etc., which are an integral part of sex instruction, tend to create a cynical, inimical attitude towards the male sex, which may even result in hypochondriac ideas and antagonism to marriage.

I do not deny that there is a grain of truth in all the above objections. Sex instruction does cause some girls to think of sex matters earlier than they otherwise would, and some girls have been made bitter and hypochondriac, and disgusted with the male sex. But it would not be difficult to demonstrate that it was not sex instruction per se that was responsible for these deplorable results; it was the wrong kind of instruction that was to blame—it was the wrong emphasis, the lurid exaggerations that caused the mischief, and not the truth. In other words, it is not sex information, it is sex misinformation, that is pernicious. And, of course, to this everybody will agree: rather than false information, better no information at all.

But if the information to be imparted be sane, honest and truthful, without exaggerating the evils and without laying undue emphasis on the dark shadows of our sex life, then the results can be only beneficent. And the task I have put before myself in this book is to give our girls and women sane, square and honest information about their sex organs and sex nature, information absolutely free from luridness, on the one hand, and maudlin sentimentality, on the other. The female sex is in need of such information, much more so than is the male sex. Yes, if boys, as is now universally agreed, are in need of sex instruction, then girls are much more in need of it. Why? For several important reasons.

The first reason why sex instruction is even more important for girls than it is for boys is because a misstep in a girl has much more disastrous consequences than it has in a boy. The disastrous results of a misstep in a boy are only physical in character; the results of the same misstep in a girl may be physical, moral, social and economic. To speak more plainly. If a boy, through ignorance, rashly indulges in illicit sexual relations, the worst consequence to him may be infection with a venereal disease. But he is not considered immoral, he is not despised, he is not ostracized, he does not lose his social standing in the slightest degree, and when he is cured of his venereal disease he has no difficulty in getting married. He does not even have to conceal his past sexual history from his wife. But if a girl makes a misstep the consequences to her are terrible indeed; it may not only cost her her health and social standing, she may have to pay with her very life. She runs the risk of venereal infection the same as the boy does, but in addition she runs the risk of becoming pregnant, which in our present social system is a catastrophe indeed. To save herself from the disgrace of an illegitimate child she may have an abortion produced; the abortion may have no bad results, but it may, if performed bunglingly, leave her an invalid for life, or it may kill her outright. If she is so unfortunate as to be unable to get anybody to produce an abortion, she gives birth to an illegitimate child, which she is forced in most cases to put away in an institution of some sort where she hopes and prays it may die soon—and, in general, it does. If it does not die, she has for the rest of her life a Damocles' sword hanging over her head, and she is in constant terror lest her sin be found out. She does not permit herself to look for a mate, but if she does get married, the specter of her antematrimonial experience is constantly before her eyes. After years and years of married life, the husband may divorce her if he finds out that she had "sinned" before she knew him. And unless the husband is a broad-minded man and loves her truly and unless she made a clean breast of everything to him before marriage, her life is continuous torture. But even if the girl escaped pregnancy, the mere finding out that she had an illicit experience deprives her of social standing, or makes her a social outcast and entirely destroys or greatly minimizes her chances of ever marrying and establishing a home of her own. She must remain a lonely wanderer to the end of her days.

The enormous difference in the results of a misstep in a boy and a girl is clearly seen, and for this reason alone, if for no other, sex instruction is of more importance to the girl than it is to the boy.

But there are other important reasons, and one of them is beautifully and truthfully expressed by Byron in his two well-known lines.

Man's love is of man's life a thing apart, 'Tis woman's whole existence.

Yes, love is a woman's whole life.

Some modern women might object to this. They might say that this was true of the woman of the past, who was excluded from all other avenues of human activity. The woman of the present day has other interests besides those of Love. But I claim that this is true of only a small percentage of women; and in even this small minority of women, social, scientific and artistic activities cannot take the place of love; no matter how busy and successful these women may be, they will tell you if you enjoy their confidence that they are unhappy, if their love life is unsatisfactory. Nothing, nothing can fill the void made by the lack of love. The various activities may help to cover up the void, to protect it from strange eyes, they cannot fill it. For essentially woman is made for love. Not exclusively, but essentially, and a woman who has had no love in her life has been a failure. The few exceptions that may be mentioned only emphasize the rule.

But not only psychically is a woman's love and sex life more important than a man's, physically she is also much more cognizant of her sex and much more hampered by the manifestation of her sex nature than man is. To take but one function, menstruation. From the age 13 or 14 to the age of forty-five or fifty it is a monthly reminder to woman that she is a woman, that she is a creature of sex; and, while to many women this periodically recurring function is only a source of some annoyance or discomfort, to a great number it is a cause of pain, headache, suffering, or complete disability. Man has no such phenomenon to annoy him practically his whole life.

But more important are the results of love-union, of sex relations. A man after a sexual relation is just as free as he was before. A woman, if the relation has resulted in a pregnancy, which is generally the case, unless special pains are taken it should not so result, has nine troublesome months before her, months of discomfort if not of actual suffering; she then has an extremely trying and painful ordeal, that of childbirth, and then there is another trying period, the period of lactation or of nursing and of bringing up the baby. The penalty seems almost too great.

And when the woman is on the point of ceasing to menstruate she does not do so smoothly and comfortably. She has to go through a period called the menopause, which may last one or two years and which may bring discomforts and dangers of its own. Man does not have to go through such a distinct period of demarcation separating his sexual from his non-sexual life. Altogether it cannot be denied that woman is much more a slave of her sex nature than man is of his. Yes, Nature has handicapped woman much more heavily than she has man.

In short, both in view of the fact that sexual ignorance with its possible missteps has much more disastrous consequences for the girl than it has for the boy, and in view of the fact that the sex instinct and its physical and psychic manifestations occupy a much more important part in woman's life than they do in the life of man, we consider the necessity of sex instruction much greater in the case of woman than in the case of man. I do not wish to be misunderstood as underestimating the need of sex instruction for the male—only I consider the need even greater in the case of the female.



CHAPTER TWO

THE FEMALE SEX ORGANS: THEIR ANATOMY

The Internal Sex Organs—The Ovaries—The Fallopian Tubes—The Uterus—The Divisions of the Uterus—Anteversion, Anteflexion, Retroversion, Retroflexion, of the Uterus—Endometritis—The Vagina—The Hymen—Imperforate Hymen—The External Genitals—The Vulva, Labia Majora, Labia Minora, the Mons Veneris, the Clitoris, the Urethra—The Breasts—The Pelvis—The Difference Between the Male and Female Pelvis.

The organs which primarily distinguish one sex from the other are the sex organs. It is by the aid of the sex organs that children are begotten and brought into the world, that the race is reproduced and perpetuated. It is for this reason that the sex organs are also called the Reproductive Organs.

The first thing we must do is to become familiar with the structure and location of the sex organs; in other words, we must get a fair idea of their Anatomy.

The female sex organs, also called the reproductive or generative organs, are divided into internal and external. The internal are the most important and consist of: the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, uterus or womb, and vagina. The external sex organs of the female are: the vulva, hymen, and clitoris. Among the external organs are also generally included the mons Veneris and the breasts or mammary glands.

SUBCHAPTER A

THE INTERNAL SEX ORGANS



The Ovaries. The ovaries are the essential organs of reproduction. For it is they that generate the eggs, or ova, or ovules, which, after becoming fertilized or fecundated by the spermatozoa of the male, develop into children. Without the ovaries of the female, the same as without the testicles of the male (to which they correspond), no children could be begotten, and the entire human race would quickly disappear from our planet. The ovaries are two in number; they are embedded in the broad ligaments which support the womb in the pelvis, one on each side of the womb. They are of a grayish or whitish pink color, and are about an inch and a half long, three-quarters of an inch wide, and one-third of an inch thick. They weigh from one-eighth to one-quarter of an ounce. Their surface is either smooth or rough and puckered. Think of a large blanched almond and you will have a pretty fair idea of the size and shape of an ovary.

The Fallopian Tubes. The Fallopian tubes (so called from Fallopius, a great anatomist, who discovered them; also called oviducts: egg conductors, because they conduct the eggs from the ovary into the uterus) are two very thin tubes, extending one from each upper angle of the womb to the ovaries; but at their ovarian end they expand into a fringed and trumpet-shaped extremity. The fringes are referred to as fimbria. They are about five inches long and only about one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter; the function of the tubes is to catch the ova as they burst forth from the ovaries and to convey them to the uterus. Taking into consideration the very narrow lumen, or caliber, of the Fallopian tubes, it is easy to understand why even a very slight inflammation is apt to clog them up, to seal their mouths or openings, thus rendering the woman sterile, or incapable of having children. For, if the Fallopian tubes are "clogged" up, the eggs, or ova, have no way of reaching the uterus.

The Greek name for the Fallopian tube is salpinx (salpinx in Greek means tube). An inflammation of the Fallopian tube is therefore called salpingitis. (A salpingitis has the same effect in causing sterility in the female as has an epididymitis in the male.) Salpingectomy is the cutting away of the whole or of a piece of the Fallopian tube (corresponds to vasectomy in the male).

The Uterus. The uterus or womb is the organ in which the fertilized ovum, or egg, grows and develops into a child. It is a hollow muscular organ, about the size of a pear, with thick walls, capable under the influence of pregnancy of great expansion and growth. The broad part of the pear is called the body of the uterus; the lower narrow part is called the neck of the uterus, or cervix. The uterus in the adult girl or woman is about three inches long, two inches broad in its upper part and nearly an inch thick. It weighs from an ounce to an ounce and a half. When the uterus is in a pregnant condition, it increases enormously, both in size and in weight, as we will see in a future chapter. The cavity of the uterus is somewhat triangular in shape; at each upper angle is the small opening communicating with the Fallopian tube; the upper portion of the uterus is called the fundus; the external opening of the womb, situated in the center of the cervix, is called the mouth of the womb, or the os, or external os.



The uterus is situated in the center of the pelvis, between the bladder and the rectum. It is supported by certain ligaments, the chief of which are the broad ligaments; but, on account of general weakness, too hard physical labor, or lifting heavy weights, the ligaments may stretch, and the uterus may sink down low in the vagina, and we then have the condition known as prolapse of the womb. Or, the womb may turn forward, when we have a condition of anteversion. If the womb is bent (or flexed) forward on itself the condition is called anteflexion. If the womb is turned backwards, the condition is called retroversion; if it is bent or flexed backward upon itself the condition is called retroflexion. An extreme degree of anteversion or anteflexion, or retroversion or retroflexion, may interfere with impregnation, as the spermatozoa may find it difficult or impossible to reach the opening of the womb—the external os.



The entire cavity of the uterus is lined by a mucous membrane;[1] this mucous membrane is called the endometrium (endo—within; metra—uterus). An inflammation of the endometrium is called endometritis. It is the endometrium that is principally concerned in menstruation—that is, it is from it that the monthly discharge of blood comes.

The Vagina [vagina in Latin—a sheath]. The vagina is the tube or canal which serves as a passage-way between the uterus and the outside of the body. It extends from the external genitals or vulva to the neck of the womb, embracing the latter for some distance. It is a strong, fibromuscular canal, lined with mucous membrane. It is not smooth inside, but arranged in folds, or rugae, so that when necessary, as during childbirth, it can stretch enormously and permit the passage of a child's head. The length of the vaginal canal is between three and five inches, but it is in general much more capacious in women that have borne one or more children than in those who have not borne any.

Near the vaginal entrance are situated two small glands; they are about the size of a pea, and secrete mucus. They are called Bartholin's glands; occasionally they become inflamed and give a good deal of trouble.









The Hymen [hymen in Greek—a membrane]. The external opening of the vagina, in virgins, that is, in girls or women who have not had sexual intercourse, is almost entirely closed by a membrane called the hymen. The vulgar name for hymen is "maidenhead." The hymen may be of various shapes, and of different consistency. In some girls it is a very thin membrane, which tears very readily; in others it is quite tough. On the upper margin or in the center of the hymen there is an opening which permits any secretion from the vagina and the blood from the uterus to come through. In rare cases there is no opening in the hymen, that is, the vagina is entirely closed. Such a hymen is called imperforate (not perforated). When the girl begins to menstruate, the blood cannot come out and it accumulates in the vagina. In such cases the hymen must be opened or slit by a doctor. In some cases the hymen is congenitally absent; that is, the girl is born without any hymen. While the hymen is usually ruptured during the first intercourse, it, in some cases, being elastic and stretchable, persists untorn after sexual intercourse. It will therefore be seen that just as the presence of the hymen is no absolute proof of virginity, so is the absence of the hymen no absolute proof that the girl has had sexual relations, She might have been born without any hymen, or it might have been ruptured by vaginal examination, by a vaginal douche, by scratching to relieve itching, or by some accident.

The remains of the hymen after it is ruptured shrink and form little elevations which can be easily felt; they are known as caruncles. [In Latin, carunculae myrtiformes, which means in English myrtleberry-shaped caruncles; caruncle is a small fleshy elevation; derived from caro, which in Latin means flesh.]

SUBCHAPTER B

THE EXTERNAL GENITALS

The Vulva. The external genitals of the female are called the vulva. The vulva consists of the labia majora (meaning the larger lips), which are on the outside and which in the grown-up girl are covered with hair, and the labia minora (the smaller lips), which are on the inside and which are usually only seen when the labia majora are taken apart.

[Vulva in Latin means folding-door. The ancients Were fond of giving fancy names to things.]

The Mons Veneris. The elevation above the vulva, which during puberty becomes covered with hair, is called by the fanciful name, mons Veneris, or Venus' mountain. It is usually well padded with fatty tissue.

The Clitoris. The clitoris is a small body about an inch in length, situated beneath the mons Veneris and partly or entirely covered by the upper borders of the labia minora.

The Urethra. Between the clitoris above and the opening of the vagina below is situated the opening of the urethra, or the urinary meatus, through which the urine passes. Many women are so ignorant, or, let us say innocent, that they think the urine passes out through the vagina. This is not so. The vagina has nothing to do with the process of urination.

Again enumerating the female sex organs, but in the reverse order, from before backward, or from out inward, we have: The mons Veneris and the labia majora, or the external lips of the vulva; these are the plainly visible parts of the female genital organs. When the labia majora are taken apart we see the labia minora; when the labia majora and minora are taken apart we can see or feel the clitoris and the hymen, or the remains of the hymen. We then have the vagina, a large, stretchable musculo-membranous canal, in the upper portion of which the neck of the womb, or the cervix, can be seen (when a speculum is used), or felt by the finger. Only the cervix, or neck of the womb, can be seen, but the rest of the womb, the broader portion, can be easily felt and examined by one hand in the vagina and the other hand over the abdomen. Continuous with the uterus are the Fallopian tubes, and below the trumpet-shaped ends of the Fallopian tubes are the ovaries, embedded in the broad ligaments, one on each side.

The Breasts. The breasts, also called mammary glands, or mammae [mamma in Latin, breast], may be considered as accessory organs of reproduction. They are of no importance in the male, in whom they are usually rudimentary, but they are of great importance in the female. They manufacture milk, which is necessary for the proper nutrition of the infant, and they add a great deal to the beauty and attractiveness of the woman. They are thus a help to the woman in getting a mate or a husband. The projecting elevation of the breast, which the child takes in his mouth when nursing, is called the nipple; the darker colored area surrounding the nipple is called the areola.





SUBCHAPTER C

THE PELVIS

The internal sex organs are situated in the lower part of the abdominal cavity, the part that is called the pelvis, or pelvic cavity. The meaning of the word pelvis in Latin is basin. The pelvis, also referred to as the pelvic girdle or pelvic arch, forms a bony basin, and is composed of three powerful bones: the sacrum, consisting of five vertebrae fused together and constituting the solid part of the spine, or vertebral column, in the back, and the two hipbones, one on each side. The two hipbones meet in front, forming the pubic arch.

The hipbones are called in Latin the ossa innominata (nameless bones) and each hipbone is composed of three bones: the ilium, the ischium, and the os pubis. The thighs are attached to the hipbones, and to the hipbones are also attached the large gluteal muscles, which form the buttocks, or the "seat."

The pelvis of the female differs considerably from the pelvis of the male. The female pelvis is shallower and wider, less massive, the margins of the bones are more widely separated, thus giving greater prominence to the hips; the sacrum is shorter and less curved, and the pubic arch is wider and more rounded. All this is necessary in order to permit the child's head to pass through. If the female pelvis were exactly like the male pelvis, a full-term living child could never pass through it. The two illustrations show the differences between the male and female pelvis very clearly.

Note particularly the differences in the pubic arches: in the male pelvis it is really more of an angle than an arch. Also note how much longer and more solid the sacrum (with its attached bone, called the coccyx[2]) is in the male pelvis. The differences in the pelves (the plural of pelvis is pelves) of the male and female become fully marked at puberty, but they are present as early as the fourth month of intra-uterine life.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mucous membrane—briefly a membrane which secretes mucus or some other fluid.

[2] The coccyx consists of three rudimentary vertebrae; it is the vestige of an organ which we once possessed in common with many other animals, namely—a tail.



CHAPTER THREE

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE FEMALE SEX ORGANS

Function of the Ovaries—Internal Secretion of the Ovaries—Function of the Internal Secretion—Number of Ova in the Ovaries—The Graafian Follicles—Ovulation—Corpora Lutea—Function of the Fallopian Tubes—Function of the Vagina—Functions of the Vulva, Clitoris and Mons Veneris—Function of the Breasts—Besides Secreting Milk Breast Has Sexual Function—The Orgasm—Pollutions in Women—Secondary Sex Characters—Differences Between Woman and Man.

The importance of an organ depends upon its function, upon what it does, and not so much upon what it is. It is important to know the size, structure and location of an organ, but it is still more important to know its function; in other words, for our purpose it is more important to know the physiology than the anatomy of the sex organs.

SUBCHAPTER A

FUNCTION OF THE OVARIES

Like the testicles in man, so the ovaries in woman are the essential sexual organs. They are the fundamental organs, without which the other sexual organs are useless. Also like the testicles in man, the ovaries have two distinct functions, manufacturing two distinct substances. One function is to manufacture eggs; this, called the ooegenetic or egg-producing function, is its racial function; without it the race could not perpetuate itself. But the ovary has also an individual function. Besides the ova, the ovary manufactures what we call an internal secretion which is absorbed by the blood, and which is of the greatest importance to the woman herself. While the manufacture of ova begins only at puberty, with menstruation, and closes at the menopause, the manufacture of the internal secretion lasts throughout the woman's entire life. This secretion, which consists of various chemical substances, has a tremendous influence not only on the development of the woman's body, but also on her feelings.

First of all it is necessary for the development of the woman's special characteristics, or secondary sexual characters. Without that internal secretion of the ovaries, a woman would look more or less like a man; she would not develop her beautiful rounded form, her pretty long hair, her breasts, her broad pelvis, her feminine voice, etc. Second, the secretion is necessary to the proper development of her other sexual organs; if the ovaries are cut out, then the uterus and the vagina and even the vulva shrivel up. Third, it is that internal secretion that excites in woman sexual desire and makes her enjoy relations with the male sex. If the ovaries are cut away, particularly if it is done early in life, the woman has no sexual desire and no enjoyment. Fourth, it contributes to the general health, wellbeing, energy, and mental alertness of the woman.

You see the importance of the internal ovarian secretion, and you will readily understand why, when the ovaries are removed by operation, the woman, particularly if she is young, undergoes such marked changes. It is because we recognize now the great importance of the ovaries that we always, when operating on diseased ovaries leave at least a small piece of ovary, if at all possible.

Number of Ova. When the female infant is born, her ovaries contain as many ova or eggs as they ever will contain. In fact, they contain more than they will at puberty. For it is estimated that at birth each ovary contains about 100,000 ova; the majority of these, however, disappear so that at the age of puberty each ovary contains only about 30,000 ova. As only one ovum ripens each month from the time of puberty to the time of the menopause (i.e., about 300 to 400 ova at the utmost during a lifetime), and as only a dozen or two ova would be necessary for the propagation of the race, it seems a superabundance of ova, an unnecessary lavishness. But nature is lavish where the propagation of the species is concerned. A portion of an ovary or of both ovaries might become diseased, and thousands of ova might become unfit for fertilization; nature therefore puts in an extra reserve supply. We see a still more striking example of this extreme extravagant lavishness in man; only one spermatozooen is necessary to impregnate the ovum, and only one spermatozooen can penetrate the ovum; nevertheless each normal ejaculation of semen contains between a quarter and half a million spermatozoa.

The Graafian Follicles. Each primitive or primordial ovum[3] is imbedded in a little vesicle or follicle, which is generally known as Graafian follicle, and there are as many Graafian follicles as there are ova. (The Graafian follicles were first described about 250 years ago—in 1672—by a Delft physician named De Graaf, hence the name.) Until puberty, that is the commencement of menstruation, the Graafian follicles with the ooecytes or primitive ova are in a more or less dormant condition. But with the onset of puberty there commences a period of intense activity in the ovaries. This period of activity is repeated regularly once a month, and it constitutes the process of ovulation and menstruation. The two processes are closely though not causally connected. Ovulation consists in the monthly maturation and extrusion of a ripe ovum; menstruation, which will be further discussed in a separate chapter, consists in the monthly discharge of blood, mixed with mucus from the inside lining of the uterus. Every twenty-eight days, from the time of puberty to the time of the menopause, a Graafian follicle bursts and an ovum is extruded from the ovary. Before the follicle bursts, it swells and enlarges and reaches the surface of the ovary; the whole follicle is congested with blood, but at one point near the surface of the ovary it is pale and thin, and here the rupture takes place.



Corpora Lutea. After the Graafian follicle has burst and the ovum has been pushed out, the cavity that is left does not remain empty and functionless; there is a further process going on there; there is a growth of cells, of a yellowish color, and the follicle becomes filled with a yellowish body, which on account of its color is called the corpus luteum (plural—corpora lutea; luteum in Latin—yellow, corpus—body). This corpus luteum grows in size until it sometimes occupies as much as one-third of the ovary. But there is considerable difference between the corpora lutea of non-pregnant and pregnant women. Up to the end of about a month the corpora lutea are the same, but after that the corpus luteum of the non-pregnant woman begins to get smaller, to shrink, so that at the end of two or three months it is reduced to a small scar and later cannot be noticed at all. The corpus luteum of the pregnant woman keeps on increasing until the end of the second month, remains about the same size until the end of the sixth month, and only then begins gradually to diminish. The corpus luteum of the non-pregnant woman, that is, the one following menstruation, is called false corpus luteum; the corpus luteum following pregnancy is called a true corpus luteum. The corpus luteum acts like a gland and elaborates a secretion which has an influence on the circulation in the uterus and on menstruation. It probably possesses other properties, with which we are not yet quite familiar. The corpora lutea of various animals are now prepared in powder or tablet form and used in medicine in the treatment of certain diseases of women.

SUBCHAPTER B

FUNCTION OF THE OTHER GENITAL ORGANS

Function of the Fallopian Tubes. The function of the Fallopian tubes or oviducts as they are sometimes called is to catch the ovum as it bursts through the ovary and to conduct it from the ovary into the uterus. It is while the ovum is in the narrow lumen of the tube that the spermatozooen which has travelled up from the uterus usually finds it, and it is in the tube, near its entrance to the womb, that impregnation usually takes place. After the ovum is impregnated or fecundated, it slowly moves down to the uterus, where it attaches itself and remains and grows for nine months, until it is ready to come out and start an independent life.

The uterus or womb is the house of the embryo almost from the moment of conception to the moment of birth. Within the thick warm sheltered walls of the uterus the child grows, develops, eats and breathes, until all its organs and functions have reached such a stage of perfection that it can live by itself and for itself. And this may be said to be the sole function of the uterus, or at least its sole useful function. For the other function of the uterus, menstruation, cannot be said to be a necessary or a useful function. It is a normal function because it occurs regularly in every healthy woman during her child-bearing period, but not every normal function is a necessary or useful function. Not everything that is is right or useful.

Function of the Vagina. The vagina is the canal in which sexual intercourse takes place. It receives the male organ (penis) during the sexual act, and serves as a temporary repository for the male semen. After the spermatozoa have reached the uterus, the vagina has no further function to perform.

Functions of the Vulva, Clitoris, and Mons Veneris. The vulva and the clitoris have no special functions to perform; but in them, in the clitoris particularly, but also in the labia minora, resides the feeling of voluptuousness, the pleasurable sensation experienced during the sexual act. Another seat of voluptuousness in the woman is located in the cervix of the uterus.

The mons Veneris has no special physiological function to perform, but it as well as the vulva serve as strong points of attraction for the male sex. While the entire female body is attractive to the male, and vice versa, there are certain zones which are especially attractive or exciting. Such zones or areas are called erogenous zones—the word erogenous means love-generating. The vulva and the mons Veneris are the strongest erogenous zones; other erogenous zones are the lips, the breasts, etc.

Function of the Breasts. The function of the breasts is to nurse or suckle the young on the mother's milk until they are able to live on other food. The other name for breasts is mammary gland (in Latin, mamma—breast), and all animals who suckle their young are called mammals or mammalia. Besides its milk secreting function, the breasts constitute a strong erogenous zone; they are a point of strong attraction for the male sex, many men being more attracted by well-developed breasts than by a pretty face. There is a good biological reason for this. Well developed breasts indicate that the other sexual organs are well developed and that the woman will make a satisfactory wife and satisfactory mother. Considering then the importance of the breasts in attracting a husband and their function in nursing the young, also their erogenous properties, it is perfectly proper to class them among the reproductive organs.

SUBCHAPTER C

THE ORGASM

The culmination of the act of sexual intercourse is called the orgasm. It is the moment at which the pleasurable sensation is at its highest point, the body experiences a thrill, there is a spasmodic contraction in the genital organs, and there is a secretion of fluid from the genital glands and mucous membranes. This fluid in women is not a vital fluid like the semen in man; it is merely mucus, and in some women it is very slight in amount or altogether absent. Adult women who live without sexual relations occasionally have sexual or erotic dreams; that is, they dream that they are in the company of men, playing or having relations with them. Such dreams are usually accompanied by an orgasm or an orgastic feeling, and by a discharge of mucus, the same as in sexual intercourse. Such a discharge of mucus during sleep is called an emission or pollution.

In the male sex pollutions play an important role (see the author's "Sex Knowledge for men"), because the semen is a vital fluid, and if it is lost too frequently the system is put under a heavy drain. In boys and men the pollutions or night losses may occur several times a week or even every night, or several times a night. When they occur with such frequency the man may become a wreck. Not so with women. First, pollutions or night dreams in women are much more rare than they are in men; and second, as just mentioned, the fluid secreted by woman during intercourse or during an erotic dream is not of a vital character, as the semen is in man; it is mucus, and the secretion of a mucous fluid, even if somewhat excessive, does not constitute a drain on the system. For this reason women can stand frequently repeated sex relations and emissions or pollutions much better than men can.

SUBCHAPTER D

THE SECONDARY SEX CHARACTERS

The sex organs constitute the primary sex characters. It is they that distinguish primarily one sex from another. But there are numerous other sex characters or sex differences which while not so important serve to differentiate the sexes, at the same time forming points of attraction between one sex and another. For instance, the beard and mustache are a distinct male characteristic and constitute one of the secondary male sex characters. The secondary sex characters are very numerous; one might say that each one of the billions of cells in the body bears the impress of the sex to which it belongs.

First, the skeleton. The entire female skeleton differs from the male skeleton; all the bones are smaller and more gracile; the pelvis, as we have seen before, is shallower and wider. Then the muscles are smaller and more rounded. The entire contour of the body is rounded rather than angular as in man. The skin is finer, softer, more delicate. The hair on the head is longer and of a finer texture, while over the body the hair is also finer and less abundant. The voice is finer, more pleasant, and of a higher pitch (soprano). The breasts are well developed, and serve an important purpose, while in men they are rudimentary. The breathing is also different; woman breathes principally with the upper part of the chest, man with the lower. The brain is smaller and its convolutions somewhat less complex in woman.

Woman differs considerably from man not only physically, as we have seen, but also mentally and emotionally. But into this phase of the subject we will not enter, except to remark that it is foolish to speak of the superiority or inferiority of one sex to another. In some respects man is greatly superior to woman, in others he is inferior; on the whole the sexes balance one another pretty well, and while the sexes are not and never will be exactly alike, we have no right to speak of the inferiority of one sex to another. We recognize that the sexes are different, but they complement one another, and the claim of the reactionary and of the woman-hater that woman is an inferior creature is just as senseless as is the claim made by some ultra-militant feminists that woman is the superior and man the inferior.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] The ovum is really the fully mature egg ready for fecundation; before maturity it should not be called ovum but ooecyte; and in advanced treatises it is so referred to. But here ovum will do for both the unripe and ripe egg.



CHAPTER FOUR

THE SEX INSTINCT

Universality of the Sex Instinct—Not Responsible for Our Thoughts and Feelings.

THE sex instinct, which runs all through nature from the lowest animal to the highest, is the inborn impulse, craving or desire which one sex has for the other: the male for the female and the female for the male. This instinct, this desire for the opposite sex, which is born with us and which manifests itself at a very early age, is not anything to be ashamed of. There is nothing disgraceful, nothing sinful in it. It is a normal, natural, healthy instinct, implanted in us by nature for various reasons, and absolutely indispensable for the perpetuation of the race. If there were anything to be ashamed of, it would be the lack of this sex instinct, for without it the race would quickly die out.

Not Responsible for Thoughts and Feelings. It is necessary to impress this point, because many girls and women, whose minds have been perverted by a vicious so-called morality, worry themselves to illness, brood and become hypochondriac because they think they have committed a grievous sin in experiencing a desire for sexual relations or for the embrace of a certain man. Altogether it is necessary to impress upon the growing girl, when the occasion presents itself, that a thought or a feeling can never be sinful. An action may be, but a thought or a feeling cannot. Why? Because we are not responsible for our thoughts and feelings; they are not under our control. Though it does not mean that when they do arise we are to give them full sway. We should attempt to combat them and drive them away, but there is nothing to be ashamed of, because for their origin we are not responsible.

Responsible for Actions. Our actions are under our control, to a certain extent at least, and if we do a bad or injurious act, we have committed a sin and are morally responsible. The desire for the sexual act is no more sinful than the desire for food is when one is hungry. But the performance of the act may, under certain circumstances, be as sinful as the eating of food which the hungry man obtained by robbing another fellow-being, just as poor as himself.

I am not preaching to you. But I am not an extremist nor a hypocrite. I am advocating neither asceticism nor licentiousness. One is as bad, or almost as bad, as the other.

What I am trying to do is to inculcate in your minds, if possible, a sane, well-balanced view of all things sexual.

For I believe that wrong, perverted views of the physiology and hygiene of the sex act and of sex morality, that is, the proper relationship of the sexes, are responsible for untold misery, for incalculable suffering. Both sexes suffer, but the female sex suffers more. The woman always pays more. This is due to her natural disabilities (menstruation, pregnancy, lactation), to her age-long repression, to the fact that she must be sought but never seek, and to her economic dependence.

For the above reasons, sex instruction is a matter of double importance to woman—this fact has been emphasized in the first chapter. But woman's disabilities impose upon us another duty: because she carries the heaviest burden, because she always pays more dearly than the man, it becomes incumbent upon man to treat her with special consideration, with genuine kindness and chivalry.



CHAPTER FIVE

PUBERTY

Physical Changes in Puberty—Physical Changes in the Genital Organs and in the Rest of the Body—Psychic Changes—Puberty and Adolescence—Nubility.

Puberty is the most wonderful, the most significant period in a girl's life. Important as it is in a boy's life and development, it is still more so in a girl's. At this period there are often laid the foundations which either make or mar the girl's future life.

The meaning of the word puberty is maturity. It is the period at which the girl and the boy reach sexual maturity; in other words, the period at which the sex glands of the boy begin to generate spermatozoa, and the sex glands of the girl begin to mature and expel eggs or ova; with the girl puberty is marked by an additional phenomenon, which has no analogue in the boy, namely, menstruation.

Physical Changes. The word puberty is derived from the word puber, which in Latin means mature, ripe. But the word puber is itself derived from the word pubes, which in Latin means fine hair or down. For at this period of maturity all mammals (that is animals which have breasts and nurse their young) begin to develop a growth of hair. You know that our entire body, with the exception of the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, is covered with innumerable hair follicles, and from our birth our entire body, with the exception named, is covered with fine hair. The hair may be too delicate to be seen, but it is there, and with a magnifying glass you can see it without any trouble. But at puberty the hair increases in thickness and in quantity, and becomes abundant in places where it was hardly noticeable before—the upper lip and face in boys, and the armpits and lower part of the abdomen in both boys and girls.

And so the first apparent physical sign of puberty in a girl is the gradual appearance of hair in the armpits, on the mons Veneris and the labia majora. But all the genital organs are undergoing rapid development; the vulva, the vagina, the uterus and the ovaries become larger, and the ovaries which up to that time were elaborating an internal secretion only, now also begin to manufacture ova; in other words, the monthly process of ovulation is begun. Synchronously with the process of ovulation, there commences the monthly function of menstruation. The breasts also increase in size, assume the characteristic contour, develop their glandular substance, and become capable of secreting milk for the use of any possible offspring. During this period of development they are often very sensitive to the touch or feel painful without being touched.

But not only the genital organs undergo growth and development—the entire body participates in the process. The growth in height is the most rapid at this period; the greatest growth takes place in the limbs—legs and arms. The pelvis becomes broader, and the chest or thorax also becomes broader and larger. The muscles become larger and rounder and finally give the girl the beautiful womanly form.

Psychic Changes. But the changes are not only physical; the changes that take place in the girl's psychic sphere during the pubertal years are also highly important. That is the period of the development of the emotions; she is overflowing with emotion; she becomes sensitive; in her relations with boys and men she becomes self-conscious. Distinct sexual desire fortunately does not make its appearance in the girl at this period, as it does in the boy, but she becomes filled with vague undefined and undefinable longings. It is the period of "crushes" when the girl is apt to bestow her overflowing emotion on a girl friend. There is nothing reprehensible in these crushes—they act as a safety valve—and only in rare cases are they apt to lead to abnormal development. This is also the period of day-dreaming and of romancing; the girl likes to read love-stories and novels in which she identifies herself with the heroine. And it makes quite some difference as to what the girl reads during this period, for literature has a strong influence on the young in the most plastic period of their lives; and it is important that older persons see to it that those in their care spend their time on books of noble ideals and high artistic value.

Girls of a highly sensitive or so-called "nervous" temperament, especially if there is "nervousness" in the family, must be particularly looked after. For it is during the years of puberty and adolescence that any neurotic traits are apt to develop and become emphasized. It is also the period when bad sexual habits (masturbation) are apt to develop, and the careful mother will devote special attention to her girls in their years of puberty, and guard them as much as possible against physical and emotional shocks.

The age of puberty in girls is by many writers considered as synonymous or synchronous with the onset of menstruation, which in this country in the majority of cases occurs between the ages of thirteen and fourteen. The year of gradual development before the onset of menstruation is by some referred to as the pre-pubertal year; and the first year after the onset of menstruation is the post-pubertal year. The period from puberty to full sexual maturity is called adolescence, and this term is applied generally to the period between thirteen and eighteen. For at eighteen the boy and the girl have reached full maturity. Mentally we acquire things as long as we live, and even physically the body gets larger for some years after eighteen. But sexually both boys and girls are fully mature at eighteen, though in order to become parents it is best, for various reasons, to wait to the ages of twenty or twenty-five.

Nubility. Nubility is the age or state when a boy or a girl is "fit" for marriage. This is a vague and unsatisfactory term. At the age of thirteen to fifteen boys and girls are physically "fit" for marriage, that is at that age a boy is capable of begetting and a girl of having children. But it does not mean that it would be advisable for them to marry at such an early age. Neither their bodies nor their minds are fully developed, and children begotten of such young parents are apt to be weaklings, both mentally and physically. The youngest age for girls to marry should be eighteen, and for boys twenty; but the youngest age for becoming parents should be twenty to twenty-two for the mother and twenty-three to twenty-five for the father.



CHAPTER SIX

MENSTRUATION

Definition of Menstruation—Where Menstrual Blood Comes From—Age of Menstruation—Age of Cessation of Menstruation—Duration—Amount—Regularity and Irregularity.

The first function with which the girl will be confronted, which will impress upon her that she is a creature of sex, that she is decidedly different from the boy, is menstruation. And this function we will now proceed to study.

What is menstruation? Menstruation is a monthly discharge of blood. The word is derived from the Latin word mensis, which means a month; and menstruation is also frequently spoken of as the menses. It is also called the catamenia or catamenia-flow (Greek, kata—by, men—a month). Other terms are: the periods, courses, monthlies, turns, monthly changes, monthly sickness, sickness, flowers, to be unwell, to be regular. "Not to see anything" is a common term for having missed the menses. This flow of blood recurs in most cases with remarkable regularity once a month; not a calendar month, but once a lunar month, i.e., once every twenty-eight days. And as there are thirteen lunar months a year, a woman menstruates not twelve but thirteen times a year.

Where does the menstrual blood come from? The menstrual blood comes from the inside of the womb. Every month, for a few days prior to menstruation, the inside lining of the womb (what we call the mucous membrane or endometrium) becomes congested and its bloodvessels become distended with blood. If the woman has sexual intercourse and pregnancy happens to take place, then this extra blood is used to nourish and develop the new child; but if no pregnancy takes place, that extra blood exudes from the bloodvessels (some of the bloodvessels rupture) and is discharged from the uterus into the vagina, and from there to the outside, where it is caught on cotton, sanitary napkins or some other pad.

At what age does menstruation begin? The usual age at which menstruation begins in this country is thirteen or fourteen; in some it may occur as early as twelve, in others as late as fifteen, sixteen or even seventeen. For menstruation to begin earlier than twelve or later than seventeen is in this country a rare exception. But in cold northern climates the age of eighteen is not rare, and in the hot southern climates menstruation often starts at the ages of ten or eleven. Change of climate or of country will often have an influence on the menses. In the early years of his medical practice, the author had many Finnish girls as patients. It was a very common occurrence for them to stop menstruating for the first few months or even for the first year of their residence in this country.

At what age does menstruation cease? The age at which menstruation ceases is called the menopause or climacteric. It usually takes place at the age of forty-eight or fifty. In some cases it does not take place until the age of fifty-two, in others it takes place as early as forty-five or forty-four. In general, it may be said that the woman's menstruating period, during which she is able to have children, lasts about thirty-five years. And if no restraint be taken, and if no precautions be taken against conception, a woman could have twenty or thirty children during her childbearing period.

How many days does a woman menstruate? The usual number of days is from three to five; in some cases menstruation lasts only two days, in others as long as seven. As a rule, the greatest amount of blood passed is during the first two days.

The amount of blood. It is hard to estimate the exact amount of blood passed by a woman during her menses, but it reaches about an ounce and a half to three ounces. In some women the amount may reach as much as four or five ounces and in exceptional cases as much as eight ounces. Where it exceeds this amount, it is an abnormal condition, requiring treatment. The usual statement that a normally menstruating woman should not have to use more than three napkins during the twenty-four hours is correct.

The periodical regularity with which menstruation recurs in many women is remarkable. I know a woman who has not missed her menses in twenty years; during those twenty years the menses have started every fourth Friday, almost always at the same hour. I know another one who has her menses every fourth Wednesday, about seven in the morning. She skipped her periods during her two pregnancies, then they were irregular for a while, then they came back to Wednesday. Other women have their menses on a certain day of the month, say the first or the fifth, regardless of the number of days in the month (such cases are, however, exceptional). And in some women the menses are irregular: every three weeks, every five or six weeks, every six or seven weeks, etc. Some women never know when they may expect their menses, so irregular they are.