<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></SPAN>CHAPTER IV<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</SPAN></span></h2>
<h3>SEX IN FEMALE CHILDHOOD<br/> <small>(FROM 12 TO 14)</small></h3>
<p class="newchapter"><span class="firstword"><span class="dropcap">W</span>hat</span> has been said in general about practical
observance of the laws of sex hygiene in the
preceding chapter for boys, applies to girls as well.
If anything the sex precautions taken in infancy
should be even more closely followed, as girls are
by nature less robust than boys. If children could
be raised in entire accordance with natural laws,
the sexual instinct of girls as well as boys would
probably remain dormant during the period stretching
from infancy to puberty. As in the case of the
boy, so in that of the girl, any manifestation of
sexual precocity should be investigated, to see
whether it be due to natural or artificial causes. In
either case the proper remedies should be applied.</p>
<h5>SEX PRECOCITY IN GIRLS</h5>
<p>There are cases of extraordinary sex precocity
in girls. One case reported in the United States
was that of a female child who at birth possessed
all the characteristics usually developed at puberty.
In this case the natural periodical changes began at
birth! Fortunately, this is a case more or less unique.
In little girls and boys undue sexual handling or<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</SPAN></span>
titillating of their genital organs tends to quiet
them, so nurses (let us hope in ignorance of the
consequences!) often resort to it. Sending children
to bed very early, to “get rid of them,” or confining
them in a room by themselves, tends to encourage
the development of vicious habits. A single bed,
both in the school and in the home, is indispensable
to purity of morals and personal cleanliness. It
tends to restrain too early development of the
sexual instinct both in small girls and small boys.</p>
<h5>SEXUAL SELF-ABUSE IN GIRLS</h5>
<p>Small girls, like small boys, display an intelligent
curiosity as regards the phenomena of sex at an
early age. And what has already been said regarding
its improper gratification in the preceding
chapter, so far as boys are concerned, applies with
equal force to them. In their case, however, the
mother is a girl's natural confidant and friend.
Self-abuse in one or another form is as common
in the case of the girl as in that of the boy. As a
rule, girls who live an outdoor life, and work with
their muscles more than their mind, do not develop
undue precocious sexual curiosities or desires. At
least they do not do so to the same extent as those
more nervously and susceptibly constituted. The
less delicate and sensitive children of the country
tend less to these habits than their more sensitively
organized city brothers and sisters. Girls who have
formed vicious habits are apt to indulge in the practice
of self-abuse at night when going to bed. If
there is cause for suspicion, the bedclothes should<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</SPAN></span>
be quickly and suddenly thrown off under some
pretense. Self-abuse usually has a marked effect on
the genital organs of girls. The inner organs become
unnaturally enlarged and distended, and
<i>leucorrhea</i>, catarrh of the vagina, attended by a
discharge of greenish-white mucus, often develops.</p>
<h5>RESULTS OF SELF-ABUSE IN GIRLS</h5>
<p>Local diseases, due to this cause, result in girls
as well as boys. Temporary congestions become
permanent, and develop into permanent irritations
and disorders. Leucorrhea has already been mentioned.
Contact with the acrid, irritating internal
secretions also causes <i>soreness of the fingers at
the root of the nails</i>, and warts. Congestion and
other diseases are other ultimate results of the habit;
and these congestions to which it gives rise unduly
hasten the advent of puberty. Any <i>decided enlargement
of the labia and clitoris in a young girl</i> may be
taken as a positive evidence of the existence of the
habit of self-abuse. Sterility, and atrophy of the
breasts—their deficient development—when the vice
is begun before puberty, is another result.</p>
<h5>PRURITIS AND FEMININE NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS</h5>
<p><i>Pruritis</i> (itching genitals), though not necessarily
caused by self-abuse, may be one of its consequences.
Continued congestion causes the genital parts
to itch terribly. This itching increases until the
desire to manipulate the genitals becomes irresistible.
It will then be indulged in even in the presence
of strangers, though the girl in question at<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</SPAN></span>
other times may be exceptionally modest. Girls
addicted to the vice also suffer from nocturnal
emissions. The general effect of self-abuse is much
the same in the case of a girl as in that of a boy,
for leucorrhea is injurious in somewhat the same
fashion as seminal loss. In the case of girls the
greatest injury, however, is due to the nervous exhaustion
which succeeds the unnatural excitement.</p>
<h5>WHAT MOTHERS SHOULD DO FOR THEIR GIRLS</h5>
<p>A healthy girl should be happy and comfortable
in all respects. She will not be so, especially with
regard to her sex problems, unless she can appeal
to her mother as a friend and confidant. While
keeping your girl's mind pure and healthy by precept
and example, do not forget that the best way
to protect her against evil influences and communications
is to tell her the exact truth about sex facts,
as they apply to her, just as the father should his
boy. Keep your girl fully occupied and do not leave
her sex education to the evil winds of chance.</p>
<p>Let sex knowledge take its place as a proper,
necessary part of her general education. If your
daughter feels she can at all times talk freely to
you all will be well. Gratify her natural sex curiosity
in a natural way. See that <i>immediate</i> medical
attention is given inflammations, excoriations, itchings
and swellings of her genital organs. Such conditions
will lead her to rub and scratch these parts—never
to be touched—for relief. If, as a result of
the sensations experienced, masturbation results,
<i>yours is the sin</i>.</p>
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