Engagement.—The boy and girl who, by the proper and circumspect management of home and school, have succeeded to remain pure and chaste until their marriageable age need certain lessons in sexual hygiene to secure the desired happiness in their future married life.
In the first place they ought to know that true marriage must be founded upon true love, not upon sensuality. Marriage founded upon blind passion, aroused by external qualities, is not capable of enhancing the spiritual and corporal resources of man and will never bring true happiness of any considerable duration. Real happiness does not lie in the realization of the desires. Only true love, not sensuality, can give life or enrich the life of the married couple.
The essential for a happy union is that the contracting parties should be more or less each other’s equal. The “law of parity” is especially true in marriage. Like selects like. The young people should be of the same social position and, if possible, of equal education. Love is the union of sentiment, and lasting happiness in marriage is only possible where there is perfect understanding between husband and wife.
The young people should further be in full sympathy with each other’s views of life. The reason why so many marriages of to-day prove failures is that this rule is disregarded. Modern men are drunk with sensual pleasure and lay an exaggerated emphasis on physical qualities. They do not look for responsiveness and sympathy in their future partners but for vulgar eroticism. Animal sensuality in all its organic spontaneity control their choosing of a wife. Hence she is often taken from such walks of life where pleasure is the chief aim of existence. No wonder that such actually bought happiness soon languishes, and the man finds that the woman he has chosen as his life-partner has nothing in common with him except the mania for pleasure. The craze for luxuries of home and dress and the extravagance of the entire mode of living has taken such a hold upon modern women that most of them sell themselves into matrimony to the first man whom they consider able to provide them with luxuries, without regard to the manly qualities such as courage, intelligence, education, culture, generosity and chivalry, qualities which in former times made men attractive to women.
The parties contracting marriage should be of suitable age. A difference in age from seven to fifteen years will bring the happiest results. In our climate a woman’s sexual life ceases about the age of forty-five, and man’s about sixty. Hence there is a difference of about fifteen years in favor of the man.CM In our climate the best age for women to become wives and mothers is from twenty-four to twenty-eight years.CN If the man is then about ten years older, the couple is physically well mated.
The time between engagement and marriage should be neither too short nor too long. A period not shorter than three months and no longer than a year should elapse between the engagement and the marriage. It is an absurdity to expect real love from a young man and a young woman, who have seen each other only a few times, because of the legality of the act. Especially does it require a certain length of time and considerable skill and delicacy to overcome the tendency of shyness, which is a part of a woman’s nature, and of prudishness, which is instilled in the girl from the very moment she is capable of thinking. This questionable virtue is taught at home and at school, and becomes a part of her very being. It follows her as she grows up, clings to her, influences her and molds her. Hence, if the husband does not wish to begin married life with rape, he will have to associate with her long enough, till she becomes aware that the wife has no need of maidenly coyness and may indulge in the luxury of bestowing gallant attention without appearing indelicate and bold. The girl also needs enough time to study the man, his mode of life, his habits, his degree of honesty and purity, and what is the principal thing, his health. Love will surely desert the home where the young bride has left her bridal chamber afflicted with gonorrhoea or syphilis, and happiness will scarcely attend the wife and the husband who has spent the strength of his youth on venal creatures and now looks for a cure and for restoration by the impotent soiling of a chaste virgin.
Enough time, therefore, should be given both parties for mutual study. On the other hand, too lengthy engagements keep the affections and the passions in an excited and unnatural condition, which after a time tends to weaken the nervous system and thus undermines health.
The following case is very instructive. Mr. L., twenty-seven years of age, an assistant professor in a well-known college, and his bride, a teacher, thought that their economic conditions did not allow them the luxury of an increase in the family. So they agreed to a total abstinence of marital relations in the first year of their married life, but fully indulged in frustrate erotism, such as caressing, etc. The result is that L. has now to be treated for atonic impotence, manifested by premature ejaculation.
Wedding.—The wedding-day should be selected to take place about ten to fifteen days after the end of the menstruation. It is most desirable that the first sexual relations should be fruitless. Hence the wedding should be selected during the period when conception is least likely to occur. The time immediately before the period, and still more, immediately after following it is the most favorable to conception. In the first place, ovulation and menstruation are generally synchronous. Then during the intermenstrual period the plug of the clear viscid mucus which is secreted by the cervical glands blocks up the passage and interferes with the entrance of the spermatozoa into the uterine cavity, unless removed by female ejaculation which does not always occur at the right moment. This obstruction is washed away each month by the menstrual discharge. Impregnation is, therefore, most likely just after the menstrual epoch, while the middle of the intermenstrual period is the time of comparative sterility.
The next important question is the selection of the room and bed for the married couple. In the aristocratic European families husband and wife occupy different bed-rooms. Throughout Germany, even among the poorer classes, husband and wife, although occupying the same room, have at least different beds. Here in our country it is the custom, even among the well-to-do, to sleep in one bed. This unhappy custom, apart from its unaesthetic aspect at the time of menstruation, leads easily to excesses, and many a young couple has ruined its life by excessive sexual indulgence. There should be chastity even in the marriage relations. It is hence to the best interest of husband and wife that they should at least occupy separate beds, if the circumstances do not allow the luxury of separate bed-rooms. The most refreshing sleep can only be attained by occupying the bed alone.
Concarnationis posituræ.—Complexus venerei positurae numero sex sunt aliis temporibus apud alias gentes usitatæ. Vir supra, vir infra, stando, sedendo, a latere and praepostero (more bestiarum).
Normalis atque naturalis mulieri positura est resupina, viro inter femora mulieris extensa et abducta jacente.
“Qua facie praesignis erit resupino jaceto,” sings Ovid in his Ars Amandi. In this position the vagina et virile mentulatum easdem directiones habent, et frictiones inter glandes clitoridis penisque, which are the most sensitive organs for inducing libido, are facilitated. The supine position is hence mechanically the most favorable for the frictions of the most sensitive parts.
The position a posteriori (more pecudum) is not so favorable for the frictions of the clitoris. The female orgasm will hence, at best, be retarded. The prone position is, therefore, not the hygienic ideal, at least so far as the female is concerned. The popular belief that this position is more exciting for male and female is based upon the assumption that the intensity of the libido is proportional to the depth insertionis in vaginam fascini. This belief is erroneous. The radix of the penis, as well as the fornices of the vagina, are, as a rule, the points of the least value for inducing orgasm, and these are the very points most affected by the frictions in the prone position. The portio vaginalis and the os externum which are sexually very excitable are, in the prone position, not easier reached by a normal fascinum than in the supine position. In normal cases,CO therefore, the prone position of the female is anti-hygienic.
In women with orgasmus retardus of moderate degree, positura viri infra may be of some benefit. This position damps somewhat the male ardor, et impeditæ sunt motiones, dum mulier moveat cito aut lente so as to produce the best effects upon her own orgasm.CP
Frequentatio concubitus.—Congressus frequentatio varies with different individuals, but with the majority, under thirty years of age, three times a week should be considered sufficiently frequent, between thirty and forty twice a week, and less frequently as age advances.CQ When concarnatio is followed by a sense of relief and comfort it is beneficial, and to be thus guided is the most rational practice. The criterion of marital hygiene, as far as frequency is concerned, is hence the state of the feelings of the couple. The day post initum both mates must feel refreshed in body and spirit, otherwise the act was unhygienic.
If one of the mates has greater sexual desires than the other is ableCR or willing to gratify, he or she has to suppress the erotic excitement by the exertion of will-power or by cold sponging, cold baths and when necessary even by bromides. For while chastity does very little harm to the individual, excesses in venere destroy in time both body and mind.CS
The frequent exercise actionis conjungendi leads directly to anaemia, malnutrition, asthenia of the muscles and nerves, and mental exhaustion. Immoderate persons are pale and have long, flabby and sometimes tense features. They are melancholic and not fit for any difficult and continued bodily or mental work. They possess very little power of resistance. The patients suffer from aboulia or inability to concentrate their minds upon any subject. There is a certain dysaesthesia or hyperaesthesia of the senses, especially against noise and light. Insomnia is very frequently complained of. Cephalalgia and vertigo is a frequent occurrence. The patients have a feeling of anxiety in stomach and in heart-regions. Anorexia, or loss of appetite, is often met with. Besides, the patient suffers from nervous dyspepsia and constipation which not seldom alternates with diarrhoea. There is often found tachycardia and an arythmic or intermittent pulse. Sometimes asthma and coughing are complained of. The patients feel fatigued at the least exertion. The most annoying symptom is pollakiuria and cystic tenesmus. In men pains in the back are radiating to the legs and to the inguinal and spermatic-cord regions; in women coccygodynia is often encountered. These effects frequentis commixtionis are often seen in men and women after a certain period of married life has elapsed.
Apart from the bad effects upon the general health of the man and woman, excesses in venere cause various local disturbances. Too frequent sexual excitement retards the orgasm or makes it impossible. The detumescence that normally occurs after ejaculation does not take place. The genital organs remain thus in a certain state of congestion which causes chronic inflammations, such as prostatitis, vesiculitis, orchitis or urethritis in men, and vulvitis, vaginitis, endometritis, metritis, salpingitis, ovaritis or peri- and parametritis in women. The habitual congestion of the uterus causes the tissues to become succulent, and the vessels enlarged. It shows, then, all the symptoms of subinvolution, such as menorrhagia, exhaustion and sexual apathy.
Sexual excess, as everything else abused, produces satiety and finally indifference. Emptiness in life is then the individual’s lot, and it falls into a state of moral apathy which is characterized by the suspension or complete loss of every sentiment.CT
Young and healthy people are able to induce orgasm several times daily. With them orgasm is possible after many excesses. But even in youth frequent practice congressus ruins the individual’s health. The frequent inducement of the orgasm weakens the nerves of the sexual sphere. At the time of the orgasm peristaltic movements of the vas deferens in its entire length and of the ejaculatory ducts in men and of the tubes and uterus in women take place. If these delicate movements are too frequently repeated they cause diseases of the genital nervous system. The frequent irritation of the frictions furthermore causes a complete transformation of the covering of the glans penis and of the vulva and of the vaginal mucous membrane. It becomes a veritable skin, a shriveled parchment, which the sebaceous secretions no longer soften. This transformation affects profoundly the genital sensibilities, and if it does not completely destroy the amatory pleasure it at least weakens it considerably.
The urethra is also affected by excesses in venere. In women the meatus externus is more or less open. This dilatation may often be continued the entire length of the urethra and even affect the sphincter of the bladder. Hence the incontinentia urinae that is often found in masturbating little girls and in newly-married young women.
In the beginning of married life the principle commended to the husband should be that an alarmed and reluctant bride should be patiently wooed and never ravished.CU The delicacy of caution and restraint is of great importance, especially at this juncture which marks the outset of connubial relations. The entire change of life at this period exerts a strong influence upon the physical condition of the young bride. She needs time and rest to get used to the new condition of things and to reconcile it to her ethical views. If these matters are not respected by the husband, the death-blow to the young love is already dealt in the first days of married life.
There is, furthermore, always more or less suffering on the part of the bride in primo concubitu, partly due to the rupture of the hymen and partly to the forcible dilatation of the vagina. These pains are not confined only to the time of the act, but continue day and night, and represent a really diseased condition. Hence sufficient time should be allowed after defloration for nature to repair these injuries. Frequent indulgence at this period of married life is a prolific source of inflammatory diseases and occasions ill health.
One period in the woman’s life in which it is extremely dangerous to practice congressio is the time of menstruation. Yet immoderate women are prone just at that time delicias compressionis cupere, because the cycles of sexual excitement coincide with the menstrual period. The normal and primitive characteristic of the menstrual state is the more predominant presence of sexual excitement.
One of the author’s patients, a young woman of twenty-two, mother of one child, was sexually so excited during menstruation that her husband asked for a remedy to appease his wife’s excitement quæ menstruata poscebat concubitus frequentes. Initus during this period had an unaesthetic effect upon the highly cultured husband.
The increase of the sexual impulse usually begins a few days before menstruation sets in and lasts a few days after its cessation. Yet, although there is an extreme enhancement of concupiscence during the catamenial period, the aversion to initus during this time by men and women is, generally, real. It is due not to lack of sexual desire, but to inhibitory action of powerful extraneous causes that are largely psychological in character. There is the aesthetic repugnance to union, when such a condition obtains, then there are the inhibitory effects derived from the educational suggestions, inculcated in females as well as in males from the time of puberty.CV
Common experience has also shown since time immemorial that concarnatio during this period is fraught with many dangers. Prominent among them is the possibility of rupturing the impaired vessels and of causing haematometra. The marital relations should, therefore, be suspended during the menstrual period.
Pregnancy.—In the higher animals the female does not admit the male after impregnation has taken place. In man it is different. The act is here a relation of love, mutually demanded and enjoyed by both sexes. It serves other purposes besides that of procreation. Hence initus does take place during pregnancy. Although the woman’s sexual appetence is somewhat lessened during that time, yet the libidinous cycles generally continue far into the later months of pregnancy. In some cases an increased sexual desire has been observed.
One of the author’s patients, a lady of twenty-two years of age, was sexually so excited during her first pregnancy that ter quaterque quot noctibus congressus petebat, and but for the refusal of her husband, she would have indulged in more frequent gratification.
Another woman was known to the author who became sexually so excited during her pregnancy that for the gratification of her increased sexual desires meretricium faciebat for the entire period.
There is, therefore, no natural cessation of the sexual desires even in a woman. Yet at that time, concarnatio should very rarely be indulged in. If it is practised too frequently it leads to considerable disturbances of circulation, and the result may be a miscarriage. Another danger lurking from initus at the time of pregnancy, is the infection of the woman. If it is admitted that the finger of the obstetrician may be the agent of infection, we can hardly deny that the penis may exert the same influence. The husband should hence abstain from sexual relations with his wife during the latter days of gestation.
Confinement.—Concarnatio immediately after confinement is as dangerous as during menstruation. It will be productive of even greater dangers than in ordinary menstruation.CW It is, therefore, an old rule that after a confinement a respite of at least six weeks should be had. In the first weeks after confinement, concarnatio leads to congestion of the muliebria and hence to inflammations. The organs must have time to return from their congested to the normal state. For this involution they need about two months, and during this time initus should be avoided.
Lactation.—During lactation the woman’s nerves are weaker than usual, and for that reason, concarnatio should be rarely indulged in.CX If concarnatio is too often practised during lactation, menstruation may return too early, prevent the secretion of the milk, and cause subinvolution of the uterus. Then there is always the danger of a new pregnancy, which will interfere with the process of lactation.
In nervous and excitable people very frequent concarnatio should be avoided at all times. The frequent genital irritation causes an increase of sexual excitability which is detrimental to their health. Such people should avoid everything that tends to increase sexual excitability, as, e. g., the immoderate use of alcohol and meat, very rich and highly seasoned food and carbonated waters. The best criterion for them whether they are indulging too much in sex-activity is their own state of health. If initus is succeeded by languor, depression or weakness, it has been indulged in too frequently.
Spatium temporis concarnationis.—The normal duration or length of time necessary to remain in initu before the orgasm is reached is different in different individuals but is somewhat in control of the individual. It must not be too rapid nor should it require too long a time. If both parties tend to come to the climax at the same time, it is best to follow the rule not to hinder the natural succession of the act. It is best to go with the current without trying to resist it. It is not hygienic to prolong the session beyond measure by artificial delays and by alternative entering and withdrawing. The subtleties may increase the libido of both mates at the time being, but they are fraught with peril.
As a rule the climax does not come at the same time in both mates. In the woman the orgasm is, generally, induced a moment later than in the man. The woman, therefore, must first be prepared initu. Non est marito cœundum priusquam conjugæ voluptas est illecta et vulva vaginaque humescunt secretionibus voluptificis. Præparatio partium consistit in osculis, contrectationibus et permulsionibus. Such dalliance has been decried by some ascetics as obscene and beneath a man’s dignity. But nothing is low if born of love. Qua re permulsio muliebrium a marito, contrectatio mammarum et ludus cum mamillis voluptificissimum erit et illicient conjugam.CY
In partial frigidity, the male must, apart from the preceding manipulations, have special regard to the expiration of the female excitation, even after congressus has begun.
Cum muliebria humescent, fascinum inserendum est as far as possible and the motion following be exceedingly slight, hardly more than a tremor, while the root of the mentulæ compressa est contra clitoridem. Deinde actio propria incipiat. Cum climax propinquet fascinum extrahendum et, si necessitas, abstergendum est. Tum actio resumenda est. This procedure may be repeated again and again until the female approaches her orgasm so closely that she will not permit detractionem any more. The climax will then be simultaneous in both mates.
The hygienic rule in regard to duration is hence briefly this: The man must adjust himself to the condition of the woman, so that both may reach the culmination at the same time.
Offspring.—The hygiene of the vita sexualis in relation to the offspring is of the greatest personal as well as social importance. The most favorable time for child-bearing is between the twenty-fourth and the fortieth year of the woman’s life. Before and after this time child-bearing is of disadvantage for the mother as well as for the child.
The interval between two confinements should be no less than two and a half years. Twelve months for lactation, nine months for reparation from the nervous strain of lactation, and nine months for the next pregnancy. The maximum number of children compatible with health should thus not exceed seven. The moderate bearing of children, despite its physiological expense, is conducive to health.
The middle part of the intermenstrual period is, as a rule, the most sterile. If the couple is anxious to have a child, the best time for concarnatio is from the third to the eighth day after the flow has ceased. The time from the fifth to the second day before menstruation is not so favorable as the days after the period. The greater part of conception follows concubitus practised in the eight days following menstruation.CZ
Hence a couple desiring a child should be advised that the eight days following menstruation, while not absolutely dependable, yet present the most favorable time for conception.
The time of the day most favorable for the congressio depends upon the purpose of the act, whether it is practised for the sake of procreation or for pleasure only. The horizontal position post initum favors the retention of the semen within the vagina, the erect position its expulsion. The motionless reclining position of the woman after the generative act is, hence, favorable to conception. The act, therefore, should not be practiced immediately before arising.DA
The season is also claimed to have some influence upon the offspring.DB
Dispareunia of the two mates is often of great importance for the offspring. Orgasmus retardatus in the male does not cause dispareunia. In such a case concarnatio may be protracted for hours without interference by the muliebria. But when the male tends to reach the orgasm too quickly for his particular mate and the erection ceases, then the female orgasm does not take place at all, and we have a case of dispareunia.
Now, at the moment of the female orgasm the uterine suction takes place, by which sperma is drawn into the uterine cavity. Hence if the male orgasm occurs too soon and the woman does not reach this stage at all, female ejaculation and uterine suction fail to appear. This circumstance may seriously interfere with the entrance of the spermatozoa into the uterus and thus prevent conception.DC
The male, therefore, has to be taught to prevent his premature orgasm by an effort of the will or by so varying the motions as to delay the climax. He has to retard his orgasm so that both mates may reach the culmination at the same time.
Sometimes the entrance of the spermatozoa is prevented by a diseased or narrow cervical canal. In this case the repeated application of the constant electric current, after Apostoli, with the kathode in the uterus, will cause a cure of the catarrh and a more lasting dilation of the cervix than all the instrumental dilatations and the usual curettages will ever effect.
While in the interest of the offspring the horizontal position of the woman after initus is most desirable, and concarnatio should hence take place in the beginning of the night, the rules are somewhat different, if initus is practised for libido only.
Initus is slow and dangerous immediately after a meal and during the two and three hours which the first digestion needs, or after having finished a rapid walk or any other violent exercise. In the same way, if the mental faculties are excited by some mental effort, by a theatre party or a dance, rest is necessary, and it is advisable to defer amatory delights till the next morning. After the calm and the rest of the night the bodily organism and the intellectual faculties are in a happy serenity and the sensibility has the whole virginity of its impressions. On the other hand, initus ought to be avoided in the morning immediately before rising. The time for beginning daily occupations is by no means favorable to the attainment of a happy lassitude. The most propitious hour for initus is, therefore, during the night after the first sleep.
Impeditio conceptionis.—The most frequent method employed conceptum impeditare is that of coitus interruptus, or onanism at the moment when it is felt that ejaculation of the semen is about to take place. The male orgasm then occurs outside the vagina, and the female orgasm is, as a rule, not induced at all. This practice is very injurious to both mates. Although the male act is allowed to reach its acme, still the ejaculation occurring outside the natural place, the proper satisfaction is missing, and there remains a constant hankering after the repetition concubitus which leads to excesses. Besides, this constant feeling of dissatisfaction causes in the long run a number of serious symptoms in both mates.
The weakness of the brain is manifested by phobias and psychic effects, as ill humor, headaches, vertigo, syncope, insomnia, spasms of laughter or crying, irritability, fatigue and spinal pains. The affections of the gastro-intestinal canal are, spasm in swallowing, nausea, ravenous appetite or loss of appetite and constipation. The affection of the lungs is shown by nervous asthma. The heart shows palpitation and tachycardia. The genito-urinary system shows the following symptoms: impotence, frequent urination, hyperaesthesia in urethra, pressure in perineum, neuralgia of the testicles and spermatorrhoea. The muscles and skin show their affection by a certain tremor, paraesthesia in the legs and perspiration at the least exertion.
Besides these symptoms, found in men and women alike, the female shows serious local symptoms. In the woman congressus interruptus prevents the inducing of the orgasm. In this way the tumefaction of the female genitals is not removed. The genital organs become engorged and are not allowed to enjoy the relaxation, consequent upon the completion congressus. If these interrupted sexual meetings are often repeated, serious diseases of uterus and ovaries develop. The uterine walls become dense and thickened and the menstruation is disturbed. The woman suffers from pains, tenderness and the sense of bearing down. In the course of time the absence of the detumescence causes real chronic disturbances, such as vulvitis, vaginitis, erosions of the cervix, endometritis, retroposition of uterus, salpingitis, oöphoritis and even fibroids or cancers.
Furthermore, as this practice of coitus interruptus does not allow the impulse of detumescence to be gratified, after every preliminary step has been taken to arouse it, the woman often takes her refuge to stuprum manu. Hence we find after a certain lapse of time, the clitoris to be considerably enlarged in volume as well as in length. The prepuce is thickened, the labia minora are enlarged, wrinkled, contracted and slate-colored. They are frequently covered with black spots, due to an accentuated pigmentation. Repeated friction produces coxcomb labia, and thigh friction, mostly found in young girls, is the cause of one lip being larger than the other. The urinary and the vaginal orifices are open, the constrictores vesicae and cunni having lost their tonicity.
To avoid all these serious consequences in the woman, it has been suggested fascinum non est extrahendum until the woman’s impulse of detumescence has been satisfied and the tumefaction muliebrium removed. Such initus has been claimed to be of the same value for the woman as the normal. But the greatest drawback to this mode of concarnatio is that very few men will be able to perform such a delicate act. It requires a great concentration of mind to succeed. Besides, it would be an error to consider such concarnatio normal, even for the woman. For it is not entirely a matter of indifference to the woman whether the sperma flows into the vagina or not.DD Initus involves the transmission into the female organism of certain fluids from the man, which have a beneficial effect upon the woman. This is often demonstrated by the helpful effect marriage has upon weak and anaemic girls. A happy union is the charm wherewith to banish chlorosis and many other female ailments and irregularities. The influence of the seminal excitation is quite different from the copulative excitation. If the latter is induced while the former does not follow, the practice will cause in the woman debility and sometimes even nervous prostration.
Any device to prevent the entrance of the sperma into the vagina or uterus, such as condoms, cervical obturators or sponges, for the same reason, have an injurious effect upon the woman’s general health. Besides, all these devices do not prevent at all, especially the sacrifices at the door of the temple do not always afford security against an accidental conception. The spermatozoa with their faculty of motion may penetrate into the female genital tract without the introduction of the mentula into the vagina, and no obturator or sponge can close up the os uteri so tightly that the spermatozoa will not be able to find their way into the uterine cavity. No condom is strong enough that it will not occasionally burst, and all the precautions of months are suddenly set at naught.
The following history shows that the introduction of the fascinum into the vagina is not an absolute necessity for pregnancy.
An uncle brought his niece, eighteen years of age, to the author with some indefinite intestinal complaints. Several physicians made the diagnosis pregnancy. But the girl, knowing that she never had any carnal relations, laughed at their diagnosis. The examination showed an intact hymen and a vaginal lumen which had never been dilated. But the combined examination per rectum did reveal a four months' pregnancy. The girl was told that her virginal state showed that she really never had any carnal relations, but that dalliance with a lover during which ejaculation takes place upon the crines volvulæ may be the cause of pregnancy. This must have happened in her case. Thereupon the girl broke down and confessed that such dalliance has been indulged in.
Minime perniciosa marito maritæque sunt suppositoria medicata, pulveres et injectiones acidae statim post initum. But they are all no more trustworthy in killing the spermatozoa than congressus interruptus and all the other anti-conceptional devices. They all fail without exception.DE
The best means conceptionem impedire is total abstinence, which is perfectly harmless for those who are able to accomplish it. Chastity does no harm to the soul nor to the body. The belief that abstinence causes diseases of the genitals or impotency of any kind is a great error. Love never dies of want, but it often dies of indulgence. Abstinence has for those who are able to maintain it no harmful consequences. But it may be said that sexually normal individuals are generally unequal to the task. Especially is abstinence almost impossible in married people, whose nerves are keyed to the highest pitch by the close intimacies of their lives.
Means of sexual excitement.—In our modern way of living even moderation in sexual matters seems to be impossible. Not a few of our young men are satyrs and our young women nymphomaniacs, who “faute de mieux” seize on stuprum manu. Once married they know no restraint. They are living in constant sexual excitement.
There are five special influences that incite to sexual overindulgence. The abuse of spirituous liquors, which has reached alarming proportions among modern women, increases their sexual desires and destroys their natural modesty. Dancing is another cause of sexual excitement. To-day young girls in their teens frequent public balls and receptions, dance with male partners, and mutually excite each other. The modern stage is another important factor in sexually overstimulating the passions of many of our young men and women. The modern stage no longer appeals to the intellect of trained minds that have reached a certain age. The modern stage is more sensual, it lays the main stress upon the scenery, which may be enjoyed by young boys and girls, scarcely passed the period of puberty. The play is, as a rule, an ordinary, every-day, small suggestive love-affair. (It is euphemistically called a realistic play.) Nude and vulgar art and impure literature have another great influence in exciting sexual desires. The modern novelist finds his greatest delight in descending to the gutter in search for his heroes, and knows no higher aim in art than to give a realistic picture of the blandishments of bad women and of the allurements of degenerated men.
One of the strongest sexual excitements which, directly concern only men but indirectly leads to mutual erethism, is the modern woman’s dress. Although from time immemorial woman always so dressed as to accentuate and bring into prominence her secondary sexual characteristics, yet the former modesty, the customs and certain sumptuary laws dictated moderation in this respect. The modern woman acknowledges no restraint. She copies slavishly the Parisian fashion, which, as a rule, is a creation suggested by the demi-mondaine and designed to increase her trade by exciting the passions of the other sex. The modern woman, throughout the civilized world, consciously or unconsciously, imitates her erring Parisian sister. Not only does she try to bring into bold relief by means of the corset her main secondary sexual characteristics, her bosom and her pelvis, but by means of her hose supporters, her legs and the space between them are only partly veiled. Thus a really obscene effect is created which is far more exciting than if she were perfectly nude. The effect of contrast and expectation renders the partly veiled nudity more exciting. This is the psychological reason why man tries to conceal his natural state and covers it by artifice, while animals try to win their mates by showing and exposing their sexual qualities.
All these artificial excitements tend to create voluptuousness and lead to excesses in venere. These excesses have the indispensable consequence of making a large number of our men and women highly neurasthenic.DF