TEACHING PHASES: FOR GIRLS
_By Bertha Stuart_
The normality of the reaction to sex knowledge depends upon the physical
and mental training of the child. Our thoughts concerning girls run in
fixed grooves. We believe that, in babyhood, instinct leads them to prefer
dolls to their brothers' guns and a little later renders them less active
physically and more gentle and tractable mentally. Because of this
supposed difference in instincts and because of a well-defined picture in
our own minds of the final product we wish to evolve, we build a structure
externally fair, but lacking the foundation to enable it to resist the
stress of time and circumstance. Because of our traditionally different
ways of dealing with girls and boys, we have produced girls who are not
healthy little animals, but women in miniature with nervous systems too
unstable to cope successfully with the strain of our modern complex life.
The stability of the nervous system is dependent upon the proper
development of the fundamental centers. Incomplete development of the
lower parts means incomplete development in the higher. These fundamental
centers are stimulated to growth and development especially by the
activity of the large muscle masses. Not only is the development of the
brain and nervous system dependent upon muscular activity, but the growth
and activity of the vital organs as well,--the heart, lungs, and digestive
system,--and the normality of sex life.
All this we acknowledge in the case of the boy. Even with him, we fail to
live up to our convictions, as is shown by the long hours of inactivity in
school and the lack of suitable activities during recess periods. But on
the whole we encourage the boy to run and climb and jump and take distinct
pride in these accomplishments.
The same accomplishments in our girls occasion alarm; we have an ideal of
gentle womanhood. Even though unrestrained up to the time she attends
school, the girl then enters upon the long career of physical repression
which characterizes her training. Parents, teachers, neighbors, and
schoolmates often seem to conspire to curb all the natural impulses upon
which her health and rounded development depend.
Aside from the reproductive organs, the physical mechanism of the girl is
much like that of the boy. There is no peculiarity in the structure of the
reproductive organs to prohibit vigorous activity. The development and
health of these organs and their ligamentous supports are dependent
primarily upon the quality and free circulation of the blood, both of
which are preëminently the result of fresh air and exercise. If the
muscular system in general is well developed, there is no reason why the
muscular and ligamentous structure of the reproductive organs should not
be equally well developed. To insure their proper development, exercise is
essential.
A questionnaire answered by girls at the University of Oregon shows that,
with few exceptions, plays and games were not indulged in throughout the
high-school period and systematic playing ceased for the majority in the
seventh and eighth grades. This custom prevails throughout the country.
Just at the time when a girl needs abundant and free open-air play to
develop the muscles, train endurance of the heart, and increase the
capacity of the lungs, she omits it altogether. This is one of the chief
factors in the anæmias and poor circulation common in that period. The
derangement in the blood results in digestive disturbances and loss of
appetite, followed by headache and lassitude which further disincline the
girl for activity. Add to this the nervous strain incident to endeavors to
carry on a successful social career, the nerve tension resulting from the
unhygienic clothing assumed at this time, the lack of the steadying
influence of home responsibilities, and we have ample cause for the
nervous, high-strung girl who is becoming so common that we are in danger
of regarding her as the normal girl.
So greatly has the school curriculum encroached upon the home that the
girl has no longer time to share its responsibilities, nor is there longer
time for the family reading-circle, or music, or games for the maintenance
of the unity and fellowship of the home. This condition cannot but react
unfavorably upon the nervous system. If the brain is not rested and the
emotions satisfied by the relationships in the home, a feverish unrest, a
nervous irritability, a futile search supplant the calmness of spirit,
stableness of reactions and depth of contentment which must be long
continued to become a habit of mind.
Our school systems of to-day are designed for a girl as strong physically
as a boy; in fact stronger than most of our city boys. Our girls should
possess as much vitality as our boys; but until we change our methods of
dealing with girls, we must treat them as they exist and not as the normal
individuals we hope some day to evolve. Most girls have
disorders,--"nervousness," headache, backache, constipation, colds,
fatigue, or pain at the menstrual period. So common are these disturbances
that we consult a physician only in extreme cases, and rarely seek the
cause of the condition or attempt more than temporary relief. A pain which
under ordinary circumstances would receive medical attention is viewed
with resignation when coincident with the menses. As a consequence of this
neglect, many girls suffer unnecessary drains upon their vitality.
We find all degrees of menstrual pain. It may be so mild as to be little
more than discomfort, or so intense that unconsciousness results. The pain
may be sharp and knife-like, or it may be a dull ache. It may be
localized, low down in one or both sides, distributed over the whole
abdomen or concentrated in the back. With this pain, there may be
headache, or a headache may be the only symptom. Frequently there is
gastro-intestinal disturbance--nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, or
constipation. In anæmic cases fainting is common.
Local or operative treatment is not as a rule necessary, for the majority
of cases yield to a strict régime of hygienic living. The régime should
include regulation of sleeping, of eating, of hours of work and
relaxation, of dressing and of exercise. The exercise should be prescribed
and directed by a person trained in medical gymnastics.
Frequently mental disturbances are associated with the phenomenon of
menstruation. The most usual symptoms are heightened irritability,
hysterical manifestations and depression. Depression is often the only
symptom; to some girls the premonitory "blues" signify the approach of
the period. Occasionally we encounter the reverse, an excessive
stimulation and feeling of well-being and strength. There is some loss in
the power of concentration. In normal cases, however, this loss is less
than many people suppose it to be. Lassitude and a feeling of general
debility are confined chiefly to the anæmic cases.
The mental symptoms clear up as the physical condition is improved, aided
by a sensible attitude toward the whole process. Often girls who suffer
some pain live through the whole month in dread of the period. This
attitude should be changed, by lessening the pain and by psychic therapy.
Psychic therapy has proved successful in obstinate cases.
The girl who suffers considerably from any of these disorders at the
monthly period should be relieved from the strain of examinations, the
classroom, and lessons which must be learned, although mental hygiene
requires that her mind be kept active and her interests in quiet pleasures
stimulated. She should not be left to introspection and morbidness or to
the sickly sentimental thoughts often recommended for her. This alone
would cause her to exhibit some of the so-called "phenomena" of
adolescence. Many of these phenomena are abnormal and are traceable to low
physical vitality and lack of strong mental interests. The menstrual
period should not be attended by pain or discomfort; nor should our girls
be brought up to regard it as a time of sickness. When our girls are
taught that normal girls experience no indisposition at this time, they
will not be resigned to pain. The high-school life of the girl below the
average in physical vitality cannot be regulated to her advantage in a
co-educational school. Cities should maintain girls' high schools, taught
by women teachers, for all girls upon whom the stress and strain of
competition with normal individuals would react unfavorably. In the
majority of cases, menstrual pain in girls is due to nerve tension, anæmia
and poor circulation, improper clothing, and mental attitude. The girls
who experience no pain are those who have led an active out-of-door life
and have never stopped playing.
The character and arrangement of a girl's clothing is one of the most
important matters in her whole regimen. Clothing may neutralize the
beneficial effects of her otherwise hygienic habits. The long-continued
even though light pressure of the corset--and it is seldom
light--interferes with the free circulation of the blood. The alteration
in intro-abdominal pressure is conducive to misplacements of abdominal and
pelvic organs; the anterior pressure on the iliac bones, the result of the
modern long hip corset, is a fruitful source of partial separation of
sacro-iliac joints--the cause of many backaches. Respiration is limited,
the free play of abdominal muscles is prevented, constipation is promoted,
and digestion is impaired. The strain on muscles and nerves caused by
high-heeled shoes is a prolific source of headache and backache and
reduced efficiency. Women have no conception how greatly their
susceptibility to fatigue is increased and their total efficiency reduced
by their methods of dress. The pity is that the majority will not learn
unless the decrees of fashion change.
The hygienic problems of girls in industry will largely disappear when it
becomes a matter of common knowledge that industrial efficiency is
dependent upon physical efficiency. The physical efficiency of the worker
cannot be maintained at its highest standard when the period allotted to
rest is too short to allow the body to rebuild its tissues and dispose of
the toxic products of fatigue. All activity must be balanced by rest. If
this equilibrium between expenditure and income is disturbed, exhaustion
ensues. If long continued, it results in permanent impairment of health.
The organism poisoned by its own toxic products is incapable of productive
effort and the output will steadily diminish as the fatigue increases. The
present long working day causes a progressive diminution in the vitality
of the worker, defeats its own end, and leaves the girl weak in the face
of temptations.
The housing of unmarried girls is a very serious question. Homes for
working-girls require skillful management and a matron of insight and
sympathy. The bedrooms may be small, but well lighted and ventilated.
There should be a sunny dining-room, a library, several small parlors,
attractively furnished, a gymnasium which could be used for dancing,
shower baths, and an assembly room for concerts, lectures, and moving
pictures. This should be in charge of a trained social leader who would
direct entertainments and stimulate wholesome interests. With an
establishment of this kind we should not find so many of our girls on the
streets or seeking diversion in cheap theaters and dance halls. When girls
are able to live,--not simply exist in the deadening monotony of
alternation between work and sleep,--their heightened mental activity,
interest, and enthusiasm will prove a valuable asset to employers.
One of the chief requisites of the mental training of girls is a
knowledge, supplied at the right time and in the right way, of the
fundamental principles of reproduction. With such knowledge the girl's
mind will not be distracted by curiosity, or become morbid, when, instead
of intelligent response, the girl meets with evasions and attempted
concealments. She should not receive this knowledge in the form of
isolated facts, but as a correlated part of a great whole to be
assimilated gradually. The girl who is trained in this way will understand
and accept human reproduction as a natural process.
Questionnaires show that a majority of girls hear the facts of
reproduction at the age of seven or eight, a few younger, and a few at
the age of ten,--almost none at a later age. The majority hear these facts
from children a year or two older, a few from their mothers, and the rest
from books. A large number experience a feeling of disgust which remains
with them until they receive better information. Their questions disclose
a depth of ignorance and misconception which is appalling.
Girls, at the age of twelve, thirteen, or fourteen, should have presented
to them a course in physiology which includes the anatomy and hygiene of
the reproductive organs. This is carefully omitted from present-day
secondary-school textbooks. This course should use charts, pictures, and
models. The significance of menstruation, the hygiene of the period, and
the causes and prevention of pain should be explained. Under the hygiene
of the period, the daily bath should be urged, with caution against
chills, in which lies the only possibility of injury. The fertilization of
the ovum and cell division may be described by use of the blackboard and
embryological models of the later stages of development. The forces which
bring about labor can be explained without unduly stressing the attending
pain.
The course would be incomplete without a discussion of the necessity of
careful selection in marriage from the eugenic standpoint. The perils and
results of the venereal diseases should be told simply and frankly. The
instruction in eugenics, like that in reproduction, should be progressive
and indirect, at least up to the age of seventeen or eighteen years. Again
it may be correlated with plant life by pointing out the beauty of strong,
hardy plants and their relation to the seeds. Children can be taught to
save the seeds of the most beautiful blossoms for the following year.
Instruction can be continued with the lower animals. The child will then
grow up with the idea that strength and vigor and freedom from disease are
desirable qualities, and must exist in the parent if they are to exist in
the offspring. The idea can be readily carried over to the human family.
At the age of seventeen or eighteen, the influence of heredity and the
effects of the racial poisons should be fully explained, and emphasis laid
upon qualities necessary for racial betterment.
For our girls the first need is a sounder physical organism, which can be
attained only through the systematic continuance of physical activities
through childhood and girlhood; the second need is sounder mental
interests, which can be attained only through the systematic guidance of
the mental activities throughout childhood and girlhood; and the third
need is instruction in laws of reproduction.