[Sidenote: Girls more innocent.]
I discussed first the problem of selecting scientific facts for boys
because there is little dispute as to the advisability of giving them
as much scientific information as may possibly replace the vulgar
knowledge that the average boy is likely to possess. I know that there
are a few men and many women who will disagree with this because they
believe in the absolute ignorance of their boys; but I doubt whether
one healthy adolescent boy in a hundred belongs in the "innocent"
class. So we need not worry much concerning any supposed danger of
treating facts too frankly, provided that they are given a dignified,
scientific setting. In the case of numerous adolescent girls there is
certainly dense ignorance, and so there must be more difficulty in
getting approval of parents and teachers concerning facts proposed for
girls. Often when talking with groups of parents I have heard them say
that they would like to have their boys learn the scientific truth
regarding certain facts, but they feel that it would be too startling
and unnecessary for their daughters. Such is the widespread feeling
which must be seriously considered in all planning of advanced
sex-instruction for girls. No doubt there will be much honest
disagreement with the suggestions here offered.
The biological introduction based on plants and animals should be the
same as for boys (Sec. 27).
[Sidenote: Structure and names.]
An adolescent girl of fourteen to sixteen should know the general plan
of her own sexual structure. She should know the scientific names of
her organs, not because there are many vulgar names as in the case of
boys, but because dignified names help attitude. Ovaries, uterus
(womb), vagina, Fallopian tubes, and vulva will be sufficient. Detailed
description of the external organs (vulva) might arouse curiosity that
leads to exploration and irritation, and hence many women physicians
think that a girl under sixteen or possibly eighteen needs only the
name vulva for the external parts surrounding the entrance to the
vagina.
[Sidenote: An ancient belief.]
Some books for girls perpetuate the ancient but absurd emphasis on the
virginal significance of the hymen; and a recent book from a prominent
publisher goes so far as to try to frighten girls into remaining chaste
by stating that a physician could discover if they have been unchaste.
This is far from being always true, for the structure may be
congenitally absent, may sometimes remain after sexual union, or may be
accidentally destroyed in childhood; and reliable physicians have
stated that proving unchastity by the hymen is by no means easy. Hence,
the less said about the ancient belief, the better for young women. The
truth is that the hymen is a worse-than-useless relic of embryological
development, and it is neither an indicator nor a dictator of morality.
[Sidenote: Physiology of women.]
With regard to the physiology of the female organs, the following
topics should be considered: The meaning of puberty as the beginning of
a long fertile period of about thirty years; the nature of menstruation
as a periodical process preparing the lining of the uterus for
reception and attachment of an embryo if a sperm-cell meets a liberated
egg-cell near an ovary, and not as a season of illness invented by the
powers of darkness; the possibility of fertilization following sexual
relations at any time during the fertile life of a woman; the essential
facts of sexual relation as a method of depositing sperm-cells so that
they can swim on the way to meet an egg-cell; and the nature of the
close blood relationship of mother and embryo. These are physiological
topics which many parents would like to have taught to their daughters
of fourteen to eighteen by some careful woman or by some good book.
[Sidenote: Social ills.]
With regard to the social diseases and the social evil, I have long
sympathized with the conservatives who hold that extremely limited
knowledge is sufficient for the average girl under eighteen or twenty.
No doubt that many working girls in cities need more protective
knowledge than do school girls of the same age. Hall's "Life Problems"
seems to me to give the important facts.
[Sidenote: Habits.]
As in the case of boys of adolescent years, there should be enough
teaching to warn against harmful habits. Such knowledge may possibly be
of personal application to a few girls and it will be of use to many
girls who will later as mothers or teachers have the care of small
children.
[Sidenote: Knowledge concerning men.]
I find that many thoughtful mothers and women physicians think that
girls in late adolescent years should learn from some reliable source
the most general facts regarding male structure and function. Here
again the strong argument is that the majority will have the care of
small children. Such instruction has often been given as part of
courses in biology and physiology and also in special lectures. It is
certain that some parents will favor such instruction, and others will
regard it as indecent to suggest that girls should have any such
knowledge. There will always be some parents who will let their
daughters face life-problems blindly.
[Sidenote: Mothercraft.]
Sometime in adolescent years girls should learn the scientific facts
regarding mothercraft or the care of small children. This phase of the
sex-education is rapidly attracting attention from those who are
interested in practical arts education, and before many years pass it
will probably be treated adequately in connection with household arts
in schools and colleges. I have already referred to household arts in
general as making a decided contribution to the larger sex-education
which works for harmonious adjustment of the sexes in the home.