Back Aa

Private Sex Advice to Women

<div id="title"> <h1>PRIVATE Sex Advice to Women</h1> By R. B. Armitage, M. D. For Young Wives and those who Expect to be Married. This book was written so as to give enlightenment to those entering into wedlock so their married life will be one of happiness and pleasure. DEFIANCE PUBLISHING CO. 110 W. 40th ST. New York, N. Y. </div> COPYRIGHT, 1917 CHICAGO, ILL. Sex Advice to Women <div id="toc"> <h2>CONTENTS.</h2> LESSON I—FOREWORD Important information which all women should possess, but which few are given the opportunity of acquiring. The necessity of rational instruction on Sex Physiology, Sex Anatomy, and Sex Hygiene. The danger of false information from polluted sources. The conventional taboo against Sex Knowledge, which is inherited by the race from the Middle Ages. The Reign of Prurient Prudery. Ignorance of Sex Science is a frequent cause of immorality, and the real reason of marital inharmony and unhappiness. The special need of Sex Instruction on the part of women. The sex-life of the woman is fuller and more complex than that of the man, hence her special need of sane information on the subject. Nature's handicap on woman 7 LESSON II—ANATOMY OF THE FEMALE SEX ORGANISM A scientific but plain lesson on the Female Sex Anatomy. The External Sex Organism of Woman fully described and explained. What every woman should know about herself, but which but few intelligently understand. Plain facts cleanly stated in simple terms. The Internal Sex Organism of Woman fully described and explained. The Vagina. The Uterus or Womb. Displacements of the Uterus described. Prolapsus. Antroversion. Anteflexion. Retroversion. Retroflexion. The Fallopian Tubes. The Ovaries. General Summary of the Female Reproductive Organism 13 LESSON III—PHYSIOLOGY OF THE FEMALE SEX ORGANISM The Ovaries and their functions. Primary and secondary Functions of the Ovaries. The Ova, or human eggs, and their natural history. The Process of Ovulation. Menstruation and its incidents. The phenomena of Puberty. The incidents of the Menopause or Change of Life. The Dangerous Age of Woman. The Life History of the Ovum. The Birth of the Ovum. The Journey of the Ovum. The Process of Fecundation. The Spermatozoa and their offices. The Segmentation-Nucleus. The Division and Sub-division of the Ovum. The Primitive Trace. The Beginning of the life of the embryo 21 LESSON IV—GESTATION OR PREGNANCY The Period of Pregnancy. How to calculate the Date of Delivery. Development of the Fertilized Ovum. The Embryo. The Fetus. How Nature builds up the child from the simple cell. The yolk-sack or umbilical vesicle. The Allantois. The Placenta and its offices. The Umbillical Cord. Osmosis. The Amnion. Sex in Embryo and Fetus. Position of the Fetus. The Table of the Development of the Unborn Child. Stage of Development of each month described fully. The Physical Signs of Pregnancy. The Disorders of Pregnancy. Practical Suggestions for Pregnant Women. Childbirth and its incidents 33 LESSON V—GENERAL ADVICE TO WOMEN ON SEX SUBJECTS Much needed, though seldom obtainable, information on important subjects. The Truth about the Sexual Emotions plainly stated. Alcohol and Sexuality. A Startling Statement. A Warning to Women. The Menstrual Period and its Disorders. Simple methods of treatment fully described. Dysmenorrhea. Amenorrhea. Menorrhagia. The Hygiene of Menstruation. Plain Talk on a Delicate Subject. Leucorrhea: what it is, and how it may be treated by simple methods. General Treatment and Special Methods. Uterine Displacements, and simple treatments therefor. Marital Relations and Menstruation. Marital Relations and Pregnancy. Sterility in Woman. Practical Advice to Sterile Women. Miscarriage and Abortion. Sensible Advice to Women 49 LESSON VI—THE SCIENCE OF EUGENICS The New Science. The Science of Parenthood. Biological Ethics. Race Culture. Scientific Parenthood. Preventive Eugenics. Constructive Eugenics. Race Suicide, real and false. Conservation and Preservation of the Race. Prevention of Criminal Offspring. The Causes of Degeneracy. Prevention of the Transmission of Disease and Insanity in Offspring. Protection for Mothers. Education for Parenthood. Terrible Effects of Ignorance of Eugenic Science. Desired and Prepared-for Children versus "Accidents" and Undesired Children. Not more children, but better ones; not more births, but fewer deaths among children. Survival Values versus Production Values 65 LESSON VII—PRENATAL INFLUENCES Influencing the Child before birth. Family Characteristics. Transmission of Parental Traits. Influence of Maternal Impression. Heredity in General. Opinion of the Best Authorities. Transmission of Acquired Characteristics. Heredity versus Environment. The Eugenic Rule regarding Heredity. Fitness for Parenthood. Preparation for Parenthood, physical, mental, and spiritual. Maternal Impressions. The Several Theories. Both Sides of the Question. A Highly Important Subject. Proofs and Illustrations of Maternal Impressions. Valuable Information for Prospective Parents. How the Pregnant Mother may influence and shape the physical, mental, and moral character of her unborn child 80 LESSON VIII—EUGENICS AND CHARACTER Influence of Parental Factors upon the Character of their Offspring. What Parental Conditions produce the Best Quality of Children. The Most Favorable Age for Parenthood. What statistics show. The Vaerting Tables. The Influence of Fathers. The Influence of Mothers. The Havelock Ellis Studies and Reports. The Production of Men of Genius. The Investigations of Marro the Italian Scientist. The Redfield Investigation and Theories. The Influence of Parental Age on Genius. How Ability is Transmitted. Why Delayed Parentage produces Better Offspring than Premature Parentage. Latest Discoveries of Sexual Science concerning an important subject 103 LESSON IX—THE DETERMINATION OF SEX How the Sex of Offspring is Determined, and how Controlled or Produced at Will. The Biological Viewpoint. The Practical Viewpoint. The Chromosome Theory. Artificial Influencing of Sex in Offspring. Professor Doncaster's Reports. Dawson's Theory. Are there alternate male and female ova? The Effect of Nutrition in Sex-Determination. Schenk's Theory and Methods. Influencing the Ovum. Male and Female Elements. Yung's Experiments in Sex-Determination, and their Startling Results. Changing Sex in Tadpoles at will. How the Bees determine the sex of their larva. Experiments upon Butterflies. Why more Boys than Girls are born after Great Wars. Other Theories of Sex Determination, and the Methods of Application. The Consensus of the best scientific thought on the subject 115 LESSON X—WHAT BIRTH CONTROL IS, AND IS NOT "Control" not identical with "Prohibition" or "Prevention". Control means "governing, regulating, or managing influences." True Birth Control would not reduce the population of civilized countries, but would increase the same and improve the quality thereof. Not only a normal Birth Rate but also a normal Death Rate. Birth Control not anti-social or immoral, but highly social and highly moral. Misconception due to Ignorance and Prejudice. Unbalanced Idealism and Fanatical Extremists responsible for the mistaken ideas upon the subject of Birth Control. Birth Control Versus Abortion. Higher Phases of Birth Control. The History of Birth Control. The Causes of the present interest in the subject. Nature's tendencies toward Birth Control. How Nature exerts Birth Control in the World. Natural Law and Biological Principles. The High Ideals of true Birth Control 127 LESSON XI—THE FETICH OF THE BIRTH RATE The Evolution of Public Opinion concerning the Birth Rate. The old ideal of Quantity at the expense of Quality. The Swing of the Pendulum in the Opposite Direction. The Rational Reaction. The Decline in the Birth Rate. The New Ideal. Quality rather than Quantity. Decreased Death Rate accompanies Decreased Birth Rate. Survival Values rather than Production Values. How Increased Death Rate accompanies an Increased Birth Rate. No High Birth Rate without a High Death Rate. The new Birth Control Policy in Europe. The Result in Holland. The Progress of the New Ideals. The Struggle against Ignorance, Prejudice, and Hypocrisy. The Higher Morality. The Rational View. The Policy of Wisdom. Plain Facts on an Important Subject 145 LESSON XII—THE ARGUMENT FOR BIRTH CONTROL General Argument in Favor of Birth Control. Honesty versus Hypocrisy. Birth Control decreases Abortion. Birth Control produces Better Offspring, under Better Environment. Birth Control produces a lower Death Rate. Birth Control provides Better Conditions for Children. Birth Control promotes Marriage. Birth Control curbs Prostitution. Birth Control promotes Health among Wives. Birth Control tends toward Morality among Married Men. Birth Control makes for Justice to Children. Birth Control, if universally practiced, would work great reforms, and would metamorphose undesirable conditions of modern society. Birth Control is advisable because along the lines of the highest evolution of the race, and opposed to the conditions which have held the race back in the past 158 LESSON XIII—THE ARGUMENT AGAINST BIRTH CONTROL Popular objections advanced against Birth Control, and the rational answer to each. Is Birth Control opposed to Religion? The relation of Religion to Morality discussed. The Position of the Churches on the subject of Birth Control. No prohibition of Birth Control in the Scriptures. Objections to Birth Control on the part of certain religious bodies seen to be based upon arbitrary ruling rather than upon the true teaching of Religion, or the dictates of Morality. The Silence of most of the Churches on the subject. In the future, Birth Control will be sanctioned and encouraged by the best religious thought. Birth Control is not Immoral; it is essentially Moral and in the best interests of morality in our civilization. Birth Control not injurious to Health, but is in accordance with the Health of the Race. Birth Control not Unnatural, and the reason why this is so 172 LESSON XIV—RACE SUICIDE The argument that Birth Control favors Race Suicide, and the refutation thereof. Birth Control keeps up the population to a normal stand by reducing the Death Rate. Birth Control eliminates the waste caused by excessive infant mortality. Birth Control does not discourage children in families, but places children upon a better basis. The "old time family" and its cost in child-lives. Wherever the Birth Rate goes down, the Death Rate goes down to even a greater degree. Proofs from Modern History. Tables of Mortality tell the true tale. The Story of Statistics. The eight countries in Europe with the highest Birth Rate have the highest Death Rate and the lowest average culture. Birth Control does not tend to Race Suicide, but toward Race Progress and Race Betterment. The Balance between Quantity and Quality struck rationally by Birth Control. No real danger of Race Suicide in the World 190 LESSON XV—BIRTH CONTROL METHODS The Three Classes of Birth Control Methods. The Method of Continence, with the argument for and against the same. The opinion of Eminent Authorities. Illustrations from History. The Physiology of Continence. The Methods of Temporary Continence. The Methods of Semi-Continence, with the argument for and against it. Noyes' "Male Continence." "Karezza." "Dianism." The Parkhurst Theory and Method. The Psychology of these methods. Opinions of Eminent Authorities. Tolstoi's views. The Methods of Contraception. Distinction between Contraception and Abortion. Prevention versus Destruction. The Law on the subject of Contraception. Need of education on the subject, followed by change in the laws. Education, not Anarchy. Cautionary Advice. A Sane, Clean, presentation of the Subject 203 </div> {7} Sex Advice to Women <h2>LESSON I FOREWORD</h2> In this book the writer thereof seeks to convey to women—particularly to young wives and women expecting to be married—certain important facts of knowledge, certain necessary information, which all such women should possess, but which few are given the opportunity to acquire. It would seem to require no argument to convince a rational individual that before a woman is capable of intelligent motherhood she should be made acquainted with the physiological processes which are involved in the sexual functions leading to the state of motherhood; but we are confronted by the fact that few young women are given such instruction. It is a strange thing that while even the ordinary school child is made acquainted with the physiological processes concerned with the processes of digestion, respiration, circulation, elimination, etc., and while such education is highly commended, yet at the same time not only are the young of both sexes reared as if there was no such thing as sexual functions in existence, but even full-grown adults are left to pick up their instruction on sexual subjects from chance sources—often polluted sources. Even those about to enter into the important offices of matrimony and parenthood are permitted to assume those{8} duties and responsibilities without intelligent and scientific information or knowledge being given them. What would we think of expecting a woman to cook, without previous experience and without even the most elementary instruction on the subject? What would we think of expecting any person to undertake any important task or duty without experience or instruction regarding the same? And yet we seem content to allow young women to enter into the important relationship of marriage, and to undertake the important office of motherhood, often in absolute ignorance of the physiological processes involved, and the physical laws governing the same. All this absurd practice and custom results simply from the antiquated notion that it is "not nice" to speak or think of the subject of the sex functions. The subject has been considered "taboo" by our particular section of the human race since the Middle Ages, because the ascetic ideals of that dark period of human history brought forward a totally false and unnatural conception of sex as fundamentally impure. If the results were not so deplorable and often tragic, this condition of affairs would be a fit subject for laughter and scornful ridicule. But, alas! on the part of the thoughtful observer of this state of things there is rather great wonder and amazement accompanied by the feeling of deep sorrow. It cannot be honestly denied that in our present age, and period of modern civilization, and particularly among the Anglo-Saxon branch of the race, the question of the sex functions is associated with impurity, at least so far as the popular mind is concerned. In previous civilizations the subject was accorded its proper place, and was discussed sanely and thoughtfully, without any sense of shame or impurity. The Middle Age ideals of celibacy and asceticism brought about the public conception of the human body as a thing impure—something to be modified, {9}tortured, subdued and reviled; and a corresponding conception of sex as a vile, impure thing above which the pure in heart rose entirely and completely, and which those of a lesser spiritual ideal were permitted to indulge with a due sense of their degradation and weakness. It was considered a most worthy thing to lead an ascetic life with its accompaniment of disdain and punishment of the body. It was considered most pious and spiritual to forego the ordinary human relations of sex, marriage and parenthood. From these distorted conceptions naturally evolved the idea that sex, and all connected with it, was a subject unclean and impure in itself, and to be avoided in thought, conversation and writing. Not only the ordinary sex relations of human life were placed under this taboo, but also the phenomena of birth and parenthood. Not only did these incidents of life grow to be considered impure, but they became that which to many was still worse, that is to say, they became to be regarded as "not respectable." Ignorance regarding the plain elementary facts of sexual physiology is undoubtedly the cause not only of much immorality among young people of both sexes, but also of many unhappy and inharmonious marriages. The intelligent portion of our race is now beginning to realize very keenly the fact that the first requisite of sane marital relations and intelligent parenthood is a practical and clear knowledge of the physiology of sex; education concerning the sexual organism, its laws, its functions, its normal and healthy conditions, its anatomy, its physiology and hygiene. The average physician of experience in general or special practice can tell tales of almost incredible ignorance on the part of young women who have recently entered into the relationship of marriage. In some cases the ignorance is more than a mere absence of knowledge{10}—it consists too often of false-knowledge, untruthful ideas concerning matters of the most serious import. It is sad enough to think how such persons may work results harmful to themselves, but it is even sadder still to realize that these same ignorant young women must eventually gain their real knowledge through sad experience—experience paid for not only by themselves but also by their children. It is a hard saying, but a true one, that the knowledge of many young wives and mothers is to be gained by experience paid for by their (as yet) unborn children. The writer of the present work is one of the rapidly growing number of thinking persons who believe that the time has come to educate the race concerning the importance of sane instruction concerning the functions of sex. He, and those who think as he does, believe that the time has come to "Turn on the Light!" They believe that the importance of the subject will be realized by all intelligent persons, once that their attention is directed to the subject, and once they have considered it apart from the old prejudices and distorted customs. When public opinion on this subject is reformed, then will the taboo fall away from the body of truth; then will the subject take its place among the "respectable" topics which may be considered, discussed, and taught, without loss of caste or prestige. In a few decades, perhaps even much sooner, it will be regarded as quite reprehensible to permit young persons to enter into the relationship of marriage without a sane, practical knowledge of their own reproductive organism and the functions thereof, and of their physiological duties to themselves, to their companions in marriage, and to their children born or to be born. We may even see the practical application of the somewhat startling prophecy of Newell Dwight Hillis, D. D., who said:{11} "The State that makes a man study two years before a license as druggist is given; that makes a young lawyer or doctor study three years before being permitted to practice; ought to ask the young man or young woman to pass an equally rigid examination before license is given to found an American home, and set up an American family." While the information above alluded to should be given alike to the young husband and the young wife, it cannot be doubted that the latter is the one of the pair who is most in need of this kind of instruction. While both the young man and the young woman require this instruction, the need is the greater in the case of the young woman, by the very nature of the case. The sex functions and processes play a much more important part in the life of the woman than in that of the man, the protests of some of the modern feminists to the contrary notwithstanding. The careful student of the sex life of men and women frankly confesses that in both the physical and the psychical realm the sex offices make a greater demand upon the time and attention of the woman than of the man. The love-life of the woman is far fuller and more absorbing than is that of the man. Unhappiness concerning her love-life renders the remainder of the life of the average woman of comparatively little account; while, with a happy love-life she will put up cheerfully with the absence of many other things which are usually regarded as necessities for happiness. As a writer has said: "Essentially, a 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 same rule operates on the physical plane. As the same writer has said: "Physically, the woman is also much more cognizant of her sex and much more hampered{12} by the manifestation of her sex nature than man is." The manifestation of the incidents of menstruation is a constant reminder to the woman that she is a creature of sex. The phenomenon of pregnancy is, likewise, something from which the man is free. And, finally, the menopause, or "change of life," with its incidents greatly influencing the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of the woman, is Nature's final word to the woman that she is the active pole of sex-life. As the above-quoted writer has said: "Altogether it cannot be denied that woman is much more a slave of her sex-nature than man is of his. Nature has handicapped woman much more heavily than she has man." And so, in this book, the young woman—the young wife—is directly addressed, her companion and mate being referred to only indirectly. {13} <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.