finger6 Home finger6 Page Image finger6 - Chapter finger6 + Chapter finger6 Notables finger6 Search

SEXUAL SCIENCE.

ITS BEARING ON HEALTH.

Life Propagation.—The propagation of the human species is not committed to accident. Nor is it left to the caprice of the individual. It is made secure in a natural instinct which, with irresistible force and power, demands fulfillment. It is not only sensual pleasure that is found in the gratification of this natural impulse. There exists higher feelings of satisfaction in perpetuating one's own single, short and perishable existence by the transmission of one's mind and form to a new being.

Man Higher than the Animal.—In coarse, sensual love and in the lustful desire to satisfy this natural instinct, man stands on a level with the animal. But man has the power to raise himself to a height where this natural instinct no longer makes him a slave. Higher and nobler feelings are awakened, which, notwithstanding their sensual origin, lift him into a world of beauty, holiness and morality.

Holiness of Man's Instinct.—On this height man overcomes his natural instinct. From an ever-flowing spring he draws material and inspiration for higher enjoyment, for more earnest work and for the reaching of the highest goal. The sexual feeling has been called the foundation for the development of the social feeling. In the words of a great student: "Were man to be robbed of the instinct of procreation and all that arises from it mentally, nearly all poetry and, perhaps, the entire moral sense as well, would be torn from his life."

The Power of Sexuality.—Sexuality is the most powerful factor in individual and social existence. It is the strongest incentive man has to exert his strength and acquire property. It spurs him to the foundation of a home. By it are first awakened the feeling of love, first for one of the opposite sex, then for his offspring, and last, in a wider sense, for all humanity. Thus all morality and a great part of religion depend upon the existence of the sexual feeling.

Dangers of the Sexual life.—Though the sexual life leads to the highest virtues and even to the sacrifice of self; yet in it lies a great danger. Unless properly checked it may degenerate into powerful passions and develop the gravest vices. When love is permitted to become an unbridled passion it is like a fire that burns and consumes everything. It is like a pit that swallows all—honor, fortune and happiness.

History of the Sexual life.—It is interesting to know how the sexual life developed throughout the history of the world. It is important to know the different stages through which it passed from the ancient and barbarous ages to the morality and civilization of to-day.

finger6 Home finger6 Page Image finger6 - Chapter finger6 + Chapter finger6 Notables finger6 Search

Primitive Peoples.—Among very primitive people the satisfaction of the sexual appetite of man seems like that of the animal. Openness in the sexual act is not shunned. Men and women are not ashamed to go naked. Even to-day we see savages in this condition. The Australians and the Polynesians furnish good examples. It even exists in the United States of America, among the Malays of the Philippines.

The Female Common Property.—Among these peoples the female is the common property of the male. She is for the time being the prize of the strongest. The men fight for the possession of the most beautiful of the opposite sex. A woman in such a country is a movable thing, a ware, an object of bargain and sale and gift. She is a thing to satisfy lust and to work.

Morality in Sexual Life.—Morality in sexual life began when there appeared a feeling of shame in the manifestation of the natural instinct. Then arose modesty in the intercourse of the sexes. Efforts were made to conceal the parts. "And they knew that they were naked."—Genesis, iii, 7.

Modesty and. Climate.—The development of this degree of culture is favored by the coldness of the climate and the necessity for the complete protection of the body. Those who have investigated the primitive people have discovered that modesty appears among the northern races much earlier than among the southern.

Advance of Woman.—The next stage in the development of culture in sexual life is noted when the female ceases to be a movable thing. She becomes a person. For a long time still she is placed far below the man socially. Yet the idea is developed that the right disposal of herself and her favors belong to her. She then becomes the object of the male's wooing. Feelings of morality begin to be added to the barbarous sensual feeling of sexual desire. Property in women ceases to exist. Individuals of the opposite sexes feel themselves drawn toward each other by their minds and appearances. They show love for each other only.

Foundation of Chastity.—At this stage woman has a feeling that her charms belong only to the man of her choice, and she wishes to conceal them from others. Thus, by the side of modesty, are laid the foundations of chastity and faithfulness—as long as the bond of love lasts.

Woman as a Housewife.—Woman attains this degree of social elevation earlier, when a tribe gives up its wandering life and settles down to a state of fixed habitation. For then man obtains a house and home, and the necessity arises for him to possess in woman a companion for the household—a housewife. Among the nations of the East, the Egyptians, the Israelites and the Greeks, early attained this stage of culture, and among those of the West the Germans were the first to elevate women.

finger6 Home finger6 Page Image finger6 - Chapter finger6 + Chapter finger6 Notables finger6 Search

Points of Female Esteem.—Among all these races virginity, chastity, modesty and sexual faithfulness were held in great esteem. This was in marked contrast with other nations, which offer the female of the house to the guest for his sexual enjoyment.

Women in Japan.—This stage in the culture of sexual morality is quite high. It appears much later than other forms of culture and civilization. This is seen in the Japanese, who are considered quite civilized and have accepted many of the modern improvements. In Japan it is the custom to marry a woman only after she has lived for a year in the teahouses, which correspond with our houses of prostitution. To the Japanese the nakedness of women is nothing shocking. At all events, among them every unmarried woman can prostitute herself without lessening her value as a future wife. This is proof that with this remarkable people woman possesses no moral worth. She is valued in marriage only as a means of enjoyment, reproduction and work.

Bible Women.—In Biblical times women occupied an inferior position to man. And even after Biblical times woman was still considered as an inferior creature. This may be due in part to the account in Genesis of the secondary creation of woman from the rib of man—Genesis, ii: 21 and 22: "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man." It was also due probably to her part in the fall of man and the consequent curse: "Thy will shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Genesis, iii: 16. Since the fall, for which the Old Testament made woman responsible, became the foundation for the teachings of the Church, the wife's social position in the early centuries could but remain inferior.

State of Polygamy.—Moreover, polygamy is expressly recognized in the Old Testament—Deuteronomy, xxi: 15: "If a man have two wives, one beloved and the other hated." The value of each sex among the Jews is shown by Leviticus, xxvii: 3 and 4: "And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary; and if it be a female then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels." Even in the New Testament polygamy is not distinctly forbidden. The only passage in the Gospels favoring woman is that forbidding the putting away a wife—Matthew xix: 9: "And I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."

finger6 Home finger6 Page Image finger6 - Chapter finger6 + Chapter finger6 Notables finger6 Search

Paul's Position as to Woman.—The Epistles of Paul specifically declare that the position of woman shall not be altered—II Corinthians, xi: 2-3; Ephesians, v: 22: "Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands;" and 33, "And the wife see that she reverence her husband."

Early Christianity and Women.—Woman's position remained inferior in the early days of Christianity. Passages in Tertullian show how the Fathers of the Church were prejudiced against woman by Eve's guile: "Woman, thou shouldst forever go in sorrow and rags, thy eyes filled with tears! Thou hast brought man to the ground!"

St. Hieronymous has nothing good to say of woman. He says: "Woman is a door for the devil, a way to evil, the sting of the scorpion." "De sultur feminarium," i: 1.

Canonical Law declares: "Only man was created in the image of God, not woman; therefore, woman should serve him and be his maid!"

The Provincial Council of Macon, in the sixth century, earnestly debated the question whether woman had a soul.

Even polygamy flourished among the early Christians. Christian princes, for example, the Merovingian kings, Clotaire I, Childebert I, Pepin I and many of the royal Franks, lived in polygamy, and at that time the Church made no opposition to it.

These ideas of the Church necessarily had a direct effect on the peoples embracing Christianity. Among the Germans, after the acceptance of the new faith, the price to be paid for a wife decreased considerably.

Christianity Emancipates Woman.—There was ever in the spirit of Christianity, however, that which would free woman and raise her from the inferior position occupied by her in the ancient world and in the Old Testament. Her social position began to improve as soon as the spirit of Christianity had gained a victory over tradition and scholasticism.

It was the Council of Trent that first made clear and unquestionable the symbolic and sacramental character of marriage.

Christianity gave the most powerful impulse to the moral elevation of the sexual relations by raising woman to social equality with man and elevating the bond of love between man and woman to a religio-moral institution.

finger6 Home finger6 Page Image finger6 - Chapter finger6 + Chapter finger6 Notables finger6 Search

Mohammedan Women.—Mohammed was really honest in his desire to raise woman from her place as a slave and concubine to a higher social and matrimonial plane. Nevertheless, in the Mohammedan world woman remained far below man. Only the man could obtain divorce, and he could obtain it very easily. Woman was kept from participation in public life under all circumstances. This, of course, hindered her intellectual and moral development. In consequence of this the Mohammedan woman has always remained essentially a means of sensual gratification and procreation.

This inferior position of woman is seen in the Mohammedan religion in reference to the hereafter. Heaven to the Mussulman is filled with the delights of a harem full of houris.

WOMEN'S PLACE IN HIGHER CIVILIZATION.

The fact that in higher civilization love must be single and not on a lasting contract was thus recognized.

If nature does no more than provide for reproduction, a family or State cannot exist without a guarantee that the offspring shall flouish physically, mentally, morally and intellectually.

Christianity gained both mental and material superiority over the polygamous races, especially Mohammedan, through the equalization of woman and man. It also obtained this hold by establishing single marriage and securing it by legal, religious and moral ties.

DIFFICULTY IN KEEPING LOVE PURE.

In spite of all the aids which religion, law, education and morality give civilized man in the bridling of his passions, he is always in danger of sinking from the clean height of pure, chaste love into the mire of common sensuality.

In order to maintain one's self on such a height a constant struggle is required between natural impulses and morals, between sensuality and morality.

Only characters endowed with strong wills are able to completely free themselves from sensuality, and share in that pure love from which spring the noblest joys of human life.

finger6 Home finger6 Page Image finger6 - Chapter finger6 + Chapter finger6 Notables finger6 Search

THE ELEMENTS OF SEXUAL DESIRE.

In sexual desire, love, the expectation of unbounded happiness, is the primary element. The feeling of dependence also exists, but it is of secondary development. The nucleus of this feeling exists both in the male and in the female, but it may remain undeveloped in one. As a rule, owing to her passive part in procreation and social conditions, it is more pronounced in women.

YOUTHFUL LOVE.

Youthful love has a romantic, idealistic character. It raises the beloved object on a lofty pedestal. In its beginning it is free from the sensual element and turns to forms of poetry and romance. With the awakening of sensuality there is danger that this power of making its object perfect may be directed toward persons of the opposite sex who are mentally, physically and socially of inferior station. Love is more blind in this stage than in any other.

PURELY SENSUAL LOVE.

In love of this nature there may occur unhappy marriages where the husband and wife are unsuited to one another. Here occur seductions and errors, with the whole tragedy of a passionate love that comes in conflict with the dictates of social position and prospects.

It is this love that sometimes terminates in suicide or double suicide. Over-sensual love can never be lasting and true. For this reason the first love is, as a rule, very fleeting. Because it is nothing else than the flare of a passion, the flame of a fire of straw.

TRUE LOVE.

Only the love that rests upon a recognition of the social qualities of the beloved person, only a love which is willing not only to enjoy present pleasures, but to bear suffering for the beloved object and sacrifice all is true love. The love of a strongly constituted man shrinks before no difficulties or dangers in order to gain and keep possession of its object.

DANGEROUS LOVE.

Love expresses itself in acts of heroism and daring. Such love is in danger, under certain circumstances, of becoming criminal, if moral principles be weak. Jealousy is an ugly spot in this love. It may lead to the greatest crimes. This daring love will stop at nothing to gain its end. It does not hesitate to do away with any obstacles that may be in the way.

finger6 Home finger6 Page Image finger6 - Chapter finger6 + Chapter finger6 Notables finger6 Search

SENTIMENTAL LOVE.

The love of a weakly constituted man is sentimental. It sometimes leads to suicide when it is not returned or meets with obstacles. Sentimental love is in danger of becoming a caricature when the sensual element is weak.

Such love is flat and soft, and may be even silly. But the true expression of this powerful feeling awakens appropriate pity, respect or sorrow in the hearts of others.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE LOVE.

Love in the Man.—Undoubtedly man has a much more intense sexual appetite than woman. As a result of a powerful natural instinct, at a certain age, a man is drawn toward a woman. He loves sensually and is influenced in his choice by physical beauty. In accordance with the nature of this powerful impulse, he is aggressive and violent in his wooing. At the same time this demand of nature does not constitute all of his mental existence. When this longing is satisfied, love temporarily retreats behind other vital and social interests.

Love in the Woman.—With a woman it is quite otherwise. If she is normally developed mentally, and well bred, her sexual desire is small. If this were not so the whole world would become a brothel and marriage and a family impossible. It is certain that the man that avoids women and the woman that seeks men are abnormal. Woman is wooed for her favor. She remains passive. This lies in her sexual organization, and is not founded merely on the dictates of good breeding.

Woman's Sexual Sphere.—Nevertheless the sexual sphere occupies a much larger place in the mind of woman than in that of man.

The need of love in her is greater than in man, and is continual, not intermittent. But this love is rather more spiritual than sensual. While a man loves a woman first as wife and then as mother of his children, a woman first thinks of a man as the father of her children and then as husband.

Choice of a Husband.—In the choice of a life companion a woman is influenced much more by the mental than by the physical qualities of a man. When she has become a mother she divides her love between child and husband. Sensuality disappears in the mother's love.

finger6 Home finger6 Page Image finger6 - Chapter finger6 + Chapter finger6 Notables finger6 Search

Strength of Sexual love.—A woman loves with her whole soul. To her love is life; to a man it is the joy of life. To him misfortune in love is a wound; but it costs a woman her life, or, at least, her happiness. A question worthy of consideration is whether a woman can truly love twice in her life. Certainly the mental inclination of woman is monogamous, while in man it is polygamous.

MAN WEAKER THAN WOMAN.

The weakness of man in comparison with woman lies in the great intensity of their sexual desires. Man becomes dependent upon woman. The weaker and more sensual he becomes, the more does he become dependent upon her.

MARRIAGE.

In the cultivated social life of to-day, woman occupying a sexual position and concerning herself in the interests of society can only be thought of as a wife.

The aim and ideal of woman, even when she is sunken in the mire of vice, is, and remains, marriage.

Woman desires not only satisfaction of her sexual feeling, but also protection and support for herself and her children.

A man of right feeling, no matter how sensual he may be, demands a wife that has been, and is, chaste.

THE MARRIAGE RIGHT AND DUTY.

Woman far surpasses man in love, partly because, through heredity and education, her native element is love, and partly because she has finer feelings.

Even in a man of the very highest breeding it cannot be found objectionable that he recognizes woman as a means of satisfying his natural instinct.

But it becomes his duty to belong only to the woman of his choice.

In a civilized state this becomes a binding social obligation, marriage. And inasmuch as the wife requires for herself and children protection and support, it becomes a marriage right.

WHAT ATTRACTS AND UNITES A MAN AND A WOMAN.

It is of great importance to examine the events of the mind that draw a man and a woman together and unite them. So that, of all other persons of the same sex, only the beloved one seems desirable.

finger6 Home finger6 Page Image finger6 - Chapter finger6 + Chapter finger6 Notables finger6 Search

If one could foresee design on the part of nature this "harmony of souls," this "heart-hand" could be easily explained.

The fact of fascination by a single person of the opposite sex, with indifference to all others, as it occurs between true and happy lovers, would then appear as a wonderful creative provision to insure single unions for the promotion of their object. To the scientific student, however, this love does not, by any means, appear as a "soul-mystery." In the majority of cases it may be referred to certain peculiarities of form or mind, as the case may be, by which the attractiveness of the beloved person is excited.

REAL LOVE.

On slight reflection anyone will see that real love can be spoken of only when the whole person is both physically and mentally the object of adoration. Love must always have a sensual element. There must be a desire to possess the beloved object, to be united with it and fulfill the laws of nature.

Purely Sensual Love Not Genuine.—But when merely the body of the person of the opposite sex is the object of love, when satisfaction of sexual pleasure is the sole object, without desire to possess the soul and enjoy mutual communion, love is not genuine.

Platonic Love Not Genuine.—Nor is the love genuine of Platonic lovers, who have only the soul and avoid sensual pleasure.

For the former, merely the body, and for the latter, simply the soul is the attraction. In both cases it is only the part that attracts that is loved, not the whole person, body and soul.

RELATION OF SEXES REVERSED.

In regard to increasing one's attractiveness and charms, civilization has gradually reversed the relation of the sexes. While in civilized society woman exercises her ingenuity to increase her attractiveness, among savages it is the men who are anxious to increase their physical charms. This is probably due to the fact that civilization has gradually transferred the liberty of choice from woman to man.

WHAT ATTRACTS MOST.

Among the many things that may attract and charm, there are certain ones that act for a majority of persons.

As such for a man may be mentioned the hair, the hand, the foot of a woman, and the expression of her eyes.

These facts play a prominent part in the feminine mind, either consciously or unconsciously.

This page is maintained by Charles Keith.
Contact: Send me a message
Last Modified: Monday, 13-May-2013 15:31:47 EDT