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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 für 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 Spermatozoön 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 Spermatozoön Foretell the Contrasting
Rôles 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--Formulæ 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--Formulæ 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--Formulæ 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--Oöphoritis 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 Fiancé--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
[Illustration: OVARY.]
=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.
[Illustration: 1. OPENINGS INTO THE FALLOPIAN TUBES. 2. MOUTH OF
THE WOMB.]
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.
[Illustration: (Female Reproductive Organs)]
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 _rugæ_, 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.
[Illustration: ANTEVERSION OF THE UTERUS.]
[Illustration: ANTEFLEXION OF THE UTERUS.]
[Illustration: RETROVERSION OF THE UTERUS.]
[Illustration: RETROFLEXION OF THE UTERUS.]