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 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
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 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_.