Perhaps one of the hardest lessons this generation has had to learn is
that sex is a natural thing. Christianity has had to admit, of course,
that sexuality is necessary if the race is to go on, yet it has always
frowned upon it. The holy people didn’t marry; the best people became
priests, monks or nuns. And so deep has this puritanism gone that even
a modern like Bernard Shaw has said that he was shocked at the conduct
of married people--so many of them indulged in love for mere pleasure!
A wave of revolt has been sweeping over the western world. We have had
poets like Walt Whitman who have celebrated sex as a clean, strong
thing; writers like Havelock Ellis who have gathered together a mine
of information on the subject; and finally, we have had the great
psychologist, Freud, who has made a scientific study of sex and given
us a flood of new light on its mysteries.
In spite of this new knowledge, however, most people are apparently
still in ignorance. The subject is hedged around with fears and taboos.
Shame attaches to many phases of it. There are men and women of strong
desires who think they are living in sin; and, on the other hand,
those without desire who think they are unnatural. It is time for this
dark cloud to roll away; and this booklet is simply one more attempt
to place the matter not only in the light of science, but also in the
light of common sense.