Woman | Page 2

the man went away sorrowful, murmuring: "Woe is me, I can
neither live with nor without her."

PREFACE
In the first chapter of this book I have shown, I believe convincingly,
why sex knowledge is even more important for women than it is for
men. I have examined carefully the books that have been written for
girls and women, and I know that it is not bias, nor carping criticism,
but strict honesty that forces me to say that I have not found one
satisfactory girl's or woman's sex book. There are some excellent books
for girls and women on general hygiene; but on sex hygiene, on the
general manifestations of the sex instinct, on sex ethics--none. I have
attempted to write such a book. Whether I have succeeded--fully,
partially or not at all--is not for me to say, though I have my suspicions.
But this I know: in writing this book I have been strictly honest with
myself, from first page to last. Whether everything I have written is the
truth, I do not know. But at least I believe that it is--or I would not have
written it. And I can solemnly say that the book is free from any cant,
hypocrisy, falsehood, exaggeration or compromise, nor has any attempt
been made in any chapter to conciliate the stupid, the ignorant, the
pervert, or the sexless.

As in all my other books I have used plain, honest English. Not any
plainer than necessary, but plain enough to avoid obscurity and
misconception.
Science and art are both necessary to human happiness. This is not the
place to discuss the relative importance of the two. And, while I have
no patience with art-for-art's-sake, I recognize that the scientist can not
be put into a narrow channel and ordered to go into a certain definite
direction. Scientific investigations which seemed aimless and useless
have sometimes led to highly important results, and I would not
disparage science for its own sake. It has its uses. Nevertheless I
personally have no use for it. To me everything must have a direct
human purpose, a definite human application. When the cup of human
life is so overflowing with woe and pain and misery, it seems to me a
narrow dilettanteism or downright charlatanism to devote one's self to
petty or bizarre problems which can have no relation to human
happiness, and to prate of self-satisfaction and self-expression. One can
have all the self-expression one wants while doing useful work.
And working for humanity does not exclude a healthy hedonism; not
the narrow Cyrenaic, but an enlightened altruistic hedonism. And in
writing this book I have kept the human problem constantly before my
eyes. It was not my ambition merely to impart interesting facts: my
concern was the practical application of these facts, their relation to
human happiness.
If this book should be instrumental, as I confidently trust it will, in
destroying some medieval superstitions, in dissipating some hampering
and cramping errors, in instilling some hope in the hearts of the
hopeless, in bringing a little joy into the homes of the joyless, in
increasing in however slight a degree the sum total of human happiness,
its mission shall have been gloriously fulfilled.
For this is the mission of the book: to increase the sum total of human
happiness.
W.J.R.

12 Mount Morris Park W., New York City. Jan. 1, 1917.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE PARAMOUNT NEED OF SEX KNOWLEDGE FOR GIRLS
AND WOMEN 23
Why Sex Knowledge is of Paramount Importance to Girls and
Women--Reasons Why a Misstep in a Girl Has More Serious
Consequences than a Misstep in a Boy--The Place Love Occupies in
Woman's Life--Woman's Physical Disabilities.
II. THE FEMALE SEX ORGANS; THEIR ANATOMY 31
The Internal Sex Organs--The Ovaries--The Fallopian Tubes--The
Uterus--The Divisions of the Uterus--Anteversion, Anteflexion,
Retroversion, Retroflexion, of the Uterus--Endometritis--The
Vagina--The Hymen--Imperforate Hymen--The External Genitals--The
Vulva, Labia Majora, Labia Minora, the Mons Veneris, the Clitoris, the
Urethra--The Breasts--The Pelvis--The Difference Between the Male
and Female Pelvis.
III. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE FEMALE SEX ORGANS 49
Function of the Ovaries--Internal Secretion of the Ovaries-- Function of
the Internal Secretion--Number of Ova in the Ovaries--The Graafian
Follicles--Ovulation--Corpora Lutea--Function of the Fallopian
Tubes--Function of the Vagina--Functions of the Vulva, Clitoris and
Mons Veneris-- Function of the Breasts--Besides Secreting Milk Breast
Has Sexual Function--The Orgasm--Pollutions in Women--Secondary
Sex Characters--Differences Between Woman and Man.
IV. THE SEX INSTINCT 62
Universality of the Sex Instinct--Not Responsible for Our Thoughts and

Feelings.
V. PUBERTY 65
Physical Changes in Puberty--Physical Changes in the Genital Organs
and in the Rest of the Body--Psychic Changes--Puberty and
Adolescence--Nubility.
VI. MENSTRUATION 71
Definition of Menstruation--Where Menstrual Blood Comes
From--Age of Menstruation--Age of Cessation of
Menstruation--Duration--Amount--Regularity and Irregularity.
VII. ABNORMALITIES OF MENSTRUATION 75
Disorders of Menstruation--Menorrhagia--Metrorrhagia--
Amenorrhea--Vicarious Menstruation--Dysmenorrhea of Organic and
of