[Sidenote: Definition of sex-education.]
Sex-education in its largest sense includes all scientific, ethical,
social, and religious instruction and influence which directly and
indirectly may help young people prepare to solve for themselves the
problems of sex that inevitably come in some form into the life of
every normal human individual. Note the carefully guarded phrase "help
young people prepare to solve for themselves the problems of sex", for,
like education in general, special sex-education cannot possibly do
more than help the individual prepare to face the problems of life.
[Sidenote: More than sex-hygiene.]
Now, sex-education as thus defined is more extensive than sex-hygiene,
which term was originally applied to instruction concerning sex.
Sex-hygiene obviously refers to health as influenced by sexual
processes, and as such it is a convenient subdivision of the science of
health. It would be quite satisfactory as a name for popular
instruction concerning sex if that were strictly, or even primarily,
hygienic; but in a later lecture it will be shown that the most
desirable sex-instruction is only in a minor part a problem of hygiene.
I realize that this statement may be declared heretical by many of the
present-day advocates of sex-hygiene, because they have approached this
latest educational movement from the standpoint of physical health, and
especially because their attention has been drawn to the very common
occurrence of pathological conditions. Nevertheless, the sexual
problems of our times do not all affect physical health, which hygiene
aims to conserve; and the sex-educational movement will be quite
inadequate without great stress upon certain ethical, social, and other
aspects of sex. Young people need instruction that relates not only to
health but also to attitude and to morals as these three are influenced
by sexual instincts and relationships. This idea will be developed
later, but I anticipate here simply to suggest the point of view of the
statement that "sex-hygiene" is altogether too limited as a general
designation for the desirable instruction concerning sex. The continued
use of the term "sex-hygiene," now that the scope of the desirable
sex-instruction has been extended far beyond the accepted limits of the
science of health, is tending to cause confusion. The educational
problems will be more definite and the support of the intelligent
public more assured if we limit the use of "sex-hygiene" to the
specific problems of health as affected by sexual processes and cease
trying to make it include those phases of sex-instruction which have
nothing directly to do with health.
Two general terms, "sex-instruction" and "sex-education," are available
as all-inclusive designations of the desirable instruction concerning
any aspects of sex. They are quite free from the above objections to
"sex-hygiene," and it is highly desirable that they should be used in
all educational discussions where there is no specific reference to the
problems of health. Sex-hygiene will be used in these lectures only
when there is some direct reference to health as influenced by the
sexual functions.
[Sidenote: Social hygiene.]
Social hygiene in its complete sense means the great general movement
for the improvement of the conditions of life in all lines in which
there is social ill health or need of social reform; but it is often
limited to the sexual aspect of the unfortunate and unfavorable
conditions of life, and it has been proposed to adopt the term "social
hygiene" as a substitute that avoids the word "sex" in sex-hygiene. For
this reason it has been incorporated into the names of several
societies that are interested in sex-hygiene (_e.g._, the American
Social Hygiene Association). Probably the relation of sex-hygiene to
the so-called "social evil" has suggested the use of social hygiene in
its most limited sense. It will be unfortunate if this usage becomes so
prominent that we think of the health problems of society as chiefly
sexual, for the larger outlook of Ellis's "Task of Social Hygiene" is
desirable. Likewise, the phrase "social evil" in the sense of sexual
evil misleadingly suggests that the only evil of society is the sexual
one, but this evasive designation is being supplanted by the more
definite and franker word "prostitution."
It should be noted that "social hygiene" as a substitute for
"sex-hygiene" is narrower in that it does not include the personal
problems of health as affected by sexual processes. This is a serious
omission, for certainly all sex-hygiene taught before the later
adolescent years should be personal and not social.
[Sidenote: Phases of sex-education.]
The relation of sex-hygiene or social hygiene as a limited phase of
sex-education is shown by the following outline:
{ sex-hygiene (personal, | for sexual health
{ social) |
{ |
{ biology (including | for attitude
{ physiology) of | regarding sex,
{ reproduction | and for important
{ | scientific facts
{ |
In the broadest { heredity and eugenics | for sexual conduct
outlook, sex-education { | leading to race
(or sex-instruction) { | improvement
includes: { |
{ ethics and sociology | for sexual conduct
{ of sex |
{ |
{ psychology of sex | for sexual health
{ | and conduct
{ |
{ aesthetics of sex | for attitude
[Sidenote: Sex and reproduction.]
Since the original purpose of sex was perpetuation of plant and animal
species, and since in the study of biology the idea of sex is
illustrated and developed by examination of the reproductive processes
in various types, it has been customary for many writers on
sex-education to use the terms "sex" and "reproduction" as if they were
synonymous. This is no longer so in human life; for while reproduction
is a sexual process, sexual activities and influences are often quite
unrelated to reproduction. In fact, most of the big problems that have
made sex-education desirable, if not necessary, are problems of sex
apart from reproduction. It therefore seems clear that, while studies
of reproduction are prominent in sex-education, they should be regarded
as introductory to the problems of sex, especially for young people.