Sex in Education | Page 6

which the public has a most vital
interest, and with regard to which it acts with the courage of ignorance.
Two considerations deserve to be mentioned in this connection. One is,
that no organ or function in plant, animal, or human kind, can be
properly regarded as a disability or source of weakness. Through
ignorance or misdirection, it may limit or enfeeble the animal or being
that misguides it; but, rightly guided and developed, it is either in itself
a source of power and grace to its parent stock, or a necessary stage in
the development of larger grace and power. The female organization is
no exception to this law; nor are the particular set of organs and their
functions with which this essay has to deal an exception to it. The
periodical movements which characterize and influence woman's
structure for more than half her terrestrial life, and which, in their ebb
and flow, sway every fibre and thrill every nerve of her body a dozen
times a year, and the occasional pregnancies which test her material
resources, and cradle the race, are, or are evidently intended to be,
fountains of power, not hinderances, to her. They are not infrequently
spoken of by women themselves with half-smothered anathemas; often
endured only as a necessary evil and sign of inferiority; and commonly
ignored, till some steadily-advancing malady whips the recalcitrant
sufferer into acknowledgment of their power, and respect for their
function. All this is a sad mistake. It is a foolish and criminal delicacy
that has persuaded woman to be so ashamed of the temple God built for

her as to neglect one of its most important services. On account of this
neglect, each succeeding generation, obedient to the law of hereditary
transmission, has become feebler than its predecessor. Our
great-grandmothers are pointed at as types of female physical
excellence; their great-grand-daughters as illustrations of female
physical degeneracy. There is consolation, however, in the hope, based
on substantial physiological data, that our great-grand-daughters may
recapture their ancestors' bloom and force. "Three generations of
wholesome life," says Mr. Greg, "might suffice to eliminate the
ancestral poison, for the vis medicatrix naturæ has wonderful efficacy
when allowed free play; and perhaps the time may come when the
worst cases shall deem it a plain duty to curse no future generations
with the damnosa hereditas, which has caused such bitter wretchedness
to themselves."[2]
The second consideration is the acknowledged influence of beauty.
"When one sees a god-like countenance," said Socrates to Phædrus, "or
some bodily form that represents beauty, he reverences it as a god, and
would sacrifice to it." From the days of Plato till now, all have felt the
power of woman's beauty, and been more than willing to sacrifice to it.
The proper, not exclusive search for it is a legitimate inspiration. The
way for a girl to obtain her portion of this radiant halo is by the
symmetrical development of every part of her organization, muscle,
ovary, stomach and nerve, and by a physiological management of every
function that correlates every organ; not by neglecting or trying to stifle
or abort any of the vital and integral parts of her structure, and
supplying the deficiency by invoking the aid of the milliner's stuffing,
the colorist's pencil, the druggist's compounds, the doctor's pelvic
supporter, and the surgeon's spinal brace.
When travelling in the East, some years ago, it was my fortune to be
summoned as a physician into a harem. With curious and not unwilling
step I obeyed the summons. While examining the patient, nearly a
dozen Syrian girls--a grave Turk's wifely crowd, a result and
illustration of Mohammedan female education--pressed around the
divan with eyes and ears intent to see and hear a Western Hakim's
medical examination. As I looked upon their well-developed forms,

their brown skins, rich with the blood and sun of the East, and their
unintelligent, sensuous faces, I thought that if it were possible to marry
the Oriental care of woman's organization to the Western liberty and
culture of her brain, there would be a new birth and loftier type of
womanly grace and force.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Woman's Wrongs, p. 59.
[2] Enigmas of Life, p. 34.


PART II.
CHIEFLY PHYSIOLOGICAL.
"She girdeth her loins with strength."--SOLOMON.
Before describing the special forms of ill that exist among our
American, certainly among our New-England girls and women, and
that are often caused and fostered by our methods of education and
social customs, it is important to refer in considerable detail to a few
physiological matters. Physiology serves to disclose the cause, and
explain the modus operandi, of these ills, and offers the only rational
clew to their prevention and relief. The order in which the
physiological data are presented that bear upon this discussion is not
essential;