University of Virginia Library

INTRODUCTION.

BOOKS almost without number have been written upon the subject treated in this work. Unfortunately, most of these works are utterly unreliable being filled with gross misrepresentations and exaggerations, and being designed as advertising mediums for ignorant and unscrupulous charlatans, or worse than worthless patent nostrums. To add to their power for evil, many of them abound with pictorial illustrations which are in no way conducive to virtue or morality but rather stimulate the animal propensities, and excite lewd imaginations. Books of this character are usually widely circulated; and their pernicious influence is fully as great as that of works of a more grossly obscene character. In most of the few instances in which the evident motive of the author or publisher is not of an unworthy character, the manner of presenting the subject is unfortunately such that it more frequently than otherwise has a strong tendency in a direction exactly the opposite of that intended and desired. The writer of this work has endeavored to avoid the latter evil by adopting a style of presentation quite different from that generally pursued. Instead of restricting the reader's attention rigidly to the sexual function in man, his mind is diverted by frequent references to corresponding functions in lower animals and in the vegetable kingdom.

By this means, not only is additional information imparted, but the sexual function in man is divested of its sensuality. It is viewed as a fact of natural history, and is associated with the innocence of animal life and the chaste loveliness of flowers. Thus the subject comes to be regarded from a purely physiological standpoint, and is liberated from that association with grossness which is the active cause of sensuality.

There are so many well-meaning individuals who object to the agitation of this subject in any manner whatever, that it may be profitable to consider in this connection some of the principal objections which are urged against imparting information on sexual subjects, especially against giving knowledge to the young.

Sexual matters improper to be spoken of to the young.

This objection is often raised, it being urged that these matters are too delicate to be even suggested to children; that they ought to be kept in total ignorance of all sexual matters and relations. It is doubtless true that children raised in a perfectly natural way would have no sexual thoughts during the earlier years of life, and it would be better if it might be so; but from facts pointed out in succeeding portions of this work, it is certain that at the present time, children nearly always do have some ideas of sexual relations long before puberty, and often at a very early age. It is thus apparent that in speaking to children of sexual matters, in a proper manner, a new subject is not introduced to them, but it is merely presenting to them in a true light a subject of which they already have vague ideas; and thus, by satisfying a natural curiosity, they are saved

from supplying, by their imaginations, distorted images and exaggerated conceptions, and from seeking to obtain the desired information from evil sources whence they would derive untold injury.

What reason is there that the subject of the sexual functions should be treated with such maudlin secrecy? Why should the function of generation be regarded as something low and beastly, unfit to be spoken of by decent people on decent occasions? We can conceive of no answer except the worse than beastly use to which the function has been so generally put by man. There is nothing about the sexual organism which makes it less pure than the lungs or the stomach. "Unto the pure all things are pure," may have been written especially for our times, when there is such a vast amount of mock modesty, when so much pretense of virtue covers such a world of iniquity and vice. The young lady who goes into a spasm of virtuous hysterics upon hearing the word "leg," is perhaps just the one who at home riots her imagination in voluptuous French novels, if she commits no grosser breach of chastity. The parents who are the most opposed to judiciously imparting proper information to the young, are often those who have themselves been guilty of gross breaches of the laws of sexual hygiene. In the minds of such persons, the sexual organs and functions, and everything even remotely connected with them, are associated only with ideas of lust and gross sensuality. No wonder that they wish to keep such topics in the dark. With such thoughts, they cannot well bear the scrutiny of virtue.

Sexual subjects are not, of course, proper subjects for conversation at all times, or at any time in a spirit of

levity and flippancy. This subject should always be handled with the greatest delicacy of expression. Gross and vulgar forms of speech in relation to sexual subjects should never be employed in presenting the subject to the young, and the greatest care should be taken to avoid rousing morbid curiosity or stimulating the passions. The object of imparting information is to allay curiosity by gratifying it in a wholesome way, and thus to prevent that precocious and morbid excitement of the sexual nature which is the natural outgrowth of ignorance, and is stimulated by those obscure hints and allusions which come to the notice of children even at a very early age.

Knowledge is dangerous.

Very true, knowledge is dangerous, but ignorance is still more dangerous; or, rather, partial knowledge is more dangerous than a more complete understanding of facts. Children, young people, will not grow up in innocent ignorance. If, in obedience to custom, they are not encouraged to inquire of their parents about the mysteries of life, they will seek to satisfy their curiosity by appealing to older or better informed companions. They will eagerly read any book which promises any hint on the mysterious subject, and will embrace every opportunity, proper or improper — and most likely to be the latter — of obtaining the coveted information. Knowledge obtained in this uncertain and irregular way must of necessity be very unreliable. Many times — generally, in fact — it is of a most corrupting character, and the clandestine manner in which it is obtained is itself corrupting and demoralizing. A child ought to be taught

to expect all such information from its parents, and it ought not to be disappointed.

Again, while it is true that knowledge is dangerous, it is equally true that this dangerous knowledge will be gained sometime, at any rate; and as it must come, better let it be imparted by the parent, who can administer proper warnings and cautions along with it, than by any other individual. Thus may the child be shielded from injury to which he would otherwise be certainly exposed.

Young people should be left to find out these things for themselves.

If human beings received much of their knowledge through instinct, as animals do, this might be a proper course; but man gets his knowledge largely by instruction. Young people will get their first knowledge of sexual matters mostly by instruction from some source. How much better, then, as we have already shown, to let them obtain this knowledge from the most natural and most reliable source!

The following paragraph from Dr. Ware is to the point: —

"But putting aside the question whether we ought to hide this subject wholly from the young if we could, the truth, it is to be feared, is that we cannot if we would. Admitting it to be desirable, every man of experience in life will pronounce it to be impracticable. If, then, we cannot prevent the minds of children from being engaged in some way on this subject, may it not be better to forestall evil impressions by implanting good ones, or at least to mingle good ones

with the evil as the nature of the case admits? Let us be at least as wise as the crafty enemy of man, and cast in a little wheat with his tares; and among the most effectual methods of doing this is to impart to the young just and religious views of the nature and purpose of the relation which the Creator has established between the two sexes."

When shall Information be Given? — It is a matter of some difficulty to decide the exact age at which information on sexual subjects should be given to the young. It may be adopted as a safe rule, however, that a certain amount of knowledge should be imparted as soon as there is manifested a curiosity in this direction. If there is reason to believe that the mind of the child is exercised in this direction, even though he may have made no particular inquiries, information should not be withheld.

How to Impart Proper Knowledge. — No little skill may be displayed in introducing these subjects to the mind of the young person in such a way as to avoid rousing the passions and creating sexual excitement. Perhaps the general plan followed in the first portion of this work will be found a very pleasant and successful method, if studied thoroughly, and well executed.

All information should not be given at once. First obtain the child's confidence, and assure him by candor and unreserve that you will give him all needed information; then, as he encounters difficulties, he will resort for explanation where he knows he will receive satisfaction. When the little one questions, answer truthfully and carefully.

The following paragraph from the pen of an able physician is wisely suggestive: —

"When we are little boys and girls, our first inquiries about our whence are answered by the authoritative dogma of the `silver spade;' we were dug up with that implement. By degrees the fact comes forth. The public, however, remains for ages in the silver-spade condition of mind with regard to the science of the fact; and the doctors foster it by telling us that the whole subject is a medical property.... There is nothing wrong in the knowing; and though the passions might be stimulated in the first moments by such information, yet in the second instance they will be calmed by it — and ceasing to be inflamed by the additional goad of curiosity and imagination, they will cool down under the hydropathic influence of science. Well-stated knowledge never did contribute to human inflammation; and we much question whether the whole theory of the silver spade be not a mistake; and whether children should not be told the truth from the first, that before desire and imagination are born, the young mind may receive in its cool innocency, a knowledge of the future objects of power and faculties which are to be subject afterward to such strong excitement."

Eminent Testimony. — The dangers of ignorance upon sexual topics are very ably set forth in the following article, which recently appeared in the British Medical Journal, the leading medical periodical of the age, having been called out by the exposures of the Pall Mall Gazette, elsewhere referred to in this volume: —

"Recent painful disclosures have, among other results, raised an important question, which, in the present state of opinion, can be most readily discussed in

the pages of a medical journal. We refer to the complete ignorance regarding the sexual organs and the sexual functions which is permitted, and, indeed, sedulously fostered, by the ordinary education received by boys and girls in this country. Not only does our school system provide no information on these topics which so vitally concern the happiness of every individual, but the slightest allusion to the subject is apt to be rigorously prohibited, and perhaps branded as obscenity. The result is, that there is a great deal of ignorance on these questions, and a still greater amount of half knowledge, which is more dangerous than either total ignorance or the fullest information. We have the authority of Sir James Paget for the statement that some men grow up, and even marry, in complete sexual ignorance; and that, while this is rare in the male sex, it is extremely common among cultivated and refined women.

"The decent veil which we conspire to throw over everything concerned with the reproductive function, serves, beyond doubt, some useful ends, and we trust the English people will always be characterized by their delicacy of thought and expression in this matter. But we are convinced that this secrecy, this conspiracy of silence, has gone too far, and that it is productive of serious evils. We object, in the first place, to it as unnatural. That our educational methods and social practice should permit men, or more frequently women, to marry without knowing what marriage involves, is not merely unnatural, but may be the cause of much matrimonial unhappiness. Parents and school-masters act as if innocence in such matters could last for life, and as if knowledge were a crime.

"But a much more serious, because infinitely more common, evil is the objectionable mode in which sexual knowledge generally gets access to the mind. Instead of being conveyed in some plain and matter-of-fact manner, it is too often gained through the corrupting medium of lewd jest or obscene print. At the most emotional and plastic period of life, when new instincts are swelling up and causing great mental disquietude, we withhold from boys and girls the knowledge which nature is instinctively trying to impart, and we leave them to grope their way in darkness or to seek illumination from some unhallowed source.

"Why do the young so often regard an obscene work or print with such fearful but such irresistible curiosity? Not from mere depravity, as we often assume, but because they are thus unconsciously seeking information which they have a right to possess, and which we are conscientiously bound to supply in some form which will enlighten the reason, without inflaming the imagination and exciting the passions. Sexual knowledge is not wrong; its tendency is not necessarily injurious; but our mistaken methods of secrecy have undoubtedly the most unfortunate effect of stimulating the imagination to the highest point. We know the baleful fascination of forbidden fruit, not because it is sweet or pleasant, but simply because it is forbidden. This is a notable trait in human nature; but in our attitude toward sexual questions, we have disregarded it, or rather acted in direct contravention of it. The sexual function is naturally powerful; but we enormously increase its attraction for the young by labeling it as forbidden fruit.

"It is usually easier to indicate a disease than to

apply a suitable remedy, but we shall not conclude without venturing a few suggestions. First, let us glance at what is suggested in the very few books which touch upon the question. Many urge that parents should convey knowledge upon these questions to their children at the time of life when external signs and new sensations indicate that the sexual instinct is beginning to awake. But many, probably the majority of parents, are not well fitted to undertake such a duty. Our language is badly provided with the necessary terms, and the untrained parent, ignorant of the anatomical expression, would find it hard to convey the necessary information without incurring the suspicion and, in his own mind, the reproach of indelicacy.

"Some advise that the family medical attendant should act in loco parentis in this matter; but we are certain that such action would be highly disagreeable to the members of the profession. One suggestion alone seems to meet the case, but, fortunately, it meets it most thoroughly. Elementary anatomy and physiology should form an integral part of every education. We might begin by teaching boys and girls the bones and skeleton, the functions of the heart, stomach, etc.; and then, when the suitable age arrives, the structure and functions of the sexual organs might be taken as the natural sequel of the previous portions of the course. In this way, the necessary knowledge would enter the mind naturally and simply, with no false shame on the one hand, and no fillip to the imagination on the other. We are confident that an immense reform would thus be easily and quietly effected, and that much evil and suffering would be averted. We should thus convey, in

the most natural and unobjectional form, knowledge which we have no right to withhold; and we should remove the unwholesome fascination which our present habit of secrecy imparts to sexual questions. Certain it is that the stealthy approaches of vice are favored by the existing system.

"It will often be found that there is a prevalent opinion that sexual immorality is to celibates a physical necessity, an attribute of manliness, and even a collateral or prevalent condition of health. This degrading error has been so vigorously denounced by the ablest of modern physiologists, that no one has any longer a pretext for entertaining or promulgating it. It has been the source of much evil, however; and wherever such an opinion is met, it must be energetically denounced.

"There is an aspect of the question which cannot be overlooked, especially as recent revelations have thrown a lurid light upon it. It has been abundantly proved that young girls are often entrapped to their ruin in the most utter ignorance of sexual questions, and of the physical significance of the act to which they are enticed. This is surely a lamentable instance of propriety over-reaching itself. Innocent ignorance is always attractive; but if be the means of luring the innocent victim to her doom, it is surely more dangerous. How, then, is the girl, approaching sexual maturity, to be made acquainted with the solemn facts of creative act, and guarded against associating them with the base impulses of passion? We commend this difficult question to the thoughtful consideration of our readers. In this respect, also, the mothers and the teachers have a very solemn duty; and it is opportune to ask how, when, where, and by whom it is best performed."

The experience of hundreds in the circulation of the present work has proven beyond all chance for question the truth of the foregoing remarks, and often in a most striking manner. Scores of persons have written us, "I would give all I possess in this world could I have had a copy of `Plain Facts' placed in my hands when I was a lad," or, "Words cannot express the gratitude I would now feel had some kind friend imparted to me the valuable information which this book contains; it would have saved me a life of wretchedness."

We have had the satisfaction of knowing, in numerous instances, that the virtue and happiness of whole families have been secured by the timely warnings of danger which parents have obtained from this work. We are glad to be able to feel that it is now thoroughly demonstrated that intelligent persons who have given this subject thought, universally approve of the objects of the work, and the manner of presenting the subject adopted in it. Those who at first question the propriety of discussing the subject so freely and thoroughly as is here done, lose their prejudice entirely upon giving the work a careful perusal. In numerous instances it has occurred that those who were most decided in their denunciations, have become the most zealous and efficient agents in its circulation, after becoming more fully acquainted with it.