SALVAGING 
OF 
AMERICAN GIRLHOOD SALVAGING 
OF 
AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
A Substitution of Normal Psychology for Super- 
stition and Mysticism in the Education of Girls 
BY 
ISABEL DAVENPORT, Ph.D. 
Consulting Psychologist; Author of 
"Adolescent Interests," etc. 
NEW YORK 
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 
681 Fifth Avenue Copyright, 1924 
By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 
AU rights reserved 
Printed in the United States of America TO 
LETA S. HOLLINGWORTH 
AND 
ROBERT S. WOODWORTH 
WHOSE INTEREST AND CO-OPERATION MADE 
POSSIBLE THE STUDY UPON WHICH 
THIS BOOK IS BASED PREFACE 
The contents of this book are based upon an in- 
vestigation made by the author under the auspices 
of the Department of Psychology of Columbia Uni- 
versity, and published in monograph form under the 
title Adolescent Interests. The aim of the research 
was to discover the actual state of sexual knowledge 
of young women of more than average education, in 
their late adolescence; and to investigate the char- 
acter of their trends of interests when measured by 
the best present day conceptions and standards. In- 
terest in the original study had been stimulated by 
two main factors: (1) the social importance of the 
subject itself, and (2) the ever more insistent claims 
of psychoanalysis to an authentic normal sex psy- 
chology-the acceptance of which would mean the 
firm establishing of mysticism for many years to 
come, in this field where more than in any other, the 
clear light of knowledge is needed. 
The incorporation of much of the study itself, in 
a somewhat more readable form, seemed to be fairly 
essential to a just presentation of my conclusion- 
that normal psychology should be substituted for 
superstition and mysticism in the education of 
VII VIII 
PREFACE 
girls. The whole attempt of the book is to show the 
need of straightforward, adequate effort in dealing 
with this most important social problem, and to sug- 
gest the lines such effort should follow. It is offered 
as a pioneer endeavor to base the special education 
of girls on a sound psychological foundation, and 
cannot hope to speak the final word. If to any ex- 
tent it succeeds in arousing the practical interest of 
those who are in position to act, and in swinging the 
popular point of view away from the befogging and 
not too clean concepts of a philosophy founded in 
mysticism, while pointing the way toward the more 
healthful and hopeful leads of scientific and normal 
educational psychology, I shall feel deeply repaid 
for my effort. 
As in case of the original study, I feel indebted to 
the women who so generously co-operated with me 
in the classification of the data: Professor Leta S. 
Hollingworth of the Psychology Department, and 
Miss Caroline Stackpole of the Biology Department 
of Teachers College, Columbia University; Dr. 
Helen Montague, Psychiatrist of the Children's 
Court, New York City; and Mrs. Ella Sees Stewart 
of Chicago. In connection with certain chapters 
which deal with "New Psychologic Foundations," I 
am particularly indebted to Professor Robert S. 
Woodworth of Columbia University, for reading of 
manuscript and valuable suggestions. 
Isabel Davenport 
14 W. 12th St. 
New York City 
May, 1924 CONTENTS 
PAGE 
Preface vii 
PART ONE: BY WAY OF APPROACH 
CHAPTER 
I. The Psychological Viewpoint 1 
II. How It Came About 17 
HI. The Initial Surprise 36 
IV. A Clear Way Out 48 
PART TWO: AS IT IS 
V. Map and Compass 69 
VI. Some of the More Personal Interests . . 78 
VII. Primitive and Otherwise 108 
VIII. Largely Biological 133 
IX. Social and Anti-Social 154 
PART THREE: NEW PSYCHOLOGIC FOUNDATIONS 
X. Where Superstition Reigns 175 
XL A New Sex Psychology 192 
XII. A Concrete Program 214 
XIII. Final Emancipations 252 
IX PART ONE 
BY WAY OF APPROACH SALVAGING OF AMERICAN 
GIRLHOOD 
CHAPTER I 
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT 
It seems remarkable that with the enormous 
amount of literature that has been produced on the 
subject of sex in recent years, so little endeavor has 
been put forth to gain reliable information in regard 
to the sexual interests and needs of normal young 
women. 
The result has been a clear field in the popular 
mind for the sexual tenets of psychoanalysis, and 
they have proceeded to occupy it with a verve 
scarcely paralleled since Rousseau's education ac- 
cording to nature, seized upon the imagination of 
the women of France. 
Indeed so completely have the fascinating theories 
of this school of psychotherapy gained hold upon the 
lay mind, that one almost despairs in advance of 
arousing any great degree of interest in the com- 
paratively unstimulating facts of normal sexual 2 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
psychology. And yet faith in one's kind generates 
the confidence that back of popular interest in the 
abnormalities of "libidos," "suppressed desires," 
and "polymorphous sexual perversions," there 
abides deep in the soul of most American women a 
tender and profound concern for the practical wel- 
fare of the young girls coming on, if they only knew 
the need and how to meet it. It is in this faith and 
in the hope of suggesting a program by means of 
which the present unfortunate conditions may be 
remedied, that I present the facts discovered in my 
investigation and attempt to point out their signifi- 
cance for the physical and mental well-being of girls. 
In lieu of a reliable body of information based 
upon carefully conducted experiment with known 
groups of normal, representative young women, the 
practical education of the adolescent girl has been 
at the mercy of several conflicting notions relative 
to her sexual nature, interests and knowledge, con- 
trary notions which exist side by side not only in 
society at large but often in one and the same indi- 
vidual. One of these is that girls have no sexual 
nature worth bothering about, that they don't know 
anything, don't want to, aren't interested, and 
shouldn't be forced into knowledge of "things" pre- 
maturely. Thus is the subject naturally and effec- 
tually dismissed. There simply is no case. 
Another equally effective though diametrically 
opposed claims that adolescent girls already know 
it all, more than their mothers and grandmothers 
'do now. Or, as the father of a good-sized family THE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT 
3 
and teacher in a city high school once said in the 
hearing of the writer, "Girls ten years old, now-a- 
days, know more than I do." Obviously to under- 
take instructing such sexual prodigies would be the 
proverbial coals to Newcastle, well meant but 
wasted. 
Another pet delusion and one that makes an al- 
most universal appeal through its superstitious and 
erotic elements, is the conception of the young girl's 
"soul," i.e., sexual nature and interests, as an un- 
fathomable mystery, a sort of holy of holies, an 
exotic and fragile flower in the bud, of which Nature 
(usually with a capital N), says to rough instruction, 
"Hands off! And I will nurture with my tender 
care until, behold-keep the girl ignorant enough of 
the plain facts of physiology and hygiene, sufficiently 
uninstructed in regard to her own body and its 
needs, utterly untrained for the practical exigencies 
of marriage and parenthood, and keep her soul well 
fed up on aesthetic aspirations-through my mystic 
processes I will deliver her to the altar in all her 
glorious womanhood, to take her exalted place (al- 
ways exalted!) among the madonnas at whose feet 
men do and must worship. ' ' The underlying theory 
here is that girls really inherit sexual tendencies 
which become manifest in puberty and adolescence 
in giggling and various aberrations in the girl's con- 
scious life, but which themselves remain discreetly 
in retirement in her1 ' Unconscious. " Now the object 
is to keep them there so her response to them may 
be made solely on the "intuitive" basis, wherein 4 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
lies her only safety. The way to accomplish this is 
to alchemize, transmute, or "sublimate" them be- 
yond her recognition, using as an objective some con- 
scious emotion in which she can find a substitute 
soul satisfaction-the favorite recommendations be- 
ing aesthetic and religious fervors and longings for 
social uplift. 
Here at least is a clear facing of the fact that 
girls have a sexual nature that should be dealt with 
in some way and an attempt at solution, albeit the 
program of action consists in doing away with it by 
changing it into something else-the dross of the 
mating and maternal tendencies into the fine gold of 
art, religion and social reform. 
Now these notions so diverse in their fundamen- 
tals, find no difficulty in flourishing under the same 
environment, even though as suggested above that 
environment bear the narrow confines of the mind 
of one individual, a fact which may well be due to 
their common value as alibis for a neglect more 
wicked than any other for which American social 
and educational policies can justly be arraigned. 
Of these alibis the first has been thoroughly ex- 
ploded by the sciences of biology and psychology; 
and not by any means the least of the services ren- 
dered the world by the psychoanalytic writers has 
been the spreading of the truth among the laity that 
girls as well as boys are inheritors of the sexual in- 
stinct and tendencies. Scientific psychology has long 
shown this, but its teachings reach the few, while 
psychoanalysis has made the knowledge so generally THE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT 
5 
accessible that fairly he who runs may find out if he 
but look toward the news stand in passing. There 
is no longer any strength in the position that adoles- 
cent girls are free from sexual interests and knowl- 
edge, and about the best the die-hards of this tenet 
can now do is to assert that, anyhow, they can't be 
convinced that the sexual needs and interests of 
girls are just the same as boys'. This is a point 
upon which we have no reliable body of information, 
and to be "convinced" is simply to be prejudiced, 
but the real point at issue is that they do not have 
to be just the same and still be of supreme impor- 
tance for the welfare of girls and of society. It 
may well be that it is the sexual interests and needs 
of girls and women as the potential and actual 
mothers of the race that must come to furnish the 
norms for sexual life in marriage, and for the in- 
struction and training of youth of both sexes, if 
society is to rise out of the slough of physical and 
mental unfitness into which it is falling. 
The second position bears closer scrutiny. Of 
course the statement that ten year old girls know 
more than men, in the sense it was used in the in- 
stance cited, is inherently stupid and vicious, and 
worth mentioning only because variations of it are 
so frequently met with from supposedly intelligent 
and well-meaning people. 
But the claim that present day girls (say from 
eleven to fourteen when they need to know a good 
deal about the nature of menstruation and the care 
of the body for the normal development and health-  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
6 
ful condition of the pelvic organs and muscles, to 
the ages of eighteen to twenty when they need to 
know much about the true nature of love, marriage 
and parenthood), are as well informed as their 
mothers and grandmothers, is susceptible of being 
interpreted in two ways. One of these is that the 
mothers and grandmothers do not know a great deal 
that the girls need to be instructed in if they are to 
go through life reasonably healthy and happy under 
the conditions of modern society, and that in this 
respect mothers and daughters are equally ignorant. 
There can be no doubt to anyone who has first hand 
knowledge of the situation that this is the actual 
state of affairs, and it is the one which more than 
any other explains the facts revealed in this book. 
The lack of knowledge of the mothers is reflected in 
the gross ignorance and superstitions of their 
daughters. 
Another interpretation is relative to intimate 
sexual life as it obtains in marriage. It is undoubt- 
edly so that practically all girls know of the fact of 
sexual intercourse, as a rule call it by some such 
name, talk about it among themselves or to trusted 
confidants, and know roughly how it is con- 
summated. But in regard to its possible place in the 
spiritual life of men and women who love and re- 
spect each other, its proper restraints and hygiene, 
its uses and abuses for the welfare of the future 
generation, there again they are on the same plane 
of knowledge as the women who bore them, which 
is the plane of ignorance. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT 
7 
What their mothers "know" can with but rare 
exception be summed up pretty well by the facts that 
they have experienced sexual relations, with what- 
ever joy or grief the experience chanced individually 
to bring them; have become inured to the fate of 
genital troubles ranging from chronic state of in- 
flammation of the lining membranes of the uterus to 
pathological conditions necessitating major opera- 
tions; in the majority of cases borne children with 
dreadful suffering as part of the "natural" scheme 
of things, and been thankful if only their babies 
turned out "sound in mind and body," meaning 
thereby neither actually mentally defective nor 
physically deformed. This is about the legacy of 
sexual knowledge which the great mass of women 
have to hand over to their daughters, and they are 
to be commended rather than blamed for not pass- 
ing it on. The fallacy of this oft heard defense for 
not giving girls instruction in regard to the struc- 
ture, functions and care of their own special organs, 
on the ground that they already know more than 
their mothers, aside from where simply it is not 
true, lies in the fact that fairly universally mothers 
themselves are grossly ignorant of the physiology 
and hygiene that girls need, and have a right to 
know. 
The third defense is the most dangerous of all be- 
cause it is the most alluring. There is something 
intriguing in the notion of a young girl's "inner 
life" as a sort of mystic shrine too sacred and deli- 
cate to stand the coarse usage of accurate knowledge 8 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
concerning her own body and the facts of human 
reproduction-the implication being that these are 
not quite what they should be. One outcome of this 
philosophy has been a mass of so-called "psycho- 
logical" literature on adolescence, which as far as it 
concerns girls, is often as subtly lurid in its appeal 
to the erotic in the reader as certain highly censured 
works to the more obviously sensual. Indeed so 
thoroughly does this erotico-mystic conception of 
feminine sexuality prevail over the plain facts of 
biology and psychology in the literature on the sub- 
ject, that it is fairly the rule for even highly trained 
experimental psychologists to abandon the proved 
methods of their profession and run to cover under 
the camouflage of vague and spreading generalities 
of psycho-philosophy when the subject of adolescent 
girls has to be met. 
This being the case with the scientifically elect in 
the field of psychology, it perhaps is not to be won- 
dered at that as late as 1920 a clinical psychologist 
purporting to write a volume devoted to the educa- 
tion and care of adolescent girls from an admittedly 
psychoanalytic point of view, should launch her 
treatise with the psychologically astounding propo- 
sition that "Only to those scientists gifted * with a 
rare combination of psychological insight and phil- 
osophical breadth of vision is vouchsafed the ability 
to plumb the depth of the young girl's inner life." 
"Inner life" and "soul" as the further contents 
of the book show, being employed euphemistically 
* The italics of the quotation are the present writer's. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT 
9 
to cover the realm of the girl's sexual nature and 
interests. Now whatever this is, it is not reputable 
psychology, meaning by this the result of the study 
of mental life by scientific method. Indeed the 
author does not attempt to describe the process by 
means of which it is "vouchsafed" to those pecu- 
liarly gifted ones to do the "plumbing," but the 
inference to be derived from reading the book is 
that where it is other than speculation and deductive 
generalization from individually posited premises, 
it consists in the personal interpretation of "life 
histories ' ' of neurotic and near-neurotic girls gained 
from their own testimony concerning their sexual 
experiences and soul longings. Conspicuous among 
such life histories because of the zeal with which 
they have been exploited by these psycho-philosophic 
writers in their works on the nature and education 
of adolescent girls, are the autobiographies of 
Marie Bashkirtseff and Mary McLean-the one the 
classic example of literature of the "sublimation" 
of the racial (mating and maternal) instincts of the 
girl into the frenzies of religion and art, the other a 
classic of eroticism run wild. 
In this age of high attainment of experimental 
psychology and its application in the field of educa- 
tion, it seems about time that we realize that it is 
scarcely in examples of constitutional neurotics, or 
through the guidance of a Dundreary theory of 
psycho-philosophy which postulates the mental life 
of adolescent girls as of a nature which only the 
peculiarly endowed can find out, or even in the ex- 10 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
perimentally unwarranted fancies of the psycho- 
logically trained, that the social need of a normally 
developed and properly trained womanhood is to be 
met. 
A few words need to be added in regard to the 
effects of this philosophy upon actual practice, for 
it is this point of view which consciously or uncon- 
sciously dominates present procedure relative to 
what may be summed up as the "sexual" education 
of girls. One result is the shunting of the whole 
matter by many educators who are in a position and 
might have had the good will to do a great deal, 
if only they had been provided with an intelligible 
program based upon a comprehensible and sound 
psychology. These are the teachers, principals and 
social workers of one sort and another, who have 
had their interest in the subject aroused by their 
own observations, or by various propagandas, or 
university training, and have turned to the "psy- 
chological" literature on the subject for help, only 
to suffer reaction fed by perplexity, and ending in 
despair of the wisdom of trying to do anything with 
a situation at once so uncertain and "delicate." So 
the whole question has been side-tracked in many 
instances, and apart from being told not to join in 
the physical training work at certain times, the 
education of each new lot of adolescent girls swings 
on as to the rhythm of a race of female "robots," 
whose inner mechanism can be sent back to the fac- 
tory for repair at any time. 
In other instances, in the more advanced train- THE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT 
11 
ing schools and colleges, special courses are given 
for girls and women in "personal" or "social" or 
"child" hygiene, admission to which can usually be 
obtained only through the permission of the in- 
structor, who is frequently a man. The writer has 
attended or visited about every attempt of this sort 
to which she could find access, and without exception 
the wonder has grown why any adolescent girl or 
woman should need special permission to attend, and 
how it is that these courses, films and lectures can 
be worked out with such consummate skill as to 
create the illusion of accomplishing the needed re- 
sults while eluding the most of the things girls and 
women really want and need to know about their 
own bodies and human reproduction. A careful 
study of the amount and character of the informa- 
tion given through these various agencies points to 
the conclusion that even where a certain high pur- 
pose and exceptional moral courage leads to action 
of some sort, there exists an obsession of fear that 
girls who menstruate with all the attendant evils 
known to prevail, and also known by the informed to 
be preventable in most instances, are too sensitively 
organized to be taught to call the organs involved 
by their proper names; and clearly and adequately 
instructed in regard to their structure and normal 
functioning, and the development and care whereby 
the generally prevalent suffering and disabilities 
might be prevented. 
The same sort of situation exists in regard to in- 
struction relative to sexual relations and the bear- 12 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
ing of children. Girls of marriageable age who are 
considered sturdy enough to enter upon the vicis- 
situdes of the marriage relation and the stupendous 
burdens of pregnancy and childbirth as these have 
become under existing life conditions of women, are 
held too delicately organized to stand being properly 
instructed concerning the processes involved and 
how their bodies can be made and kept fit for the 
normal demands of mating, and the prevention of 
the wearing discomforts of pregnancy and agonies 
of parturition. 
Of course it is not expressed or even definitely 
thought of this way, but what has been said is in- 
herent in the philosophy back of the practice, and 
is in no way an unjust arraignment of its actual re- 
sults as it dominates whatever organized effort there 
is for the sexual education of girls. For as lack of 
knowledge on the part of mothers furnishes the key 
to the fairly incredible ignorance of girls which this 
books reveals, so the erotico-mystic superstition of 
the adolescent girl's sexual nature furnishes a large 
part of the persistent shying of well-intentioned and 
otherwise intelligent educators when it comes to in- 
structing girls adequately for their own particular 
place in the economy of the race. 
The study upon which this book is based was 
undertaken from quite a different viewpoint. It 
was planned and carried out in the conviction that 
the sexual interests of women as well as those of 
men, as far as the most generally accepted psy- 
chology on the subject has as yet determined, are THE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT 
13 
of two sorts, the native and the acquired; the ac- 
quired interests and habits being built up through 
the experience of the individual on the basis of what 
nature provides. And furthermore the investiga- 
tion was stimulated by the faith that sexual interests 
whether of the male or female, are as susceptible of 
investigation by properly arranged and adapted 
psychological methods as other fields of human in- 
terests; so that a reliable method once worked out 
could be applied by any properly trained and quali- 
fied person. My study was an attempt to work out 
and apply such a method, and was offered as an 
initial effort in the investigation of the sexual in- 
terests of girls by other than subjective analysis 
of their own sexual thoughts, feelings and habits. 
It was thus presented as a first systematic attempt 
to apply what are known as "objective" methods to 
the investigation of the sexual interests of normal 
young women in counter-distinction to the methods 
of subjective analysis in one form or another. 
The results, I believe, justified both the method 
and the underlying conviction, namely, that the 
sexual interests of normal girls and women instead 
of being a practically unexplorable realm to be pene- 
trated only by "insight" of psycho-philosophy, are 
an integral part of the girl's or woman's mental life 
as accessible to scientific method as any realm of 
mental behavior of similar type. Primitive and ac- 
quired interests are here revealed quite as they are 
expected to obtain in any field of human instincts 
and capacities. And what is particularly important 14 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
for the education of girls and for social welfare, 
these interests like all other human interests, plainly 
and consciously assert themselves upon occasion as 
specific trends which clearly reflect the influences 
under which they took form-whether of organized 
education, special social propagandas, or of the gen- 
eral character of the permanent environment under 
which the girls have lived. 
The influence of current or recent propagandas 
is noticeable in the large number of questions 
on birth control where they form nearly 28 per 
cent of the questions on childbearing, and in the 
questions on venereal diseases and heredity. The 
influence of organized education in determining the 
trends of interest revealed, is shown particularly 
in the questions in regard to exercise during the 
monthly periods, and in the questions on reproduc- 
tion and embryology for which the study of biology 
in the high school plainly formed considerable 
stimulus. The influence of a general social, family 
and religious environment which fails to make ade- 
quate provision for companionship between the 
sexes, love and marriage, and consciously to educate 
and train for prospective motherhood, is reflected 
both in the meagre amount of interest shown in these 
subjects and by the naive and often crude character 
of the questions; while the persistent ignoring of the 
whole realm of sexual life and interests of the girl's 
childhood and youth by these social institutions, is 
reflected in the ignorance and superstition revealed 
concerning the most ordinary facts of life, and the THE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT 
15 
evident failure to think of sexual matters in terms 
of the best teachings of mental and physical hygiene 
and modern social ideals. 
But however dense the ignorance uncovered by 
my investigation, or however harmful or beneficial 
the given trend of interest revealed, the interest it- 
self is at once specific, conscious, and highly modi- 
fiable by education and social propaganda. 
These facts carry quite a different implication for 
education from that inherent in a .philosophy which 
postulates the girl's sexual interests as a vague, in- 
tangible something embedded in an "Unconscious" 
inpenetrable to modern psychological methods. As 
stated above the recommendations of the adherents 
of this philosophy in regard to the maturing, mating 
and parental interests of girls, is their wholesale 
transmutation or sublimation into aesthetic and re- 
ligious feelings and aspirations, and urge for social 
reform. 
The facts revealed by my study seem to call for 
very different sort of treatment both for the happi- 
ness of the girl and for social welfare-for a pro- 
gram of education and training whereby the mating 
and maternal tendencies which are bound to assert 
themselves into the conscious life of girls in some 
form in early adolescence or before, be developed 
into definite interest in and desire for love, marriage 
and prospective motherhood. 
There are thus presented two radically different 
programs for society to follow in place of the gen- 
eral laissez faire policy which now obtains. The ques- 16 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
tion at stake is what the nation is going to do with 
the native racial tendencies of her girls-let them 
largely go to waste for lack of cultivation, with the 
inevitable result of social deterioration; or, follow- 
ing the tenets of a deductively derived psycho- 
philosophy, endeavor to work out some scheme 
whereby they can be universally transmuted or "sub- 
limated" into a "glow of artistic and religious 
ecstasy" as a preparation for future wifehood and 
motherhood, in case the psychopathic ward does not 
intervene; or following the dicta of normal psy- 
chology, definitely provide by education for the de- 
velopment of the girl's native racial tendencies into 
conscious desire for wholesome love, marriage and 
motherhood, for which a normally developed body 
and sane ideas of life must furnish the requisite 
foundation. CHAPTER IT 
HOW IT CAME ABOUT 
The project of making a systematic investigation 
of the state of sexual knowledge and interests of 
representative, normal young women had been brew- 
ing in my mind some time, and had developed, partly 
at least as an after-effect of a meeting held in 
Buffalo some years ago in connection with the 
triennial congress of the International Association 
For School Hygiene which was being held in the 
city. 
At that time, interest in the question of giving 
children and young people instruction in sexual mat- 
ters was at rather high pitch, the subject being under 
discussion pro and con nearly everywhere, even in 
letters and articles from well known people and 
editorially in the daily press. A whole session of 
the regular program had been devoted to the subject 
of teaching 44sex hygiene," as it was then called, 
in the schools. The large number of speakers both 
for and against were very much in earnest-the one 
side being convinced of the need for children to be 
instructed concerning this side of life; the other 
equally convinced that an essential factor in safe- 
guarding individual virtue and society, lay in keep- 
17 18 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
ing young people, particularly girls, who as usual 
formed the pivotal point about which the discussions 
centered, away from such knowledge as long as pos- 
sible. Toward the close of an already prolonged 
session, it occurred to someone that we hadn't really 
gotten anywhere much in way of a definite program 
for those, mostly practical workers with young 
people, who believed that something positive should 
be done, and a special meeting was suggested to give 
persons particularly interested, opportunity to get 
together and thresh out some of the practical prob- 
lems of what should be taught, how and by whom. 
The meeting was held in a private room at the 
hotel Iroquois with Dean Thomas Balliet of New 
York University as chairman, and was attended by 
a notable group of physicians, biologists, teachers 
and social workers. Again the most warmly dis- 
cussed question was that of instructing girls and 
young women, much being made of the point that 
owing to the fact that girls could not be induced to 
talk about these matters freely and most often not 
at all, there was no way of finding out what they al- 
ready knew or in what they were really interested as 
a basis for establishing sympathetic contact. Some 
of us who had had considerable experience with girls, 
mentioned our plan of having them write out ques- 
tions asking the things they wanted to know but did 
not like to ask before the instructor and the other 
girls. This had proved of great value in getting the 
girls to express their interests. The suggestion was 
eagerly taken up by the chairman and others, and HOW IT CAME ABOUT 
19 
it was generally recognized that if we could get 
enough such questions under right conditions, we 
would have the key to the problem. 
The desirability of such a study based on ques- 
tions from a sufficiently large group of ordinary, 
socially respectable and normally adjusted girls 
under the carefully controlled conditions of a psy- 
chological investigation, grew in my mind as time 
passed. This was particularly the case as more and 
more the tenets of the mystic school of psycho- 
philosophy seemed to gain hold of what organized 
efforts were being made in the actual instruction of 
girls, and the danger seemed more and more immi- 
nent of the theories of the psychoanalytic school of 
psychotherapy becoming the great formative in- 
fluence upon society in its future interpretation of 
the sexual nature of normal girls. 
The occasion which gave immediate rise to the 
opportunity to get the questions, came through a 
fortunate combination of circumstances interesting 
in themselves, and particularly valuable in their in- 
fluence in making for the reliability of the material 
for the study. The first circumstance of importance 
was a meeting of the Parent-Teachers' Association 
of an elementary school to which the women teachers 
and students of the nearby training school for 
teachers were invited by letter from the principal of 
the elementary school in which the meeting was to 
be held. The letter of invitation was read before 
the general assembly of teachers and students by the 
principal of the training school, with the result that 20 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
the two women teachers of psychology and about 
seventy-five students attended. The talk for the 
afternoon was devoted to the importance of mothers 
and teachers giving their children and pupils proper 
instruction relative to sexual matters. Various "in- 
fectious" diseases and "certain" practices were 
referred to and general interest in the subject 
stimulated, the talk showing the most remarkable 
ability in arousing genuine inspiration without 
actually giving definite, concrete information. 
But a talk which had failed to tell things, had 
reckoned without the practical nature of the young 
women who had been specially invited to hear it, 
and the next day a committee from their number 
went to the principal of the training school and made 
request for sex instruction; for, as they put it, how 
could they teach "these things" when they did not 
know them themselves. The principal consented and 
I was asked to give the instruction. 
The psychological possibilities of the situation 
were too great to let go by, but I recognized that 
the greatest care must be exercised in every detail 
of the experiment if I was to secure what I wanted, 
i.e., a liberal expression of the girls' own interests. 
The conditions of the start were perfect. It had 
been made by a class or "section" of students act- 
ing on a 100 per cent vote, entirely on their own 
initiative except as the meeting of the day be- 
fore had provided the stimulus, and apparently with- 
out a vestige of embarrassment. The only notice- 
able change from their usual manner was a little HOW IT CAME ABOUT 
21 
more dignity and reserve in their bearing as they 
approached as a committee to make their requests, 
and a somewhat unusual degree of persistence and 
firmness in urging their cause when I seemed re- 
fractory in complying. 
My problem was to keep them in that attitude of 
initiative, responsibility and self-respecting dignity 
-an attitude so amazingly free from self-conscious- 
ness and so objectively and efficiently directed upon 
what they wanted to get-until I could secure the 
questions. In order to accomplish this and to obtain 
as spontaneous expression of interest as possible, 
certain conditions seemed essential. These were: 
1. That the situation which should give rise to the 
call for the questions, be openly self-initiated on the 
part of those who were asked to submit them; 
2. That the submitting of the questions should 
come about as a natural result of the situation itself, 
and appear to accrue to the interest of the ques- 
tioners, without any apparent ulterior motive on the 
part of the instructor; 
3. That fear of discovery of identity in connection 
with any given question be completely dissipated in 
advance; 
4. That there be secured as far as possible on the 
part of the girls a condition of freedom from that 
inner restraint which habitually acts as a check upon 
even the spontaneous thoughts of women relative 
to their own sexual interests. 
5. That the group consist of young women in good 22 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
standing in deportment and scholarship, that is, 
well-adjusted normal girls. 
The following describes the proceedings by which 
I sought, and I believe succeeded in securing these 
ends to a highly advantageous degree. When the 
committee came for my answer, I urged the entirely 
sincere plea of heavy work and responsibilities 
which rendered the taking on of additional demands 
almost prohibitive. I told them that the time and 
energy required in getting up a series of "talks" 
would make it impossible for me to consent. Then 
too, I reminded them that I had no way of knowing 
what they already knew or what they wanted to know 
as a basis for talks even if I had the time to prepare 
them. But if the group was not too large and they 
had things in mind they wanted to know and would 
have the questions ready, I would meet them Mon- 
day afternoons immediately after the close of school 
and do what I could to answer their questions-my 
plan being to work out the details with the group 
at the first meeting. 
It happened on the first afternoon that I was de- 
layed a little in keeping the appointment, and when 
I arrived at the auditorium, a corner of which had 
been assigned for our use, there was already a large 
number seated and students pouring in mass down 
the stairways and into the two entrances of the room 
as for a general assembly. Thinking that the student 
body had been called together for some purpose and 
that our meeting would have to be postponed, I HOW IT CAME ABOUT 
23 
enquired of some of the young women what all the 
students were coming in for. They replied, for the 
talk on sex instruction. Still unconvinced that the 
enterprise which had not been generally announced 
could have attracted such numbers, I got the atten- 
tion of the crowd and asked how many were there 
for that purpose and all raised their hands. Since 
the success of the undertaking must, it seemed, de- 
pend upon a group of manageable size with whom I 
could hope to carry over my ideas and get strong 
co-operation, I had the doors closed and locked in 
the face of the entering crowds. Those inside were 
then requested to number around orally. After this 
was done I passed slips of paper which I had pro- 
vided ahead, and each one was asked to write her 
name and "section," the latter providing the means 
by which she could be located in the school. Both 
the oral numbering and the slips with names, as 
well as my own counting, gave one hundred sixty- 
one girls present. 
I then announced that a mistake had been made 
-that no talk had been planned; that a few students 
had made a personal request for instruction and that 
while I had felt that I could not give the time neces- 
sary to get up talks, I had agreed to meet them in an 
informal way and answer their questions as well as 
I could. There was a limit however to the size of 
the group whose questions I could undertake to an- 
swer ; and in the nature of the case I could deal with 
questions of a group of any considerable size only 
by having them in advance. Hence two things would 24 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
be necessary if they wished to be included, (1) that 
they make a personal request in writing so I could 
keep control of the size of the group, and (2) that 
they hand in their questions in advance so that I 
might be able to prepare the answers ahead. 
For carrying out these two qualifications, I told 
them, two sealed boxes, one labelled "names" and 
the other "questions" must be prepared by a 
committee of their own number, and the boxes be 
placed in a certain room by the next afternoon. Any 
student there present who knew herself to be in good 
standing in all her work and conduct, could qualify 
for the group (1) by writing out an explicit request 
to be admitted, signing her name and section and 
putting it in the box labelled names; and (2) by 
writing out her questions and putting them in the 
one labelled questions. The boxes would be opened 
the following Friday afternoon, after which no more 
admissions would be made; and under no circum- 
stances would any person be admitted outside of 
those present, whose names I had just collected. 
Further to discourage the weak and possibly mor- 
bidly inclined, I laid emphasis upon their- heavy 
work which consisted of a solid day of recitations 
from nine to three with all lessons to prepare on the 
outside, and in the most instances long distances to 
travel. Coming examinations were also held up as 
a deterrent from asking to join unless they felt the 
need justified the expenditure of their time. An- 
other condition made was a 100 per cent record of 
attendance if they started in at all-the course to HOW IT CAME ABOUT 
25 
last until the questions were all answered, and their 
attendance to be checked up as in any class or as- 
sembly. I expected by these conditions to sift out 
the less responsible and to accomplish a very con- 
siderable reduction in the size of the group, seventy- 
five or a hundred at most seeming a sufficiently large 
number. 
The following specific directions were given for 
writing out the questions: 
1. Write each question on a separate slip. 
2. Make the question explicit-say exactly what 
you want to know or would be particularly inter- 
ested to have explained, and say it as briefly as you 
can consistent with clearness. If the question is not 
clear it will be thrown out; the instructor cannot take 
the responsibility of reading between the lines. 
3. Think over your questions carefully before put- 
ting them in the box, to make sure you have asked 
the things you most wish to know. 
4. Try to limit your questions to five, so you will 
be more likely to get them all answered and con- 
serve the time of the instructor. 
5. Do not under any circumstances put your name 
on a question. 
6. Write your questions either when entirely 
alone, or at least far enough away so as not to feel 
the diverting influence of any person. 
The impossibility under these conditions of any- 
one else's knowing what one asked, unless she her- 26 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
self should tell, was emphasized. Lest there should 
be a lurking fear that in some way I could discover 
their identity by their handwriting, I reminded them 
that I had no way of knowing their writing and 
wasn't at all interested in knowing it. But if they 
felt the slightest fear in that regard they could print 
or type them, or disguise their writing, or have some 
friend on the outside copy them, or manage in any 
way so they would feel perfectly free and safe. 
Further to secure a feeling of inner freedom, I 
told them not to feel any hesitancy or embarrass- 
ment in asking a question because of inability to 
use what they felt might be the most desirable lan- 
guage, or because of lack of knowledge of correct 
spelling-simply to express themselves as well as 
they knew how and as clearly as they could, and I 
would probably understand. Then too, I told them 
to feel perfectly free to ask anything that they really 
wished to know and not to be held back by the feel- 
ing that it might seem strange or queer or peculiar 
that they wanted to know it, or did not already know 
it; that what they wanted to know was probably just 
what other young women of their age and education, 
with their state of instruction or lack of it on the 
subject would want to know, if they were in their 
place and had their opportunity. As a final help I 
gave as a suggestion that in making out her ques- 
tions each one might get away somewhere by her- 
self, and think some such way as this-"Here is 
an electrical machine, and I can write out a question 
and press a button and the answer will come out, HOW IT CAME ABOUT 
27 
and no one will ever know that I asked it or thought 
anything about it," then in that attitude of mind 
write out her questions and put them in the box. 
When the boxes were opened four days later there 
were over nine hundred questions. The names 
checked up with those collected Monday afternoon, 
showed one hundred sixty of the one hundred sixty- 
one, who had made a personal request to be ad- 
mitted. A few over twenty questions were thrown 
out because of ambiguity or apparent irrelevancy, 
and the remaining eight hundred eighty were made 
the basis of my study. 
Very important elements in connection with the 
investigation when it comes to the consideration of 
the character of the questions and what they reveal 
in way of lack of knowledge and trends of interest, 
are the ages, education and social position of the 
girls. The group was made up of young women 
from middle, and higher working class families such 
as ordinarily make up the personnel of the student 
bodies of city training schools for teachers. The 
range of ages obtained at the first meeting after the 
submitting of the questions, was from seventeen 
years and nine months to twenty-three years and 
eight months, with an average age of nineteen years 
and ten months. But three fell below eighteen years, 
one seventeen and nine months, and two, who were 
seventeen and eleven months. All were high school 
graduates, and all had studied biology a year in high 
school as a prerequisite for entrance into the train- 
ing school. Of the one hundred sixty members, 28 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
twenty-eight had been in the training school about 
three months; ninety-six, or 60 per cent of the 
group, were in their second term and would 
begin to teach the following September; and thirty- 
six, about 23 per cent, would get their licenses 
and begin teaching in less than two months from the 
time they asked the questions. 
The fact that the girls were all high school gradu- 
ates and members of middle or more fortunate work- 
ing class families, placed the group somewhat above 
the average for the total population, but within these 
limits it seems reliably representative of the general 
run of girls. Hence questions asked by them may 
be taken as essentially the same as would be asked 
by any group of girls of equal education and oppor- 
tunities, under similar conditions, that is, where they 
felt safe from censure and free to express them- 
selves without fear of discovery-with sufficient 
time to think over the field. 
Two questions may possibly arise in regard to the 
representative character of the group within these 
limits of education and social standing; one whether 
young women who go to training schools to study 
to be teachers are of themselves a selected or pecu- 
liar group in respect to their sexual interests; and 
the other whether the one hundred sixty were a 
specially selected group within the student body, 
having either more or less information or markedly 
different interests in this field than any other group 
of the same size from the same student body. In 
respect to the first, there are no grounds which I HOW IT CAME ABOUT 
29 
have been able to discover that would justify the 
inference that prospective teachers differ in sexual 
interests from prospective journalists, physicians, 
lawyers or librarians. Compared with young women 
who go to college from High school, they would seem 
to represent a less favored class financially and per- 
haps socially; but it is difficult to see how a presump- 
tion of difference in sexual interests could legiti- 
mately arise on this score. This question of 
whether prospective teachers are naturally peculiar 
in this respect, is of course one of real importance 
and is taken up again more fully in connection with 
the endeavor to find an explanation of the meagre 
amount of interest shown in marriage, beaux, 
etc. 
In case of the second question the situation is 
different. It can be answered with much more as- 
surance, for while a selected group might easily have 
been formed under some circumstances, the evi- 
dence seems to show conclusively that this did not 
happen. In the first place the group was arbitrarily 
limited by myself to the one hundred sixty-one who 
chanced to get in before I could succeed in getting 
the doors closed, and there is no reason to think that 
the people on one side the door were any different 
from those on the other. Then too the group formed 
about 20 per cent of the whole student body- 
too large a proportion to be thought of as peculiar 
in this respect. But perhaps the most telling evi- 
dence that the group was truly representative of 
the student body in general, was the fact that of the 30 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
one hundred sixty-one students who had the oppor- 
tunity to join, all but one did. Surely it must have 
been the one who was a little "peculiar" or some- 
what out of the normal run and not the one hundred 
sixty. 
Two other important questions come up which 
bear upon the value of the study, (1) whether the 
girls really did ask what they wanted to, and (2) 
granting that they did, whether the questions which 
came to them truly represent their state of knowl- 
edge and interests. 
To doubt the first is to cast aside the psycho- 
logically accepted incentives to human conduct. 
Here was a self-initiated situation created by a 
group of markedly self-reliant persons for the 
specific purpose of finding out things they wanted 
to know. Now did they ask them? It seems quite 
inconceivable to me that people showing the prag- 
matic qualities they had displayed in creating their 
opportunity, could be so foolish and inept as not to 
take advantage of it, safeguarded as they were on 
every side. Then too, the whole external situation 
as well as the individual motive, made for just this 
result-and certainly the internal evidence furnished 
by the questions indicates its accomplishment. After 
going through the questions, one can only wonder if 
anything was held back by conscious fear or uncon- 
scious inhibition, what it could have been, for surely 
everything is there-at any rate everything funda- 
mental and primal. There is no indication in the 
questions of artificiality or restraint in confining HOW IT CAME ABOUT 
31 
themselves to the conventions-these are the things 
which seem to have gone to the wall, yet are just 
the things which must have come to the front where 
fear of censure or inner inhibition had entered in 
to any considerable extent. 
Now granting as it seems we must, that the girls 
actually submitted the questions they wanted to sub- 
mit as far as they came to their minds, are these 
questions to be taken as truly representative of their 
interests and state of knowledge? This point is dis- 
cussed from time to time in the following chapters 
in connection with specific subjects, but can be con- 
sidered here briefly in a general way. 
This question, the same as the preceding one, must 
be considered first in the light of accepted principles 
of psychology. The high value of the question in 
revealing the immediate direction of interest of the 
questioner, and as an indicator of his background 
of knowledge, is too well established to require dis- 
cussion. But the point here is whether the questions 
which did come up and hold their attention, indicate 
fairly the habitual and established trends of thought 
and attitude in regard to what the girls were ac- 
customed to include under sexual matters, or merely 
some passing interest that may have caught their 
attention for the moment. 
The problem is one of recall by association. As 
in any similar situation, the questions which would 
come to the mind with greatest force or persistency 
and consequently get asked, would depend upon the 
balance struck between the laws of exercise, effect 32 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
and combination as these are understood by the 
psychologist. To discuss these laws and their 
operation is quite outside the province of this book. 
Those to whom this question appeals as a serious 
one in connection with my study (if there are such), 
must acquaint or refresh themselves with these laws 
as set forth by the best psychologists, and then work 
upon the problem to their heart's content. But there 
are some indications which seem to show the direc- 
tion the psychological wind blew in this connection, 
which do not seem too technical for a book intended 
for general reading. 
For instance, a very striking recent event was the 
meeting which started the proceedings, and in case 
"recency" and strength of stimulus had been the 
leading determinants in the questions asked, one 
would expect to find the main burden of the after- 
noon's talk reflected in a large number of questions. 
This main burden was the responsibility of parents 
and teachers in regard to giving sex instruction to 
children and pupils. Of the questions asked only 
about 3 per cent had to do in any way with the 
subject of giving sex instruction, and less than 1 
per cent were concerned with school instruction- 
even though the latter interest might well have re- 
ceived reinforcement from some months of profes- 
sional training and future expectation. This would 
seem to indicate that in spite of the fact that the 
effort to get instruction for themselves had been 
stimulated by a recent emotional appeal to their 
professional interests, and the instruction itself had HOW IT CAME ABOUT 
33 
been sought under the plea of their need as prospec- 
tive teachers, when it came to the issue of submitting 
questions asking what they most wanted to know, 
their minds fell back into their more habitual trends, 
as determined by their childhood and girlhood ex- 
periences. 
As was mentioned above, the talk frequently re- 
ferred darkly to "diseases" and certain "prac- 
tices," the "practices" receiving by far the greater 
amount of attention from the speaker. The study 
shows seventy-seven questions relative to the former 
and but seventeen relative to the latter. Why the 
large difference? The answer seems to be found in 
the widespread propaganda in regard to venereal 
diseases throughout several years past, which had 
had an effect in establishing a trend of interest along 
this line-which to be sure, may have been brought 
into greater activity than might otherwise have hap- 
pened, by the references made in the recent talk but 
whose fuller response to the recent stimulus was due 
to more frequent repetition in the past. It is sig- 
nificant too, that of the seventy-seven questions rela- 
tive to venereal diseases but three pertained to 
children in any way, and not one to the instructions 
of children concerning them. These facts would 
seem to indicate that "frequency" and the habitual 
viewpoints held the balance of power in determin- 
ing the questions brought to mind; and this is what 
would be expected to occur as a result of the mental 
attitude created by the serious object of asking the 
things they most wanted to know. It is what would 34 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
be expected by the psychologist in any instance of 
controlled association-where the mental or motor 
set for the accomplishment of a task tends to bring 
up the appropriate thought or action. The time 
given for submitting the questions would be an addi- 
tional factor making for the conscious and uncon- 
scious sifting of experience in favor of the more 
firmly established. 
Hence to the degree that we accept the balance 
struck by the various forces of association under 
the control of a definite objective, as indicative of 
the state of knowledge and trends of interest rela- 
tive to that objective in any field, we must accept 
them here and conclude that for the practical pur- 
poses of life and the formation of character and per- 
sonality, the questions reveal the knowledge and 
motive forces at work. 
Finally the question may occur, why if the study 
really struck bottom, are there so many childish and 
relatively trivial questions; and why so many that 
have to do with what are not really "sexual" mat- 
ters at all? The answer is, in case my hypothesis 
is correct, that habitually these really non-sexual 
matters are bound up in the minds of girls with the 
subject of sex, and under the laws of mental habit 
(or the laws of association) naturally emerged when 
the subject of sex came before their minds in a large 
way for them to choose from; and that there were 
such a large number of childish and comparatively 
trivial questions because their habitual sexual out- 
look and interests are childish and comparatively HOW IT CAME ABOUT 
35 
trivial. In other words because we have a bona fide 
case psychologically. 
Leaving the psychological principles operative in 
the producing of the questions and viewing the re- 
sults from the side of the influences at work in de- 
termining the state of knowledge and trends of 
interest of the young women, we find still further 
support for our faith that we have the real thing, 
but that is another story and comes later. CHAPTER III 
THE INITIAL SURPRISE 
The questions came in an unorganized mass, and 
I was confronted with the problem of working out 
some scheme for realizing the aims of my investiga- 
tion with a satisfactory degree of reliability. These 
aims it must be remembered were to discover the 
state of knowledge of girls in regard to sexual mat- 
ters, the things they know and don't know and the 
general level of that knowledge in reference to pres- 
ent day attainments in biology and hygiene, and to 
uncover their main trends of sexual interest. It may 
be that the reader will need to remind himself or 
herself from time to time, as the author did, that 
the study was not concerned with the motive back 
of the question in the sense of trying to ferret out 
what prompted the girl to ask it or to what use, 
if any, she intended to put the information. Such 
an attempt as a scientific investigation would be 
utterly futile. We could expect as many different 
interpretations as we had types of personal bias 
among the investigators. As far as interest was 
concerned, my aim was to find out what girls are 
interested in as shown by the things asked about, 
36 THE INITIAL SURPRISE 
37 
and the place which the information sought would 
ordinarily be expected to fill in individual and social 
adjustment, and not why they are interested. The 
last project might make an interesting study for the 
psychoanalyst but had no conscious place in my in- 
vestigation. 
The general plan by which I hoped to accom- 
plish these ends, was first to classify the questions 
into large groups, each group to cover some field of 
sexual experience or interest; then to go over each 
question and determine on what particular aspect of 
that experience, inquiry was made; and finally to 
evaluate the information sought and the interest re- 
vealed in reference to certain standards of physical 
and mental hygiene and social ideals-the main 
trends of interest to be determined by the pre- 
ponderant number of questions on the various 
phases of sexual life or experience. 
This sounds like a fairly straightforward and 
easy program but it proved quite the contrary. The 
great difficulty arose in the first grouping of the 
questions-a task upon which the author surmises, 
any one of her readers would venture with the great- 
est aplomb. At any rate this was her own experience 
and one that was reproduced with every person who 
had any part in the endeavor to bring about their 
classification, and there were a goodly number-all 
of whom were trained students in research, and some 
of whom possessed the highest psychological ex- 
perience. The description of my own first efforts 
and how a reliable method of treating the data was 38 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
finally worked out will give some notion of the diffi- 
culties met, and the care that was exercised that the 
study should truly reveal what was in the questions. 
In the first place I had the handicap of dealing 
with a kind of material new in psychological re- 
search. There was no precedent for treating data 
in form of spontaneous questions. But surely the 
first step must be to classify them into groups on the 
basis of similarity of interest in order to make pos- 
sible a more detailed analysis. After some study of 
the questions, I worked out a scheme of classification 
along the lines of the tables of contents of the more 
complete of the semi-popular books of information 
on sex instruction. I hit upon this plan, I suppose, 
partly on the assumption of a fairly identical rela- 
tion between what the experts in the field were in 
the practice of telling in their books and what the 
prospective readers would seek to know if they had 
the chance to ask. Then too, the outline as worked 
out, appeared to cover the field, and it seemed a 
simple enough thing to do to inspect each question 
in turn and place it in its appropriate group. The 
outline was as follows: 
I. Urinary and Genital Organs 
(a) Urinary and genital organs of women 
(&) Urinary and genital organs of men 
(c) Hygiene of the genital organs 
II. Reproduction 
(a) Processes of reproduction 
(6) Human reproduction 
(c) Hygiene of reproduction THE INITIAL SURPRISE 
39 
III. Sexual Relations 
(a) Sexual development 
(&) Sexual feelings 
(c) Marriage 
IV. Gonorrhea and Syphilis 
V. Sex Instruction 
VI. Ethics and Conventions 
With much forcing and a liberal stretching of the 
sixth group I finally succeeded in gathering the 
questions under these headings and subdivisions, 
but the endeavor had made apparent two serious 
weaknesses in my scheme. One was the difficulty 
experienced in placing a large proportion of the 
question; and the other was the striking discrepancy 
between the character of the headings and that of 
the general run of the questions. Brought together 
as they had been, they seemed to represent very dif- 
ferent sorts of psychology; one reasoned, formal- 
istic and indirect, the other spontaneous, simple, 
direct and strikingly vital and concrete. There were 
however two possible exceptions to the otherwise 
pretty general misfit. These were number four 
which had to do with gonorrhea and syphilis, and 
five which included questions on sex instruction. By 
changing the wording of the heading of number 
four to "Venereal Diseases" so as to include a wider 
range of questions, these two headings seemed fairly 
accurately to represent the main interest of the 
questions grouped under them. But in all the other 
groups, either the character of the headings them- 40 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
selves or the stretching they had undergone in order 
to dispose of all the questions, had resulted in a 
classification whose divisions served chiefly as 
blanket terms under which the real interest ex- 
pressed in the questions was pretty effectually 
hidden. 
It was clear that no substantial progress could be 
made in determining the interest which the questions 
were capable of revealing, until a plan of organiza- 
tion was worked out whereby their further analysis 
and comparison would be facilitated. So I decided 
to abandon this classification and make a fresh start. 
After what seemed at the time a very careful 
study of the questions in collaboration with a highly 
trained psychologist, the following headings were 
agreed upon as providing a satisfactory group of 
categories for the first organization of the material: 
1. Motherhood 
2. Menstruation 
3. Relations with Men 
4. Curiosity about Men and 
Boys 
5. Sentiments 
6. Hygiene 
7. Attitude toward Sex Life 
8. Superstitions 
9. Morbidity 
10. Venereal Diseases 
11. Sex Instruction 
The questions were now grouped under these 
headings and a large amount of work of further 
analysis carried through when it became evident to 
me that the method of procedure was fundamentally 
wrong. In the first place over a hundred left-over 
questions had to be forced into groups where they 
showed little relation to those with which they were THE INITIAL SURPRISE 
41 
placed, or a miscellaneous group must be formed 
for the accommodation of questions of widely 
diverse interest. Neither course was justifiable in 
a study purposing to yield reliable conclusions. 
But a still more serious weakness appeared in the 
process of further analysis after the main groups 
had been formed. The results obtained in case of 
the questions which had been classed under 
"Motherhood" will illustrate the point. Under this 
heading had been included all questions containing 
the word mother, and those which had been con- 
sidered as having to do with childbearing and the 
welfare of children. This had given a group of one 
hundred twelve questions and included many which 
finally found homes under the captions "Childbear- 
ing," "Heredity" and "Anomalous Congenital Con- 
ditions." 
The inherent weakness of the classification became 
evident with the dividing of the class into smaller 
groups for the purpose of bringing out the particu- 
lar phase of motherhood in which the interest of 
each question was centered. When the sub-divisions 
had been made and each question subjected to close 
scrutiny, the perplexing discovery was made that 
using the meaning "motherhood" ordinarily carries 
among us-which was the meaning intended in select- 
ing the heading-but one question of the entire one 
hundred twelve could be held as unequivocally con- 
cerned with motherhood. This was the question, "Is 
there anything I can do now from a purely physical 
point of view, to make me better fitted to become a 42 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
mother at some future time?" One other question 
seemed to me to be concerned primarily with mother- 
hood; though it might conceivably be taken as con- 
cerned chiefly with marriage and was so taken by 
one of the four judges to whom it was later sub- 
mitted for classification. This was, "What are the 
facts about motherhood that a woman should know 
before marriage?" 
Two other questions showed interest in parent- 
hood in the social sense. These were: "What can 
people do to have better children?" and "If to pro- 
duce a race of non-defectives it is necessary that a 
girl's or boy's mate should be intelligent, healthy, 
etc., how is the girl or boy to find out?" But inter- 
est in fatherhood is openly expressed in the second 
and is implicit in the first. To list them under 
motherhood alone failed to do justice to the interests 
inherent in the questions. 
The chief difficulty arose however in the endeavor 
to determine the interest in motherhood expressed 
by the questions relating to childbearing. There 
were sixty-three of these which had been included 
in the group. Twenty-seven of them asked for in- 
formation in regard to birth control or prevention 
of childbearing; fourteen for the meaning of such 
terms as "afterbirth," "pregnancy," "sewing," 
"tearing," etc.; fourteen for the cause of barrenness 
and other conditions of childlessness; six about the 
meaning and dangers of miscarriage; and two made 
inquiry in regard to the "process" by which one be- 
comes a mother. The more thoroughly I searched THE INITIAL SURPRISE 
43 
these questions for what could be accepted as un- 
questionable interest in motherhood, the less valid 
appeared their inclusion under that head. 
The remaining forty-five questions of the group 
showed up nearly as poorly on careful examination. 
TwTenty-five of these had to do with abnormal con- 
ditions of children at birth, such as the causes for 
children being born blind, crippled, imbecile, dead, 
with missing members, etc.; and twenty were 
concerned with the influence of certain physical, 
mental or moral conditions in the parents upon 
their children-in which the interest back of the 
questions might be either in the inheritance of 
children or in parental responsibility, but in 
which the expressed interest now appeared to 
me and was later decided by the majority of the 
judges, to be directed toward the relation between 
certain conditions in parents and similar conditions 
in their offspring, or in heredity and pre-natal in- 
fluences. 
The careful examination of these questions with 
the aim of finding out the specific interest in mother- 
hood expressed by each one began to point to the 
discovery that the classification as far as this group 
was concerned, had been unconsciously based upon 
the assumption that a question relative to children 
or childbirth on the part of a girl is per se an ex- 
pression of interest in motherhood; while, as the 
above analysis shows, it might quite as readily re- 
veal interest in the means of avoiding physical 
motherhood and bear no necessary relation to the 44 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
feelings of tenderness and responsibility which we 
think of as the essential characteristics of mother- 
hood in the social and spiritual sense. 
This discovery was a severe blow and was ac- 
cepted only after long and assiduous effort to prove 
it untrue. It seemed that these questions must in 
some subtle way be expressive of positive interest 
in motherhood in the way we are accustomed to 
think of girls being interested in becoming mothers, 
and that I should finally discover the connection. 
Six weary weeks were spent in a futile search for 
some means besides subjective feelings by which the 
grouping could be held together, at least in the main. 
It finally fell under the endeavor to determine what 
interest in motherhood the questions would show if 
they were known to have been asked by boys; or if 
they had been submitted by a mixed group of chil- 
dren or adults, so that the sex of the questioners 
could not be known. For instance, if a boy asked 
why some children are born dead or crippled, or the 
meaning of "confinement," or why women are sick 
or die when they give birth to children, or whether 
the practice of birth control causes men to get con- 
sumption, or why some children are born without 
fingers or toes-just what interest in motherhood 
would each of these questions show? Or must they 
be taken as showing interest in fatherhood? In case 
they had come from a mixed group and the sex of 
the questioner was unknown, what interest in parent- 
hood must these questions be taken as showing? Or 
did they necessarily show interest in "parenthood" THE INITIAL SURPRISE 
45 
as such? If the three first questions were to be 
taken as expressive of interest in motherhood on 
the part of the boy, then must not the fourth be 
accepted as evidence of interest in fatherhood-an 
interpretation which at once appeared as far-fetched 
and ridiculous as it really was. 
The attempt to find out the interest in motherhood 
or fatherhood revealed by these questions in case 
they were known to have been asked by boys, or in 
parenthood if the sex of the questioner were un- 
known, brought the final disillusionment relative to 
this particular group of questions; and it brought 
home to me with disconcerting force the extreme 
difficulty for even the most scientifically intentioned 
to deal with the sexual interests of girls in a truly 
objective manner. 
Preconceived notions relative to the maternal in- 
stincts and interests of girls are so engrained in our 
nervous systems by life-long tuition, as to render 
it all but impossible, it seems, to slough these off and 
deal with the subject with the objectivity that we 
have learned to employ in other fields of research. 
At every point we are under the influence of estab- 
lished attitudes which tend to vitiate both our obser- 
vation of facts and our interpretations; and we cling 
to these mistaken results with the utmost tenacity- 
as I found in my own case-through a peculiar in- 
ability to see that they are biased. In any other 
field such flagrant shortcomings in psychological 
method would be quickly checked up by one's col- 
laborators even if they were not soon discovered by 46 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
the investigator himself. But when we come to the 
subject of girls and motherhood, anything goes that 
is in conformity with our established feelings-and 
it is fairly safe to say that nothing else will go very 
far. Hence my predicament. 
But the untenable character of such a classifica- 
tion was clear; and with the breakdown of this 
second attempt to fit the questions into a pre- 
arranged scheme, came the realization that the solu- 
tion of the problem of discovering the interests re- 
vealed by the questions must lie in the intensive 
study of the questions themselves, taken individually 
and at their face value. 
Before trying to work out a new plan, however, 
the other eight new groups of this second classifica- 
tion were subdivided and the individual questions 
scrutinized in the manner described, in order to test 
to what degree the rest of the classification was 
sound. The results showed that while no other one 
group fell to pieces so completely as that under 
"motherhood," there was only one (under men- 
struation) which held together in the main in such a 
way as to stand the test of justifiable criticism. 
In every group (with the one exception) was 
found a disastrous amount of evidence of the sort of 
assumption or tendency described above, and of 
what was now seen to be the working of prejudiced 
choice in the placing of questions. Thus I found to 
my chagrin that I had been guilty of essentially the 
same sort of unwarranted deductive interpretation 
which I had deprecated in other writers and investi- THE INITIAL SURPRISE 
47 
gators-of the perennially cir cuius in probando men- 
tality that enables us to find pleasing evidence of 
blossoming maternal instinct in a child's hugging a 
doll as long as we take it to be a girl, but on 
being told it is a boy, find evidence of nothing in 
particular except his mother has provided him with 
a doll instead of a Teddy bear. CHAPTER IV 
A CLEAR WAY OUT 
Although the two attempts described in the last 
chapter failed to yield the hoped-for results in way 
of getting the material organized so the questions 
could be further analyzed and compared, they had 
been the means of bringing to light certain facts 
which served as guiding principles for a more objec- 
tive method of approach, and for the final solution 
of the problem of classification. 
In the first place the questions must be taken at 
their face value-the dangers of unwarranted as- 
sumptions and prejudiced choice must be constantly 
guarded against. Conjecture concerning what the 
question "meant" must be rigorously ruled out. It 
had become apparent if the investigation was to get 
anywhere in the analysis of the material, it must be 
accepted that the question meant what it said, and 
made inquiry directly concerning that which the girl 
was interested to know. In other words, the ques- 
tions must be approached and treated as objectively 
as any questions on any subject whatsoever could be 
treated. And in the second place it was clear that it 
was necessary to find some standard or criterion, as 
48 A CLEAR WAY OUT 
49 
objective as possible for determining in the case of 
each individual question what that question was 
primarily about, what was its chief object of inquiry. 
A third guiding principle lay in the need for a defi- 
nition of the field to be covered by any given class 
wherever confusion would be likely to arise. 
One other fact needs to be mentioned which pro- 
vided the immediate point of departure for the 
method of treatment by which a standard for the 
classification of about 73 per cent of the questions 
was finally obtained, and which gave the cue for the 
working out of an approximately objective method 
for the disposal of the rest. 
It was mentioned in connection with the first at- 
tempt that two groups had resulted, wherein the 
headings hit upon, venereal diseases and sex instruc- 
tion, seemed fairly adequately to represent the com- 
mon main interest expressed in the questions which 
had been grouped under them. One such group 
under menstruation resulted from the second at- 
tempt. Repeated examination of the questions in 
these groups strengthened the feeling that the 
classes were on the whole sound. This fact gave 
rise to the idea that if in connection with each of 
these three groups there could be selected out a num- 
ber of questions concerning whose classification I 
could feel a full degree of assurance, it might be 
possible by the comparison of the results to discover 
some factor common to the questions of the three 
groups, upon which the feeling of certainty had been 
unconsciously based and which might prove ap- 50 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
plicable to the remaining unorganized mass of ques- 
tions. 
Working upon this idea, I took each of the three 
groups in turn and sorted their questions into a 
"perfectly sure" and "possibly doubtful" pile. 
That is, if I felt perfectly sure that the question 
was on venereal disease, such as the question "What 
is syphilis?", it was put in the "perfectly sure" 
pile; if any possibility of doubt arose in my mind as 
there did for instance in the question "Can there be 
sex intercourse with such a disease as syphilis?", it 
was put in the "possibly doubtful" pile. When the 
three groups had been sorted in this way, the "per- 
fectly sure" packs on venereal diseases, menstrua- 
tion and sex instruction respectively, were examined 
and compared, but I could find no element common 
to the three upon which the feeling of assurance 
might possibly have been based. 
Actuated by the conviction that either such a com- 
mon element must exist or else the judgments show 
marked variation with repetition, the process of 
sorting out the "perfectly sure" questions was re- 
peated four times at intervals varying from forty- 
eight hours to three weeks. During these intervals 
no attention was given to these particular questions 
and at each sorting, endeavor was made to approach 
the question with the attitude of not having seen it 
before. The second trial, after an interval of forty- 
eight hours, resulted in the elimination of six out 
of the perfectly sure group on menstruation, and of 
five out of the fifty-eight under venereal diseases. A CLEAR WAY OUT 
51 
The sex instruction group remained unchanged. The 
third, fourth and fifth sortings gave the same results 
as the second. I was thoroughly convinced that 
these questions were correctly judged in regard to 
their interests, but the most painstaking search 
failed to reveal any common basis of judgment that 
could be formulated objectively, and so be made 
applicable to the classification of other questions- 
the lack of success being due, as was later discovered, 
to the fact that what really constituted a common 
factor was concealed by the different modes of ex- 
pression and language habits called out by the dif- 
ferent character of the respective objects of inquiry. 
Having fa'1'.. to discover within the three groups 
a crito'ton which could be used in the further organ- 
ization of the material, I decided to apply the "per- 
fectly sure" method of judgment to all of the ques- 
tions. The cards upon which the eight hundred 
eighty individual questions had been typed, were 
shuffled. They were then picked up one at a time 
and faced with the inquiry, "Taken at its face value 
what does this question ask for information about ? ' ' 
In case the answer was forthcoming at once and with 
feeling of full assurance, the question was pigeon- 
holed and labelled according to the object of inquiry 
so determined. In case of any feeling of uncertainty 
or hesitancy in decision, the question was put aside 
in the common pile. When the sorting was com- 
pleted there were twenty-one labelled piles as fol- 
lows: 52 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
1. Motherhood 
2. Puberty and Adolescence 
3. Flirting 
4. Kissing the Opposite Sex 
5. Heredity 
6. Menstruation 
7. Change of Life 
8. Wet Dreams 
9. Information about Men and Boys 
10. Reproductive Organs of Women 
11. Reproduction 
12. Leucorrhea (Whites) 
13. Prostitution, White Slavery, etc. 
14. Self-abuse, Pollution, Perversion 
15. Copulation (Coitus) 
16. Sex Instruction 
17. Marriage 
18. Love, Passion, Sex Instinct, etc. 
19. Venereal Diseases 
20. Childbearing and Childbirth 
21. Hermaphroditism (part man and part woman) 
Each of these piles was then gone over twice for 
the purpose of eliminating all questions showing pos- 
sibility of doubt. In their study and comparison as 
they were then composed, I made the discovery that 
nine of the groups (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, 14,17, 20) rang- 
ing in number of questions included from one ques- 
tion in group number one, to one hundred thirty 
questions in group six-were comprised entirely of 
questions containing but one word of sexual sig- 
nificance; and this a noun or infinitive form of the 
verb, which plainly and unmistakably indicated the 
phase of sexual interest concerning which inquiry A CLEAR WAY OUT 
53 
was made. Examples of such, "one-term" questions 
are: 
What is the cause of menstruation? 
Is it safe to bathe when you are unwell? 
Is childbirth a matter of life and death? 
What is the best age to marry? 
What influence does heredity have on people? 
What do you think of flirting? 
How is reproduction carried on in human be- 
ings, animals and fish? 
With this discovery came the recognition of the 
fact that if a considerable proportion of the ques- 
tions could be found which contained but a single 
term of sexual significance which would so unmis- 
takably indicate the object of inquiry as in the case 
of the noun or infinitive in the examples given, their 
classification on the basis of the single sexual term 
would give a reliable group of questions upon which 
to build. 
The underscoring of the sexual terms of the 
twelve remaining groups and their examination in 
reference to this criterion, showed nine more (7, 8, 
9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 18, 21) which consisted entirely of 
questions whose sole term of sexual significance was 
either a single noun or verb as in the above ex- 
amples, or what in our language habits constitutes 
the plain equivalent of such a noun; e.g., "change 
of life," "wet dreams," "white flow" for leucor- 
rhea, "organs of reproduction," "male organs," 54 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
4'sexual intercourse," "white slavery," "sex attrac- 
tion," and "part male and part female" (for her- 
maphroditism). The questions of the other three 
groups (4, 16, 19) revealed in every case the single- 
sexual-term standard, frequently in the more com- 
plex form of a dependent or independent clause, but 
unmistakably one-term from the point of view of 
sexual significance and as unmistakably represent- 
ing the object of inquiry of the question. Examples 
of these more complex one-term questions are: 
Is it in any way injurious to kiss a boy? 
Is it true that certain diseases result from the 
wrong kind of sex communication? 
What could be taught about sex hygiene in 
the schools? 
Thus in every instance where a question had stood 
the test of repeated sortings, the basis of the feel- 
ing of certainty was found to consist in the presence 
of a single term of sexual significance toward which 
the inquiry was plainly directed. In the large ma- 
jority of instances the term was a single noun or 
verb as illustrated above; in a considerable number 
of cases it took the form of a modified noun or 
phrase of the sort quoted in connection with groups 
7, 8, 9, etc.; in a comparatively small number, sixteen 
questions on sex instruction, six on venereal dis- 
eases, and seven relative to kissing boys and men, it 
took the more complex form illustrated in connection 
with these three classes. A CLEAR WAY OUT 
55 
The next step was to find out to what extent the 
newly found criterion could be applied. The eight 
hundred eighty questions were gone over one by one 
and the sexual term or terms of each underscored. 
The results showed five hundred fifty-nine questions 
having but one term of definite or possible sexual 
significance; eighty-two actually possessing two 
sexual terms but which were the equivalent of one 
for the purpose of classification; one hundred sixty- 
five questions with two terms of distinct sexual sig- 
nificance, both of which were essential to the in- 
tegrity of the inquiry; and seventy-four having three 
or more sexual terms more or less essentially in- 
volved. The whole initial organization of the ques- 
tions, the determination of the direction of interest 
revealed by the questions, hinged upon these differ- 
ent types of questions, so it is well to have them 
more clearly defined and illustrated. 
"One-term" question: 
1. By one-term question is meant any question 
containing but one term of sexual or possible sexual 
significance concerning which the inquiry is plainly 
made, whether the term be a single word, phrase, 
or clause, or any combination of these. Examples 
of the different varieties of one-term questions have 
already been given. They range in length and in 
complexity of grammatical structure from the 
simplest and briefest possible, such as "The cause 
of menstruation?" and "What is heredity?", to 
questions as long and complex as that on mother- 56 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
hood quoted in the preceding chapter-the distinc- 
tive feature of this type being that irrespective of 
length or grammatical structure, they reveal under 
careful scrutiny but one term or idea of sexual (or 
possible sexual) significance, which unmistakably 
designates the phase of interest upon which the in- 
quiry hinges. There were five hundred fifty-nine 
such one-term questions. 
"Equivalent one-term" questions: 
2. By equivalent one-term is meant one which 
has two terms of sexual interest from the standpoint 
of the woman, one of which is unessential in the 
determination of the main object of inquiry-having 
no modifying influence upon the first classification. 
There were two types of "equivalent one-term" 
questions: 
(a) Questions in which the use of one of the 
terms is simply verbal. Examples: 
How is a child taken from the body of the 
, mother? 
What must the woman do when she is 
< having intercourse with a man? 
Is it right to marry a man of different 
religion? 
In these questions the second terms underscored 
simply represent the common mode of speech; they 
in no degree modify the character of the respective 
inquiries, since a child cannot be taken from any A CLEAR WAY OUT 
57 
body except that of the mother, and marriage and 
intercourse on the part of the woman in the char- 
acter of the acts involve the man. In equivalent one- 
term questions such as these the sexual object rep- 
resented by what can be called the extraneous term, 
is included in the situation referred to by the essen- 
tial term, and the extra term could be eliminated 
without injury to the nature of the inquiry-it pos- 
sesses language value only. 
(b) Questions in which both terms either 
refer to the same phase of sexual in- 
terest or represent co-ordinate sub- 
division questions under the same 
more general class. Examples: 
What is meant by confinement when a 
child is born? 
Is the period during which a woman ex- 
pects a child called pregnancy? 
What is the difference between love and 
passion? 
What is the difference between gonorrhea 
and syphilis? 
In this variety of equivalent one-term question, 
both terms have a specific value but both lead to 
the same general classification. In the two first ex- 
amples, both terms relate to childbearing, and in 
the others the two terms underscored represent what 
may properly be considered co-ordinate interests 
under the respective headings "sexual feelings" and 58 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
"venereal diseases"; i.e., the two terms are equiv- 
alent to one for the practical purpose of initial 
organization. There were eighty-two equivalent one- 
term questions. 
"Two-term" questions: 
3. By two-term question is meant one whose 
two terms of sexual significance refer to distinct, or 
at least externally distinct, phases of sexual inter- 
est; for example: 
Can a woman give birth to a child after 
the change of life? 
Do boys have anything to correspond to 
the menstrual flow of girls? 
Is gonorrhea the only cause of blind 
babies at birth? 
Can there be sex intercourse with such a 
disease as syphilis? 
In such questions both terms obviously enter into 
the interest involved and thus complicate the classi- 
fication of the questions. Here the problem arises 
which of the two terms represent the main object 
of inquiry-in which of the two the interest is 
primarily centered. 
' ' Three-term' ' questions: 
4. The expression "three-term" question is used 
to refer to one containing three or more terms of 
sexual significance. Examples: A CLEAR WAY OUT 
59 
Is syphilis contracted by sexual inter- 
course during menstruation? 
I have heard if a man is very passionate 
at the time of sexual intercourse the 
result is a girl. Is this true? 
If a young girl has the whites when 
single, is childbirth affected in any way 
after marriage? 
In the two first examples all the sexual terms have 
a genuine part in determining the essential nature 
of the inquiry; none could be omitted without chang- 
ing the meaning of the question. But in the third 
the use of the term marriage is largely if not en- 
tirely verbal; it simply names the generally accepted 
social condition wherein childbirth may properly 
take place. The question had to do with the effect 
of leuchorrhea upon childbirth, and for the purpose 
of classification is practically a two-term question. 
To classify it, the problem would be to determine 
whether the inquiry was concerned primarily with 
leucorrhea or primarily with childbirth. 
I had now discovered a clear way out for six hun- 
dred forty-one questions, the number of strictly one- 
term and equivalent one-term questions. These were 
simply selected out, and the questions having the 
same term put in piles together. There was no gain- 
saying this arrangement. Anyone could now know 
unmistakably what these questions were about. At 
first each pile was separated and labelled by the 
term contained in the question, but some study  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
60 
enabled me to make combinations without the 
questions losing any of their individual char- 
acter or force. For instance, following the list 
given on page 52, number one was changed to 
"Parenthood and Motherhood" so as to include 
the questions involving fatherhood; two and 
eleven were combined under "Reproductive and 
Embryological Processes"; three and four were 
included under the caption "Preliminary Sexual Be- 
havior" as a title properly representing the sort of 
behavior that young people normally go through 
preliminary to marriage and mating; seven was in- 
cluded under six, since the outstanding feature of 
the "change of life" is the menopause or cessation 
of menstruation; eight was included under nine; 
fourteen was called "Abnormal Sexual Practices" 
as a term properly covering the questions; eighteen 
was named "Sexual Feelings and Attraction"; and 
twenty-one was later included with other one-term 
questions under the heading "Anomalous Congenital 
Conditions." There was besides one other group 
made up of equivalent one-term questions which 
were concerned with "Attitudes toward Sexual Mat- 
ters," and were too general in character to be 
classified under any of the other heads. 
Arranging these six hundred forty-one questions 
on the basis of their single term of sexual signifi- 
cance with the combinations just explained, gave the 
following eighteen groups, with their limits defined 
wherever it seemed necessary: 
1. Menstruation. A CLEAR WAY OUT 61 
2. Childbearing. 
(The more obvious facts and processes from conception 
to childbirth of which the ordinary lay woman becomes 
aware through experience in childbearing.) 
3. Sexual Intercourse (Copulation or Coitus). 
(Taken as an isolated sexual experience apart from its 
relation to reproduction.) 
4. Reproduction and Embryological Processes. 
(The less obvious facts of reproduction accessible only 
through the study of biology or embryology.) 
5. Sexual Feelings and Attraction. 
(Passion, love, sex attraction, etc.) 
6. Curiosity in Regard to Boys and Men. 
7. Marriage. 
8. Motherhood and Parenthood. 
(Questions bearing evidence of a sense of responsibility 
for, or interest in the production of fortunately en- 
dowed children; or of desire for or interest in future 
motherhood.) 
9. Reproductive Organs of Women. 
10. Venereal and Related Diseases. 
("Related" taken to mean related from the point of view 
of the question whether any such relation is really 
known to exist.) 
11. Sex Instruction. 
(Questions concerning the imparting-getting or giving- 
of sex information.) 
12. Preliminary Sexual Behavior. 
(Any companionship or behavior of the sexes together, 
outside of marriage or aside from the sexual act, which 
take on a significance just because they involve the 
opposite sex, or have influence in leading up to mat- 
ing.) 
13. Heredity and Pre-natal Influence. 
(Resemblance based on descent, or the determination of 
traits of offspring through the existence of certain char- 
acteristics in one or both parents.) 
61 62 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
14. Abnormal Sexual Practices. 
(As popularly understood to include homo-sexual prac- 
tices, the use of other than the proper organs for 
sexual gratification, and self-induced sexual feelings.) 
15. Prostitution. 
16. Anomalous Congenital Conditions. 
(Abnormal mental and physical conditions at birth.) 
17. Leuchorrhea ("Whites"). 
18. Attitude toward Sexual Matters. 
(Concerned with sexual attitudes but too general to 
classify under any of the other heads.) 
One other group including superstitions too gen- 
eral to class under any of these headings was formed 
later, so giving nineteen in all. (See p. 63.) 
After disposing of these one- and equivalent one- 
term questions, there were but two hundred thirty- 
nine which remained to be classified-the two- and 
three-term questions. The discovery of these had 
of course set the limits within which I could apply 
the single-sexual-term standard. Having once hit 
upon this standard, the grouping of the one-term 
questions had been a simple matter, since the ques- 
tion had only to be taken at its face value to be 
classified accordingly. 
But now the problem had shifted and instead of 
finding the sole term of sexual significance, it was 
necessary to discover some means for determining 
which of the two or more sexual terms that played 
a real part in the inquiry, constituted the main in- 
terest. 
The question naturally arose whether the problem 
might not be met objectively by systematically tak- A CLEAR WAY OUT 
63 
ing the subject of the sentence, or perhaps the first 
sexual term in order of occurrence, as naming the 
chief interest. But the discovery that frequently 
neither of the sexual terms occurred as the subject 
word, while both might appear as parts of the modi- 
fied subject, threw out the subject as a basis for 
determining the classification. An investigation 
into the effect of taking the term first in order, re- 
vealed the not infrequent occurrence of questions 
having practically equivalent sexual terms with the 
order simply reversed. The effect is shown in the 
following pairs of questions: 
Is a child born every time there is sexual 
intercourse? 
How many times must there be sexual inter- 
course before a child is born? 
Are women as passionate as men? 
Are men more passionate than women? 
Is it true that men must have sexual inter- 
course with women? 
Is it absolutely necessary that sexual inter- 
course take place from the point of view of 
the male? 
What takes the places of menses in men? 
Do men menstruate at all? 
The study of such questions made clear that while 
the consistent taking of the first term might theoret- 
ically solve the problem by providing an objective 64 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
means of disposing of the questions, the results were 
bound to do violence to the questions, and run con- 
trary to ordinary common sense. For illustration, 
taking the second pair, the first term of sexual in- 
terest (from the point of view of the female) in the 
first question is ''passionate," while in the second 
question of the pair it is "man." Classification on 
the basis of order would result in fixing the main 
interest of the first as concerned with sexual feel- 
ings, and of the second as concerned with informa- 
tion about men; while in the best judgment of the 
investigator they were both aimed toward the com- 
parison of the sexes in regard to strength of sexual 
feelings. 
The consideration of other possible objective 
means of treatment proved equally unsatisfactory 
in one way or another, and it was decided to take 
recourse to the "subjective" judgment of several 
persons, on the lines of the "classification method" 
in experiments in psychology. 
Four women were sought as judges whose train- 
ing and experience could be taken as likely guarantee 
of careful and responsible work. A psychologist, a 
biologist, a psychiatrist and a social worker, each of 
exceptionally high standing in her own field, were 
fortunately secured to act as judges.* From the two 
hundred thirty-nine questions, ninety-four were 
chosen for judgment. Most of these represented 
two or three, and in some instances five or six ques- 
tions of practically duplicate meaning and almost 
* Acknowledgment of this service is made in the Preface. A CLEAR WAY OUT 
65 
identical wording. In other cases the questions were 
grouped on the basis of similarity, and one or more 
representative questions selected for judgment. The 
object of selecting typical questions instead of sub- 
mitting the entire hundred thirty-nine, (aside from 
saving unnecessary labor on the part of the judges 
where it seemed reasonably certain that the results 
would not be seriously affected), was to avoid the 
risk of making the task so irksome by the inclusion 
of many similar questions, that interest might lag 
and judgment be vitiated to some extent. 
People who are familiar with psychological 
methods will know about how the work of judging 
would be done in a case like this. Each person 
worked independently, without knowledge of the re- 
sults of another's judgment. Counting myself there 
were five judges. An agreement of three was taken 
as deciding the classification of a question-that is, 
which of the two or more sexual terms formed the 
main object of inquiry. For instance, in the ques- 
tion, "Can a woman give birth to a child after the 
change of life?", the judge had to decide whether to 
her mind the question was primarily concerned with 
childbearing or with change of life; the majority 
judgment deciding the matter. This particular 
question was judged by all five judges as being 
primarily concerned with childbearing. The ques- 
tion, "Do boys have anything to correspond to the 
menstrual flow of girls?", was classified by the five 
as concerned primarily with information about boys. 
The question, "Can there be sex intercourse with 66 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
such a disease as syphilis?", was judged by all five 
as concerned primarily with the nature of syphilis. 
It is interesting to note that 54 per cent of the 
questions submitted were judged the same by all 
five of the judges, and that 32 per cent were judged 
the same by four. In only 14 per cent did the judg- 
ments stand three to two. In no instance was there 
a failure of majority agreement in placing the ques- 
tion-which means that we are clear out of the wil- 
derness of uncertainty in regard to the main roads 
to travel, and are ready with a reliable map of the 
field to be explored. PART TWO 
AS IT IS CHAPTER V 
MAP AND COMPASS 
With all my heart I wish I possessed the art to 
present the contents of this section of my book in 
an interesting and appealing way. I do not, and 
must content myself with giving the facts as they 
are and leaving them to make their own appeal to 
those who care. And so this part contains just facts, 
weighed and evaluated for their individual and 
social bearings, but just plain, ordinary facts of 
the actual thoughts and interests of girls everywhere 
in our present day American society-ignored, de- 
nied or underrated to be sure, by those who might be 
driven to an attitude of responsibility if the facts 
were frankly faced, but nevertheless the unvarnished 
facts which reveal the trends of interest, the igno- 
rance and superstitions, the gropings for knowledge 
and light, that together form the motive forces of 
our young women in this one most fertile source of 
human happiness or woe. 
A table showing the main groups into which the 
questions fell, with the number and character of the 
questions in each, ought to help a good deal in get- 
ting a notion of the whole field and in indicating 
the table on page 71 will, I am sure, amply re- 
69 70 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
pay the effort. For instance, reading across the lines 
of the table to Column III, gives the total number 
of questions in the group named on that line, and 
reading down Column III gives a notion of the com- 
parative amount of interest revealed in the various 
phases of sexual interest as judged by the number 
of questions in each. 
Thus reading across we see there were one hun- 
dred sixty-four questions on menstruation, one hun- 
dred one on coitus (sexual intercourse), ninety-eight 
on childbearing and so on with each group. Reading 
down the same column we discover that while there 
were one hundred sixty-four on menstruation, there 
were but thirteen on leucorrhea ("whites"), al- 
though we have the testimony of physicians that this 
is an all but universal disorder among girls and is 
known by women to be very common. Likewise we 
find seventy-seven given to venereal and related 
diseases and but seventeen to abnormal sexual prac- 
tices; seventy to sexual feelings and attraction in- 
cluding love, and fifty to marriage; etc. 
Column I gives the number of strictly "one-term" 
questions; i.e., having but one term of sexual sig- 
nificance and the number of "equivalent one-term" 
questions in each group. And the lengthwise divi- 
sions of this column show in how many questions 
the technical or a pseudo-technical term was used; 
in how many some common synonym for the more 
technical term occurred; and in how many some re- 
lated experience was referred to. Column II shows 
the number of two- and three-term questions in each MAP AND COMPASS 
71 
TABLE OF MAIN GROUPS 
I 
II 
III 
Class Headings 
Number of questions in which 
A TECHNICAL OR PSEUDO-TECH- 
NICAL TERM OCCURRED 
Number in which some synon- 
ymous TERM WAS USED 
Number in which some related 
experience was referred to 
Number of equivalent one- 
term QUESTIONS 
Number of two-term questions 
Number of three-term 
QUESTIONS 
Total number of questions in 
THE GROUP 
Menstruation 
116 
24 
6 
18 
164 
Copulation (Coitus) 
19 
12 
4 
46 
20 
101 
Childbearing 
53 
17 
13 
12 
3 
98 
Venereal and Related Diseases... 
Sexual Feeling and Attractions.. 
Curiosity in regard to Boys and 
Men 
31 
44 
16 
15 
2 
6 
1 
10 
7 
3 
12 
16 
23 
6 
4 
7 
77 
70 
56 
Reproductive and Embryological 
Processes 
18 
11 
14 
7 
4 
54 
Marriage 
23 
1 
3 
10 
2 
11 
50 
Reproductive Organs of Women. 
Anomalous Congenital Condi- 
tions 
18 
27 
12 
2 
4 
2 
4 
8 
1 
42 
36 
Sex Instruction 
11 
3 
12 
4 
30 
Preliminary Sexual Behavior.... 
Heredity and Pre-natal Influence. 
Abnormal Sexual Practices 
Prostitution 
12 
4 
3 
5 
8 
6 
2 
2 
7 
8 
6 
3 
9 
24 
20 
17 
14 
T^encorrhea 
11 
1 
1 
13 
Superstitions 
0 
3 
3 
6 
Motherhood and Parenthood.... 
Attitude toward Sexual Matters. 
1 
0 
2 
4 
1 
4 
4 
412 
85 
62 
82 
165 
74 
880 
641 72 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
group, questions which were placed in these groups 
by the majority judgment of five judges as described 
in the preceding chapter. 
A little explanation of what I have called "tech- 
nical" terms will help in the understanding of the 
figures in the first lengthwise division of Column I. 
The term used in the questions represented by these 
figures was not always a specific technical name for 
the phase of sexual interest referred to, such as it 
would be in case of the use of such terms as men- 
struation (menses), reproduction, syphilis, gonor- 
rhea, copulation, heredity, etc. For instance, there 
was no question which used a really specific tech- 
nical term for either the sexual act or for leucorrhea. 
But when the term used was one that is so common 
as practically to fill the place of a technical term 
with the mass of people, such as sexual or sex inter- 
course for coitus, whites for leucorrhea, childbirth 
for parturition, venereal or sexual diseases for 
gonorrhea and syphilis, I considered them "pseudo- 
technical" to be accepted on a par with truly tech- 
nical terms in determining their classification. 
Again the "synonymous" terms include the more 
or less frequently heard substitutes for the corre- 
sponding technical or pseudo-technical terms, such 
as "sick" or "unwell" for menses; sexual union, 
sex interconnection, and "something happen" (fre- 
quently used by girls) for coitus or sexual inter- 
course; "diseases" for venereal diseases; and "take 
after" for inherit. A synonymous term in every 
instance refers to one and the same phase of sexual MAP AND COMPASS 
73 
interest as the corresponding technical or pseudo- 
technical term in the column immediately preceding 
it-it being simply a more or less popular substitute 
for the more correct terminology. The questions 
whose sexual term is spoken of as "related," in the 
third lengthwise division of Column I, refers, on 
the other hand, to some situation or process or event 
connected with or related to the situation named by 
the technical and synonymous terms. Thus "change 
of life" is related to menstruation and the six ques- 
tions which had this as their sole term of sexual 
significance were grouped with the questions on men- 
struation on the basis of that relationship. In re- 
gard to childbearing, "confinement," "afterbirth," 
"miscarriage," and "twilight sleep" were among 
the "related" terms which brought their questions 
into that group. 
In the final organization of the questions then, the 
original nucleus of each class except the two dis- 
covered by looking down the first division of Column 
I, was a grotip of questions the number of which 
is given in this same division, whose sole term of 
sexual significance, most frequently a single noun, 
was a technical or pseudo-technical term which de- 
termined and as a rule gave name to the class. In 
ten of the classes so formed as shown by the second 
lengthwise division, this nucleus was enlarged by 
the addition of questions whose sole sexual term was 
a fairly well known substitute or synonym for the 
more technical term; and ten as shown by the third 
lengthwise division were enlarged by those one-term 74 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
questions in which the sexual term referred to some- 
thing connected with or related to the situation 
covered by the technical term. The ' ' equivalent one- 
term" question being practically one-term questions, 
were treated in the same way. The placing of ques- 
tions which had more than one sexual term, by the 
majority judgment of five qualified judges working 
independently, has already been described. 
As the table of classes as organized provides the 
map showing the roads along which we must travel, 
the standards used in the evaluation of the informa- 
tion sought with each individual question form a 
sort of compass whose readings must be constantly 
heeded in order that we may keep mindful of the 
direction in which we are driving. These standards 
were referred to in connection with the statement 
of my aims at the beginning of Chapter III and will 
now need to be better understood. 
It was there stated that after the first large groups 
were formed, it was my plan to go over each ques- 
tion and determine concerning just what aspect of 
the main interest, inquiry was made. The divisions 
which were thus obtained are given in connection 
with the questions in each group. The next step was 
to evaluate the information sought. First the ques- 
tion was ranked on the basis of the " utility " value 
of the information asked for. If the knowledge 
solicited was of some readily discernible use for the 
modification of conduct, or possessed some readily 
discernible emotional bearing so as to be significant 
for mental adjustment, it was classed as a "utility" MAP AND COMPASS 
75 
question; lacking these elements it was called a 
"curiosity" question. 
The curiosity question was further analyzed as 
"intellectual" or "scientific," or as a "sexual" 
curiosity question, according to whether it was con- 
cerned with information of a sort which might 
readily gain the attention of children and young 
people through the instinct of curiosity, or possess 
features interesting in themselves so as naturally to 
appeal to native capacities other than sexual; or 
concerned with information interest in which would 
seem to depend more clearly upon genuine sexual 
motives. Of course the lines suggested are not hard 
and fast, for no information is utterly void of 
utility value, and no one could draw an exact line 
between intellectual and sexual curiosity. The plan 
worked, however, much more easily and I believe, 
reliably than one would expect. I think this will 
appear as the analysis of the questions is followed; 
but both the lack of hard and fast lines of division, 
and yet the comparative ease with which the divi- 
sion was practically made in most instances, may 
be illustrated with such questions as "What are the 
names of the organs involved in menstruation?" 
"What is the meaning of confinement?", "Why do 
men have hair on their faces when women do not?" 
All of these were ranked as curiosity questions of 
the intellectual or non-sexual type, for although 
knowledge of correct names and of meanings of 
terms has a certain value in adding dignity, its chief 
value is in satisfying that craving for knowledge-  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
76 
the instinct of curiosity which Prof. John Dewey, as 
I remember, defined as the desire for enlarged ex- 
perience. The information sought has no readily 
discernible influence for the regulation of conduct 
or for emotional life. The same with the question 
about hair on the faces of men. Little children ask 
practically the same thing. I am aware that in some 
schools of thought sailing under the banner of "psy- 
chology" such interest, and that revealed in the 
child's questions in regard to the difference between 
girls and boys and where babies come from, might 
be interpreted as early manifestations of "sex." To 
the scientific psychologist, however, such curiosity is 
no more necessarily a manifestation of sexual in- 
stinct than the child's interest in the sawdust inside 
her doll. Practically little difficulty arose in dis- 
criminating between utility and curiosity questions, 
or between "intellectual" and "sexual" curiosity, 
and where difficulty did arise, it is mentioned in con- 
nection with the questions. 
The "utility" questions were further evaluated in 
reference to certain generally accepted, or at least 
generally acceptable present day aims and ideals. 
Chief among these were: 
1. The ideal or goal of physical health as depend- 
ent upon normal and vigorous development of the 
body, intelligently directed regimen and the preven- 
tion of pathological conditions; 
2. The ideal of healthful mental adjustment; and 
3. In sex life, the ideal of love, marriage and 
healthy and happy parenthood as an end to be seri- 
ously desired and practically prepared for. MAP AND COMPASS 
77 
Religious and ethical standards except as they are 
inherently involved in these goals, could not be em- 
ployed in the evaluation of the utility value or con- 
structive merit of the questions, since they would be 
controversial. But the ethical values at every point 
present in the ideals enumerated, must it seems, find 
universal approval in our present day society. 
When evaluated in reference to these generally 
acceptable goals of behavior, the utility questions 
ranged in constructive value all the way from ex- 
plicit physical and mental hygiene questions; i.e., 
explicitly directed toward the regulation of physical 
conduct or mental attitude, to the comparatively 
trivial-having little practical merit for individual 
or social adjustment. 
Conclusions in regard to the interest revealed 
relative to the given phase of sexual experience, are 
based upon the number and character of the ques- 
tions as thus determined, and are to be taken as 
applying only to the questions under discussion and 
always with the modifying clause "as far as the 
questions reveal." 
The order in which the groups are taken up in the 
following chapters, varies somewhat from that given 
in the table. The latter gives the order of "fre- 
quency" so the reader may more easily compare 
the number of questions given to the various phases 
of sexual interest, but for the purposes of analysis 
and comparison, it occasionally seemed more con- 
venient to change this order. We are now ready for 
the questions. CHAPTER VI 
SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
In this chapter will he taken up the questions on 
menstruation, childbearing and leucorrhea. It is 
often helpful to know the sort of language which 
was used in the questions because of the light it 
throws upon the state of knowledge of the question- 
ers ; and often the easiest way to accomplish this is 
to present the terms employed by means of a fre- 
quency table. The plan followed as a rule will be 
to give the name of the group, followed by a table 
of the sexual terms used in the questions, and then 
the outline of questions and their analysis. 
Menstruation 
TERMS FREQUENCY 
Menstruation (Menses)... 129 
Unwell 18 
Sick (Sickness) 5 
Ill (Illness) 3 
TERMS FREQUENCY 
Period 2 
Flow 1 
Change of Life 6 
164 
It is interesting to note that while some form of 
the proper derivatives from the Latin mensis oc- 
curred in one hundred twenty-nine of the questions 
there was no instance of the use of the term "meno- 
pause"; of the ten questions in which it was referred 
78 SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
79 
to, "change of life" was used in six and four em- 
ployed some such expression as "up to what age 
do we get unwell," or "at what age does a woman 
lose her menstrual flow." The outstanding feature 
of the terms used in this group of questions as com- 
pared with others, is the predominance of proper 
specific terminology which was employed in 76 per 
cent of the questions. Generic terms commonly used 
as synonyms or round-about expressions evidently 
used in lieu of knowledge of proper terms occurred 
in the rest. 
Here as elsewhere in the study, the questions are 
presented in outline form. The space required to 
list the individual questions would be prohibitive, 
and while something is sacrificed in way of human 
value by condensing, that nothing was lost for the 
validity of the study will become evident, I believe, 
as the reader proceeds. 
Questions on Menstruation-164 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. Cause and Physiology of Menstruation: 
(a) What the cause or reason for menstruation... 22 
(b) Why menstruation occurs periodically (or why 
"we are unwell every month") 4 
(c) What the use or benefit to a girl that she gets 
unwell (or has a menstrual flow) 3 
(d) What organs are involved in menstruation.... 4 
(e) Why women have the menstrual flow and men 
don't 4 
37 80 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Menstruation-164 (Continued) x0' 0F 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
II. Irregularity and Delay of Menstruation: 
(a) Relative to causes for irregularities and delay 
(why we "get sick twice some months and 
not at all others," etc.) 13 
(b) Harm of irregularity or delay (whether there 
is any harm, or if "it means a girl has con- 
sumption, " etc.) 7 
(c) Remedy for (whether there is a remedy and if 
so what) 4 
(d) Cause for "relapse" of menstrual flow 1 
25 
III. Suffering During Menstruation : 
(a) Cause for pain, cramps, headache, constipa- 
tion, tired feelings ("why girls suffer so").. 11 
(6) Whether pains or cramps at menstrual time 
can be cured 6 
(c) Whether having pain at the menstrual time 
"has any effect on a girl's general health". 1 
(d) Whether it is "natural to have pains' at the 
time of the flow" 1 
(e) Whether the bowels should move the same then 
as at other times 1 
~20 
IV. Bathing during Menstruation: 
(a) Whether baths should be taken at that time.. 6 
(6) What the harmful effects of bathing during the 
menstrual period are (whether "you get con- 
sumption," etc.) 7 
(c) Inquiries for the reasons why one should not 
take a bath when she is menstruating 5 
(d) How baths can be taken at that time without 
harm 2 
20 SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
81 
Questions on Menstruation-164 (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
V. Age of Appearance; Length of Period; Amount 
of Flow: 
(a) Age when a girl "should become unwell" or 
"get her menstrual flow" 2 
(6) Length of period (what it should normally be, 
dangers of too long or too short a period).. 7 
(c) What the amount should be (dangers of too 
little or too much) 3 
(d) What the time between the periods should be.. 1 
13 
VI. Exercise During Menstruation: 
(a) Whether it is harmful to exercise at that time. 3 
(b) Harm of specific kinds of exercise (gymnastics, 
swimming, walking) 6 
(c) What should be the standard for exercise.... 2 
11 
VII. General Hygiene and Care of the Body: 
(a) General hygiene of menstruation 3 
(b) "Care of the body" during menstruation 3 
(c) "How to act" during menstruation 3 
(d) Eating during menstruation 1 
10 
VIII. Menopause (Change of Life) : 
(a) What "change of life" means 4 
(b) When it occurs or "up to what age do we get 
unwell," etc. 5 
(c) Why women go insane at change of life 1 82 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Menstruation-164 (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
IX. Superstitions: 
(a) Whether a man can tell a girl is menstruating 
by looking into her eyes (or feeling her 
pulse) 4 
(b) Whether the menstrual flow is the impure blood 
of the body 3 
(c) Whether menstruation causes pimples on the 
face 1 
(d) Whether washing or destroying the napkins 
during the period, prolongs the period or 
increases the flow 1 
9 
X. Menstruation in Relation to Childbearing: 
(a) What it has to do with childbearing 2 
(b) Whether menstruation ceases during childbear- 
ing 2 
(c) Whether it is resumed after childbirth 1 
(d) Why menstruation ceases after "intercourse". 1 
6 
XI. Attitude toward Menstruation: 
(a) How a girl should feel about her menstrual 
flow 1 
(b) Why a girl should feel so ashamed about it.. 1 
(c) What excuse a girl can give a man for not 
doing certain things at that time 1 
3 
That which is provided in the above outline is the 
particular aspect of menstruation concerning which 
information was sought by the corresponding num- SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
83 
ber of questions in the frequency column. The in- 
dividual questions may have differed considerably, 
or have been nearly or quite identical. Their point 
of agreement is the specific aspect of menstruation 
toward which the inquiry is directed. The follow- 
ing questions taken from the fifth group relative to 
the length of the period and given verbatim, will 
illustrate the relation which the topics and sub- 
topics bear to the individual questions they rep- 
resent : 
About how many days should a normal girl be 
unwell? 
Is there any danger in menstruation continu- 
ing too long? 
Is there any danger when the menstrual 
period extends over a week? 
If a girl is unwell only a short time does it 
mean that the girl has consumption? 
While considerable variety exists here from the 
point of view of answer to the questions, from that 
of aspect of menstruation which served as object 
of inquiry, they seem adequately represented by the 
sub-topic given in the outline which informs the 
reader that seven questions asked for information 
in regard to the length of the period of menstrua- 
tion. 
The inspection of the outline reveals fairly con- 
spicuous trends of interest, the most obvious of 
which are along the lines of physical hygiene. The 
question of course arises to what extent the figures  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
84 
given are representative of the number of young 
women wishing or needing information in regard to 
a given topic; i.e., the exact number in the group 
who lacked satisfactory information on the given 
phase of menstruation and would like to have it. It 
is impossible to answer this question on the basis 
of the data. The one hundred sixty-four questions 
included by the topics give a little over one question 
for each girl, but there is no way of knowing whether 
or not every girl did submit one. That some girls 
handed in more than one is evident from the fact 
that there were but one hundred sixty girls in the 
group. Even if these facts were known together 
with the exact nature of the question asked in each 
instance, still no safe conclusion could be derived in 
regard to the points mentioned-the number of girls 
lacking information and desiring it; for the fact that 
a member of the group did not ask for certain in- 
formation would not be sufficient grounds upon 
which to conclude that she possessed it, or that she 
would not be interested in getting it. Then too, it 
is readily conceivable that one question might have 
represented two or even a considerable number of 
girls working in collaboration. This would be the 
more likely in view of the practical purpose of the 
questions (which was to get them answered), and 
of the additional fact that they had been requested 
to limit their questions to five. A very natural con- 
sequence in such a situation, it might seem, would 
be a division of questions along lines of such com- 
mon interest as those represented by most of the SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
85 
topics in this group. But though it is not possible 
to draw valid conclusions in regard to just what pro- 
portion of the young women asked, or are repre- 
sented by the questions under each topic, certain 
minimal conclusions may be reached which are quite 
as valuable for the purposes of the investigation as 
exact figures in percentages of girls asking the ques- 
tions would be. 
Taking for instance the twenty questions which 
asked for information in regard to bathing during 
menstruation. Their very character renders un- 
likely the same girl asking two questions on this 
subject, and correspondingly safe to accept the num- 
ber of questions as an approximate minimal figure 
for the group of those needing information in re- 
gard to whether or how girls should bathe during 
the monthly periods. This would give 12^ per cent 
of the group who manifested active interest on this 
subject. By the same criterion 12^ per cent of the 
group showed active interest in getting information 
in regard to some phase of physical suffering or 
disability during menstruation; 15 per cent dis- 
played active interest in gaining facts concerning 
the causes and dangers of irregularities and delays 
in the menstrual function; 8^ per cent in finding 
out when it should normally begin and what should 
normally be the length of period and amount of flow; 
6% per cent in finding out how much or how a girl 
should exercise when she is menstruating; and 614 
per cent who sought information in regard to the 86 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
care of the body or matters of general conduct dur- 
ing the period. 
Taking the questions on bathing, exercise and gen- 
eral care of the body, we have forty-one questions, 
25 per cent of the questions on menstruation, which 
sought information in regard to proper physical con- 
duct during the time of the period. The questions 
on irregularity, suffering and length of period, etc., 
taken together give fifty-eight, about 35 per cent of 
the one hundred sixty-four, which sought informa- 
tion in regard to normal or abnormal functioning. 
Combined, this gives ninety-nine question or 60 per 
cent of the questions on menstruation which ask for 
information in regard to the elementary facts of the 
normal functioning of menstruation and the proper 
conduct and care of the body. 
Five of the questions under "Superstitions" are 
also to be considered physical hygiene questions; 
three of these ask if the menstrual flow carries off 
impure blood of the body, and this belief causes 
heavy menstrual flow to be accepted as desirable; 
one asks if washing or destroying the napkins dur- 
ing the period increases the amount of the flow or 
the length of the period, and has a distinct sanitary 
value; while the one which asks if menstruation 
causes pimples carries the inference that there is 
something in menstruation itself to cause skin 
eruptions. Faith in such a superstition results in 
the neglect of the real underlying causes. These 
five added to the ninety-nine relative to personal 
conduct and normal functioning, give one hundred SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
87 
four questions or about 63 per cent whose interest 
is plainly directed toward some phase of physical 
welfare. 
Seven questions, the three under 4'Attitude" and 
the four under "Superstitions" which ask whether 
a man can tell if a girl is menstruating by looking 
into her eyes or feeling her pulse, are essentially 
questions of mental hygiene, both in their bearing 
upon mental peace, since the attitudes and fears 
revealed by the questions are such as to cause gen- 
uine suffering in the mind of the girl who is afflicted 
with them, and for their importance as motive forces 
in social behavior. Combining the physical and men- 
tal hygiene questions gives one hundred eleven or 
67^ per cent of the total number, which must be con- 
sidered "utility" questions, i.e., having constructive 
merit for the hygiene of menstruation or the normal 
and happy adjustment of the girl. 
The remaining fifty-three seem to be primarily of 
the intellectual sort-questions of "how," "when," 
and "why" having little if any direct utilitarian 
value for the conduct of menstruation, or little if 
any readily discernible emotional foundation. 
Forty-three of these, the thirty-seven in regard to 
cause and physiology under the first topic and the 
six under topic ten on the relation between men- 
struation and childbearing, are questions of the 
physiology and biology of menstruation, and quite 
plainly it seems take rank on the scientific level. 
They apparently represent the sort of scientific 
curiosity that might be expected of high school 88 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
graduates who had studied biology and come to some 
extent to think of function as implying organs and 
adaptive ends, and wanted to know what these were 
in case of menstruation. The ten under topic eight 
in regard to the menopause are of the same general 
type. They suffer in expression from lack of back- 
ground of proper specific terms to use, such as would 
give the questions obvious scientific and scholarly 
bent, but these as well as the forty-three mentioned 
above are primarily biological questions, indicative 
of mental curiosity fairly remote from either the 
utilitarian or emotional interests of girls in men- 
struation. 
Summing up in regard to the trends of interest 
shown, we can say that judging on the basis of the 
object of inquiry and the place that the information 
sought would ordinarily fill in menstrual experience 
as indicative of the interest revealed, there appear 
two main lines of interest in the questions on men- 
struation, both of which are important in our inves- 
tigation. These are (1) interest in the healthful 
functioning of menstruation and proper conduct and 
attitude, represented by one hundred eleven ques- 
tions, or 671/2 per cent; and (2) an intellectual or 
scientific interest or curiosity relative to the physi- 
ology and biology of menstruation represented by 
fifty-three questions, or 32^ per cent. 
From the point of view of the state of knowledge 
revealed, the questions present a lamentable picture 
of ignorance and superstition, for it must be remem- 
bered that these young women were all high school SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
89 
graduates and would in a few months take their 
places as teachers and guides of other girls in the 
public schools. Their own education was fairly 
"completed." And these questions present the 
picture at its best, for it gives minimal figures. 
For instance taking each question to repre- 
sent a different girl, only 12^ per cent of the 
group made inquiry in regard to pain and 
other disabilities during menstruation and yet 
we have as conservative estimates of physicians 
and special investigators that 70 per cent of girls 
suffer pain at this time, and that a much larger 
per cent suffer some marked disability. The same 
condition exists in regard to bathing during men- 
struation. I have yet to talk to a girl on the subject 
who had ever been properly instructed in regard to 
bathing during menstruation, and yet only 12 per 
cent of the group asked for information on this sub- 
ject. So in place of thinking of these figures as a 
revelation of the proportion of the group that was 
ignorant and in need of instruction, we may better 
think of them as representing the more advanced 
few who had gained a more intelligent interest in 
regard to menstruation than their more benighted 
sisters. But that even 12 per cent of our girls can 
go through high school and into the teaching force 
of the country with the ignorance and superstitions 
in regard to the menstrual function revealed by these 
questions is a reflection upon American education 
too serious to be lightly regarded. The next group 
of questions is on childbearing. 90 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Childbearing: 
There are several groups of questions besides the 
one we are about to consider that contain questions 
which pertain in some way to the production of chil- 
dren, and these are taken into account later in an 
endeavor to get as clear and complete a picture as 
possible of the interest revealed in the large subject 
of child production. The questions included in the 
present group have to do with the conscious ex- 
perience of women from conception to childbirth, 
and are taken as representing the more intimate 
personal attitude and interest of the woman as child- 
bearer. Questions pertaining to the more strictly 
biological and embryological aspects of child pro- 
duction are classified under the heading "Reproduc- 
tive and Embryological Processes"; while questions 
in which coitus, or sexual intercourse, is made an 
object of inquiry as an isolated phase of sexual ex- 
perience, i.e., apart from its bearing upon conception 
or reproduction, are grouped under "Coitus." Such 
a division seemed to result naturally on the basis of 
the character of the sexual terms, and best to facili- 
tate the purpose of discovering as accurately as pos- 
sible the nature of the interest revealed. 
The terms used in the ninety-eight questions in 
this group with but six exception were either the 
brief practical terms of everyday life, such as 
"childbirth" or simply "birth," or some round- 
about expression such as "when a woman gives 
birth," or "when a woman is bearing a child," etc. SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
91 
In six questions the following technical or pseudo- 
technical terms were used: 
Pregnancy (pregnant) 3 
Confinement 1 
Conception (prevention of) 2 
In four of these instances (pregnancy twice, con- 
finement once, and conception once) the proper term 
was used merely incident to the inquiry concerning 
its meaning. In but two questions of this group, 
"pregnancy" once and "conception" once, were 
technical terms used as part of the girl's working 
vocabulary. This is in marked contrast to the pre- 
ceding group of questions where the use of proper 
specific terminology was the rule. In interpreting 
this difference, some account must be taken of the 
fact that even the professionally trained are prone 
to use ordinary lay language in connection with 
many phases of childbearing; but this is not suffi- 
cient to account for the entire absence (with the ex- 
ception of the two instances mentioned) of the use 
of such terms as pregnancy, gestation, parturition 
or even confinement and conception, in questions 
referring to the corresponding conditions. The out- 
standing feature of the language employed in this 
group is the lack of proper specific terms and the 
awkward round-about phraseology resorted to. The 
latter is specially noticeable in the questions under 
"Conditions of Conceptions" where the expressions 
are as crude as though asked by a young child. In- 
deed the only instance of the use of the word "con- 92 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
ception," except in inquiries as to the meaning of 
the word, was in a question which asked that "the 
prevention of conception" be explained. And this 
on the part of students of biology and prospective 
teachers! A small but significant bit of evidence 
of the care with which girls are "protected" from 
the clean, straightforward language of human re- 
production. 
In reading over the outline of questions it must be 
kept in mind that the use of proper specific terms 
except as explained, is by the writer. To keep to the 
language of the questions in the outlines and dis- 
cussions would be too circumlocutory and unneces- 
sarily crude. 
Questions on Childbearing-98 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND QUESTIONS QS. 
I. Birth Control or Prevention of Childbearing: 
(a) Inquiries concerning meaning, explanation, or 
discussion of 7 
(6) How to control birth (guard against becoming 
a mother, etc.) 8 
(c) Danger of control or prevention to one or both 
sexes (whether the use of certain methods 
causes the man to have consumption) 4 
(d) Whether it is lawful or right to practice 5 
(e) What the reasons for and against birth control 
are 2 
(/) Whether doctors and drug stores are permitted 
to dispense preventives 1 
27 SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
93 
Questions on Childbearing-98 (Continued) 
TOPICS AND QUESTIONS QS. 
II. Childbirth and Miscarriage: 
(a) Inquiries concerning suffering (tearing, sewing, 
whether a matter "of life and death," why 
women must suffer so, etc.) 8 
(b) How "Twilight Sleep" is managed; if it is 
right to take something to kill the pain; 
whether taking something to stop the pain at 
childbirth has any effect on the child* .... 3 
(c) Why women cannot "give birth naturally," 
without being helped by a doctor 2 
(d) How a child "is taken from the body of the 
mother" when she cannot give birth 1 
(e) Meaning of "afterbirth," "waterbag," "con- 
finement" 3 
(/) Miscarriage, cause of (4), danger of (1), mean- 
ing of (1) 6 
23 
III. Condition of Pregnancy and Period of Gestation : 
(a) How a woman knows she is bearing a child.. 2 
(b) How a woman knows when the baby is going 
to be born 3 
(c) Whether the woman can feel the baby before 
birth 1 
(d) Meaning of the term "pregnancy" 2 
(e) What the woman should abstain from when she 
is bearing a child (1); the hygiene of preg- 
nancy (1) 2 
(/) Nausea when a woman is bearing a child, the 
cause (1); whether natural (1) 2 
(g) Why seven month babies live and eight month 
babies clie (why some are seven and some 
nine month) 2 
~14 94 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Childbearing-98 (Continued) 
NO. OB' 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
IV. Childlessness: 
(a) Cause for barrenness 4 
(b) With some women (or some married couples) 
have no children 8 
(c) Cause of lack of children on the part of "women 
who practice sex intercourse for a living"... 2 
14 
V. Conditions of Conception or Childbearing: 
(a) What process or conditions are carried out in 
order to have a child 3 
(b) How soon a girl may "give birth" 1 
(c) Whether a woman may "give birth" after 
change of life 1 
(d) Whether passion on the part of the woman at 
time of intercourse determines "whether she 
has a child" 1 
(e) Whether sex intercourse can take place "with- 
out a child being born" 2 
(/) Whether a child results from every (or the 
first) intercourse 2 
(g) How much or (how many times) sexual inter- 
course is necessary "before a child begins to 
be formed" 2 
12 
12 
VI. Difference in Number of Children : 
(a) Reason for one child only 1 
(b) Reason why number differs in different families 1 
(c) Why women have more children than they 
want 1 
3 SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
95 
Questions on Childbearing-98 (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND QUESTIONS QS. 
VIL Attitude toward Childbearing: 
(a) Whether there is any decent way of looking 
upon "this matter of having a child" 1 
(6) How a girl ought to regard childbearing 1 
(c) Whether childbearing should be regarded as a 
necessary evil or as a duty 1 
3 
VIII. Effect of Age: 
(a) The best age for childbearing and why 1 
(b) The dangers of giving birth at an early age.. 1 
2 
The trends of interest revealed by the assembling 
of these questions on childbearing are not so ob- 
vious, nor do they show the homogeneity apparent 
in case of the preceding class. But certain trends 
stand out pretty sharply, and the careful inspection 
of the questions reveals a degree of uniformity not 
at first apparent. 
Externally the most striking fact brought out by 
the above table is that twenty-seven questions asked 
for information concerning birth control or the pre- 
vention of children; and that fourteen were con- 
cerned with the underlying conditions of childless- 
ness. This gives forty-one questions or about 42 
per cent of the ninety-eight showing interest directed 
toward the negative side of the subject. 
The tendency of course is at once to begin to con- 96 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
jecture in regard to the motive for this interest, and 
the vice experts who see only evil in other people's 
interest in sexual matters, will not stop to conjec- 
ture, they will he cock sure of vicious ulterior 
motives. Conjecture is no more in order here, and 
much less conclusive opinion, than it is relative to 
the motives back of the question why some children 
are born with missing members. As a matter of fact 
the motives back of these questions may have ranged 
all the way from the barest curiosity aroused by 
newspaper discussions of "birth control" meetings 
to the most personal ulterior, and we may add, to the 
most altruistic family and social motives. My ex- 
perience in answering the questions throws some 
light upon this. When in the course of instruction 
these questions came up, they were dismissed with 
the statement that since it was against the law to 
give information in regard to the prevention of con- 
ception, I would not be able to take up those ques- 
tions. 
Later two girls came to me, one saying that her 
mother had asked her to put in a question on what 
to do so she would not have any more children, and 
the other that her mother and father had told her 
to put one in. Another came up and said she had put 
in the question in regard to the use of certain pre- 
ventives as a cause of consumption in the man. Her 
married sister had asked her to find out if this were 
true. These confidences and many similar ones were 
entirely unsolicited by me and made without apology 
or embarrassment. Indeed they were pushing what SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
97 
they considered a very justifiable point-they 
wanted the information to take home. But the im- 
portant thing for my investigation was the trend of 
interest and its significance for individual and social 
adjustment-and, in the aim of this book, the re- 
sponsibility of society for the direction these trends 
take. From these points of view these figures are 
very significant, for taking each of the twenty-seven 
questions to represent a different girl we have about 
16 per cent of the group showing unequivocal in- 
terest in birth control against the six and a fourth 
of one per cent that showed unequivocal interest in 
preparation for healthy physical motherhood. And 
taking the forty-one questions which were concerned 
with either birth control or conditions of childless- 
ness, we have about 42 per cent of the questions 
on childbearing devoted to its negative aspects 
against fifty-seven questions, or 58 per cent, on all 
the various positive phases. 
Of these fifty-eight questions devoted to some 
positive aspect of childbearing, forty-eight may be 
considered as showing some degree of utility value, 
and the other nine are pretty clearly of the intellec- 
tual curiosity type, in the sense that they represent 
information of no obvious use in the woman's con- 
duct of her sexual life and possess no readily dis- 
cernible bearing upon the emotions. The nine 
"curiosity" questions include the four under 
"Childbirth and Miscarriage" which simply ask for 
the meaning of afterbirth, waterbag, confinement 
and miscarriage; the two under "Pregnancy and 98 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Gestation" which ask the meaning of pregnancy; 
and the three under the sixth topic which ask the 
reason for the difference in number of children in 
different families. 
The "utility" questions on the positive aspects of 
childbearing reduce to the forty-eight questions left 
under the second, third, fourth, seventh and eighth 
groups after the questions which merely ask for the 
meaning of terms have been omitted. The follow- 
ing reference table is given for those who may be 
sufficiently energetically inclined to use it, but such 
expenditure of energy is not strictly necessary, for 
the following discussion will make the questions 
sufficiently clear. 
Table of "utility" questions on positive aspects 
of Childbearing: 
TOPICS QS. INCLUDED NO. OF QS. 
II a-d, f 19 
III a-c, e-g 12 
V all 12 
VII a-c 3 
VIII a, b 2 
48 
The inspection of this group of utility questions, 
i.e., questions seeking information of some obvious 
value for the modification of conduct, shows four 
different levels discernible on the basis of the con- 
structive value of the interest revealed. This will 
become apparent as we proceed with a somewhat de- SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
99 
tailed analysis of the questions in connection with 
the particular aspect of childbearing with which they 
are concerned. 
Childbirth and Miscarriage: 
With the exception of the four already classed as 
curiosity questions, the entire number-nineteen 
questions and 83 per cent of the number submitted 
relative to childbirth-had to do with some patho- 
logical aspect of childbirth, suffering or incapacity, 
and illustrate one of the levels into which the utility 
questions divide. In every instance the information 
sought by these questions has utility value, but a 
striking feature of the entire number is the fact 
that there is no instance among them of a question 
directed toward finding out how pathological con- 
ditions can be prevented by favorable conduct; and 
in but one instance, the question with an asterisk 
under "b," does there occur an expressed interest 
in the welfare of the child as this might be affected 
by the manner in which parturition is consummated. 
There was no instance of a question showing interest 
in how the after-life of the woman may be affected 
by suffering in childbirth. With three possible ex- 
ceptions, one under "a," asking "Why women must 
suffer so," and the two under "c," asking why 
women cannot give birth "naturally," suffering 
seems to be implicitly accepted as a normal part of 
parturition-the interest revealed being directed 
toward understanding the nature of the various 
phases of suffering to be endured, or the effects of 100 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
its alleviation by anesthetics, and not at all appar- 
ently toward getting information for the healthful 
conduct of life so as to prevent suffering; or put 
positively, so as to secure normal (in the sense of 
biologically natural) parturition. 
Pregnancy and Gestation: 
Of the fourteen questions on this aspect of child- 
bearing, two have been included in the curiosity 
class; they are questions merely asking the meaning 
of the word pregnancy. The remaining twelve are 
"utility" questions; but two very distinct levels of 
constructive merit are represented in the twelve 
questions. One of these is best illustrated by the 
two under "e," one of which asked to have the 
"hygiene of pregnancy" discussed, and the other 
what "a woman should abstain from in way of food 
and clothing when she is bearing a child." These 
represent the highest constructive level in that the 
information sought is not only practically usable, 
but is explicitly directed toward bringing about bet- 
ter conditions of gestation than could be secured 
without it. It represents a part of the necessary 
equipment of the woman for intelligent guidance of 
conduct in childbearing. To these two questions 
may be added the two under which asked about 
the cause or necessity for "a woman being sick to 
her stomach when she is bearing a child." This 
gives four questions out of the twelve which seek 
information of a sufficiently constructive order as to SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
101 
rank in the hygiene class on a par with similar ques- 
tions on menstruation. 
The remaining eight illustrate what may be con- 
sidered about the lowest level of utility question. 
While the utility questions under childbirth and mis- 
carriage show a pathological trend that indicates 
interest working on a distinctly destructive level, the 
information solicited is in itself important. That 
which particularly characterizes these eight ques- 
tions is the comparatively unimportant nature of the 
information sought-it ranking so low in utility 
value compared to information that might have been 
sought had the interest of the questioners been more 
intelligent, as to suggest the problem whether the 
questions should not properly be ranked on the 
"curiosity" level. But some degree of utility value 
is attached to them, and they have a distinct value 
in revealing the relatively low level of constructive 
merit of the majority of the questions, and hence of 
the prevailing trend of interest of the questioners, 
in regard to the period during which the child is part 
of the physical life of the mother. 
Summing up relative tb the questions on this 
phase of childbearing, two or 14 per cent of the whole 
number, were curiosity questions merely asking the 
meaning of the term pregnancy; four or 29 per cent, 
were utility questions of high constructive merit 
directed toward the hygiene of gestation; and eight 
or 57 per cent, were concerned with comparatively 
trivial or at best relatively unimportant aspects of  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
102 
gestation. The prevailing trend of interest as re- 
vealed by the greater number of questions was 
toward the comparatively inconsequential when 
measured by the value of the knowledge sought for 
the practical conduct of pregnancy and gestation. 
Conception: 
The twelve questions in regard to the conditions 
of conception represent a still different level of 
utility question from the other three. It differs from 
any of these in that while the information solicited 
is of genuine importance and of positive utility 
value, as compared with the relatively inconsequen- 
tial character of the majority of the utility ques- 
tions on pregnancy, and the pathological trend of 
the questions on childbirth, as a group they lack 
entirely the higher constructive element that char- 
acterizes the four "hygiene" questions under preg- 
nancy. The particular point here is, that though 
these questions possess important practical value 
for the regulation of conduct in regard to conception, 
still representing as they do the interests of the 
questioners in regard to the conditions of concep- 
tion, they give no evidence of a tendency to think 
of the situation in terms of personal health or of 
social responsibility. The interest revealed by the 
questions is entirely in the conditions under which 
conception can take place, and in no degree in the 
conditions of healthful conception from the stand- 
point of either the mother or the child. 
The two questions in regard to the effect of age SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
103 
under the eighth topic, are of course physical 
hygiene questions of high order; and the three under 
topic seven expressive of attitude, seek information 
profoundly significant for mental health and social 
welfare. These five together with the four 
"hygiene" questions under "Pregnancy and Ges- 
tation,'' give a group of nine questions, practically 
9 per cent of the questions on childbearing, which 
can be regarded as revealing interest of a highly 
constructive sort for the regulation of conduct and 
mental attitude for healthful childbearing. 
In considering the conclusions to be drawn from 
these ninety-eight questions, it is to be remembered 
that they do not comprehend the total amount of 
interest shown in children, or in reproduction and 
its processes. What they do represent as I have 
said, is the interest shown in childbearing as part of 
the woman's conscious experience. The main effects 
of the analysis of the questions of the other groups 
which pertain in some way to child production (aside 
from the important one of increasing the amount of 
interest shown in children) are to add to the number 
of curiosity questions, or to bring into higher relief 
the outstanding facts evident here-they do not ma- 
terially affect the character of the present observa- 
tions. 
The most evident of these observations are that a 
good deal of interest of one sort and another was 
shown in the matter of childbearing; that the inter- 
est was conspicuously negative in trend, there being 
nearly as many questions on prevention and con- 104 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
ditions of childlessness as on all the positive aspects 
of childbearing put together; and that the interest 
revealed in the major processes of conception, 
period of pregnancy and parturition was markedly 
lacking in tendency to think of these processes in 
terms of constructive personal hygiene and social 
ideals-social ideals, of course, including thought 
for the welfare of the child. 
From the point of view of knowledge, with the ex- 
ception of the questions on birth control which un- 
doubtedy reflect definite public propaganda in this 
direction, the questions for the greater part rep- 
resent the "picked up" information which inevitably 
accrues as the girl goes along in family and social 
environment. And aside from the nine questions 
which pertain to some aspect of desirable physical 
or mental adjustment and the one which asked 
whether the use of anesthetics at childbirth has any 
effect on the child, the reading of the questions on 
the positive aspects of the subject gives much the 
same impression of hodgepodge curiosity as might 
be expected in reading the crude and uninstructed 
questions of children. Modern movements in hygiene 
consisting as they do in emphasis upon intelligent 
regimen, normal development and prevention seem 
to have flourished largely in vain as far as ideas of 
young women on childbearing are concerned. With 
as systematic, efficient and persistent endeavor on 
the part of a public-spirited group of women to 
spread scientific knowledge in regard to the con- SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
105 
ditions of healthful conception and normal, i.e., pain- 
less, and joyful bearing of children, as has obtained 
for several years past in regard to arousing inter- 
est in the spread of knowledge relative to birth con- 
trol, a very different line of questions could have 
been expected. 
This is not to be interpreted in any sense as an 
attack upon birth control propaganda, or as an ex- 
pression of disbelief relative to its importance. I 
am simply calling attention to the fact that while 
practically 28 per cent of the questions on child- 
bearing of this representative group of young 
women expressed interest in birth control; there was 
not a question which showed interest in healthful 
conditions of conception, none directed toward get- 
ting information in regard to normal parturition, 
and but two clearly and explicitly directed toward 
the hygiene of pregnancy. And these I would say 
are very important factors of childbearing concern- 
ing which intelligent interest might well be aroused 
on the part of young women. 
Leucorrhea ("Whites"): 
There was no use of the term leucorrhea. 
"Whites," "white flow" or "flow of white matter" 
were used in eleven of the questions, and "albumi- 
nous discharge" in two. 106 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Leucorrhea-13 
I. Whites (Albuminous Discharge, White Flow) : 
(a) Requests for the explanation, or cause, or origin, 
of the "flow of white matter," "whites," or 
"albuminous discharge" 6 
(6) What the importance or function of the white 
flow is 2 
(c) Whether the flow of white matter is natural or 
shows that something is wrong 2 
(d) Whether the flow of white matter has anything to 
do with desire for sexual intercourse 1 
(e) Whether childbirth after marriage is affected in any 
way if a girl has whites when single 1 
(/) How the whites should be cared for 1 
13 
Granting a different member for each of the ques- 
tions, 8 per cent of the group are represented by the 
thirteen questions. Only the one under "f" which 
asks "how the whites should be cared for" is 
directed explicitly toward the regulation of conduct. 
There was no instance of a question which gave in- 
dication that the questioner realized that the con- 
dition might be susceptible of cure. The three under 
"c" and "e" reveal some evidence of an inkling 
that the discharge might be pathological in origin 
or effect but in general the condition seems to have 
been accepted as natural. 
The special significance of these questions as a 
group, is the light they throw upon the status of 
knowledge of the questioners relative to a point of 
personal hygiene of so much importance and con- SOME OF THE MORE PERSONAL INTERESTS 
107 
cerning a pathological condition known to be very- 
common among girls as well as among older women. 
As far as they reach they reveal a profound igno- 
rance of an all but universal disorder, one of the 
serious effects of which is comprehended in the 
question which asks if the discharge has any rela- 
tion to desire for coitus. The question under " e" 
has particular interest which should be noted in that 
it makes inquiry concerning the possible effect of 
leucorrhea upon childbirth. With exception of the 
one question on motherhood, this question stands 
out as the one bit of evidence in the whole eight 
hundred eighty questions, of any conscious interest 
on the part of the young women in the relation that 
might exist between physical fitness as a girl and 
healthful functioning in childbearing. 
As a group, these questions have to do with 
hygiene and not with "sex"; and give additional 
evidence of the confusing of ordinary personal 
hygiene with sexual matters, that appears in so 
many of the other groups. CHAPTER VII 
PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
The questions taken up in this chapter are those 
on copulation, venereal and related diseases, and 
sexual feelings and attraction. 
Copulation (Coitus): 
The terms used to refer to coitus in the one hun- 
dred one questions in this group were as follows: 
TERM NO. 
1. Sexual intercourse 29 
2. Sex intercourse 27 
3. Sex union 4 
4. Sex relationship 2 
5. Intercourse 9 
6. Interconnection 3 
7. The union 2 
8. The process 2 
9. Intercoursing 3 
10. The function of the sex organ 1 
RELATIVE TO MEN 
11. Prostitution (necessary for) 2 
12. Visit houses 1 
13. "Men going out" 1 
108 PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
109 
TERM NO. 
14. Have more than one woman 1 
15. Submit to strong desires 1 
16. Sow wild oats 1 
17. "Go wrong" 1 
18. "Do something" 1 
19. Attack (a girl) 1 
20. Live with other women besides their wives 1 
RELATIVE TO WOMEN 
21. Something happen to 3 
22. Ruined 2 
23. Falls 1 
24. Guard herself (from rape) 1 
25. Safe (from attack by a man) 1 
101 
The use of common generic terms in some form 
in seventy-one, about 70 per cent of the questions is 
shown by 1-5 of the table, and some more or less 
common makeshift in the remaining 30 per cent. The 
noteworthy features of the terms employed are (1) 
the entire absence of proper specific terms for coitus, 
such as might legitimately be expected from persons 
who had studied biology; and (2) the crudity of 
many of the makeshifts resorted to. 110 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Coitus 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. Necessity for Physical Health: 
(a) Whether sexual intercourse is necessary for the 
health of people (or men and women); or 
"never to have sex intercourse" dangerous to 
health 6 
(6) Physical need for copulation on part of men: 
(1) Whether sexual intercourse is "absolutely 
necessary" for men (necessary once a 
month after 14 years of age; so 
necessary that they have to go to 
houses to have intercourse with strange 
women; so necessary that consumption 
will follow if not; so necessary as to 
necessitate prostitution) 18 
(2) Why sex intercourse is so necessary for 
men that they have to visit houses (or 
how it is that there is a natural law 
that makes it necessary for men).... 5 
(3) At what age it becomes necessary for 
men to have sexual intercourse 1 
(4) Whether there is something wrong wTith 
a man who can control himself and 
not go to houses (or how it is that 
about one boy or man in a hundred 
can refrain) 2 
(5) Whether sex intercourse is the only cure 
for wet dreams (or moral or legal for 
the boy or man when prescribed by 
the doctor) 3 
35 PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
111 
Questions on Coitus (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
IL Nature and Conduct of Coitus; Time; Frequency: 
(a) What sexual intercourse consists of; or how 
carried on (what the man does; what the 
woman should do) 19 
(6) What the best age is for sexual intercourse to 
begin 2 
(c) How often it takes place when people are mar- 
ried 2 
(d) Whether sex intercourse can take place any 
time during the month (or after the change 
of life) 2 
(e) The cause and cure, if any, for pain on the 
part of the woman during sexual intercourse 2 
(/) Why sex intercourse should not occur (or the 
dangers of) during menstruation 3 
(g) Why sex intercourse occurs the first night of 
marriage 1 
31 
III. On Childhood and Pre-marital Experience of 
Women : 
(a) What the effects upon a girl are (or whether she 
is ruined, or how she can tell if she is ruined) 
if a boy or man had sexual intercourse with 
her, or "done something to her" when she was 
a child (at 6, 13, or 14 years) 4 
(&) Whether it is the duty of a girl to tell her 
future husband (or "people") if a man had 
intercourse with her when she was a child.. 2 
(c) Whether or how a man can tell whether his 
wife had intercourse before marriage 4 
10 112 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Coitus (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
IV. Pre-marital and Extra-marital Practice of Men: 
(a) Whether most or all men have sexual inter- 
course before marriage (3); how to tell if a 
man has had sexual intercourse (3) 6 
(b) Why some men live with other women beside 
their wives 2 
8 
V. Desire for Coitus: 
(a) Whether there is a desire to have intercourse 
with the opposite sex; and why such a desire 
exists 2 
(b) At what age desire for sex intercourse is the 
strongest 1 
(c) Why some women never have any desire for 
sex intercourse 1 
4 
VI. Defense against Rape: 
(a) What a girl should do when a man attacks her 3 
(b) How a girl can tell if a man is safe to be alone 
with 1 
4 
VII. Social Discrimination against Men and Women: 
(a) Why it is that sexual intercourse outside of 
marriage is excused in men when a woman 
is "ruined" or "cast out" 4 
VIII. Superstitions: 
(a) Whether pimples on the face of a boy or girl 
is a sign that he or she, has or has not, had 
sex intercourse 3 
IX. Questions of Attitude: 
(a) Why sex intercourse is considered sinful; why 
people shrink from it 2 PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
113 
One of the most striking features of the questions 
for the study of interest is their number; there be- 
ing three more questions on coitus as an isolated 
sexual experience than on the whole complex sub- 
ject of childbearing; and twenty-three more than 
on the subjects of marriage, parenthood and pre- 
liminary sexual behavior (i.e., courtship, etc.) com- 
bined. While questions on this subject are presum- 
ably to be taken as representing the more intimate 
sexual interests of the questioners, and are naturally 
to be thought of as bound up more or less consciously 
with their emotional life, yet the individual ques- 
tions grouped on the basis of their particular object 
of inquiry, bear analysis along much the same lines 
as in the preceding groups. It is possible here as 
with other subjects to discover the trends which the 
interest revealed by the questions take; to gauge 
their constructive merit in the light of present day 
ideals in regard to physical and mental hygiene and 
social responsibility; and to gain some real insight 
into the status of knowledge of the questioners in 
regard to the subject. The most obvious features 
shown by the inspection of the outline are (1) the 
small number of what could be considered primarily 
curiosity questions as I have defined them; the entire 
lack of anything that can really be regarded incon- 
sequential; and (2) the marked concentration of 
questions upon the doctrine of "physical necessity" 
for men. 
The curiosity questions in this group seem to be 
limited to the three relative to desire under "a" 114 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
and "b" of the fifth topic. While these were no 
doubt motivated to some degree by sexual interest, 
in the sense that the inquiry would otherwise 
scarcely have gained the attention, yet lacking as 
they do any particular utility value or special emo- 
tional significance, what they seem primarily to dis- 
play is sexual interest working on the curiosity level. 
The remaining ninety-eight questions, over 97 per 
cent of the total number on the subject, are practical 
questions of genuine utility value for physical or 
mental welfare or both. 
A noteworthy fact in connection with these is the 
comparatively small number of questions which ask 
for information in regard to the conduct of coitus- 
how, at what times, or how frequently it is or should 
be consummated. All questions along this line are 
grouped under the second topic, and excluding the 
one under " g" whose chief significance lies in its 
emotional bearing, they give a group of but thirty 
questions concerned with the actual conduct of copu- 
lation. Of these the five under "b" and "f" (of the 
second topic) ask for information directed toward 
the healthful conduct of coitus in regard to age or 
time, and comprise the total amount of inquiry so 
directed. There was no question explicitly aimed 
toward finding out healthful conditions relative to 
the manner in which the act should be consummated 
or the relation between frequency and health, yet 
modern hygiene and biology have much to offer 
along these lines. The two questions under "e" 
solicit information which might be applicable to PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
115 
remedying the conditions concerning which inquiry 
is made, and so are to be ranked as hygiene ques- 
tions both mental and physical. These with the five 
already mentioned, give seven questions or about 
7 per cent of the one hundred one, which appear to 
show any interest in getting information which 
would tend to make for healthful physical function- 
ing. 
A little larger group of thirty-three questions 
cover a miscellany of attitudes, traditions and social 
conditions which have important bearing upon the 
emotional life of women and hence upon their mental 
welfare. This group includes all the questions 
under Topics III, IV, VI, VIII and IX, dealing with 
the "Childhood and Pre-marital Experiences of 
Women," the "Extra-marital Experiences of Men," 
"Defense Against Rape," "Social Discrimination 
Against Women," "Superstitions," and "Atti- 
tudes;" and besides these the one question under 
"g" of Topic II and the one under "c" in Topic V. 
The thirty-five questions under Topic I are, of 
course, physical hygiene questions being explicitly 
directed toward finding out the relation that the need 
for coitus bears to physical health, particularly with 
men; and from the standpoint of women, they are 
mental hygiene questions of the first rank, for per- 
haps no feature of sex life as it comes to the atten- 
tion of women before marriage, is more perturbing 
than the doctrine of a peculiar need for sexual re- 
lations for men and boys that justifies illicit practice 
on their part. The large part this doctrine plays in 116 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
the interest shown in the subject of copulation with 
this group of young women, is demonstrated by the 
proportionally large number of questions devoted to 
it-over 28^ per cent of the total number of ques- 
tions on the subject. The social implications of the 
doctrine involved in these twenty-nine questions as 
well as their peculiar significance for the physical 
and mental integrity of men, women and children- 
aside from just the question of physical need for 
copulation put them in a class by themselves in im- 
portance ; while the bare problem of the place that 
the need for copulation fills in the physical welfare 
of men or women, as involved in the thirty-five ques- 
tions (35 per cent of the 101), is of itself of suffi- 
cient importance as to render the interest revealed 
of the highest constructive tendency socially and in- 
dividually. 
A summary of these various lines of interest will 
help in getting a hold upon this group of questions. 
Of the one hundred questions whose interest was cen- 
tered primarily in copulation as an isolated sexual 
experience (i.e., aside from its relation to reproduc- 
tion, or to veneral diseases) three, 3 per cent, were of 
the curiosity sort that might readily engage the at- 
tention of a girl prior to her own sexual awakening; 
and ninety-eight or about 97 per cent were utility 
questions of real importance. Of these thirty-five, 
35 per cent of the one hundred one questions on copu- 
lation, showed interest in getting information in re- 
gard to some phase of the questions of the relation 
of the need for coitus to physical health-twenty- PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
117 
nine of them having to do specifically with the doc- 
trine of "physical necessity" for men. Thirty ques- 
tions, about 29^ per cent, represent the interest 
shown in the actual conduct of copulation, the man- 
ner, time and frequency of consummation; of these, 
seven, representing about 7 per cent of the ques- 
tions, showed interest directed toward healthful 
functioning, and constituted the total amount of in- 
terest clearly shown in what could be considered the 
hygiene of copulation as a physical function. Thirty- 
three had to do with mental or emotional attitudes, 
superstitions and fears, and social conditions men- 
tally disturbing to women, and so reveal interest 
directed toward securing better mental integration 
relative to sex life. 
For the study of what may be considered genuine 
sexual interests, this group of questions is one of 
the most important we have. Its careful considera- 
tion pretty well reveals the state of knowledge of 
the girls throughout the whole field of sexual mat- 
ters, and strikingly reveals the level of intelligence 
that gives shape to their interests along these lines. 
In the first place it is to be recognized that there 
is a good deal of interest in coitus as such, as we 
might say-that is, as a practice or indulgence or 
function apart from its biological relation to repro- 
duction, or as a means of spreading disease. The 
next most striking fact Hes in the character of the 
preponderant direction of interest toward illicit 
practice, and as a physical necessity or social 
privilege for men (i.e., toward the superstitions and  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
118 
injustices characteristic of past ages); and toward 
unfortunate attitudes and conditions disturbing to 
the mental peace of women-attitudes and conditions 
which like the practice and privileges of men just 
referred to, are the offspring of superstition, igno- 
rance and social injustice. 
This does not mean, of course, that the informa- 
tion sought is unimportant. I have already pointed 
out that it is most important from every point of 
view. But as a revelation of the state of knowledge 
back of the questions and of level of interest, the 
questions reveal little more than an awakening in- 
terest in finding out if these things are so and why. 
Whereas leading men in medicine, biology and social 
work have long been ready with the information, 
which, if passed on to the young as it should be, 
would have rendered most of these questions un- 
necessary. If the reader finds himself or herself 
feeling somewhat aghast at this last statement and 
inclined to say "Why would you have girls taught 
'such things' I reply that girls who are old 
enough to be taught that boys and men have a need 
for coitus for physical health which gives warrant to 
special privileges in sexual indulgence, as these girls 
evidently had been, and as girls everywhere are, they 
are old enough to be taught that it isn't true. And 
if a girl is old enough to have "something done" 
to her by a boy or man when she is six or thirteen 
years old she is old enough to know that she is no 
more necessarily "ruined" than a boy would be 
under corresponding circumstances. PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
119 
The meagre amount of interest revealed in the 
hygiene of coitus as dependent upon physical and 
mental conditions, time and frequency, and the en- 
tire lack of evidence of thought of it in its natural 
relation to love life between the sexes or as an ex- 
pression of spiritual unity, is in keeping with the 
atmosphere of superstition which pervades the ques- 
tions. So here as with childbearing, modern hygiene 
and modern idealism in sexual relations seem to 
have developed largely in vain. 
Venereal and Related Diseases: 
The following table gives the terms used in the 
seventy-seven questions of this group: 
TERMS NO. 
1. Syphilis (Sifulls, Siflus, Siflis, Siferlass, etc.) 31 
2. Gonorrhea (Gonerea, Gonnerhea, Gonrea).., 9 
3. Sexual or sex diseases 7 
4. Venereal disease 5 
5. Certain diseases (those diseases, the diseases, "disease"). 5 
6. Certain diseases of men 3 
7. Diseases due to sex relationship 2 
8. Diseases due to too much sex association 2 
9. Diseases due to wrong kind of sex communication 1 
10. Disease due to immoral living 1 
11. Diseases which are transmitted from one sex to the other 1 
12. The disease in "Damaged Goods" (taken to be related to 
sexual practice) . 1 
13. Erysiphlis (Erysiflus, Erysifullus) 5 
14. Locomotor ataxia and paralysis 2 
15. Hemorrhoids 2 
77  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
120 
Overlooking defects in spelling, specific terms for 
the so-called 4'venereal" diseases were used in the 
forty questions under 1 and 2 of table, or in nearly 
52 per cent. This shows a knowledge of proper 
specific terminology not evidenced in connection 
with childbearing and coitus. Incorrect spelling was 
the rule. The terms used in the seventeen questions 
under 3 to 5 inclusive are common generic terms 
such as any uninstructed person might employ; 
while the ten under 6-11 have an interest in the 
light they throw upon the erroneous conception of 
the questioners relative to the cause of syphilis and 
gonorrhea. The five under 13 show a confusion be- 
tween syphilis and erysipelas, but the questions 
themselves as shown in the outline as well as the 
fact of their being submitted as sexual questions, 
give evidence that the disease in question was 
thought of as connected with sexual experience. 
Questions on Venereal and Belated Diseases-77 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. Syphilis and Gonorrhea: 
(a) What syphilis is or means (10); want to know 
about (3); cause (3); cure of (4); preven- 
tion (1); symptoms (1) 22 
(b) Whether transmitted by heredity (1); whether 
it is true that syphilis can be caught or con- 
tracted, by kissing (3) 4 
(c) How two perfectly clean people can get syphi- 
lis by "contraction" 1 PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
121 
Questions on Venereal and Related Diseases-77 (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
(d) Whether women can get it from men as well as 
men from women 1 
(e) Whether it is contracted by sex intercourse dur- 
ing menstruation 2 
(/) Whether syphilis causes lameness or paralysis 
in children 1 
(g) Whether there can be sexual intercourse with 
syphilis 1 
(h) What gonorrhea is (3); whether it can be 
cured (2); external signs of (1) 6 
(i) Whether gonorrhea is the only cause for blind 
babies 1 
(j) Whether gonorrhea is caused by intercourse 
during menstruation 1 
(k) Whether there can be intercourse with such a 
disease as gonorrhea. ... 1 
~41 
II. Venereal or Sexual Diseases; "Diseases" (or 
Diseased People): 
(a) Meaning of, or what are, venereal diseases 
(sex or sexual diseases; diseased people) 
(6); cause of (3) 9 
(&) How a certain disease is got; whether it is true 
that if a man gets a certain disease he can 
transfer it to his wife (1); whether sex dis- 
eases are given to clean people through kiss- 
ing (2) 4 
(c) Who and what kind of a person has sex dis- 
eases . 2 
(d) Why s'ex diseases exist 1 
(e) What the effects of sex diseases are 1 
~17 122 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Venereal and Related Diseases-77 (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
III. Diseases through Sex Relations; Diseases Pecu- 
liar to Men: 
(a) Requests for discussion or explanation of dis- 
eases due to "sex relationship" (too much 
sex association, etc.) (3); cause of diseases 
due to sex association (1); effects of (1).... 5 
(6) Whether it is true that certain diseases result 
from the wrong kind of sex communication 
(or from immoral living) 2 
(c) What the diseases are that men have and women 
do not (or of the sex organs of men) (2); 
their cause (1) 3 
10 
IV. Diseases Taken to be Related to Sexual Causes: 
(a) Erysipeles (erysiflus, etc.) what it is; whether 
women get it from men; symptoms 5 
(&) Cause for locomotor ataxia; for paralysis in 
old men and women 2 
(c) Whether hemorrhoids are caused by sexual in- 
tercourse 2 
9 
The questions in this group are in their nature 
hygiene questions, and for the study of the sexual 
interests of the girls in relation to adjustment, their 
value is largely summed up by this fact. The chief 
thing to be gained by the inspection of the specific 
object of inquiry of each question, is the light thrown 
upon the status of the knowledge of the questioners PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
123 
in regard to the subject. As mentioned above a 
more or less accurate acquaintance with the specific 
names of gonorrhea and syphilis was shown by over 
50 per cent of the questions. But aside from this, 
the knowledge of the questioners seemed to be about 
as slight as possible consistent with the fact that 
they knew that such diseases exist and are in some 
way communicable. 
Evidence of the lack of any general intelligent 
body of specific information in regard to the dis- 
ease is found in the elementary or general char- 
acter of twenty-eight of the questions which either 
ask what syphilis (etc.), "means"; or merely ex- 
press the desire to "know about" the disease. A 
background of intelligent information must have 
inevitably led to more specific questions. The erro- 
neous notions inherent in twenty-three questions 
which carry the idea that these diseases are peculiar 
to men or are due to immorality, or are contracted 
by uninfected persons by kissing, give evidence along 
the same line. Specific questions in regard to symp- 
toms, cure, prevention and intelligent questions in 
regard to modes of transmission, are conspicuous 
by their comparative rarity; but are the kind of 
questions that would predominate where there 
existed a fundamental knowledge of the disorders as 
communicable germ diseases carrying serious effects 
and susceptible of prevention and cure. 
In finally considering the interest and status of 
knowledge revealed by these questions, mention 
should be made of the nine questions which have to 124 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
do with the problem of venereal disease in the man 
a girl expects to marry, and which are grouped 
under "marriage." Including these we have a little 
over one question relative to venereal diseases for 
every two of the girls, which gives evidence of a 
pretty prevalent interest. This in itself is most im- 
portant since an interest of this sort once aroused 
is likely to accumulate information. On the other 
hand the lack of definite and adequate instruction 
in regard to their true nature as common germ 
diseases and their modes of transmission and pre- 
vention is likewise evident. 
Sexual Feelings and Attraction: 
TERMS NO. 
1. Passion (passionate) 26 
2. Love (sex love, love between men and women).. 15 
3. Sex attraction 6 
4. Platonic love (friendship) 5 
5. Free love 5 
6. Sex instinct 3 
7. Sexual feelings 2 
8. Sex magnetism 2 
9. Affection for the opposite sex 2 
10. Cold blooded 2 
11. A certain very strong feeling 1 
12. "Terrible fit of depression" 1 
70 
There is nothing particularly noteworthy in the 
character of the terms employed, except a certain 
degree of crudity in the expressions included under 
8-11. PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
125 
Questions on Sexual Peelings and Attraction-70 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. Passion; Sexual Attraction; Sex Magnetism; 
Sex Instincts: 
(a) What is meant by passion (sex attraction, 
magnetism, instinct) or what they are (*6); 
age when strongest (1); cause of (1); 
whether such feelings are innate in men and 
women (2) 10 
(d) Whether the sexual instinct, or passionate feel- 
ings, are stronger in men than in women (3); 
why they are stronger (1) 4 
(c) Whether it is possible for a man to control his 
passionate feelings (3); to be respected if 
he does not (1); what are the physical (3), 
or social (1) reasons why a man cannot, or 
is not required to control his passion as much 
as women 8 
(d) Whether it is right to give way to passionate 
feelings 2 
(e) The cause for different amount of affection for 
opposite sex with different persons 1 
(/) Whether physical opposites or similars attract 
each other more 1 
(g) Whether people covered with a good deal of 
hair are very passionate 1 
27 
II. Love: 
(a) Whether there is such a thing as a sex love 
different from other love 4 
(b) Whether there is a real love between men and 
women, or merely lust or desire; whether 
Tolstoy's idea of love is the true one 3 
(c) What is, or how to tell, the difference between 
love and passion, or love and sex attraction 126 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Sexual Feelings and Attraction-70 (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
(2); how sex love differs from love between 
two friends (1) 3 
(d) Whether jealousy is a sign, or factor, of true 
love 2 
(e). How a girl can tell if she is in love 2 
(/■) Whether it is right to love a man of different 
religion 1 
15 
III. Attitude: 
(a) Why sexual feelings are considered sinful (1); 
why feared (2); whether fear of sex attrac- 
tion is a natural force (1); whether due to 
desire to hide one's true feelings (1) 5 
(b) Whether sexual attraction is purely a physical 
thing, or to be regarded with disgust 2 
7 
IV. Superstitions: 
(a) Whether women have menstruation to relieve 
their passionate feelings (3); why men do 
not have menstruation to relieve their pas- 
sions since women do (1); whether men do 
not need to have sexual intercourse, since 
they do not have menstruation to relieve their 
passions (2) 6 
V. Pathological Conditions: 
(a) Why some women have no affection for the 
opposite sex (or are coldblooded toward).. 3 
(b) The explanation of "a certain very strong feel- 
ing which a girl sometimes has for another 
girl" 1 
(c) What "terrible fits of depression are due to".. 1 
5 PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
127 
Questions on Sexual Feelings and Attraction-70 (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
VI. Platonic Love or Friendship: 
(a) Meaning of 2 
(b) Whether it is possible 3 
5 
VII. Free Love: 
(a) What it is 2 
(6) Arguments, or reasons, for or against 3 
5 
As in case of the questions of the preceding group, 
these also are to be taken as expressive of the more 
intimate sexual interests of the questioners. Be- 
fore investigating the trends which this interest 
takes as revealed by the object of inquiry of the 
individual questions, some light relative to the gen- 
eral level of interest can be gained from the number 
and general character of the questions concerned 
with the concepts connoted by the terms "passion," 
"sexual attraction," and "love." Sixty of the 
seventy questions are divided between these terms 
as follows: 
Passion (passionate feelings )... I (20); IV (6).. 26 q:. 43% 
Sex attraction (Magnetism, 
Instinct, "Affection") I (7); III all; V 
all 19 qs. 32% 
Love II all 15 qs. 25% 
60 qs. 100% 128 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
The table shows a conspicuous centering of inter- 
est upon "passion" and "passionate feelings." In- 
terest in the general notion of sexual attraction 
conies next, while interest in the nature and conduct 
of love is represented by but fifteen questions. Thus 
of the sixty questions devoted to the three phases 
of sexual feelings, forty-five or 75 per cent showed 
interest in its primitive aspects and but 25 per cent 
in the acquired sentiment. Taking love between the 
sexes as embodying the racial ideal, the individually 
profitable as well as the socially constructive mani- 
festation of sexual feelings, the division of ques- 
tions points to interest working predominantly on 
the primitive level and lacking constructive organ- 
ization in connection with individual and social 
ideals. 
The character of many of the questions gives addi- 
tional evidence of both these points-the primitive 
level of interest in the main, and its lack of organ- 
ization around the acquired social sentiment. For 
instance, of the fifteen questions on love, seven or 
46% per cent of them ask blankly if there is such 
a thing as love between men and women different 
from other love, or aside from mere lust, thus re- 
vealing a total lack of basic instruction that there 
is such a state to look forward to. The naive or 
plainly superstitious elements of the twenty-three 
questions included under Topics III and IV, called 
"Attitude" and "Superstitions," and "c" and "d" 
of Topic I, headed "Passions, etc.," leave no doubt 
of the primitive character of the interest revealed. PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
129 
Now following the line of analysis employed with 
the preceding classes, the seventy questions divide 
into a curiosity group of twenty-one questions, 
30 per cent, and a utility group of forty-nine, 70 per 
cent. The latter divides again into questions which 
have a direct conduct value and those having marked 
emotional significance. 
Questions of direct conduct value are: 
1(b) (4) *; c (8) *; d (2) 14 
11(c) (3); d (2); e (2); f (1) 8 
IV all* 6 
VI(b) 3 
VII(b) 3 
34 
Of this group the eighteen marked with the aster- 
isk bear implicitly or explicitly upon the doctrine 
that sexual feeling is naturally stronger and less 
controllable in men than in women, and carry the 
peculiar significance for behavior and hygiene of 
any questions having import relative to the "double 
standard" for sexual conduct. The conduct-bearing 
character of the remaining sixteen is obvious. There 
was no instance of a question which explicitly asked 
for information in regard to the regulation of sexual 
feelings in the interest of physical or mental health. 
The utility questions having marked emotional 
significance, include all under Topics III and V and 
the two under of Topic II. These give fifteen 
questions of big importance for mental hygiene. The 130 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
seven included under "Attitude" reflect traditional 
conflicts and superstitions; the five under Topic V 
are directed toward pathological emotional condi- 
tions; and the three under "b" of the second topic 
concerning the real nature of love between men and 
women have a strong emotional bearing for girls. 
This is not to be interpreted that questions of this 
sort are void of practical significance for conduct. 
The nature of the information solicited would 
naturally be expected to have a decided effect upon 
physical behavior as well as mental, but since their 
immediate bearing is so obviously emotional, the dis- 
tinction is worth making. 
A proportionally large number of this group are 
"curiosity" questions; they include: 
1(a) (10); e-g (3) 13 
11(a) 4 
VI (a) 2 
VII(a) 2 
21 
Fourteen of these, the six first (*6) under 
"Passion," etc., the four included under "Love" 
which ask if there is such a thing as sex love dif- 
ferent from other love, and the four included under 
"a" of "Platonic" and "Free Love" are questions 
of mere meaning or existence. The four last under 
"Passion" which ask the cause, at what age it is 
strongest and whether passion is innate, have a 
little more content value but represent the sort of 
* See I. Passion: (a), p. 125. PRIMITIVE AND OTHERWISE 
131 
information that has value chiefly as knowledge, 
with the minimum effect on behavior. The remain- 
ing three from "e" to inclusive under 
"Passions" show sexual curiosity on a fairly in- 
consequential biological basis. 
Now in summing up the foregoing analysis we find 
that of the seventy questions of this group, forty- 
five or 64% per cent of the number showed interest 
in the primitive aspects of sexual feeling, i.e., in 
sexual attraction and passion; that fifteen or 21^ 
per cent of the seventy showed interest in love be- 
tween the sexes; and that ten or 14 per cent were 
equally divided between "Platonic" feelings and 
"free love." And, considered from the standpoint 
of their utility and emotional significance, that 
twenty-one were sexual curiosity questions having 
little apparent emotional or utility bearing; and that 
forty-nine or 70 per cent were questions of practical 
value for mental or physical welfare or both. 
Of this utility group we found that fifteen were 
questions of mental attitude or emotional import 
having genuine value for mental health; and that 
thirty-four showed interest directed toward getting 
information more directly applicable to the regula- 
tion of conduct relative to sexual feelings. Of these 
thirty-four conduct questions, eighteen were con- 
cerned with finding out whether or why sexual feel- 
ings are naturally stronger and less susceptible of 
control in men than in women, and carry the sig- 
nificance for physical, mental and social hygiene in- 
herent in any questions touching upon tenets under- 132 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
lying the "double standard" for the sexual behavior 
of men and women. These double standard ques- 
tions together with the fifteen attitude and emo- 
tional questions, give a group of thirty-three or 47 
per cent of the seventy, which must be regarded as 
having a high degree of importance for individual 
and social welfare although there is nothing in the 
questions themselves which shows that the ques- 
tioners were conscious of this importance. 
It is a most noteworthy fact that there is not an 
instance of a specific hygiene question, i.e., one ex- 
plicitly directed toward getting information for the 
healthful regulation of conduct in regard to sexual 
feeling and attraction-the first group of questions 
showing such a lack; and no question that gives any 
evidence of interest directed toward love between 
the sexes as an element in normal adjustment or as 
an expression of spiritual grace. 
In summing up the level of interest revealed by 
these questions, certain conclusions seem inevitable: 
(1) that the interest displayed was centered pre- 
dominantly upon the primitive aspects of sexual feel- 
ing as typified by passion and sexual attraction 
rather than upon love; and (2) that the questions 
revealed a lack of basic instruction such as could 
serve as a foundation upon which to build wholesome 
and constructive interest relative to sexual feelings 
and attraction in their connection with healthful ad- 
justment and spiritual development. CHAPTER VIII 
LARGELY BIOLOGICAL 
The groups taken up in this chapter have to 'do 
with "Men and Boys," "Reproductive and Em- 
bryological Processes," "Reproductive Organs of 
Women," "Anomalous Congenital Conditions," and 
"Heredity and Pre-natal Influence." 
Curiosity about Men and Boys: 
TERMS NO. 
1. Men (boys, the male) 33 
2. Reproductive organs of men 7 
3. Wet dreams 5 
4. Male organs 4 
5. Circumcision 4 
6. Gentile (gentle) organs 3 
56 
Number 6 of the table provides the only note- 
worthy feature of the list of terms-"gentile" and 
"gentle" evidently being used for genital. 
133 134 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions about Men and Boys-56 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. Menstruation and Change of Life: 
(a) Whether men menstruate (boys suffer in be- 
coming men; have a time when they cannot 
work normally the same as we do) 3 
(b) Whether boys and men have anything to cor- 
respond to the menstrual flow of women and 
girls (8); what takes the place of menses in 
men (1) 9 
(c) Why men do not menstruate 1 
(d) Whether men have anything to correspond to 
the change of life (2); why men do not have 
the change of life (1) 3 
16 
II. Reproductive Organs: 
(a) Requests to explain or tell about (give names; 
structure; physiology; functions; biology of) 
the reproductive (gentile, or gentle) organs 
of men; or male organs 15 
III. Wet Dreams; Self-abuse: 
(a) What is meant by wet dreams (3); why they 
happen (1); to what kind of a young man 
(2); how often (1); when (1) 8 
(b) Whether boys practice self-abuse much 1 
9 
IV. Circumcision; Rupture: 
(a) What it means, or if it has any meaning except 
religious (2); reason for (1); what the 
organ is that is circumcised (1) 4 
(b) What it means by a man's being ruptured (1); 
cause of (1); condition of male organs after 
a rupture (1) 3 
7 LARGELY BIOLOGICAL 
135 
Questions about Men and Boys-56 (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
V. Sexual Development: 
(a) What is meant by sexual development in the 
boy (1); when it occurs (2); what changes 
take place (2) 5 
VI. Special Characteristics: 
(a) Why men have hair on their faces when women 
do not 1 
(b) Why men are more selfish than women 1 
(c) What men's aims are in taking girls out and 
spending money 1 
3 
VII. Attitude Toward Men: 
(a) Whether any man "is good enough for a girl 
to go with" 1 
While as a group these questions are on the 
curiosity level and concerning men, they are not to 
be taken as expressing "sexual" curiosity primarily. 
Many of the questions are quite as plainly questions 
of physiology and biology as the corresponding ones 
listed under "Menstruation" and "Organs of Re- 
production of Women." Such questions for in- 
stance, as whether men menstruate or why they do 
not, are in no real sense different from the question 
why women do. Neither arise fundamentally from 
"sexual" interest but rather on the basis of an 
essentially intellectual curiosity, quite apart from 
any really sexual stimulus. The same is true in 136 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
regard to the questions on the reproductive organs 
of men under Topic II. They are the kind of ques- 
tion which would be rendered unnecessary by a 
course in elementary physiology in which the re- 
productive systems were treated on the same level 
as the respiratory and circulatory. 
That some degree of sexual interest on the part 
of the questioners actually was attached to these 
questions is, I suppose, to be taken for granted, but 
that such interest is not necessarily inherent in the 
questions as it is for instance, in the questions listed 
under "Copulation" and "Sexual Feelings" is a 
very important distinction to make for our purposes. 
There are thirty-seven such questions-taking in 
those under "Menstruation and Change of Life," 
all under the second and fifth topics dealing with 
"Reproductive Organs" and "Sexual Develop- 
ment," and "a" under Topic VI which asks why 
men have hair on their faces. The trend of interest 
primarily revealed in these questions is toward in- 
formation which ordinary non-sexual curiosity 
might seek. It is the fact that sexual development 
had taken place on the part of the questioners prior 
to gaining the information, that gives the questions 
a peculiar sexual interest and significance. The pre- 
or non-sexual curiosity of little children seeks the 
same sort of knowledge up to the level of their in- 
telligence or opportunity for observation. 
The particular importance of all this consists in 
the fact that of this group of fifty-six questions LARGELY BIOLOGICAL 
137 
which show the sort of curiosity or interest girls 
have for boys and men as "the opposite sex," thirty- 
seven or 66 per cent were concerned with elementary 
facts of physical structure and physiology; and that 
curiosity relative to these facts-which naturally ap- 
pears as a part of the pre- or non-sexual curiosity of 
all normal children had, through failure of satisfac- 
tion at the proper time, come to occupy a leading 
place in late adolescent interest relative to men. 
Thus, as with the questions on sexual feelings and 
attraction, the interest revealed here is predomi- 
nantly toward the elemental and primitive. 
The remaining nineteen divide into a group of 
four "utility" questions and a group of fifteen 
which are genuine "sexual" curiosity questions-in 
the sense of being dependent upon sexual develop- 
ment and interest. 
Taking the sexual curiosity group first, we find 
that thirteen of these (including those under "Wet 
Dreams, etc." and the four on circumcision) show 
interest in physical habits or practices of real im- 
portance; and that the two questions under "a" 
and "6" of the sixth topic dealing with "Special 
Characteristics" are directed toward mental and 
social characteristics. All thirteen are aimed toward 
the better understanding of essential sexual differ- 
ences. The characteristic feature of this group of 
thirteen sexual curiosity questions in contrast to the 
preceding thirty-seven, is that the former are ex- 
pressive of what may be called "legitimate" sexual 138 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
interest in the sense of corresponding to the age and 
sexual development of the questioners; whereas the 
latter consists of questions which normally arise in 
childhood and puberty as part and parcel of a 
natural curiosity "to know"-later acquiring a 
peculiar sexual flavor because of inaccessibility of 
information when the questions normally arise. 
Four questions including the three on rupture 
which have a value for physical hygiene, and the 
one under Topic VII (asking if "any man is good 
enough for a girl to go with" and which has a strong 
emotional significance), give a small group of 
utility questions. Again as in case of sexual feel- 
ings, there occurs no question in this group which 
is explicitly directed toward the hygiene of sexual 
development and life of boys and men. 
These fifty-six questions do not of course, tell the 
whole story of the interest revealed in men by the 
total mass of questions submitted. Other inquiries 
as we have seen, have been listed under copulation 
and sexual feelings, and still others are to come, 
particularly under "Marriage," "Preliminary Sex- 
ual Behavior" and "Prostitution." 
The present group consists of questions which 
were judged as being concerned with physical and 
mental attributes of men as these might appear 
aside from his actual sexual relations with or to 
women. And as far as these questions reveal, no 
interest had been established in the hygiene of the 
sexual development and habits of boys and very LARGELY BIOLOGICAL 
139 
little interest was shown in mental characteristics 
and differences, the understanding of which would 
tend to make for better mental and social adjust- 
ment between the sexes-the dominating interest as 
shown by the greater number of questions being 
along the lines of primitive and childhood level of 
curiosity in the gross differences of structure and 
function. 
Reproductive and Embryological Processes: 
A large variety of expressions were used in the 
questions in this group, but little would be gained by 
giving them in tabulated form. Wherever anything 
particularly noteworthy occurred in the terms used 
or mode of expression, it is reproduced in the out- 
line. The use of "technical" terms for the processes 
referred to, was confined to the questions under "a" 
and "6" of the first topic, where "reproduction" 
was used in seven questions and "ovary" was used 
twice incorrectly. Aside from the scarcity of tech- 
nical terms, the crudity of expression in some of the 
questions, forms the marked feature of the language 
used. 140 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Reproductive and Embryological Processes-54 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. Reproductive Processes: 
(a) Requests to explain the process of reproduction 
(4); to explain "how reproduction is accom- 
plished in human beings as compared with 
other animal bodies" (2); "how carried on 
in human beings, animals and fish" (1).... 7 
(b) "How the union of protoplasm is brought 
about" (1); "how the ovary is fertilized" 
(2); "how a human being gets started" (1). 4 
11 
II. Development before Birth: 
(a) How the child develops before birth (5); the 
stages through which the child passes before 
it is born (2); the description of the de- 
velopment from a single cell to the time when 
the child can leave the body (1) 8 
III. Determination of Sex: 
(a) Upon what the sex of the child depends (3); 
when the sex of the child can first be known 
(2); whether sex can be controlled (1).... 6 
(b) Whether frequency of (1), or time of sexual 
intercourse relative to menstruation (1), de- 
termines the sex of the child; whether it is 
"true that if the man is very passionate at 
the time of sexual intercourse, the result is a 
girl" (1) 3 
(c) The cause of the prevalence of one sex over 
the other in some families of children (3); 
why the first bom is usually a boy (1).... 4 
13 LARGELY BIOLOGICAL 
141 
Questions on Reproductive and Embryological Processes-54 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
IV. Twins; Triplets, etc.: 
(a) Cause for twins, triplets, etc. (7); whether it is 
hereditary to have twins (1) 8 
V. Parturition: 
(a) The "history of the birth of a child" (1); "how 
a baby no matter how small it is can pass 
through so small a place as the womb is" 
(1); how it can come into the world (2); 
"how a baby can come from the body of the 
mother" (1) 5 
VI. Mother's Milk: 
(a) Cause of milk as soon as a woman becomes a 
mother (1); origin of (2); when formed 
(1) 4 
VII. Veil (Superstitions): 
(a) Meaning of a child being bom under a veil 
(1); why some children are born under a 
veil (2); whether such children have the gift 
of second sight (2) 5 
The value of this group of questions for the study 
of interest lies particularly in their number as in- 
tellectual curiosity questions relative to child pro- 
duction. The fifty-four questions give a little over 
one question for every three members, and by their 
mere number reveal a large amount of interest 
directed toward the biological processes of repro- 
duction-the determination of the sex of the child 
taking lead as an object of interest. The language 
of the questions as well as the specific objects of 142 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
inquiry, show a curious and interesting combination 
of the effects of scholarly instruction, ordinary lay 
interests, age-old superstitions arid blank ignorance. 
The effects of instruction in high school biology are 
evident in the questions on the "Reproductive 
Processes" and " Development before Birth," where 
several of the questions are highly intelligent and 
well phrased. The use of the term "ovary," how- 
ever, simply shows the ignorance of the questioners 
in regard to what the ovary is, and something of the 
futility of teaching plant and animal biology with 
the hope that the taught will naturally absorb knowl- 
edge of their own bodies and its functions as a sort 
of mental by-product. The superstitions expressed 
under of Topic III on the "Determination of 
Sex," form a curious contrast with the scientific 
questions relative to development before birth, and 
merely add to otherwise abundant evidence of the 
fact that whatever high school science may have ac- 
complished for the girls, it had not to any great ex- 
tent disturbed the even tenor of the paths of super- 
stition as they everywhere permeate the realm of 
sex in the instruction of girls. Further discussion 
of the significance of this group relative to the whole 
subject of child production, comes up later. 
Reproductive Organs of Women: 
The language used in this group of questions is 
particularly interesting since the information sought 
has to do with the parts of the body of women, and LARGELY BIOLOGICAL 
143 
so might be expected to show some degree of in- 
telligent instruction. 
TEEMS NO. 
1. Reproductive organs 10 
2. Sex, or sexual organs 4 
3. The organs 8 
4. Vital organs 2 
5. Parts of a woman 2 
6. Opening of the body 3 
7. Maiden 4 
8. Virgin (cloth of virginity) 2 
9. "Himan" (for hymen) 1 
10. "Utris" (for uterus) 1 
11. "Ovary in the uterus" 1 
12. Ovary (see 11(c)) 1 
13. Navel 3 
42 
Ten of the questions use "reproductive organs," 
technical phraseology with which their biology 
probably equipped them. Aside from this the strik- 
ing features of the language used are its crudity 
and the imperfect smattering of knowledge shown in 
the attempt to use proper specific names such as 
"himen," and "utris," and in such questions as 
when or how "a girl's ovary leaves the body." 
Apart from the general term "reproductive 
organs," "navel" was the only technical term prop- 
erly employed, i.e., correctly spelled and correctly 
applied. 144 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Reproductive Organs-42 No op 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. In General: 
(a) Requests for the names, location, description, 
of the reproductive, sexual (sex), or vital 
organs of a woman; or of the organs, or 
parts of a woman (9) 9 
(b) The description of the physiology or func- 
tions of the vital organs (or parts) of a 
woman 2 
11 
II. Special Organs: 
(a) What organ inside a woman makes it possible 
for her to give birth (3); what the "utris" 
is (1) 4 
(b) What and where the opening is where the child 
comes out 3 
(c) Whether there are "two ovaries in the uterus 
and if so why only one is active" (1); 
whether "the undeveloped ovary leaves the 
body during menstruation, and if not when 
it does leave the body" 2 
(d) What the "himan" is (1), the maiden (2), the 
virgin (1), the cloth of virginity (1); where 
the maiden of a girl is (2) 7 
(e) What the navel is (2); its function (1) 3 
19 
III. Development of the Sexual Organs: 
(a) When the development of the sexual organs of 
a girl occurs (2); when it stops (1); how 
a girl's organs develop sexually, or what 
changes take place (3) 6 
VI. Care or Hygiene of the Reproductive Organs: 
(a) How to take care of the organs (3); what care 
should be given the body to prevent diseases LARGELY BIOLOGICAL 
145 
Questions on Reproductive Organs-42 (Continued) No Qp 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
of the sex organs of girls and married women 
(1); whether vigorous exercise (1) or danc- 
ing (1) injures the reproductive organs of 
a girl 6 
With the exception of the three relative to the 
navel under " e" of the second topic, the questions 
of this group have to do with the genital organs of 
women. Since the notion that children are born 
through the navel is not uncommon among girls, and 
has been met with many times by the writer among 
mature women, particularly teachers, it seems legit- 
imate to include the questions in this group. The 
fact too, that they were submitted with questions on 
sexual subjects, seems to indicate some connection 
of the navel with sexual function in the mind of the 
questioners. 
Two trends of interest in regard to the reproduc- 
tive organs of women are clearly discernible: in- 
terest in hygiene shown by the six under "Care or 
Hygiene of the Reproductive Organs"; and interest 
in names, description and functions, shown by the 
remaining thirty-six. The former swell the number 
of hygiene questions concerning the care of the body, 
and the latter are to be added to similar questions 
to be found under "Curiosity in Regard to Boys and 
Men," and to the general group of questions con- 
cerned in getting information concerning the organs 
of the body and their functions and give additional 
evidence of interest revealed along these two lines. 146 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
The closer inspection of the character of the ques- 
tions, and of the level of inquiry, leads to the con- 
clusion that as far as these questions show, there 
was present very little knowledge indeed, in regard 
to the genital organs. In the first place, the general 
character of over half of the questions (under I, 
III, IV), where the reproductive organs are referred 
to in toto, the frequent employing of such terms 
as "vital organs," "the parts of a woman," or 
simply "the organs"; and the entire absence of the 
unequivocally correct usage of the proper name of 
any specific genital organ, seem to exclude the prob- 
ability of basic information upon which to build 
specific questions. 
Of the thirty-six directed toward physiology but 
three, (I(&) and 11(e)*), really reach the level of 
function; the remaining thirty-three being concerned 
with mere names, location, development, or in gen- 
eral terms "description"-that is, the information 
sought is for the most part on the most elementary 
level. The character of such specific questions as 
were submitted (under II), where, besidesdhe gen- 
eral crudity of the expressions employed, uterus is 
apparently thought of as something that holds the 
ovaries as the ovary of the plant does the ovules, 
and the ovary as something that passes from the 
body, adds to the evidence of a lack of fundamental, 
foundational knowledge on the part of the ques- 
tioners relative to the genital organs of women. The 
final conclusions concerning the status of interest 
and knowledge of girls relative to their own genital LARGELY BIOLOGICAL 
147 
organs and their proper care will be considered 
later. The particular contribution of this group of 
questions is the additional number showing interest 
in getting information of essentially physiological 
sort, and the elementary level of most of the infor- 
mation sought. 
Anomalous Congenital Conditions 
Heredity and Pre-natal Influence 
Since in both these groups the inquiry is concerned 
with conditions of children, they can be treated to- 
gether to some extent. 
Questions on Anomalous Congenital Conditions-36 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. Still Birth; Physical Imperfections: 
(a) Why some babies are born dead 5 
(b) Why some babies are born blind or crippled 
(1); with some members missing (1); in un- 
natural forms (1); with hare lip (3); with 
birthmarks (6) 12 
17 
II. Hermaphroditism: 
(a) Whether there really is such a person as part 
man and part woman (4); what a "morphro- 
dite" is, or means, or is like (6); whether 
queer mentally in any way (1*); what the 
special name is for a person who is part 
man and part woman (1), cause of (4).... 16 
III. Mental Conditions: 
(a) What the cause is for some children being bom 
stupid or imbecile 3 148 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Heredity and Pre-natal Influences-20 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. Nature and Influence of Heredity: 
(a) What heredity is (1); what its influence upon 
people is (2); whether the influence of he- 
redity can be overcome (1) 4 
II. Physical Resemblance; Disease; Habits: 
(a) The reason for children's resembling their 
parents (2); whether girls take after the 
father and boys after the mother, or vice 
versa (1) 3 
(b) Whether parents transmit diseases to their 
children (1); why it is that if parents are 
sickly their children are sickly too 2 
(c) Whether the offspring of drunkards are likely 
to become drunkards 1 
6 
III. Mental Traits; Thoughts: 
(a) Whether the traits of the mentally stronger 
parent carry over to the children (1); 
whether the thoughts of the mother (during 
gestation) are transferred to the child, or 
influence its future life (2); whether some- 
thing is transferred from the parents to cause 
"the stupidity which some children have" (1) 4 
(b) Why all the children of the mentally defective 
are not defective when some are 1 
(c) Why some children are born defective (2), or 
epileptic (1), when none of the ancestors, or 
parents, are that way 3 
8 LARGELY BIOLOGICAL 
149 
Questions on Heredity and Pre-natal Influences-20 (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
IV. Superstitions: 
(a) Why people say that a deformed child is the 
result of sexual sin on the part of the parents 
(1) 1 
(b) Why people say it is the parents' fault when 
children are bom idiots 1 
2 
The thought naturally arises in connection with 
the questions in regard to anomalous congenital con- 
ditions, whether they were stimulated chiefly by in- 
terest in children, or by natural curiosity in the 
unusual or abnormal; and in connection with those 
on heredity and pre-natal influence whether the 
questions arose primarily on the basis of, and in- 
terest in, the questioners' own experience as chil- 
dren, or on the basis of interest in the welfare of 
future children-whether the underlying interest 
Was primarily in themselves as children, or in the 
future generation. The internal evidence of the 
questions in the first group in (1) that they are 
concerned entirely with causes or reasons for, and 
not at all with prevention, and (2) the comparative 
concentration on such striking phenomena as herma- 
phroditism and birth marks, seems to indicate that 
the stimulus back of the questions was chiefly 
curiosity in the novel. And in the second group, 
the fact that the experience of the questioners had 150 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
been that of the child and not the parent, together 
with the well known tendency of parents and rela- 
tives to trace the appearance and traits of the chil- 
dren to this or that ancestor, and particularly the 
scarcity of questions plainly revealing personal in- 
terest in future motherhood, seem to favor the judg- 
ment that interest in, or curiosity relative to, present 
conditions rather than feeling for the welfare of the 
future generation, acted chiefly as stimulus. But 
it is the direction that the interest takes relative to 
"sexual" subjects, and the place the information 
sought would tend to fill in the economy of the 
woman's life together with the status of knowledge 
revealed, that we are concerned with. And the in- 
terest in both these groups is directed toward the 
physical and mental conditions of children as de- 
termined by the time of birth. 
In the group on anomalous conditions two ques- 
tions (the one under 11(a)* and the one under Topic 
HI), are concerned with mental conditions; and the 
remaining thirty-four with physical imperfections 
and inadequacies. In every instance, whatever may 
have served as stimulus for the question, the inquiry 
is directed toward information of vital importance 
for mothers and desirable for teachers. Funda- 
mentally they are hygiene questions. Their particu- 
lar significance for this study aside from the interest 
they reveal in children, and in conditions which the 
knowledge and application of laws of heredity and 
hygiene would tend to eradicate, consists in the fact 
* See II. Hennaproditism: (a), p. 147. LARGELY BIOLOGICAL 
151 
that the information sought by these questions took 
rank in the minds of those who asked them as 
"sexual" matter, and as such had shared the taboo 
involving sexual subjects which would tend to inhibit 
free inquiry. 
As a class, the questions under the second group 
must be ranked as hygiene. They comprise almost 
the entire amount of interest revealed in what can 
be construed as interest in heredity. Their special 
significance aside from this consists in (1) their ele- 
mentary character and the ignorance of the basic 
facts of the "Mendelian" principles revealed; and 
(2) the fact that, again as in case of the questions 
on anomalous congenital conditions, the information 
sought while recognized by present day science to 
be of the utmost importance for the integrity of 
society, was bound up in the minds of questioners 
with "sexual" interests, and being so bound up 
shared its taboo as a matter for intelligent investi- 
gation. 
Now granting each question to have been asked 
by a different girl, the twenty questions give 12^ 
per cent of the group represented. Two other ques- 
tions, one asking if it is hereditary to have twins, 
and the other if "the disease in 'Damaged Goods' 
is really hereditary," complete the total amount of 
inquiry on heredity and pre-natal influence, and 
raises the proportion of the girls represented to 
about 14 per cent. This small amount of interest 
revealed in so important a subject may of course be 
explained in two ways, one on the inference that the 152 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
rest of the group were so well informed on the sub- 
ject as to feel no need of further information, and 
the other that they lacked the ground knowledge and 
active interest necessary to stimulate questions. 
Both the fact of the small number of questions on 
eugenics under marriage and the elementary and 
general character of the few submitted, and the in- 
ternal evidence of the questions here, discredit the 
former inference. The basic facts of the Mendelian 
principles of heredity are ordinarily so fascinating 
and stimulating to further inquiry, that the entire 
absence of questions showing this basic knowledge, 
seems to preclude the inference that any general 
knowledge of them existed-but rather to point to 
the conclusion that such knowledge must have been 
pretty generally lacking. 
Taken together these two groups give fifty-six 
questions showing interest in the physical conditions 
of children as these are determined by the character 
of the germplasm, conditions of pre-natal life, or 
disease or other inadequacies on the part of parents. 
Summarizing the points brought out in the analysis 
of the questions, we find that four of the fifty-six 
questions were explicitly concerned with getting in- 
formation in regard to the meaning and influence of 
heredity; sixteen were concerned with finding out 
the possible connections between physical and men- 
tal qualities of children and corresponding attributes 
in parents; and thirty-six with the cause or explana- 
tion of physical or mental anomalies of children con- 
sidered apart from any parental connection. There LARGELY BIOLOGICAL 
153 
was no evidence in these thirty-six that the ques- 
tioners had any notion that the conditions referred 
to might have their origin in imperfections on the 
part of parents. 
In view of the importance of the information 
solicited, these are all to be ranked as questions of 
hygiene value. There was no evidence, however, of 
the knowledge of the scientific principles usually 
spoken of in brief as the "Mendelian" principles 
of heredity. "While both the very small number of 
questions which deal explicitly with the subject (four 
in this group, and the two quoted on page 151), as 
well as the absence of evidence of knowledge of the 
fundamental principles, points to the conclusion that 
intelligent interest in heredity was pretty generally 
lacking. 
The entire number are to be taken as increased 
evidence of the confusion of important biological 
and social issues with the more personal interests of 
* ' sex. ' ' CHAPTER IX 
SOCIAL AND ANTI-SOCIAL 
In this chapters are gathered the questions on 
"Marriage,'' "Preliminary Sexual Behavior," and 
"Motherhood" (three of the most important groups 
we have for the study of interest); then too small 
groups on "Abnormal Sexual Practices" and "Pros- 
titutions"; and finally some questions having to do 
with "Superstitions" and "Attitudes" of a gen- 
eral nature. 
Marriage 
Outline of Questions-50 N0< 0P 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. Relative to the Mate: 
(a) Reasons why cousins or near relatives should 
not marry (4); whether first cousins should 
marry (1); why two brothers should not 
marry two sisters (2) 7 
(b) The danger of marrying a cousin or uncle (3); 
whether there is a physiological basis for the 
law forbidding near relatives to marry 4 
(c) Whether it is the privilege of a woman to ask 
the man before marriage if he is physically 
clean (2); whether it is not the duty of a 
girl's father to find out (1); whether the 
plan of physical examination of men before 
marriage is practical (1); whether it is right 
154 SOCIAL AND ANTI-SOCIAL 
155 
Outline of Questions-50 (Continued) N0 op 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
for a girl to see to it that the man is exam- 
ined before marriage (1); how a girl can 
find out if a man is diseased before she mar- 
ries him (3); how the sowing of wild oats 
unfits a man for marriage (1); whether a 
woman should marry a man who has gonor- 
rhea or syphilis (1) 10 
(d) What the advantages of eugenics are (1); re- 
quests for the opinion of the instructor con- 
cerning eugenic (1) or "hygienic" (1) mar- 
riages 3 
(e) Whether persons of like or opposite tastes live 
happier together 2 
(f) What the effects are of considerable difference 
of age 2 
(g) Whether it is right to marry a man of different 
religion 2 
(h) What the danger is of marrying into a family 
where someone has been born defective in any 
way 1 
31 
IL Age: 
(a) What the best age to marry, and why (7); the 
effect of early marriage on a woman (1).... 8 
III. Marriage Conditions: 
(a) What the facts are that a woman should know 
before marriage (2); what a girl is to expect 
in getting married (1) 3 
(6) Why both men and women grow stout after 
marriage 2 
5 156 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Outline of Questions-50 (Continued) N0 0F 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
IV. Celibacy in Women: 
(a) Why so many nice, or attractive, women are 
unmarried 3 
V. Attitude toward Marriage: 
(a) How a girl ought to feel about marriage 1 
(b) Whether there is really anything about mar- 
riage to make a girl afraid 1 
2 
VI. Legal Protection: 
(a) Whether the law compels a man to marry a 
woman he has ruined 1 
From the point of view of interest, the one most 
striking fact about these is the comparatively small 
number of questions on a subject of so much indi- 
vidual and social importance, and of presumably 
predominant interest to young women. Two other 
features stand out pretty clearly, one being the prac- 
tical nature of the questions as a whole, and the 
other the concentrations of inquiries in regard 
to the mate upon the two subjects of venereal disease 
and marriage to relatives. 
The two questions under "b" of Topic III asking 
why men and women grow stout after marriage are 
plainly of the sexual curiosity type and rather in- 
consequential; the remaining forty-eight fall into 
the utility class and seek information of real value 
as far as they go. 
Sixty-two per cent of the questions on mar- SOCIAL AND ANTI-SOCIAL 
157 
riage were concerned with the mate as shown 
in the first topic, and twenty-one of these or 
67 per cent of the thirty-one were devoted to 
the two subjects, venereal disease in the pros- 
pective husband, and marriage between rela- 
tives. Scarcely less striking is the entire absence 
of questions relative to physical habits of the 
mate in relation to compatibility, and the very 
meagre amount of interest shown in mental char- 
acteristics-the two questions under " e" which ask 
whether persons of like or opposite tastes live hap- 
pier together, being the only ones plainly directed 
toward the subject of mental compatibility. 
Summing up the interest shown in the character 
of the mate, interest in marriage with relatives 
comes first with eleven questions; interest in the 
possibility of venereal disease in the man is a close 
second with ten; and interest in conditions of 
hygiene implicit in the three questions on eugenic 
or "hygienic" marriage and the one under "A" 
comes next with four questions. Of the six remain- 
ing, two are questions of "right," and reflect re- 
ligious teachings which would have to be left to the 
individual and his church; the other four give the 
only questions showing any interest in what is in- 
cluded in "compatibility"; both physical and men- 
tal fitness for each other being involved in the ques- 
tions on disparity in age, and the two relative to 
similarity of tastes being explicitly directed toward 
finding out favorable mental conditions for happi- 
ness.  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
158 
Taking the group as a whole we have to accept the 
fact that in view of the importance of the subject 
there was shown a comparatively small amount of 
interest in marriage-there being somewhat less 
than one question for every three girls. Of other 
conclusions which seem warranted the following are 
the most significant: 
1. That as far as the questions reach there was a 
marked tendency to consider marriage from the 
standpoint of physical hygiene-a reflection no 
doubt of various social propagandas of recent years; 
2. That there was a very conspicuous interest in 
marriage between relatives-due I am inclined to 
think, to lack of male companions other than 
relatives; 
3. That there was very little interest revealed in 
physical or mental attributes as the basis of com- 
patibility, very little evidence of intelligent interest 
in the actual conditions of married life, and no evi- 
dence of interest in marriage in its ideal aspects- 
as an education and discipline and means of en- 
trance into a larger and fuller life. 
Preliminary Sexual Behavior: 
The questions here are grouped together on the 
basis of interest shown in conventional companion- 
ship between the sexes outside of marriage, and are 
taken as representing the sort of interest that natur- 
ally leads to love and marriage-either interest in 
beaux or in the social contacts which lead to their 
attainment. SOCIAL AND ANTI-SOCIAL 
159 
Questions on Preliminary Sexual Behavior-24 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. Kissing; Flirting (Mashing): 
(a) Why is it considered wrong for a girl to kiss 
a boy (or let a boy or man kiss her) (3); 
whether it is a sin to kiss the opposite sex 
(I) ; :••.••• 4 
(b) Whether it is proper to kiss (2); or injurious 
in any way (1) 3 
(c) Whether flirting, or mashing, is wrong for a 
girl (2); why it is wrong (1) 3 
(d) Whether mashing is harmful for a girl (1).... 1 
11 
II. Ordinary Conventions: 
(a) What the reasons are why a girl should not 
take a man's arm, or permit him to take hers 
(2); whether it is "advisable for a girl ever 
to permit a man even to aid her in mounting 
a car when there is no understanding between 
them" 3 
(b) Whether it is proper for a group of girls to 
visit a boys' camp for a day 1 
4 
III. Discussion of Sexual Subjects: 
(a) Whether young women should talk about sexual 
matters with the boys they go with 3 
(b) How boys and girls should talk about sexual 
subjects, "such as motherhood, and the like," 
in their daily conversation 1 
4 160 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Questions on Preliminary Sexual Behavior-24 (Continued) 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
IV. Engagement: 
(a) Why long engagements are considered harmful 1 
(&) Whether an engaged couple should discuss 
sexual matters 1 
2 
V. Superstitions: 
(a) Whether the complexion suffers through the 
innocent companionship of boys and girls 
together (1); whether there is any effect on 
the sex organs when boys and girls go to- 
gether (1) 2 
VI. Attitude: 
(a) Whether sometimes sentimentality toward a boy 
is justifiable 1 
As with the preceding group the one most striking 
feature with these questions is the comparatively 
small number in a field of traditionally absorbing 
interest to girls of the age of those submitting the 
questions. One feels that somehow in all the mass 
of inquiries there must be found some more to com- 
plete this group. In searching the field over I have 
been able to find but two other questions which 
might perhaps be construed as fitting in here. These 
are the two questions asking ''What are the aims 
of men in taking girls out and spending so much 
money," and "Is there any man good enough for a 
girl to go with?" These were judged as concerned 
with the attributes of men rather than with concrete SOCIAL AND ANTI-SOCIAL 
161 
interest in beaus or behavior between the sexes, 
though of course they do to some extent overlap. 
The sort of interest displayed in the questions of 
the physical make-up of men, and those under coitus 
and prostitution, or even those concerning the mate 
under marriage is of a different sort and in a prac- 
tically different field in each instance. Interest in 
finding out about male physiology is not the same 
sort of thing as interest in having a beau or in find- 
ing out whether it is right to kiss or flirt. Likewise 
a distinction is to be made between the interest re- 
vealed in the questions on coitus and those con- 
sidered here. Possibly the four questions under 
4'Defense Against Rape" under coitus might be con- 
ceived by some persons as overlapping this group, 
since the situations involved in those questions are 
met with especially by unprotected girls in their 
companionship with men, where the girls themselves 
are expecting honorable courtship. 
But the situation involved in those four questions 
is something very different from the sort of thing 
the questions in this group are aimed toward. The 
former represent a situation where a girl is the vic- 
tim of attack wThere she will be maltreated if she 
cannot protect herself. The questions in this group 
have to do with willing situations, with interactions 
due to sexual attraction working on conventional 
or at least honorable levels; and, as our American 
social structure has been organized from the begin- 
ning, they represent the only situation providing an 
avenue to marriage. 162 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
This is why girls are supposed to be so universally 
and absorbingly interested in beaux and men and all 
the details of conventional companionship, and it 
is the explanation of the jolt one gets at the small 
number of questions-a jolt the more severe since 
there has been no lack of interest in the personal 
sexual habits of men of an illicit order. There has 
been plenty of interest revealed in men, but a sur- 
prisingly small amount shown relative to the sort 
of companionship with men which, in our typically 
American life, is supposed to offer the ideal ap- 
proach to matrimony. 
The naive quality of a large proportion of the 
questions in view of the age of the questioners is 
another noteworthy feature. On the whole they 
seem to smack of the discussions of early rather 
than of late adolescence-where companionship with 
boys and men is a matter of prospect rather than 
an actual experience of normal social life. One is 
led to wonder if this early adolescent level of inter- 
est together with the small number of questions in 
this field may not perhaps connect up in some psy- 
chological way with the comparatively large number 
of questions on marriage to relatives in the preced- 
ing group, and if both facts may not be the expres- 
sion of an environment where aside from relatives 
there is little if any real social contact with boys and 
men. At any rate, whatever the explanation, the 
fact is that in spite of the large amount of interest 
shown in men and in primtive sexual trends, there 
was strikingly little evidence of the traditional in- SOCIAL AND ANTI-SOCIAL 
163 
terests which we are accustumed to think of as 
occupying a leading place in the thoughts and con- 
scious aims of American girls of marriageable age. 
Motherhood and Parenthood: 
The questions here are given verbatim. 
Questions on Motherhood and Parenthood-4 
NO. OF 
TOPICS AND SUB-TOPICS QS. 
I. Parenthood: 
(a) "What can people do to have healthier chil- 
dren?" 1 
(&) "If to produce a race of non-defectives a girl's 
or boy's mate should be intelligent, healthy, 
etc., how is a girl or boy to know?" 1 
2 
II. Motherhood: 
(a) "What are the facts about motherhood that a 
woman should know before marriage?". 1 
(5) "Is there anything I can do now from a purely 
physical point of view, to make me better 
fitted to become a mother at some future 
time ?" 1 
2 
The point of view from which these questions were 
determined, was defined in Chapter IV; they are the 
questions which were explicitly directed toward 
prospective parenthood or showed specific interest 
in well-endowed children. 164 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
The question asking "What people can do to have 
healthier children?", and the one under of the 
second topic asking what she can do better to fit 
her to become a mother, give two questions which 
show specific interest in the regulation of conduct 
in view of future parenthood, and furnish the sole 
examples of such interest in the whole eight hundred 
questions submitted. We can recall in this connec- 
tion the one question under "Leucorrhea" which 
asked if the "whites" in a girl has any effect upon 
childbirth after marriage, which was pointed out as 
the one question in the whole mass which showed 
interest directed toward healthful functioning on 
the part of the girl and its relation to childbearing. 
We can also recall the question under childbirth 
which asked if "something taken to stop the pain 
has any effect upon the child." There is a sense of 
responsibility for the welfare of the child revealed 
in this last question, and, as has been said, some con- 
necting up of girlhood functioning and childbearing 
in the one on leucorrhea. But when we fairly face 
the issue of interest in the regulation of conduct, 
whether of the girl or boy, for healthy future parent- 
hood, there are these two questions only. 
The outstanding feature aside from their splendid 
character, is the incredibly small number. Incredible 
from two points of view: first because of the meagre 
amount of interest shown in future motherhood 
when our whole social and educational organization 
is based upon the assumption that girls are by 
nature (fairly instinctively) interested in mother- SOCIAL AND ANTI-SOCIAL 
165 
hood; and secondly, because (in an age of hygiene 
where relative to fairly every other phase of life 
from eating to sleeping, and from birth to death, 
emphasis is being placed upon regulation of con- 
duct for health), the regulation of conduct for 
healthful childbearing seems to have found almost 
no place in the intelligent interest even of the ex- 
ceptionally educated girl. 
The situation is not helped by trying to read into 
the large number of questions which show some in- 
terest in conditions of children and reproduction, 
an intelligent interest in physical and mental fitness 
for future parenthood. I wasted weeks trying to do 
it. The plain fact is the interest revealed in the 
questions taken up in these other groups and that 
revealed in such a question as that which asks 
"What I can do ... to make me better fitted to be- 
come a mother at some future time," are worlds 
apart in their practical bearing for the welfare of 
the race and the happiness of women and children. 
And the conclusion seems inevitable that in spite of 
the large amount of interest revealed in children 
and child production (an amount of interest that 
might not, it seems, be duplicated in case of a cor- 
responding group of young men), there was revealed 
an amazingly small amount of personal interest in 
prospective motherhood, and an almost incredible 
lack of interest in the care and development of the 
body in the interest of motherhood. 166 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Abnormal Sexual Practices 
Outline of Questions-17 
I. Self-abuse; Perversion; Self-Pollution: 
(a) What is meant by, or what is, self-abuse (2); 
self-pollution (1); perversion (1); evil sex 
habits (1) 5 
(b) What the cause of self-abuse is 1 
(c) Whether self-abuse is harmful, or dangerous 
to health (2); in what way harmful (4); 
harm of self-pollution (1) 7 
(d) What causes a little child to handle its organs 
(3) 3 
(e) Whether we should "ever put our hands on our 
organs" 1 
17 
Prostitution 
Outline of Questions-14 
I. Meaning; Cause: 
(a) Meaning of white slavery (2); cause of white 
slavery (1); why women must be at the 
mercy of men in white slavery (3) 6 
(b) Whether unmarried life in men has much 
bearing on the social evil 1 
7 
II. Relation to Civilization and Society: 
(a) Whether prostitution is a necessary evil or the 
result of our civilization (1); what the rela- 
tion is between sexual vice and progress in 
civilization (1) 2 
(b) Whether it is true that immoral houses are a 
protection to the community 1 
3 SOCIAL AND ANTI-SOCIAL 
167 
Outline of Questions-14 (Continued) 
III. Government Control: 
(a) Whether there is such a thing as legalized pros- 
titution (1); whether prostitution is under 
the control of the government in the U. S. 
(1) 2 
(b) Whether segregation would mean that the law 
countenanced prostitution (1); what the harm 
of segregation is (1) 2 
4 
Both the above groups are concerned with genuine 
sexual interests, and in both, the questions have im- 
portant hygiene value. The fourteen on prostitution 
have implicitly to do with the double sexual standard 
and swell the group of questions showing interest 
in that phase of the sexual life of men-their par- 
ticular significance is their social hygiene value. 
The whole seventeen on self-abuse, etc., are im- 
portant for personal hygiene in the realm of sexual 
feeling and practice. The seven under " c" which 
ask about the harm or danger of self-abuse and pol- 
lution are, of course, explicitly concerned with in- 
formation of hygiene value, and are to be added to 
the comparatively small number of questions which 
reveal explicit interest in the regulation of sexual 
conduct in the interest of physical health. There are 
two noteworthy features of this group of questions: 
(1) the elementary character of the most of them 
which deal with meaning and cause rather than with 
prevention and effects; and (2) the small number 168 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
in view of the fact of the fairly universal practical 
need for instruction along this line. Both facts seem 
to point to the conclusion of a lack of definite con- 
crete instruction on the subject which every elemen- 
tary school teacher at least should have for the 
public good. 
Superstitions 
Outline of Questions-6 
I. Pimples; Boils: 
(a) Whether there is any special reason for a girl's 
or boy's face breaking out in pimples at a 
certain age (2); whether there is a relation 
(or what it is) between pimples on the face 
and sex matters (2) 4 
(b) Why young men from 18 to 20 have pimples 
(1); boils (1) 2 
6 
Attitude 
Outline of Questions-4 
I. Discussion of Sexual Subjects: 
(a) Whether it is right for girls to discuss sex 
hygiene together 1 
(b) How to overcome the feeling that sexual things 
should not be talked about 2 
(c) Why people shrink from having sexual matters 
discussed-whether it is natural or due to 
false standards 1 
4 SOCIAL AND ANTI-SOCIAL 
169 
These questions were judged as having to do with 
superstitions and attitude but expressed in such a 
way as not to justify their classification under any 
one of the specific headings. 
Superstitions in regard to pimples on the faces of 
boys and boils with men, are very common and as 
girls hear them, are mostly to the effect that pimples 
with, boys, and boils with young men, are the sign 
of sexual experience-or on the contrary, that the 
boy or man is sexually pure and needs intercourse. 
Girls most often hear that pimples on the faces of 
girls are a sign of menstruation, and less often that 
they indicate sexual purity or impurity. 
The significance of these questions comes out in 
the next chapter where attention is called to the 
number and character of the superstitions which 
help form the stock of sexual knowledge of girls of 
even high school education. Occurring in large num- 
bers as they do, they are to be taken seriously in the 
study of both interest and knowledge. 
Much the same is to be said in regard to the ques- 
tions listed under "Attitude." They are questions 
which reveal the traditional and largely supersti- 
tions attitude toward anything pertaining to or con- 
nected with sex which has helped to make the sub- 
ject an indecency among Americans. 170 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
Sex Instruction 
Outline of Questions-30 
I. Time; Method; Content in General: 
(a) When instruction in sex hygiene should be 
given to a girl and boy (5); the best time 
to tell a child the truth about its birth (or 
how it came into the world) (4) 9 
(b) How to tell the child the truth about its birth 3 
(c) What the facts are that any child should know 
about its birth 1 
(d) What the facts are that any young woman 
should know 2 
14 
II. Instructor: 
(a) Whether mothers should always tell girls, and 
fathers, boys, or no such distinction be made 1 
(b) Why mothers do not tell girls about menstrua- 
tion (3); or about "the things they ought to 
know" (3) 6 
(c) What the psychological effects of knowledge 
through unclean sources are 1 
8 
III. Sex Instruction in School: 
(a) What should be taught in the public schools 
on sex hygiene 2 
(b) How (2); when (3) should sex hygiene be 
taught in the schools 5 
(c) Whether sex hygiene should be taught in the 
schools 1 
8 SOCIAL AND ANTI-SOCIAL 
171 
The thirty questions of this group comprise the 
interest revealed in the subject of sex instruction. 
Granting each question to have been submitted by 
a different member, 18% per cent of the members 
were represented as showing interest in sex educa- 
tion-i.e., in the subject of the getting or imparting 
of sex information; and on the same basis, the eight 
under III, give 5 per cent of the girls who showed 
interest in sex instruction in the schools-i.e., pro- 
fessional interest. Comparing the number of ques- 
tions having to do with sex instruction with the 
whole number submitted, less than 3y2 per cent of 
the 880 were concerned in any way with imparting 
sex information, and less than 1 per cent showed 
interest unequivocally influenced by professional 
outlook. 
In view of the fact that the talk which occasioned 
the request for instruction which led to the sub- 
mitting of the questions, was given before a body of 
teachers and mothers to which the young women had 
been invited just because of their position as pros- 
pective teachers; with the additional fact that the 
entire talk was centered upon the responsibility of 
mothers and teachers to instruct children in "sex 
hygiene," the percentage of questions showing in- 
terest in sex education as such seems very low, and 
points to the conclusion that the interest of the 
young women was overwhelmingly directed toward 
getting information of interest to themselves as in- 
dividuals, and not toward teaching. The meagre 
evidence of professional bent as shown by the small SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
172 
number of questions concerned with school instruc- 
tion, seems pretty conclusive evidence of the gen- 
eral, unselected character of the group of women 
(within the limits of their age, education, and city 
environment). PART THREE 
NEW PSYCHOLOGIC FOUNDATIONS CHAPTER X 
WHERE SUPERSTITION REIGNS 
The two must obvious impressions which remain 
from the perusal of the mass of questions are (1) 
the wide range and variety of the material which 
goes to make up the sexual interests of the girls, and 
(2) their ignorance in regard to elementary facts of 
physiology and hygiene which any thoughtful man 
would probably take for granted to be known by 
fairly all women of average intelligence. 
The closer examination of the questions in light 
of essentially twentieth century characteristics in 
way of application of biological truths and preven- 
tive hygiene to human welfare, and in light of twen- 
tieth century idealism in America which (in spite of 
short comings in way of realization), is undoubtedly 
directed toward the application of the best that the 
human mind can contribute to social betterment and 
individual happiness; the impressions which take 
hold the deepest and surest are the almost entire 
lack of constructive idealism displayed in regard to 
just those sentiments and institutions upon which 
human happiness most vitally depends-and the 
fairly incredible lack of penetration of the viewpoint 
175 176 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
of modern science into the thought of girls relative 
to their own bodily functions as women. 
The following tables in which the eight hundred 
eighty questions are brought together on the basis 
of the major trends revealed in the preceding chap- 
ters, verify these impressions and provide a fertile 
source from which to draw practical suggestions for 
the education of adolescent girls. The summary 
gives five "major" groups. 
1. Primitive sexuality group-"primitive sexu- 
ality" being used here to refer to the native or in- 
herited sexual tendencies, and to various primitive, 
harmful and anti-social forms of behavior through 
which they find expression. It includes the follow- 
ing questions: 
101-all on copulation, or coitus 
55-all under "Sexual Feelings" except the 15 in 
regard to love 
56-under "Curiosity about Men and Boys" 
17-under "Abnormal Sexual Practices" 
14-on prostitution 
10-included under the general sex "Superstitions" 
and "Attitude" 
253-c29% of 880 qs. 
2. Acquired sexual interests group-including the 
sentiments which are built up on the basis of the 
native tendencies through the experience of the in- 
dividual, and the conventions and institutions 
through which sexual motives are expected to find WHERE SUPERSTITION REIGNS 
177 
expression for social approval. This includes the 
following questions: 
15-on love 
50-on marriage 
24-on preliminary sexual behavior 
4-on parenthood and motherhood 
93-cll% of 880 qs. 
3. Group showing interest in congenital condi- 
tions and child production. Questions included: 
98-on childbearing 
54-relative to embryological and reproductive 
proccesses 
36-under "Anomalous Congenital Conditions" 
20-under "Heredity and Pre-natal Influence" 
208-c23^2% of 880 qs. 
4. Physiology and hygiene group-used to include 
questions which sought information of importance 
in general or to women in particular, aside from 
any actual or potential "sexual" interest or ex- 
perience. The group included the following ques- 
tions : 
164-on menstruation 
77-on venereal and related diseases 
42-on the productive organs of women 
13-on leucorrhea 
296-33^% of the 880 qs. 178 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
5. Sex education group-which includes questions 
showing interest in the problem of imparting sex 
information. It includes: 
30-under "Sex Instruction"-c3% of 880 qs. 
These tables have the advantage of making very 
clear the actual basis in fact of some of the impres- 
sions mentioned above, in that they make possible 
the comparison of the amount of interest shown in 
primitive sexuality, i.e., primal and basic sexual 
tendencies and their anti-social expression, with the 
amount shown in the acquired and socially accept- 
able sentiments, forms and institutions of love, con- 
ventional companionship, marriage and parenthood. 
They also bring out two other very important facts 
(1) the proportionally large amount of inquiry 
which was concerned in some way with congenital 
conditions of children (usually some physical im- 
perfection) and the biological processes of repro- 
duction; and (2) the large amount of inquiry that 
was directed toward information which considera- 
tions of health and common sense must rank as sub- 
ject matter of physiology and hygiene and not as 
sexual matter from any legitimate social point of 
view. These two groups together give five hundred 
four questions or 57 per cent of the whole number 
which were concerned with biological and physio- 
logical information lacking which any high school 
education should be considered incomplete, all of 
which, however, held rank in the minds of the ques- 
tioners as "sexual" information. WHERE SUPERSTITION REIGNS 
179 
The harm of such a confusion of personal hygiene 
and biological information with the subject of sex, 
becomes impressive when we consider the nature of 
the information actually involved. Taking the 
fourth group, two hundred nineteen of the questions 
(on menstruation, leucorrhea and reproductive 
organs of women), solicit information concerning 
the bodily organs, functions, and diseased conditions 
of girls and women, of fundamental importance for 
the physical and mental welfare of girls entirely 
aside from any possible "sexual" significance-and 
apart from whether or not the girl ever marries. 
These functions and the pathological conditions in- 
volved go on just the same under the inexorable 
law of nature which makes no allowance for igno- 
rance; and the organs exist and respond as organs 
do to the restrictions brought to bear upon them 
through ignorance of their nature or even of their 
existence-the result being an all but universal un- 
fitness of the uterus for normal functioning in men- 
struation, and the failure of normal functioning of 
the ovaries as glands of internal secretion without 
which healthful mental balance cannot be main- 
tained. The information solicited by the remaining 
seventy-seven questions of the group is concerned 
with common infectious, preventable, or even 
hereditary diseases which have no necessary rela- 
tion to sexual experience, the dangers of which exist 
wherever people use common utilities. For any 
young person of normal intelligence to be left to 
face life under present day economic conditions 180 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
without adequate knowledge concerning the dangers 
and prevention of these diseases, is to be sinned 
against by a scientific age. This entire group com- 
prising a third of the questions submitted, was con- 
cerned with information essential to the well-being 
of girls, which only a distorted and socially inimical 
viewpoint could designate 4'sexual," but which is 
everywhere bound up in the minds of women with 
the subject of sex and consequently for practical 
purposes of clean instruction, shares its taboo. 
It is also well worth while to take a closer glimpse 
at the character of the information sought by the 
questions included under congenital conditions and 
reproductive processes in the third group, lest we 
carry away the erroneous notion that we have here 
the real thing in the way of intelligent interest in 
well-endowed children. The range of the questions 
included in the two hundred eight, extends all the 
way from the inquiries on the conditions of concep- 
tion under "childbearing," to those dealing with 
physical and mental resemblance under "heredity," 
"hermaphroditism" and "birth marks." The in- 
terest which would comprehend all the questions 
brought together in this group might best perhaps 
be thought of by some such term as "racial"; and 
be taken as representing the interest directed toward 
the whole subject of child production, through the 
processes of reproduction to the character of the 
offspring. As we discovered in the examination of 
the individual questions, there is little here which 
could fairly be construed as showing real interest WHERE SUPERSTITION REIGNS 
181 
in children and their welfare, and little that reflected 
intelligent information concerning the conditions of 
normal child production. With the exception of 
some of the more intelligent questions pertaining to 
embryology which show the effects of high school 
instruction in biology, and the two questions in re- 
gard to the hygiene of pregnancy under "Child- 
bearing," the most of the concrete interest revealed 
was in the mixture of truth and error which girls 
pick up from hearing relatives and neighbors talk 
-or in striking physical anomalies. 
But for purposes of constructive education of 
adolescent girls, the trend of interest revealed here 
is most important; for the questions show a large 
amount of what seems to be a semi-basic, semi- 
acquired racial interest which might by intelligent 
education be brought to bear something of the same 
relation to conscious interest in the production of 
well-endowed children, and to intelligent interest in 
prospective parenthood, that the innate sexual tend- 
encies at their best bear to the acquired sentiment 
of love between the sexes and the institution of mar- 
riage. So there seems to be plenty of foundation 
upon which to build the best for which America 
stands in theory, but in practice utterly neglects. 
If we did not know these questions to have been 
asked by high school graduates and prospective* 
teachers of the twentieth century, they might well be 
taken as representing the inquiries of untutored 
women of the dark ages. 
Using "sexual" broadly to include both the innate 182 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
feelings and acts and their expression in anti-social 
ways and the acquired sentiments and forms by 
which the sexes are brought together, the two first 
groups show two hundred fifty-three or about 29 per 
cent of the questions submitted, revealing interest 
directed toward primitive sexuality and its anti- 
social expression as involved in abnormal sexual 
practices, prostitution and anti-social attitudes and 
superstitions, and but ninety-three or about 11 per 
cent directed toward the acquired sentiments and 
socially approved forms ranging from conventional 
companionship to parenthood. This does not take 
into account in any way the character of the indi- 
vidual questions of either group as it was brought 
out in the analysis in the preceding chapters; and 
it is not meant to underrate the importance of the 
information solicited. The point here is the com- 
parative amount of interest shown in the native or 
inherited equipment and its anti-social manifesta- 
tions, and those socially approved manifestations 
of sexual attraction which represent the racial ideals 
and institutions, and constitute "nature's" contri- 
bution to the young. And on the basis of the num- 
ber of questions we have over 250 per cent as much 
interest shown in what nature provides and its un- 
fortunate manifestations, than in the whole range of 
socially approved avenues upon which the interests 
of American girls of marriageable age are supposed 
to be so concentrated as to render any organized 
education superfluous. 
One other of the impressions mentioned at the be- WHERE SUPERSTITION REIGNS 
183 
ginning of this chapter deserves further elaboration. 
It is what I spoke of as the " fairly incredible lack 
of penetration of the viewpoint of modern science 
into the thought of girls relative to their own bodily 
functions as women"-and we must add here, rela- 
tive to the whole subject of sex. 
The scientific point of view is too generally known 
to call for much discussion. Our age marks the 
apotheosis of the principle of cause and effect 
not only as the foundation of formal science, but in 
the physical welfare and mental adjustment of the 
individual, and in movements for social betterment. 
We live in an age and society where the mental set 
from childhood is toward investigation and intel- 
ligently observed facts as opposed to credulity and 
superstition. In the realm of hygiene the ideal of 
physical health has become a ruling passion of our 
time, as truly distinctive of our age as the ideal 
of bodily neglect for the soul's good was of medieval- 
ism, or of bodily beauty among the Athenian Greeks. 
And everywhere from sterilized milk for babes to 
pure water systems for the community, and training 
camps for boy scouts and soldiers, its watchwords 
are ''fitness" and "prevention"-through normal 
development and intelligently directed regimen. 
In American life the scientific viewpoint applied 
to hygiene has resulted in the acceptance of painless 
functioning and fitness for life's activities as the 
natural state, and of physical pain and disease as 
evidence of pathological conditions of an intelligible 
and ordinarily preventable nature. Now it is just 184 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
this viewpoint which is lacking in this mass of ques- 
tions which reveals the outlook of educated girls of 
our time relative to their functions as women. And 
furthermore, not only is the present day outlook 
relative to normal functioning lacking, but super- 
stition of the most inimical sort is everywhere 
present in the questions as a positive ruling force 
in the minds of girls, relative to both the natural 
functions of women and the relations between the 
sexes. 
Proof of this is ample, and is not to be sought 
merely in the ignorance of elementary knowledge 
revealed. It is possible to be ignorant of facts but 
intelligent in attitude. I recall once when working 
among the southern mountaineers, sitting out of an 
evening with one of the native women watching the 
stars and talking about the various constellations in 
view. I had explained the use of the telescope and 
some of its results, to all of which the woman listened 
attentively. When I was through she said, "That's 
all very well, but you can't make me believe men 
can look into heaven. God would strike them dead." 
It seems fair to conclude that the attitude of this 
woman toward astronomy was still in the supersti- 
tious stage-that there was something far more 
serious at fault than mere ignorance of facts. It 
was the attitude of mind that precluded knowledge 
-that definitely made for and perpetuated igno- 
rance. 
This story is told of a woman who had lived all 
her life, as had generations of her ancestors, in a WHERE SUPERSTITION REIGNS 
185 
mountain cabin remote from the most ordinary 
benefits of civilization. Here are some of the ques- 
tions of high school graduates and prospective 
teachers, in the midst of civilization and culture, 
relative to subjects closer at home than the con- 
stellations. 
Can a man tell that a girl is menstruating by 
feeling her pulse or looking into her eyes? 
Does washing or destroying the napkins while 
a girl is menstruating increase the flow or 
make the period longer? 
Since women have the menstrual flow to re- 
lieve their passions, and men don't, isn't 
it necessary for men to have intercourse to 
relieve theirs? 
Since the menstrual flow is the impure blood 
of the body, how does it become part of the 
new born? 
If a woman is passionate at the time of inter- 
course, does it mean that she will have a 
child, but not if she isn't? 
If a man uses a cover when intercoursing with 
a woman will he get consumption? 
Is "twilight sleep" (i.e., the alleviation of 
pain at childbirth) right? The italics and 
enclosure are the author's. 
Why do seven month babies live and eight 
month babies die? 
Why do boys have to have sex intercourse 
after they are fourteen so they get con- 
sumption if they don't? 
Is sex intercourse moral for a boy when the 
doctor prescribes it to cure him of "wet 
dreams"? 186 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
When a boy has pimples on his face, is it a 
sign that he has had sex intercourse or that 
he has not? 1 have heard both and don't 
hnow which. Will you please tell. 
How is the disease called siflis caught by two 
perfectly clean people kissing? i.e., by "con- 
traction"? 
Is siphilis caught by sex intercourse during 
menstruation? 
Can a woman get siflus from a man as well as 
a man from a woman? 
If a man gets a certain disease, is it true that 
he can transfer it to his wife? 
How is it that about one boy or man in a hun- 
dred can refrain from sex intercourse? Is 
it that he has had something done to him- 
self? 
Is it true that if a man is very passionate 
during intercourse the result is a girl? 
Is it true as people say, that it is the result 
of sexual sin on the part of the parents 
when their children are born idiots? 
Does the innocent companionship of girls and 
boys have any effect upon the sex organs 
of a girl? 
Here are some of the questions which throw light 
upon the attitude of our twentieth century girl 
toward what she includes in sexual interests: 
How should a girl feel about it that she has 
a menstrual flow? 
Why does a girl feel so ashamed because she 
menstruates? 
Is there any decent way of looking upon this 
matter of bearing a child? WHERE SUPERSTITION REIGNS 
187 
Why is sexual intercourse considered sinful? 
Is sex attraction purely a physical thing and 
as such to he looked upon with disgust? 
Is there any man good enough for a girl to 
go with? 
How ought a girl to feel about getting 
married? 
Is there really anything about marriage to 
make us feel so afraid? 
Are there times when it is justifiable to feel 
sentimental toward a boy? 
Is there such a thing as true love between the 
sexes, or is it just lust and passion on the 
part of either or both? 
There is a very great difference in significance for 
personal health and social welfare in questions of 
this sort than in the kind of question which asks 
"Does the undeveloped ovary leave the body dur- 
ing menstruation?", or "What is the utris?" The 
latter show merely the lack of adequate instruction. 
Others such as those which ask the names, location 
and functions of the reproductive organs, or when 
the menstrual flow should begin, the proper length 
of period and amount of flow, etc., show simply the 
absence of basic elementary instruction. While the 
lack of information revealed is unfortunate, the in- 
terest is wholesome and compatible with an intel- 
ligent outlook upon the facts of life. They give 
evidence of neglect on the part of society but not 
of positive detrimental influences. It is quite differ- 
ent with the superstitious notions and attitudes 
quoted, which reveal a positive influence in way of 188 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
instruction which is inherently pernicious. It not 
only makes for and perpetuates the density of igno- 
rance which is shocking on the part of educated 
women of the twentieth century, but works posi- 
tively to preclude the entrance of scientific truth in 
regard to the care of the body and modern idealism 
in regard to sex. 
Girls of the present day are evidently being taught 
just those superstitions, and trained into just the 
same unwholesome attitudes that we of the older 
generation were subjected to in our girlhood-while 
in every other phase of individual and social hygiene 
in the intervening years, our American world has 
undergone an evolution so great as to recreate our 
outlook upon life. Imagine high school graduates 
of to-day asking how tuberculosis can be got by two 
perfectly clean persons by "contraction" in kissing. 
Or imagine women of their age and education ask- 
ing if washing or destroying the cloths used in a 
hemorrhage of the nose or lungs, would increase or 
prolong the hemorrhage! The thing is unthinkable 
in the very nature of our social life, where even the 
children of the street absorb a more intelligent out- 
look of cause and effect. It is only the attitude of 
girls relative to their distinctive organs and their 
functions as women, that could in this age and day 
occupy a brain compartment so air-tight to the in- 
roads of scientific atmosphere, as to make possible 
such questions. 
It would make an intensely interesting and worth 
while study to go through the mass of questions and WHERE SUPERSTITION REIGNS 
189 
select out those which are obviously based upon 
training in superstitions, tracing the superstitions 
involved back to their origins. It would require a 
volume in itself, for the fifty-one questions brought 
together in the outlines under the headings 1 ' Super- 
stitions" and "Attitude" furnish but a small part 
of the whole number. To have listed under these 
headings all the questions showing superstitious 
tenets and attitudes would have disrupted the study. 
For instance, there were one hundred fifty-two ques- 
tions obviously based upon the training of the girls 
into belief in the superstition of the double sexual 
standard that justifies sexual irregularity on the 
part of boys and men, or renders prostitution a 
"protection" to the community, and but six of these 
were listed in the outlines as superstitions. Modern 
science accepts the tenet as that and nothing better. 
Of the total number of questions concerned with 
painful functioning in menstruation and childbirth 
and pathological conditions of the girl's genital 
organs, not one asked anything in regard to the pre- 
vention of such conditions and but six of the eighty- 
one asked for information on remedy or cure.* And 
yet many of the questions were pathetic in the dis- 
tressing conditions revealed. One wanted to know 
"why" she fainted either the first day or day before 
the menstrual flow came on-that as a rule this hap- 
pened. Another asked if it was "normal" for the 
* The author's monograph Adolescent Interests, Archives of Psy- 
chology, Sub-station 84, New York City, gives references and tables 
showing details which corroborate this statement. 190 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
bowels to move at the time of menstruation. She said 
that hers never did and that she sometimes went 
two weeks this way without bowel action-was this 
"natural" or did it show something was "wrong"? 
The questions were replete with evidence of suffer- 
ing, but nowhere did there occur evidence of an 
inkling of light that the conditions were induced by 
abnormalities of development and bad regimen. 
These girls had been drilled as have the generations 
of women before them into the superstition that it 
is natural for women to menstruate and bear chil- 
dren with suffering-than which no more pernicious 
and dishonoring superstition ever afflicted the race. 
It isn't feasible here to go through the various 
groups and point out the superstitions to the reader, 
but a little search will reveal the questions to be 
shot through with the worst that minds impervious 
to the advance of scientific truth could possibly 
credit. 
In view of the seriousness of the social indictment 
created by this picture, we cannot help but raise the 
question whether, after all, it is really a representa- 
tive picture of the "average" American girl's 
knowledge and attitude. There are several factors 
which convince me that it is. One is to be found in 
the mentality and educational opportunities of the 
girls who made up the group. These are consider- 
ably above the average for the total population. 
Hence both in idealism and in accuracy and 
breadth of knowledge relative to sex life and per- 
sonal and social hygiene, the group must be taken 
as representing the best to be found in any cross- WHERE SUPERSTITION REIGNS 
191 
section of our general social structure. Another 
rests in the fact that nowhere in the organized edu- 
cation of the American girl is the slightest provision 
made to instruct girls in regard to their genital 
organs and their care-the only possible exception 
to this statement that can conceivably be made be- 
ing the fact that in high and training schools, and 
in such elementary schools that give special physical 
training work, the girls are told not to join in the 
exercises during their periods. This does not, how- 
ever, constitute instruction in the nature and care 
of their reproductive organs. 
Still another convincing fact is that our society 
not only fails to make any provision for the instruc- 
tion and training of girls for motherhood, but 
actually taboos such instruction as unclean, while 
conventional companionship between the sexes- 
which is the only practical means by which sympa- 
thetic understanding and wholesome love interests 
can be engendered-is not only not taken into account 
in our family and social policies below the leisured 
classes, but is effectively discouraged by our educa- 
tional, economic and sport systems. Add to the 
above the utterly unwholesome attitude that per- 
vades our social life relative to sex, the wonder 
would be where youth could get anything better out 
of it than the adult population provides. So after 
all, the question which should perturb us, is not 
whether this is a true picture, but how by all the 
laws of psychology by which the mind learns and 
interests and ideals are acquired, it could be any 
different ? CHAPTER XI 
A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
Apropos the title of this chapter, I hasten to ex- 
plain that I am not about to promulgate another 
"New Psychology." The philosophic and occult 
woods seem already somewhat over-crowded in this 
respect. 
What I hope to accomplish is to bring to bear upon 
this subject of the special education of girls the 
accepted principles of normal general and educa- 
tional psychology, as these are held by our leading 
American psychologists and educators. This has 
never been done. Some attempt, but all too little, 
has been made along this line in the discussion of 
certain writers on the special education of boys; but 
when they come to the question of girls the best of 
these, in the sense of not being willing to substitute 
fancy for fact in the name of science, frankly say 
that they do not know what to recommend. But 
those who have written most on the subject have 
shown no such commendable restraint. Volumes 
have been and are being put forth relative to the 
special nature of women wherein tradition, super- 
stition, fantasy and personal sexual bias are mixed 
up with anecdote, and foisted upon a credulous pub- 
192 A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
193 
lie in the name of "psychology"-evidence of 
scientific psychology and biology to the contrary not- 
withstanding. 
It seems not at all unfair to point out that many 
of these writers, particularly those who are exert- 
ing the greatest lay influence, are not psychologists 
to begin with. They have not been in a way to 
secure any real background of knowledge of what 
has been accomplished by leading authorities in gen- 
eral and child psychology. They could not be ex- 
pected, of course, to apply principles with which they 
are unacquainted. But even to the scientifically 
trained and well informed in writing upon the sub- 
ject, it strangely seems never to have occurred to 
attempt to apply systematically to the problems of 
the sexual education of girls, the same sound prin- 
ciples of psychology, biology and sociology, by which 
other educational problems have found solution. 
Until this is done, the practical preparation of girls 
for their part in marriage and parenthood, or even 
for individual health, must continue to be subject 
to the same misapprehension and neglect which now 
characterize it. 
One requirement for a sound psychological foun- 
dation is suggested by the wide range of material 
which went into the make-up of the girl's conception 
of "sexual" interests, and consists in the definition 
of the field in such a way as to admit of its being 
effectively handled. Under the best of circum- 
stances this would not be a particularly easy thing 
to do. It is rendered specially difficult at the present 194 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
time by the general spread of the typically German 
philosophy which reads sex into every phase of 
human adult behavior and the most casual reactions 
of childhood. 
Our characteristically American comprehension 
of what is comprehended in sex-though much too 
broad-has always been comparatively narrow, and 
under the influence of biology and hygiene in the 
public schools, has been progressively cut down. 
This change has been most marked in the last two 
or three decades. We of the older guard can well 
remember when any organ or function in the neigh- 
borhood of the sexual apparatus took on sexual 
significance through proximity. Few had the bold- 
ness in those days to speak of the abdomen by its 
proper name-the front pelvic region traveling 
mildly incognito under the cognomen of the more 
remote and hence respectable "stomach." Urina- 
tion and defecation were functions too close to the 
danger line to be freely recognized as having place 
in the bodily economy of really nice persons, par- 
ticularly of the female sex. Even the legs of girls 
from puberty on were looked upon chiefly as sexual 
appendages. Now-a-days we no more hesitate to 
speak of the abdomen when occasion calls for its 
being mentioned than of the heart or lungs. The 
excretory functions are provided for decently and 
above board in our social structure, and attended to 
as a matter of course and self respect. And most 
revolutionary of all perhaps, the legs of women and 
girls have emerged as respectable organs of locomo- A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
195 
tion for walking, swimming, dancing and skating, 
and even as aids in horse-back riding. 
Now this is all very wholesome, and if it repre- 
sented the only, or even the most potent of the 
trends which are determining the character of 
popular sex psychology in America at the present 
time, it would render the task of definition com- 
paratively easy. Unfortunately it is not. 
What is essentially the ground principle of the 
"Freudian" sex psychology first found systematic 
expression in this country about a quarter of a cen- 
tury ago, through the efforts of certain American 
students trained in German universities. The most 
notable of these was Dr. G. Stanley Hall, after- 
wards president of Clark University. The philoso- 
phy which made the sexual impulse the foundation 
of religion and the mainspring of human behavior, 
apparently made a tremendous temperamental ap- 
peal to Dr. Hall. It became the groundwork of his 
courses of lectures on the psychology of religion 
and adolescence, which attracted such widespread 
attention at the time through the nature of the 
sexual theories involved. These lectures finally em- 
bodied in a compendious two-volume work, became 
and have remained the source-book of adolescent 
psychology in America. 
It would be difficult indeed to estimate the in- 
fluence of this work in the American educational 
world. It focussed the attention of educators upon 
the period of puberty and adolescence. It aroused 
a great amount of interest in the special education 196 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
of girls; and stimulated and became the main source 
of ideas for a large amount of literature on the sub- 
ject. In short, it introduced and made respectable 
the subject of sex psychology and education in the 
higher educational circles of the country. This in 
itself was a great achievement, and one for which 
we must remain deeply indebted. But from this 
point on, its influence for the special education of 
girls has for the greater part been either negative 
or harmful. The ideas set forth in the chapter de- 
voted to the nature and education of adolescent girls 
and women, are of the erotico-mystic sort deprecated 
in the first chapter of this book. 
Interest in the subject once aroused, for nearly 
two decades university men and women of the 
country have turned to this work for information 
and guidance. The immediate effect upon the in- 
dividual has been largely a matter of temperament: 
the more mystically, and if we may be permitted the 
phrase, more erotically constituted, finding an 
enthusiastic enjoyment which apparently blinded 
them to the fact that they were reading philosophy 
and anecdote and not modern psychology; the more 
objectively and pragmatically inclined, finding mild 
entertainment in the modern twists given to ancient 
superstitions in so profound and likable a spirit- 
yet realizing that for the practical solution of the 
problems of the education of adolescent girls, they 
were about as illumining as the play of moonshine 
on the 'water. 
The more remote effects for educational purposes A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
197 
-and they have been mostly educators who have 
turned to the book for help-has been much the same 
in either case. The failure of the author to work 
out a tangible and feasible program, and the impos- 
sibility of anyone else's accomplishing such a feat 
on the basis of the ideas set forth, as a rule resulted 
in nothing being done, and in interest in the prac- 
tical aspects of the subject dying out as a flash in 
the pan. 
Aside from this negative influence arising out of 
the impractical character of the ideas, there has been 
one along reactionary lines. It has been manifested 
notably in changes in curricula where girls have been 
cut off from instruction in science in elementary 
school, to make room for sewing and cooking-the 
better presumably to fit them for marriage and 
motherhood. So on the whole the effect upon prac- 
tical education of this erotico-mystic sex psychology, 
which was unfortunately the first to find expression 
among us, and has remained fairly unchallenged in 
its possession of the field, has been negative and 
reactionary. Its real positive influence aside from 
arousing interest in the subject, has been to create 
a good deal of talk about sex, which seemed in- 
evitably doomed to a vicious circle of more talk 
without being able to get out of or beyond it. 
But so far the movement had been confined chiefly 
to scholastic and academic circles, and although this 
has been by no means unimportant, still the popular 
mind, which after all is the measure of national 
health, had remained uninfected. Recently this has 198 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
been changed, and the identical basic philosophy 
under the guise of the "New (Freudian) Psychol- 
ogy" has been progressing by leaps and bounds, 
until it threatens to vitiate our lay intelligence with 
its omni-sexual virus. This "psychology" frankly 
makes sexuality co-extensive with all affective life. 
There isn't anything else. All human behavior is 
"sexual" from being born and nursing the bottle, 
to errors in typing, the pleasantries of refined con- 
versation, and the tricks of declining memory. It 
is a "psychology" which consists in brief in the 
saturation of human behavior with the most concen- 
trated solution of sex, that it is conceivable that 
modern civilization would stand for. It is essen- 
tially the ancient phallic worship written to date 
and made universally applicable from birth to death, 
waking and sleeping. There's no escaping its im- 
plications for even the briefest breathing spell. Its 
growing popularity in America may be judged by 
the enormous output of its literature filled with sup- 
posedly sexual anecdotes, and the extent that its 
catch words have found a place in popular speech. 
I would not be understood as making an attack 
upon what has become known as "psychoanalysis" 
as a method of psychotherapy. My concern here is 
not at all with methods of treating nervous mal- 
adjustments, but to work out a sound psychological 
foundation upon which to build a feasible program 
for the education which my investigation shows is so 
greatly needed. A prime requisite for such a pro- 
gram in the definition of the field in accordance with A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
199 
sound psychological principles. Now this Freudian 
"psychology" which injects sex into all the activi- 
ties of life and makes infancy and childhood a mass 
of highly animated expressions of polymorphous 
sexual perversions (to employ its own highly de- 
scriptive language), is the loudest and most insistent 
claimant in the field as presenting a bona fide normal 
sex psychology. The taint of the omni-sexual theory 
upon which it is practically based has already too 
strong a hold upon popular imagination in America, 
and is too strongly intrenched in the fields of medi- 
cine and mental hygiene to be ignored in any fair 
discussion of the subject. If it presents as it claims, 
a sound sex psychology, then it is to this theory we 
must turn for the solution of our problem. I do not 
believe it does, and it is only proper to give the 
grounds for this disbelief. 
The fact that the Freudian theory runs contrary to 
scientific psychology has been shown clearly enough 
by several of the leading American psychologists. 
One of the briefest and most readable of the articles 
is one by Professor Robert S. Woodworth of the 
Psychology Department of Columbia University, 
published in The Journal of Abnormal Psychology 
for August, 1917. In it Professor Woodworth takes 
up the leading Freudian tenets and discusses their 
claim to merit as reputable modern psychology; and 
where they are found sound, their claim to "new- 
ness"-and at the same time does full justice to 
the Freudian movement in its therapeutic aspects. 
In a discussion of its relation to mysticism in gen- 200 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
eral, and a comparison of its methods with those of 
scientific psychology, a little book of Professor Dun- 
lap's of Johns Hopkins leaves no doubt as to the 
nature of Freudianism, when measured by the stand- 
ards of scientific method. The theory that all affec- 
tive life, all human impulse and energy are sexual 
in origin and aim is a postulate pure and simple- 
pleasing to a certain type of mind-but having no 
relation to scientific psychology which finds a variety 
of basic tendencies and motives upon which human 
behavior is built. The adherents of the theory do 
not attempt to prove it scientifically. If it is ac- 
cepted at all it must be taken as axiomatic, as above 
or beyond scientific proof. But for any hypothesis 
to be accepted in this way, it must have a pragmatic 
value so great as to render it fairly necessary to the 
intelligible understanding of human experience. 
Hence if we are to accept the tenet that all the 
activities of childhood are matters of sexual urge- 
incestuous wherever the parent of the opposite sex 
is concerned, homo-sexual wherever the parent of 
the same sex is involved, and auto-erotic the rest of 
the time-then it must find its justification in its 
value in rendering the behavior of the child more 
comprehensible and manageable. Particularly it 
must show high merit in leading to the solution of 
the problems of the content, aims and methods of 
sex education. 
But it is just on this pragmatic side that the tenet 
fails most lamentably. As pointed out, this theory 
in its essential elements has been before American A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
201 
educators and university men and women for a 
quarter of a century or more. Throughout those 
years it has had the advantages of the advocacy of 
an appealing and influential writer with the prac- 
tical monopoly of the field of the psychology of sex 
and adolescence-and has never yet been capable 
of yielding a feasible program of action. It seems 
significant of its impotence, that in all the truly 
enormous recent and present output of literature 
embodying this omni-sexual theory of child and 
adult behavior, there is nowhere an attempt at a 
clean-cut, intelligible program setting forth what the 
content of sex education should be, what should be 
its aims, and how these are to be accomplished. But 
this is a situation inherent in the theory itself. Turn 
every act of the child into a sexual perversion, and 
in the nature of the situation thus created there is 
nothing to be done but talk about it; it inevitably 
creates a slough of educational despond through 
which the wisest may not hope to find a way. 
Two anecdotes which recently caught my atten- 
tion in an article written by a Freudian adherent, 
pretty well illustrate the practical situation con- 
fronting the parent who seeks guidance in such a 
tenet for the training of his offspring. One was told 
of a little three year old boy who tried to force his 
way into his mother's room when "he knew she was 
disrobing," and was evidently given as an instance 
of early sexual urge. The father was quoted as say- 
ing that he had always believed in giving children 
instruction in regard to sex but that he had never  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
202 
expected to come up against the problem with his 
three year old son! No wonder the poor father was 
dismayed, and it was very noticeable that the 
Freudian theorist did not offer a solution. The 
parent was left to work himself out of the tangle 
into which the theory so easily placed him; and it 
was left to the reader's imagination whether he 
would take his youthful offspring and solemnly in- 
struct him that he must learn to control his incestu- 
ous feelings for his mother, or spank him and put 
him to bed. That such a tale could be recited as an 
example of sexual urge shows how subversive of 
the wisdom that is common sense the tenet must be 
with even the most intelligent and well meaning, 
such as we take the Freudian to be. 
It does not require psychological training for a 
woman accustomed to children to learn that merely 
for a youngster to discover that he has been shut 
out, even by other children, means trouble, and in 
itself is sufficient to arouse a storm of protest or 
grief according to the spirit or temperament of the 
child. Even a piece of furniture that resists his 
efforts will frequently have the same effect. And 
since scientific psychology finds ample explanation 
for such behavior in the impulses of gregariousness, 
fear and self-assertion, to inject sex into it is going 
out of the way to create difficulties which have no 
possible solution and tend only to vitiate the judg- 
ment of the parent. 
The other anecdote was about the same child. His 
mother told him they were going to have a new baby A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
203 
in a few days, and he wanted to know where it was. 
She said something to the effect that she had it 
"here under mother's heart," and he at once asked 
how it was going to get out. While she was think- 
ing, "embarrassed," how to answer, he volunteered 
he guessed it would come out of rivers-"rivers" 
being what he had been taught to call both the act 
of urination and the penis. This anecdote was cited 
as an example of early sexual acumen; but, ob- 
viously, if it shows anything at all relative to sexual 
development, it is merely that the child had not yet 
gained any notion that his mother differed from 
himself physically-and yet this was the infant who 
in the first anecdote was supposed to be trying to 
force his way in where his mother was, just because 
he knew she was "disrobing!" 
In this second story the student of child psychol- 
ogy might find some degree of mental precocity in 
making associations on the part of a three year old, 
but there is no evidence of sexual precocity or in- 
terest. It represents the sort of questions and com- 
ment that children make about everything which 
gets their attention, and with a mentally alert child 
about everything does. The story itself is paralleled 
by one about a little six year old girl whom I knew. 
Her mother had taken her into the country for the 
summer, and while they were there Dinky, the cat, 
had some kittens. The next morning when Esther 
and her mother went out to see them, Esther im- 
mediately asked where they came from. Her mother 
told her from inside Dinky-that she had given  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
204 
birth to them. Nothing more was said about it at 
the time, but a few days after, Esther suddenly left 
her play and came up to her mother and asked 
where she got her when she was a little baby. Her 
mother told her that she grew inside her body, the 
same as the kittens had grown inside Dinky. She 
at once asked how she got out, and before her mother 
could think what to say, she continued, "Oh, I know, 
you just strained hard and out I came like number 
two." She, the same as the three year old boy, had 
simply made the most obvious association relative 
to how in her experience anything inside the body 
got out. 
The practical problem for the parent is what such 
questions and the child's own solution have to do 
with its sexual interest and knowledge. The answer 
of scientific psychology is "nothing at all." They 
have not any more to do with it than the question 
where a new hat or box of candy came from; and 
if the child is told it came from Uncle John in Phila- 
delphia, the further question of how it got here, and 
the determination by the most obvious line of associ- 
ation with Aunt Mary brought it in her trunk. But 
the two points of view are worlds apart for creating 
a normal sex psychology, and in their practical 
effects for the education of the child. To accept such 
questions and comments for what they are, the evi- 
dence of mental growth in the child's mastery of 
its environment, is to render them susceptible of 
being dealt "with intelligibly. To inject into them 
the sexual significance with which adults unfor- A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
205 
tunately surround them-and which the Freudian 
superstition encourages-is to project upon the child 
a mentally and morally disintegrating influence, 
which at its best muddles everything and gets no- 
where ; and at its worst leads to just that disorgan- 
ization of mental life which this particular school 
of psychotherapy sets out to cure. 
So however entertaining the Freudian psycho- 
philosophy may be as reading matter of the erotic 
sort, or efficacious perhaps in furnishing a vicarious 
outlet for the suppressed (?) sexuality of the reader, 
it is doomed to failure as a foundation upon which 
to build a serious scheme of sex education, or found 
a wholesome, workable sex psychology. Both the 
leads of scientific psychology and the demands of 
pragmatic philosophy require that instead of de- 
liberately enlarging our concept of sex by reading 
into it every phase of human behavior, we should 
intentionally travel in the other direction, and pro- 
ceed to read out of it a good deal that it now un- 
fortunately comprehends-until it comes to occupy 
its legitimate place in the individual's life and the 
social structure. 
The subject matter covered by a large number of 
the questions, suggests one principle of elimination, 
namely, that we cut out from our concept of sex all 
information which has no necessary relation to the 
child's present sexual development and interest, but 
does have significance for its physical welfare and 
mental development. The extension of this prin- 
ciple in the interest of the general physical and  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
206 
mental welfare of girls and women, calls also for the 
elimination from the sex complex and its incorpora- 
tion into the subject matter of hygiene, physiology 
and biology, such information as is essential to the 
intelligent regimen and normal development of the 
girl's body, but has no necessary relation to sexual 
experience. The practical effects of the application 
of this principle upon the actual content of instruc- 
tion are brought out in the next chapter in the en- 
deavor to work out a concrete plan. 
Another guiding principle for the determination 
of the content of sex education will be found in the 
clear definition of the aims to be accomplished by 
instruction and training. Such a definition of the 
aims of any phase of education is another primal 
condition of a sound psychological foundation, and 
is so recognized in every other field of instruction. 
Thus the aim of general physical education for boys 
is clearly stated as the all-round normal and vigor- 
ous development of the body and the establishing of 
habits of healthful regimen; the aims of instruction 
in grammar are the attainment of the theory and 
practice of correct speech; of literature as the knowl- 
edge and love of good literature. These aims are 
commonly agreed upon by writers and teachers; 
they are definitely stated in any work dealing with 
the respective subjects; are kept constantly before 
the instructor and the instructed as the conscious 
goals toward which they are both moving; and most 
pertinent of all, the selection or rejection of subject 
matter is made on the basis of its fitness and merit A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
207 
in making for the realization of these goals. Thus 
the material which fills the books on these respective 
subjects, or in any line of instruction based upon 
sound psychology, bears a positive and obvious rela- 
tion to the ends for which it ostensibly exists. But 
not so with books on sex. There not only seems to 
be no common agreement concerning what the aim 
of sex education should be, but it seems hardly go- 
ing too far to say that the greater number of books 
on the subject leave the impression that the aim of 
sex instruction (taking instruction to be their aim), 
is to spread information in regard to the variety 
and prevalence of sexual perversions and illicit de- 
sires and practices. It is as though books on gram- 
mar should fill their pages with atrocious violations 
of syntax, and those on literature with examples of 
ribaldry and profanity, in the hope of thereby 
establishing correct habits of speech and creating 
a love for the beautiful in literature. Every student 
of educational psychology knows that the result 
would be the focussing of the attention upon and 
perpetuating-and even the creating where it would 
not otherwise have occurred-of just the sort of 
practices and ideas with which the books of instruc- 
tion were filled. Of course the alibi may be put 
forward that the purpose of the books devoted to 
sexual anecdotes and sex psychology which flood the 
market, is not to instruct-then one wonders what 
they are for, what can possibly form their excuse 
from the standpoint of the authors, or the aims of 
the censors in letting them pass. I know there is a  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
208 
difference of opinion on this point, but I for one 
sincerely believe the motives behind most of the 
literature on this subject to be predominantly al- 
truistic, and that it is the psychology back of the 
work and not the motive which is primarily at fault. 
However, the positive statement of the aims of 
sex instruction and training in terms of the indi- 
vidual and his legitimate social inheritance-an aim 
to which books purporting to give sex information 
must conform to pass muster as reputable works in 
the field-would do more than any other one thing 
to clean up the literature on the subject. Such an 
aim actually applied in accordance with the accepted 
principles of educational psychology, would send 
most of the popular writing on sex to the bonfire; 
and the more pretentious works on the psychology 
of sex to the more remote archives of research de- 
partments-where solemn disquisitions upon the 
biological right of the male to propose, theoretic 
discussions upon the possible capacity of the female 
to experience conscious desire before or respond 
satisfactorily after marriage, and speculations upon 
the function of the pains of childbirth in relation to 
the masochistic tendencies of woman, might con- 
ceivably find appropriate setting, if only they could 
be kept sufficiently dusty until a healthy psychology 
of sex could be evolved and embodied in a system 
of education. They might be interesting in the 
future as examples of the length of absurdity of 
which the abstract mind is capable, when cut free A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
209 
from its anchorage of responsibility to the facts of 
life as it is lived. 
I find such an aim for sex education in the 
preparation of children for marriage and parent- 
hood-motherhood with girls and fatherhood with 
boys. This may not seem particularly startling per- 
haps in the reading. But taken literally as it is 
here meant, and seriously adhered to as the goal 
toward which sex education and training must be 
directed-and the content of sex instruction openly 
selected in reference to this aim-it would be abso- 
lutely revolutionary both in its practical effects upon 
the content and method of sex education, and in its 
influence upon our social attitude toward the facts 
and implications of sex. 
In the first place, the common acceptance of this 
aim would lead to the stressing of the true nature 
of the sex instinct and feelings as social and social- 
izing tendencies, instead of stressing them in rela- 
tion to personal gratification, as we implicitly (and 
indeed openly) do now everywhere in our thought, 
speech and writings on the subject. This difference 
is fundamental in creating a psychology of sex, just 
as the point of view stressed relative to food and 
alcoholism creates fundamental differences in the 
psychology of eating or of prohibition. In the last 
few years there has come about a pronounced change 
on the part of the great mass of American people 
in regard to eating, where the emphasis has switched 
from pleasure to metabolism, from personal indul- 210 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
gence to the ends for which it is coming to be recog- 
nized eating normally exists; and this change of 
emphasis is creating a new psychology relative to 
food and eating. 
The practical acceptance of preparation for mar- 
riage and motherhood (or fatherhood) as the aims 
of sex education for mentally normal children, would 
accomplish the same 'wholesome ends; and the dis- 
cussions of writers and other leaders, and the inter- 
ests and efforts of the youth of both sexes, would 
follow the lines of healthful and normal adjustment 
as positive ends, as readily and enjoyably as they 
now trail along the lines of private indulgences, 
double standards of sex morality, venereal diseases 
and suppressed desires. It is emphasis upon these 
which makes up the real psychopathology of our 
everyday life and thought in the realm of sex, and 
these (like overfeeding, corpulence and indigestion 
before proper conceptions of metabolism), would 
dissipate before a psychology of sex which empha- 
sized the sex instinct and feelings in relation to the 
individual's social heritage of marriage, and their 
development and guidance for the ends of prospec- 
tive parenthood. A few years of effective propa- 
ganda of this aim of sex education and the responsi- 
bility of parents and society in providing it, would 
render it as unprofitable to write books on sex where 
the attention of the reader is largely kept focussed 
upon mental and physical indulgences and sup- 
pressed sexual desires and their evils, as it would 
be now to publish works on dietetics and fill their A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
211 
pages with tales of gluttony, dyspepsia and mal- 
nutrition. 
Another advantage of this definition of aim is 
that it takes due cognizance of the fact that mar- 
riage is a social institution, knowledge of and de- 
sire for which are not a part of the native equipment 
of children, but have to be provided and stimulated 
by instruction and training-if marriage is to be 
looked forward to with anticipation by girls and 
boys, and entered into by young people with well- 
grounded hope of success. The same with desire 
and fitness for parenthood. These are not native 
inheritances with either girls or boys. After a child 
is born, there are maternal instincts which in a state 
of nature lead the mother to suckle her child and 
care for and protect it in certain ways. But how 
perversive mal-training and false teaching are of 
the capacity and impulse to realize even the most 
fundamental and deepest ingrained of these native 
tendencies, is shown by the fact that the majority 
of American born and bred mothers have neither 
the capacity nor apparently the desire to nourish 
their offspring. And certainly if children in present 
day society are to grow into youth, and youth into 
manhood and womanhood with a desire for children 
of their own, and the knowledge and development 
necessary for successful parenthood, their environ- 
ment must provide the specific instruction and train- 
ing by which the desire shall be created and the 
necessary knowledge and training be given. 
This aim has the advantage, too, of throwing the 212 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
responsibility for the attitude of girls toward mar- 
riage and motherhood and their physical fitness for 
these, upon the older generation where it belongs, 
instead upon the young where the old love to put it. 
If one marriage in seven in the United States is 
ending in failure as shown by divorce, with untold 
numbers of others falling short of reasonable hap- 
piness as shown by open dissatisfaction; and if 
25 to 35 per cent of American men and women 
are failing to marry at all, with matrimony 
openly in the discount in the conversation and 
plans of both sexes as part of the program of their 
youth, it is because the conditions of the society in 
which we live do not foster the desire and oppor- 
tunity for marriage and train for its success, and 
no adequate specific education is provided to make 
good the lack. And with parenthood, if there are 
great numbers of voluntary childless and one-child 
marriages, as we know there are among those well 
fitted financially to care for children, it is because 
the preceding generation has failed to utilize the 
native sexual endowment of its young as a basis for 
building the desire for children, and to provide the 
training necessary to render girls physically fit for 
a more generous motherhood. 
One other and perhaps the one most important 
element in this definition of aim for creating a new 
psychology of sex, lies in its recognition of specific 
preparation for marriage and parenthood as the 
right of every normal child-on a par with its right 
to the education and training essential to earning a A NEW SEX PSYCHOLOGY 
213 
living. In other words it definitely lifts marriage 
out of the precarious position into which a super- 
stitious psychology and unfavorable economic con- 
ditions have brought it, and puts it in its proper 
place as a social inheritance of supreme importance; 
and it definitely establishes the end of physical, 
mental and spiritual fitness for parenthood (as far 
as these are controllable by environmental condi- 
tions), as the inalienable right of every normal child 
at the hands and expense of the preceding gen- 
eration. CHAPTER XII 
A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
It has been mentioned that probably the two most 
outstanding of the immediate impressions gained 
by a perusal of the questions, was the ignorance 
revealed in regard to elementary facts of physiology 
and hygiene which any intelligent man might well 
take for granted to be known by fairly all women 
of average mentality; and the wide range of material 
that was included in what the girls had come to 
look upon as "sexual" interests and knowledge. It 
is in these discoveries aided by the psychological 
principles outlined in the preceding chapter, that 
we must look for guidance in working out a concrete 
program. 
Indeed to do justice to the practical needs revealed 
by my investigation, two distinct programs are re- 
quired. One of these will provide for the incorpora- 
tion into the general education of girls of the in- 
formation called for by the 57 per cent of the 
questions which I spoke of as "non-sexual"-in 
the sense that the information solicited has no neces- 
sary relation to the individual's sexual feelings and 
relations-but for the greater part does have 
enormous significance for the physical and mental 
214 A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
215 
health of girls. The other will provide for the girl's 
legitimate sexual education; i.e., for instruction and 
training in regard to the feelings and relations 
which constitute the true province of sex. 
i 
What Should Be Incorporated in the General Education 
of Girls: 
In outlining this first program I follow the prin- 
ciple of eliminating from the sex complex the in- 
formation and training which have no relation to 
the child's present sexual development, and which 
are essential to its health and intelligent adjustment 
to environment; but which due to an unsound sex 
psychology and the continued reign of superstition 
in regard to women and their functions, are still 
omitted from their education. 
It is to be understood of course, that any general 
program of education is of necessity more or less 
ideal since it must be made in reference to the hypo- 
thetical "average" child, and cannot provide for 
the individual differences and unexpected situations 
that are always cropping up. It must also take for 
granted a certain standard of knowledge and skill 
on the part of the instructor-in this case chiefly 
the parents. Then too, the divisions into which such 
a program falls in order to present a comprehensible 
schedule, are largely artificial since education is con- 
tinuous, and instruction and training to be effective 
for the general control of conduct must be gradual. 
But since such divisions do help greatly in securing 
a grasp of the total situation, it will simplify the 216 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
program to divide it into two parts-the first to 
comprehend the knowledge and training which 
should be established with every normal girl well 
before puberty, and the second to include the in- 
struction, which in its more organized forms, seems 
better fitted to adolescence. 
The specific content and aims of the first part are 
suggested largely by the questions which asked for 
the names, location, functions and care of their own 
genital organs and the navel; the difference between 
girls and boys; how and where the baby leaves the 
body; and the large number of questions showing 
ignorance in regard to the care of the body during 
menstruation and the conditions of normal function- 
ing. The last comprehends the pre-pubertal instruc- 
tion and training in physical and mental habits es- 
sential to normal mental attitude and physical fit- 
ness for the changes of puberty; and the others rep- 
resent the spontaneous questions and interests of 
all normal children, and properly constitute part of 
the instruction of early childhood. The more ad- 
vanced questions in regard to physiology, biology 
and heredity suggest the subject matter of the more 
organized instruction which should be provided for 
in the upper grades and the high school. It will 
perhaps be helpful to bring the program before the 
eyes in outline form. 
I. What Should be Thoroughly Established with Girls 
before Puberty: 
(a) The habitual use of the proper names for and the 
intelligent care of their external genitalia and A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
217 
navel; the habitual use of the correct names for 
and intelligent care of the functions of defecation 
and urination, and their more external organs such 
as the rectum, anus and bladder. 
(&) Knowledge of the gross differences between men and 
women and girls and boys. 
(c) Knowledge of the facts of reproduction to the extent 
that they become interested, as mental development 
progresses and the environment provides the stim- 
ulus to interest. 
(d) The names, general structure and location of their 
internal genitalia, and the conditions of their nor- 
mal development and healthful functioning. 
(e) The fact of menstruation with habituation in the use 
of proper specific terms in connection with it; its 
general significance and its effects upon the imme- 
diate life of the girl; the main organs involved; 
the conditions of normal functioning-especially 
those of (1) normal physical development of the 
girl's abdominal and pelvic organs and muscles, 
which must prohibit any artificial restriction 
brought to bear upon these parts throughout the 
period of growth, (2) conditions of general health 
and regular and adequate evacuation of wastes, 
(3) healthful mental attitude, and, (4) with the 
onset of menstruation, proper regimen during the 
period. 
(f) The practical ideal of physical and mental fitness as 
dependent upon the normal and vigorous develop- 
ment of every part of her body, and the habits 
and ideals in regard to dress and physical and 
mental activity essential to the actual realization of 
these goals. 
(g) The mental attitude of respect for the natural func- 
tions of her own body, and regard for the laws of 
cause and effect in her treatment of it. 218 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
II. The More Organized Instruction of Adolescence: 
(a) The physiology and hygiene of the reproductive sys- 
tem in relation to the other abdominal and pelvic 
organs, particularly the digestive and excretory 
systems. 
(b) The biology and elementary embryology of human 
reproduction in relation to that of plants and 
animals'. 
(c) The "Mendelian" and other accepted principles of 
heredity and their human applications. 
For convenience of discussion, the pre-pubertal 
instruction and training may further be roughly 
divided into (1) what should be definitely established 
in early childhood as part and parcel of the normal 
care and instruction of infancy and early childhood; 
(2) that which may await the child's developing in- 
terest as the environment supplies the stimulus; and 
(3) definite instruction in regard to menstruation 
and its specific hygiene. The first of these would 
include all under "a" of the outline, the most of 
"b," and the foundations of "f" and " g"; the next, 
that which could wait the child's awakening interest, 
would include further information under "b," that 
under "c," and whatever information under "d" 
that might readily be given in connection with tell- 
ing the child where babies come from and how they 
are born. The third of these divisions would com- 
prehend the facts included under "e" and what re- 
mained under "d." The goals set under points " b " 
and " g" are primarily matters of habit formation 
with the inculcation of the corresponding ideals, and 
must be initiated and maintained from earliest child- A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
219 
hood with girl children as they now are with boys, 
if they are to bear fruit in fitting the girl for health- 
ful menstruation and developing mental stability. 
Fairly without exception in my experience even 
the most intelligent mothers ask ''how" children 
should be taught these things which I have included 
in the training of early childhood, so no discussion 
of the subject seems really helpful that does not 
refer to this side of the program. And it is probably 
just here that we strike the most strategic point for 
the development of a psychology of sex which con- 
sciously breaks loose from its ancient moorings to 
superstition, and casts its lines with the trends of 
modern science. One of the main points at issue 
here is that the information involved shall not be 
thought of as an object of special instruction due to 
something peculiar in its nature. A girl should be 
taught to speak of her external genitalia as the 
vulva, to speak of the anus by its correct name, and 
use the terms defecate and urinate, and so on with 
all the names comprehended, in exactly the same 
way and for exactly the same reasons that she learns 
to call the other parts of her body and its functions 
by their proper names, instead of by some infantile 
or suggestive substitute. Names of the parts of the 
body and its processes are learned for the greater 
part simply through habituation, in the mother's use 
of them in connection with the dressing and bathing 
of the child, or in the special care of the various 
parts. The only instruction ordinarily called for is 
practice in correct pronunciation where a child is 220 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
backward in this regard, or requiring the use of 
correct names where a child is slow in observing and 
forming correct language habits. 
The care of the vulva, navel and anus should be 
learned partly by habituation and partly by instruc- 
tion just in the same way and at the same time that 
children learn to care properly for any special 
organs like the nose or ears. In these respects they 
grow partly by habit into the standards maintained 
by their mothers during their infancy and early 
childhood. But in the transition in learning to dress 
and bathe themselves, they always need special in- 
struction in getting the corners and creases clean, 
in making sure that tfye soap is well rinsed off to 
avoid irritating the membranes, in avoiding rough 
rubbing in drying parts easily abraded, etc. Prop- 
erly equipped parents also train and instruct chil- 
dren not to pick at or rub the eyes or ears or nose 
when these feel irritated, and the anus and vulva are 
to be included in this category. Any feeling in these 
parts which calls for persistent handling on the part 
of the child is due to inflammation or other irritat- 
ing cause, internal or external. Some of the most 
common of these are obstructions of passages of 
the nose which render breathing difficult; ringing or 
itching of the ears; friction of clothing against the 
vulva, or discomfort of the anus caused by much 
sitting; and very frequently, with all these organs, 
improper or lack of sufficient bathing, and contact 
with soiled or infected articles. Along with training 
in the habit of refraining from rubbing these parts A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
221 
in response to such feelings, should go instruction 
in regard to the necessity and means of immediately 
finding out and removing the cause of irritation. 
Given the knowledge and intelligence on the part 
of the parents, all that stands in the way of the 
early habituation of children in everything that is 
comprehended under this first point of the pre- 
pubertal program, is a false and inherently unclean 
psychology. It is just as simple to habituate chil- 
dren to the use of the terms "defecate," "urinate," 
"anus" and "vulva," as it is to accustom them to 
the use of the correct names for automobile and 
father and mother. There is no more justification 
for the very much more complex "number one" and 
"number two" (much less for the offensively sug- 
gestive expressions often taught children), than 
there is for training them to call digestion and 
perspiration numbers three and four; and no more 
reason for refraining from speaking of the bladder 
and rectum by their correct names in teaching 
healthful habits of evacuation, than there is for de- 
liberately refraining from mentioning the stomach 
and teeth in training the child in right food and 
eating habits-and every consideration of intelli- 
gence, self-respect and decency that calls for the 
latter also demands the former. 
The gross differences between their mothers and 
fathers, and between themselves and their brothers 
or cousins or the neighbor's baby-according to 
what the environment furnishes-should be learned 
in the same wholly natural way, through observa- 222 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
tion on the part of the child, the correct use of names 
and frank answering of all questions on the part of 
the parents. Most girls have plenty of opportunity 
to observe boys and men, both in the city and 
country; so that adolescent girls are ordinarily bet- 
ter informed in respect to the structure of the ex- 
ternal male organs than they are concerning their 
own. It is the correct names which constitute the 
chief lack of their childhood knowledge about the 
physical make-up of boys. 
Up to this point in our discussion of the pre- 
pubertal training of girls, we might, with the 
requisite changes in names for the external genitalia, 
about as well have been talking of boys, for in the 
respects mentioned they are nearly as badly 
neglected by their parents as the girls. But the 
situation is very different when it comes to the men- 
tal attitudes, physical habits and practical ideals 
included in "f" and " g" of the outline. These have 
long been so fully incorporated in our social con- 
sciousness and actual practice in regard to boy chil- 
dren as to render reference to them as an ideal, 
seems superfluous. They are everywhere accepted 
as fairly axiomatic-as inherent to the nature of 
the flesh, bone and nervous system of the male child. 
But nowhere in our social structure are they held up 
even in theory as ends and means in the education of 
girl children. 
I am not speaking, of course, of the general ab- 
stract notion of 4'health," or of such details as 
cleaning the teeth, sleeping with windows open, or A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
223 
talk about the need of "taking daily exercise" and 
morning baths. All of these are talked about freely 
enough in connection with the education of girls. 
What I am referring to, is the positive concrete 
notion of the free, normal, unrestricted development 
of the girl child's body, in the interest of her own 
future well-being. It is this ideal which exists every- 
where in our society as fundamental to the physical 
and mental fitness of men, that as yet has gained 
no place in our social consciousness as fundamental 
to the physical and mental fitness of women. In- 
deed, so remote is such a conception from our every- 
day thinking and practice, in the universal observ- 
ance of the mal-forming of the girl's body into one 
shape or another according to the fad, and of re- 
stricting their physical and mental activity in early 
childhood in the supposed interest of "sex," as to 
render it difficult if not impossible to get into any 
real mental contact on the subject. Hence, talk about 
its practical aspects in relation to leucorrhea, fit- 
ness for menstruation, general health, mental at- 
titude and childbearing, practically means nothing to 
minds that have never conceived the idea of the 
normal development of the bodies and minds of girl 
children exactly on a par with those of boys. 
A girl child is still treated primarily as a clothes- 
horse, where one part or another may be exposed 
in cold or smothered in warm weather entirely 
irrespective of the considerations of hygiene which 
actuate the same parents in dressing their more 
vigorous boys. They are still definitely trained into 224 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
habits of physical inactivity and of sedentary life 
both indoors and out, that would not be tolerated 
by the most ignorant parents on the part of their 
boys. For their "play" activity they are largely 
condemned to the almost incessant holding of what 
for purposes of stimulation of mental and physical 
activity of a beneficial sort, might as well be a piece 
of wood; and as soon as they are strong enough to 
maintain their balance with both arms tied up, they 
are bound to the stupid pushing of a doll carriage 
-thus effectually prohibiting the freedom of arms 
and legs and body which is the primal condition of 
normal development. It is here in the early train- 
ing of the girl child's physical habits and ideals that 
superstition gets in its most perfect works. By the 
time puberty is reached the harm is done, never to 
be undone except in rare instances, even by the 
prospective terrors of agonizing childbirth-which 
after all can most safely be met by a physically inept 
womanhood by being avoided. 
The actual realizing of the goals set under these 
two points, means that girls from infancy shall be 
given the same standards and habits of physical 
freedom in dress and play that boys now enjoy; that 
the doll and doll carriage must go as sex playthings, 
and girls as well as boys be trained to play with 
toys which stimulate instead of discourage and 
deaden mental and physical activity-that from 
earliest childhood they be trained exactly as boys 
already are, to play games which by their nature 
invigorate, develop and socialize. Along with these A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
225 
habits must go the same ingraining of ideals of 
physical and mental fitness that already obtain 
with boys. Respect for their own bodily functions 
would naturally come as a by-product of such normal 
and healthful education. It would be difficult to make 
a girl thoroughly healthy and normal physically and 
keep her in unwholesome mental attitudes. But 
positive respect for her own body and its functions 
needs to be inculcated as part of every girl's educa- 
tion. 
To go into detail in regard to the methods by 
which the various parts of this pre-pubertal pro- 
gram should be carried out, is outside the province 
of this book. But it should be emphasized that the 
general facts relative to menstruation and the gen- 
eral structure and location of the organs involved, 
should be given well before its onset. This time 
varies of course, with different girls but there should 
be no difficulty on that account. In normal family 
environment in the girl's relations with her mother 
or sisters or other relatives, and through the talk 
of other girls on the outside, interest in the facts of 
menstruation develops early. If properly informed 
by her mother as interest arises, the girl should 
already have a good foundation of facts in that she 
would know about when it is to be expected and its 
general nature and care. Then if she has been prop- 
erly drilled into the part that good general health, 
genuine physical stamina and the absolutely free 
and normal development of the pelvic organs and 
muscles have in making for painless and otherwise 226 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
healthful functioning, about the only definite home 
instruction called for at the onset of menstruation, 
is more specific information in regard to the care 
of the body and regimen during the periods. 
The content of the early adolescent program sug- 
gested above, should be incorporated into the regu- 
lar instruction of the elementary and high school 
courses, and form part of the required work of 
every mentally normal girl. The physiology and 
hygiene of the reproductive system should be taught 
along with that of the digestive and excretory sys- 
tems, and in just the same way as these are taught. 
This would necessitate the preparation of special 
texts giving the requisite knowledge, and could best 
be supplied at present by small supplementary books 
to be used in connection with the larger texts in 
physiology. In mixed schools the girls and boys 
could be separated by combining grades (as is now 
done for sewing and shop work), and each sex have 
its own supplementary personal hygiene book. The 
facts of human biology and heredity which every 
high school student should know, should be incor- 
porated into the regular text books; and high school 
biology taught with more emphasis upon the human 
biology which is so sorely needed; and with less 
upon lower forms, where general principles with 
brief details would suffice in giving the requisite 
foundation. In this way high school biology would 
serve its more legitimate purpose of adjusting girls 
and boys to their practical environment; while the 
finer details of varied lower forms which consume A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
227 
so much time and are inadequately appreciated be- 
cause of remoteness of interest, could better wait 
the specialization provided by college courses. For 
the benefit of the large numbers of girls who leave 
school when, or before, they complete the grades, 
corresponding courses could be provided in night 
and other continuation classes. 
What Should Be Comprehended in the Girl's Sex 
Education 
The goal of sex education for both girls and boys 
as I conceive it, was given in the last chapter as the 
preparing of children for marriage and parenthood. 
True sex education should be discriminated from the 
foregoing program in that it has squarely to do with 
the attraction and feelings which lead to mating- 
and particularly with their development, guidance 
and direction for, and functioning in marriage. 
Much of its content and its more immediate aims 
are suggested by the girls' questions on sex attrac- 
tion, passion, love, sexual intercourse, marriage, and 
attitude toward the various phases of sex life. 
The practical immediate aims of the sex education 
of girls may be outlined about as follows: 
I. The normal development of the sexual instinct 
and feelings, and of her capacity to realize them. 
II. The conscious direction, guidance and control 
of her sexual impulses and interests for the ends of 
mental and physical health, marriage and parent- 
hood. 
III. Instruction in regard to the nature of love 228 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
and marriage and the place they fill in life; with 
emphasis upon the greater importance of marriage 
and children over "romantic" love, and upon affec- 
tion and mutual service as the foundation of any 
abiding love between men and women. 
IV. Instruction in regard to the practice of coitus 
in marriage-including manner and frequency for 
physical health and happiness-and in reference to 
the initial inheritance of the child and its welfare 
during gestation. 
V. The development of an attitude of respect and 
desire for love and marriage and maternity. 
VI. Practical economic preparation for marriage 
and childbearing, and provision for securing mates. 
If it were possible to select one point from these 
entirely neglected ends in the American girl's educa- 
tion, which is more neglected than the others, it 
would probably be the ingraining of proper attitude 
toward love, marriage and future parenthood. It 
is safe to say that the positive training of girls in 
this respect is universally lacking in our typically 
American civilization-which neither takes cogni- 
zance of the needs of girls for such training nor 
makes any practical provision for securing them 
husbands. 
The creating of the attitude of the girl in favor 
of marriage and motherhood should begin at her 
birth in the attitude of her mother and father when 
they discover that a girl baby has been born to them. 
From her earliest childhood her parents should 
speak of her future in terms of her marriage and A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
229 
children, as freely and openly (and if anything more 
so) than they now do of her future music lessons, 
trips to Europe, or college or business school educa- 
tion. The marriage and future motherhood of the 
girl are among the things which should be taken for 
granted, not in the indifferent way it now is with 
typically American parents, but openly and ex- 
plicitly as constituting the one most important thing 
in their child's future life; and the one for which 
they feel the greatest responsibility for laying right 
foundations and bringing to successful consumma- 
tion. Thus a girl should grow into the well-groomed 
expectation of marriage and desire for motherhood 
at the desirable age-which is her young womanhood 
-as naturally and wholesomely, and as surely, as 
she now grows into desire and expectation of par- 
ticipating in other adult experiences and responsi- 
bilities; with this difference only, that it be with 
the well-drilled knowledge that marriage and parent- 
hood are supreme ends for normal adjustment, self- 
realization, and social service, and that all other 
ends are subsidiary in their importance. 
The failure on the part of American parents to 
bring up their daughters with these aims and ideals, 
and to do their part in securing fitting mates for 
them, has in the past at least been largely a sin of 
omission against their girls. Not until more recent 
times when economic and other social conditions 
have made the unmarried child so profitable to the 
mother, has there grown up a marked trend actually 
to discourage her children's marrying. Even yet it 230 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
would take more courage than most writers possess 
to teach openly against marriage-at least for girls. 
But when we come to the ideas comprehended in 
points I and II of the outline, which make the normal 
development of the girl's sexual instinct, feelings 
and capacity, and their conscious guidance by the 
girl for the ends of her own love life, a fundamental 
consideration in her development and education, we 
strike another stronghold of superstition, where 
wildest fantasy and pernicious misinformation have 
run riot throughout the ages. 
The normal development and training of the girl 
in these respects is absolutely essential to the men- 
tal health of the girl outside of marriage, and the 
very rock of foundation upon which to build a high 
idealism in regard to sex, normal adjustment in 
marriage and welcome maternity. And they depend 
with the girl upon just the same factors as do the 
corresponding conditions of normality in the sex 
life of boys; i.e., (1) the normal development of her 
sex organs and pelvic muscles, (2) general physical 
stamina, (3) a healthy attitude toward sex and her 
own sexual development as marking the natural and 
desirable transition from girlhood to womanhood, 
(4) the integration of her sexual thoughts, practices 
and ideals into the larger aims and ideals of her 
life, where they can become agencies for the high- 
est type of self-realization and social service. 
Puberty and adolescence are the time of acceler- 
ated growth and maturing of function of the uterus 
and ovaries, and of their assuming of their final A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
231 
positions relative to other abdominal and pelvic 
organs. For parents to bind the pelvis of their 
daughters during this period, or put any artificial 
restriction upon the legs and the muscles of the 
trunk of a growing girl-upon the freedom of action 
of which the healthful development of her reproduc- 
tive organs depends-should be a legal crime with 
punishment as severe and certain as it would be for 
the direct mutilation of their boys; for they are 
simply taking a less obvious means of accomplish- 
ing the same results-the incapitating of their 
daughters for normal and fruitful maternity and the 
prevention of normal development of sex instinct 
and feelings which is contingent upon the normal 
development and healthy condition of the sex organs. 
As usual, endeavor will be made here to throw the 
onus upon the girls themselves, with the plea that 
they are so headstrong that their parents cannot do 
anything with them. This is not true. The whole 
situation is in the hands of the parents, in their 
determination of the habits and ideals which they 
establish in and impose upon their daughters. It 
depends upon the parents not upon the female in- 
fant whether she shall be trained to sit and hold a 
doll, or creep around after a ball or mechanical toy; 
whether she later meanders inactively along carry- 
ing a handbag (!) or pushing a rickety conveyance 
for a doll or teddy bear, or secures the training in 
mental alertness and muscular development stimu- 
lated in skipping freely about or driving a kiddy- 
car; or still later stands on the curb or sits on the 232 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
doorstep sucking a compensatory lollipop and in- 
ertly watching boys play, or she herself experiences 
the glow of physical activity of normal child life in 
playing ball or roller skating. 
It has been my common experience that young 
girls and young women respond eagerly to instruc- 
tion in regard to the conditions of health for their 
pelvic organs; and that in almost every instance the 
mother (and often the father) insists upon the mold- 
ing of their daughter's "shape," i.e., the trunk of 
her body, to the popular form. I have had young 
women twenty years old come to me with the com- 
plaint that their mothers or fathers would not per- 
mit them to leave off corsets and endeavor by exer- 
cise to bring about a normal condition of trunk and 
leg muscles. They would ask me what they ought 
to do about it. The responsibility for incapacitat- 
ing girls for normal sexual development and inter- 
ests-i.e., for normal mature womanhood-lies 
solely with the parents and society; and if this book 
fails to drive that fact home, at this time of general 
complaining that girls do not care for love and mar- 
riage and the best things of life as they used to, it 
will fall short of the purpose for which it is sent 
forth. Daughters are definitely trained by their 
parents into habit of dress and behavior, and con- 
ceptions of (female) beauty, which not only preclude 
their normal sexual development and the aquisition 
of interests in a high standard of love and mating 
and maternity, but which render them impervious to 
the workings of cause and effect in the regulation A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
233 
and control of their minds and bodies for normal 
living. 
The second and third points of the outline con- 
tain a positive element which cannot be emphasized 
too strongly, in this day of the continued reign of 
neglect and repression as the actual mode of pro- 
cedure, and of "sublimation" as the impending 
ideal for the disposition of the girl's sexual tenden- 
cies-an ideal, by the way, which merely substitutes 
side-tracking for direct repression as a scheme for 
eluding the practical issues of the guidance and 
training of the girl for her legitimate inheritance. 
A sound psychology in the training of girls in re- 
gard to their sexual nature and impulses, calls for 
the application of just the same principles of educa- 
tional psychology, as do the other native tendencies 
and emotions-namely, that they be controlled, 
guided and developed for the ends for which they 
are fitted by nature. Any instinct and emotion may 
be taken in example. Anger and pugnacity are 
among the earliest to appear with a baby. With 
their first manifestation, the parents courageously 
take up their training-the more ignorant and un- 
trained by slapping and shaking, and the better 
equipped by the more intelligent means of removing 
unnecessary stimuli to anger, and training the child 
to adjust itself to the necessary. But very early 
the child is taught responsibility for its own be- 
havior in the control and direction of its anger and 
fight tendencies, for its own safety and self-respect 
and the happiness and good of others, as well as for 234 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
the practical ends of success in life. This does not 
involve the crushing out of the instinct and capacity 
for anger and fighting, or their "sublimation" into 
some substitute emotion. It means the learning of 
when and how to use them for the legitimate ends 
of defense against intentional insult and aggression. 
It involves also the conscious subordination of 
irresponsible impulse to the larger purposes and 
ends for which the child is trained. 
No educational psychologist of repute aims to 
"sublimate" the instincts and emotions of anger, 
pugnacity, acquisition, and exploration or curiosity 
as an end of education; which (if it means anything 
at all psychologically aside from the sort of train- 
ing just outlined), carries the implication that one 
sort of emotion can actually be transmuted into an- 
other sort. There is no psychological foundation 
for the theory that this can be done, even if were 
considered desirable. All native tendencies, even 
the seeking of food, can be prohibited or inhibited, 
by punishment, by unfavorable environment and by 
direct precept and social pressure. But no psy- 
chologist has yet shown how one human instinct or 
emotion can by any process of education, or sug- 
gestion, or conditioned reflex or what not, be changed 
into another-much less how it could be changed 
back again in case it should ever be wanted in its 
original form, as conceivably it might be. 
Everywhere the sign boards of educational psy- 
chology point to guidance and conscious control for 
the treatment of the native social tendencies, and A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
235 
to normal functioning in subordination to and in 
integration with the larger aims and ideals of life. 
This gives a perfectly comprehensible and tangible 
course of action for the parent in instructing and 
training a child in regard to any of its native and 
necessarily crude impulses; and it provides the only 
sound psychology we have for the teaching and 
training of the adolescent girl (or boy) relative to 
sexual impulses and tendencies. Again parents ask 
here "what" they should tell their adolescent girls 
and boys and "how" it should be done-as though 
they were dealing with some strange phenomenon 
fundamentally different and apart from other 
human motives and impulses, instead of with situa- 
tions in which their adolescent children themselves 
are so vitally interested, and so needy of instruction. 
The things which are to be told especially and 
the attention focussed upon, are the positive truths 
which the best men and women have found to be 
true in regard to sex, which all adolescent girls and 
boys need to know and have ingrained for the guid- 
ance of their own life and those of their future chil- 
dren. It is to be done by direct instruction and 
training in exactly the same way that the parent 
teaches and trains the same child in regard to anger 
or self-assertion, except with this advantage, that 
the relatively late appearance of the genuinely 
sexual motives, gives a background for appeal and 
furnishes a means of sympathetic contact, which 
renders the task comparatively easy and particu- 
larly gratifying. And since the following facts apply  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
236 
equally well to boys as to girls in the guidance of 
their personal thoughts and habits, and since no 
scheme of sex education can be sound or adequate 
that does not at every point keep true to the essen- 
tially social nature of the sexual impulses, the in- 
clusion of boys in this part of the program may be 
taken for granted even though they are not specific- 
ally mentioned in connection with each point. 
Thus the adolescent girl (and boy) should be told 
that sex attraction and the sexual urge with its 
eventual culmination in coitus in marriage, are 
among the primal and most important forces in 
every normal woman's and man's life; and that the 
happiness and joy of living with a man or woman 
depend more upon the wise direction of their sexual 
powers than upon any other one thing. That youth 
is the normal time for love and marriage, and that 
to these ends they must direct and devote their 
sexual interests and conduct. Relative to the direct 
control of their sexual impulses and acts, they must 
be told that they can and must control these in the 
interest of self-respect, physical and mental health, 
the welfare of others, and of their future marriage 
and parenthood, just the same as they control their 
feelings and acts in other respects for the higher 
ultimate good. They must be taught too, intelli- 
gently to employ the practical aids for such control 
by maintaining an active physical life, cultivating 
vital mental interests, and establishing social con- 
tacts both with young people of their own age and 
with older men and women. They are to be told that A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
237 
these things naturally make for clean thinking and 
right conduct; but that besides this they must take 
the same positive healthful attitude of mind, and 
exercise the same effort of will in this as in other 
lines of thought and conduct, and that they will find 
this side of life as responsive to right treatment and 
discipline as any other. 
Adolescent girls and boys must be taught too, that 
sex attraction and the need of men and women for 
each other are much broader and more far-reach- 
ing in their influence, than simply the desire and 
need for coitus; and that in the cultivation of frank 
and clean-minded companionship of girls and boys 
and men and women in play, and work and social 
pleasures, lies the most fertile source for the cultiva- 
tion of the manners that mark good breeding, and 
the development of moral and social ideals. They 
should be taught that they have a right to such com- 
panionship, and that a home, or institutional or 
social environment which fails to provide it, is de- 
priving them of a fundamental need of their nature 
for the development of the spiritual graces, and for 
training for family and social adjustment. They 
must be taught the value and means of keeping this 
companionship wholesome and fine, by keeping it 
sensible and merry, and through the cultivation of 
common objective interests. And if we are ever to 
have truly clean and wholesome companionship be- 
tween girls and boys, they must both be taught en- 
tire responsibility for keeping their own behavior 
toward the other sex up to a high moral standard. 238 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
The girl (and boy) should be taught thoroughly that 
a boy or man has no more right or excuse for mak- 
ing familiar and offensive advances to a girl or 
woman, than she has to approach him familiarly and 
insultingly; and that any boy or man who considers 
that he has, should be met with the derision and 
contempt which his behavior richly deserves. 
Instruction in the true nature of love and mar- 
riage is a special need of early adolescent youth of 
both sexes. Relative to love between men and 
women in marriage they should be taught that it is 
the one best thing in life, and if rightly lived, the 
most enduring of life's values-lasting long after 
children have gone their legitimate ways, and desire 
for physical contact has passed by. They should be 
told that marriage naturally involves coitus as the 
union of body and spirit which the existence of the 
two sexes makes possible and necessary to the com- 
plete development of a man or woman; but that just 
as attraction and need of companionship between the 
sexes, are infinitely broader and deeper than mere 
desire, so marriage is vastly more than in institu- 
tion for legalizing sexual relations. That marriage 
makes possible the completion of personality as 
nothing else can, and furnishes the only lasting com- 
panionship of life. That marriage truly lived is the 
growth of souls together through common interests 
and cares, and in mutual service and protection. 
That love and marriage do not mean escape from 
the responsibilities and work of life but are the great 
open doorways of human experience through which A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
239 
these are entered into so they become worth the 
effort that they cost. That love and marriage are 
life together and for each other instead of alone; 
and that together with the care and love of children 
they provide life's greatest education and fulfillment 
-without which the individual life (except as these 
values are consciously and willingly sacrificed for a 
life of religious devotion and service) must remain 
isolated and barren and not quite worth while. 
I hope this has not seemed too idealistic. I have 
endeavored to state the truth as men and women 
know it in their hearts and as religion teaches it; 
and if these things are true in spite of all the diffi- 
culties and imperfections of married life as it 
obtains among us, then it is the supreme duty of 
parents to teach these truths to their daughters and 
sons in their early adolescence-when their interest 
is keenest and the instruction will mean most for 
the conduct of their lives. 
In later adolescence and before their marriage, 
they should be instructed in regard to the manner 
and frequency of the conduct of coitus for the men- 
tal and physical welfare of both; of the necessity for 
moderation as an essential to the maintenance of 
love; and the relation between the habits of coitus 
of the parents and the welfare of the child in con- 
nection with its conception and its pre-natal de- 
velopment-and the significance too, that welcome 
or unwelcome parentage possesses for the soul of 
the child. 
But however much we might talk about the neces- 240 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
sity of early marriage and parenthood for normal 
adjustment, or of their value for spiritual growth 
and service, or their significance for the real joys of 
life, two conditions in our American life so operate 
against their realization in the normal time of youth, 
as to make such talk seem more than a little hollow. 
These are the conditions involved in the last point 
of the outline-one being the absence of effort on 
the part of parents to secure husbands for their 
daughters-thus leaving their marrying to chance 
in a society which tends more and more to separate 
young people of the opposite sex; and the other, 
the cost of living which prohibits marriage in youth, 
under the prevailing American ideal and legal re- 
quirement that a man shall support his wife finan- 
cially, and assume sole financial responsibility for 
the care and support of the children. 
In our early days of agricultural life and home 
industries, every boy and girl was trained to expect 
to marry, and the character of the industrial and 
economic conditions fairly provided the mate. But 
the man wasn't called upon to be the sole producer 
and provider of economic values after marriage, nor 
was the wife supposed to go to her husband empty- 
handed. Daughters were taught to save for mar- 
riage the same as sons, and like them, were trained 
for the productive industries of their day-and they 
were not expected to abandon them at the altar. 
Marriage to the girl in this respect meant then ex- 
actly the same as it did to the boy, "going to busi- 
ness" to help support a home for herself and mate A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
241 
and future children. In the new business combina- 
tion which they set up, what she produced by her 
own labor was as important and necessary for the 
economic maintenance of the home, and the feeding 
and clothing of the children, as what the husband 
provided. Lacking her production of positive 
values, the home could not have been maintained- 
and marriage and children would have been pro- 
hibited. 
That is where we are to-day with our standard 
that the burden of production in maintaining a home 
and family must fall entirely on the man. Had this 
restriction to matrimony existed throughout the his- 
tory of the world, earth by this time would have 
fairly rivalled heaven as a celibate society. The 
plain fact is if a young man has to feed and clothe 
and otherwise assume financial responsibility for a 
woman in order to have her for a wife, then he may 
not have her-as a wife. And if a young woman is 
to demand or expect to be fed and clothed and other- 
wise provided for as are the lilies of the field, as 
the price of wifehood in these days of appalling cost 
of living, then she may have lovers in her youth but 
not a husband and the joys of motherhood. And 
since economic conditions cannot be changed to suit 
our notions in regard to marriage, we should hasten 
to change our ideas to fit the economic conditions 
under which we live, and help point the way of youth 
to a new adjustment. 
Of course this is primarily (though not entirely) 
a working and middle-class problem. It concerns  SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
242 
most poignantly young men and women of moderate 
salaries of the business and professional groups- 
the "backbone" or our typically American society. 
Many young couples are working out the problem 
for themselves guided by their own truer instincts 
and fine feelings, but as a rule without guidance or 
encouragement from the older generation; and per- 
haps most frequently in direct opposition to the 
efforts of parents to secure delay or prevent mar- 
riage. 
Thus one couple I know-the girl with a fairly 
well-paid secretarial position which would be secure 
as long as the employers should not discover she 
was married, and the boy who had been discharged 
from the army with a lieutenancy, with a beginner's 
position with small pay. The question was marriage 
and the working out of their problems together, or 
the precarious waiting of years till he could support 
her, in case the time ever came. The mother who 
was benefiting largely by the daughter's earnings, 
urged delay; and the mother who cherished her only 
son's companionship, and who had all his life en- 
couraged him in a dilettante existence around a 
really luxurious home, used her efforts to prevent 
the marriage. They married and rented a small 
court bedroom with "kitchen privileges" for dinner 
and laundry work-paying more for their single 
semi-dark bedroom than their parents at the time 
of their marriage would have had to pay for an 
attractive house and yard in the same city. They 
prepared their breakfast together in their room and A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
243 
together started out to their places of work. They 
met at the close of the day and took their dinner 
somewhere or bought food and cooked it together 
in the kitchen-the young man by the way far ex- 
celling both as cook and laundryman, thanks to prac- 
tical camp and army experience. He paid what he 
could of the expenses and she made up the rest; and 
from the left-over each month a certain amount 
went into the bank for a baby fund. The second 
year they found better quarters for the same money 
by sharing half of the four room apartment of a 
business woman. The third year the baby came. 
This story could be duplicated by several others 
I know with but slight variation, and in every case 
where the young people came from attractive homes 
and were accustomed to the amenities of life. This 
to the older generation of comparatively comfortable 
or even luxurious habits and living conditions, 
seems like hard pulling. It is, especially for the 
girl whose physical stamina, or rather lack of it, 
poorly fits her for the fray. But it is pulling to- 
gether for the best things of life under the only con- 
ditions by which they are obtainable by great num- 
bers of young people of the working and even of 
the upper middle classes; and it is infinitely to be 
chosen to pulling alone for the empty benefits of 
celibacy. It is meeting life squarely and courage- 
ously as youth should, and as it naturally tends to 
do unless misled through false training by the old. 
And after all, it is not so different from life as it 
has always had to be met by young couples, who 244 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
have never before been taught to expect to start out 
on the same level of comfort or luxury which their 
parents have attained. The greatest misfortune lies 
in their lack of preparation for the actual situation 
they have to meet-in their being turned out to go 
it blind in an age that bears so heavily upon all the 
resources of body and soul. 
So instead of the notion of marriage as "sup- 
port"-as a species of more or less permanent joy 
ride where the man pays the bills-both girls and 
boys should be trained to look upon it as a partner- 
ship where they must co-operate whether it be in 
productive labor or any other issue of life, for the 
common ends of home and children. They should 
both be trained from childhood to build up a mar- 
riage fund or "dot"-first from their spending 
money, and later with regular additions from their 
salaries as soon as they begin to earn-and they 
should be trained to feel that they must not use their 
marriage bit for any other purpose. It is one of the 
anomalies of our self-supporting American society 
(and of course part and parcel of the total neglect 
to train for marriage), that its sons and daughters 
are not taught to create a marriage fund-that they 
ordinarily bring little more than their last pay check 
to the common cause. 
I am well aware of omissions from the foregoing 
program, of certain subjects which ordinarily have 
prominent places in discussions on sex education 
and the special education of girls. Conspicuous 
among them are the sexual vices, from masturbation A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
245 
through the list of perversions to the double stand- 
ard of sexual "morality," with its legitimate off- 
spring of prostitution and venereal diseases; the 
drilling of girls in the sex conventions; special 
school schedules for girls with emphasis upon sew- 
ing, modern languages and interior decoration; and 
last but by no means least in the attention it re- 
ceives, the aberration of the flower of American 
middle-class girlhood, which leads it to choose 
"careers" to matrimony. 
The general reason for the omission of these as 
special topics for discussion in connection with my 
program for sex education, lay in the fact that 
where they really exist as positive and essential 
problems (as opposed to imaginary or directly in- 
duced by false training), for the greater part they 
are not primarily sexual problems. Where they are, 
they have been pretty well provided for in the pro- 
gram as it stands. But since, unfortunately, these 
subjects in about the form I have put them, do still 
hold an honorable place in the minds of most people 
in their conception of what should be comprehended 
in sex education, I do not feel justified in dismissing 
them in what might appear too summary a fashion. 
In regard to the whole brood of sexual vices, I 
found a main reason for their omission in my aim 
to outline a scheme for sex education, not for sex 
corruption. Suggestion is a powerful force in edu- 
cation, and it is my belief as a psychologist that the 
one most potent influence in creating and maintain- 
ing the sordid ideas of sex which permeate American 246 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
society and render sex equivalent to "garbage" in 
the minds of decent men and women, is just the 
emphasis upon sexual vice and perversions that is 
so persistently made by writers on the subject; and 
correspondingly, that it is in the emphasis upon 
sexual vice and double moral standards, which form 
the main bulk of the sex education of almost all girls 
and boys, that the perversions and prostitution find 
their best friends. 
But besides the demands of a sound psychology 
which calls for a change of emphasis in favor of 
desirable values, I have found another reason for 
omission of a good deal of the usual material, in 
the fact that the most serious problems involved in 
the practice of the perversions (both before and 
after sexual development), are not primarily sexual 
problems. They are usually problems of general 
health, or of personal hygiene, or of constitutional 
normality either mental or physical, or both-even 
where the practices are initiated through a vicious 
environment. This being true, it will be an ad- 
vantage all around, for them to be thought of as 
symptoms of constitutional disorders or other patho- 
logical or unhygienic conditions; and as constituting 
problems in these respective fields rather than as 
problems of normal sex education. 
Likewise with the venereal diseases, I do not con- 
sider instruction in these a proper part of a pro- 
gram for sex education of adolescent youth. I re- 
call hearing a well known neurologist once tell his 
class of medical students, that syphilis, locomotor A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
247 
ataxia and general paresis should become dinner 
topics of conversation. This may sound a little 
facetious, but the principle that knowledge concern- 
ing the venereal diseases should be handed about as 
freely as that of any common communicable disease, 
is entirely sound. Children should no more be able 
to recall when they first heard of or began to learn 
about the dangers, sources of infection and preven- 
tion of gonorrhea and syphilis, than they could in 
regard to tuberculosis. To train boys for sexual 
license and then at adolescence employ the terrors 
of gonorrhea and syphilis as whips to sexual purity 
is a poor policy, and has no right to be dignified as 
sex education. It may be, and undoubtedly is, some 
antidote to the poison that has quite deliberately 
been administered. But it is the function of educa- 
tion to fight shy of the poisons. The only thing that 
is worse, if any thing could be, than this policy of 
omitting adequate instruction concerning gonorrhea 
and syphilis from the education of boys until they 
reach adolescence, is to leave a girl in ignorance of 
them and their nature and sources throughout her 
childhood-when the knowledge would be easily as- 
similated-and then at adolescence, when ideals of 
love and marriage should run the highest, have to 
instruct her in the causes of blind babies, genital 
operations on women, and the deadly ravages of 
syphilis. This is a first-class method for the de- 
moralization of sex ideals, but certainly cannot be 
called sex education in any proper sense. 
There is a place, however, where genuine mastur- 248 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
bation as a means of relief for pent up sexual feel- 
ings enters in as a problem in the experience of 
normal persons of both sexes, after the sexual de- 
velopment that renders such relief possible and 
effective for the time being. With mentally and 
physically healthy girls and boys, rightly trained 
and taught in regard to the sexual feelings and their 
control, and with early love and marriage before 
them as ideals, there is little danger of masturbation 
becoming a serious problem, for at its very best it 
is an abnormal adjustment-by its nature at odds 
with ideals of normal mating. But prolonged 
celibacy on the part of a healthy man or woman 
creates a very different psychological and moral 
situation. Hope of normal mating in marriage in- 
definitely deferrred, or absent, one of three adjust- 
ments (apart from prostitution) seems fairly in- 
evitable-clandestine relations with a social equal; 
masturbation; or chronic attempt at suppression 
with its attendant amorous imagery and its com- 
pensatory chronic eroticism. Of these the last is the 
most dangerous for health, and probably the most 
demoralizing to the moral sense. The first is the 
most normal, and the trend of the times seems to be 
in that direction. 
But these are adult problems growing out of ab- 
normal conditions of life, and constitute but a small 
portion of the misfortunes of late marriage or 
permanent celibacy-misfortunes which consist 
perhaps even more of the good lost, than of the 
evils created. The legitimate problem of parents is A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
249 
to train and encourage their girls and boys to early 
marriage, and to do their share to see that they find 
suitable mates. Then they will have done what they 
could. But it is just in this duty that American 
parents fail, and the next generation pays. 
The subject of special school schedules for girls 
is an important one, if only for the time and money 
that are wasted trying to teach them things for 
which they have little present or future use. This 
problem together with the other important one of 
sex conventions will come up again in the next chap- 
ter. Both of these depend for their merit upon the 
character of the social environment, and the eco- 
nomic and industrial conditions for which adjust- 
ment has to be made. Needs along these lines change 
with the changing times. They are something aside 
from the truly sexual problems outlined in the pro- 
gram, and are of value only as they can be made 
to conserve these more important and permanent 
ends. 
Finally, in regard to our "Great Unmarried" 
among American middle-class women. That any con- 
siderable number of fine women should really be 
choosing careers to husbands, would indeed be a 
tragic situation, worthy of the most serious atten- 
tion that could be given it. But I know, as every 
other mature woman does, that the condition does 
not exist-that voluntary celibacy among women in 
secular life is practically negligible. My life has 
been spent among higher working and middle-class 
women of all grades, and I have never yet met a 250 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
mature woman who did not frankly admit that she 
wanted to marry-and would if she had a suitable 
opportunity; and I have met extremely few among 
the adolescent who, in talking seriously about the 
matter, did not take for granted that they would be 
married sometime. 
American girls and women go to work, or *4 pursue 
careers" as the men love euphemistically to call it 
(except in the very rare instances of some special 
talent), for one of two reasons-either to earn their 
living, since like their brothers if they eat they must 
work, or for "something to do" to fill an otherwise 
void life till the man conies. If a woman is not 
married by the time she has reached mature woman- 
hood, except as she is prevented by the claims of 
parents, it is ordinarily that she has never had the 
opportunity to marry (and there are hosts of these 
among attractive middle-class women), or, what is 
practically equivalent, never had an opportunity to 
marry a man at all eligible; or that through mistaken 
notions in regard to love and marriage, had rejected 
the one or more opportunities she may have had, 
in serious expectation of the "knight"-the one man 
of all the world who (she had been taught), was 
made for her and would surely come some day. It 
has been my repeated experience with groups of 
young women of marriageable age, the numerical 
majority of whom had never known what it was to 
have a "beau" and had never known the com- 
panionship of any boy or man other than a relative 
:(a situation inherent in their segregated lives-with A CONCRETE PROGRAM 
251 
no provision whatever for male companionship, and 
middle class conventions which prohibit the making 
of chance aquaintances), that the hundred per cent 
took it for granted that marriage would "happen" 
to them some time. Statistics show that it still 
does happen to from 60 to 70 per cent of them 
before they are forty-five years of age. The others 
continue to pursue their "careers" and await the 
knight, who has only to appear to be "chosen." 
But taking for granted that something is going to 
happen sometime, is quite a different thing psy- 
chologically, from being actively interested in bring- 
ing it about and preparing for it. There cannot be 
a shadow of doubt in the mind of an unbiassed 
observer, who comes in close contact with American 
girls in their late adolescence, but that they are 
neither actively interested in marriage, nor think 
highly of it. On the other hand, they are exorbi- 
tantly concerned with their studies or other present 
and future occupations, with their dress and lip 
sticks, and with what pleasure they can squeeze 
from a still reluctant world. The natural result is 
celibacy, except where chance provides proximity, 
and proximity does the rest. 
Adolescent girls, like adolescent boys, think of and 
attend to what they are trained to think of and at- 
tend to, and what their environment provides-this 
is practically the whole story of educational psy- 
chology. It is only after they have reached maturity 
themselves, and awakened to the truth that they 
are missing the best things of life, that they come 
to realize that their youth was betrayed. CHAPTER XIII 
FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
What is to be done, and how, and by whom, to 
fit American girls for their part in marriage and 
parenthood?-or we might better say, for their part 
in present day civilization, for that is what it 
amounts to. These are the pertinent questions. For 
make programs as we may, we know that the parents 
whose legitimate work it is to apply them to the 
training of children, have neither the necessary 
knowledge nor the points of view. 
As in the preceding chapter, there are here two 
distinct enterprises to be considered. These are con- 
fused with each other only to the detriment of both. 
First there is the fact to be faced that in this twen- 
tieth century civilization of ours, girls and women 
are universally ignorant of the names and care of 
their own organs, and the conditions of their normal 
functioning-with the actual result of almost uni- 
versal suffering or disability on the part of young 
girls. This ignorance pertains not only to elemen- 
tary, high and training school graduates, but to the 
rank and file of college women. It is expected that 
women physicians, and perhaps the better trained 
252 FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
253 
women biologists and certain types of social 
workers, know the names and location and the gen- 
eral structure of the female genitalia. It is difficult 
to conceive, however, that they know very much 
about their specific care and the conditions of their 
normal development. If they do, they certainly have 
succeeded in keeping their knowledge well bottled 
up. For, with but few notable exceptions, such as 
the pioneer work of Dr. Mary Putnam Jacoby, * and 
the later contribution of Professor Leta Holling- 
worth,! there has been no adequate outpouring of 
the precious truth that suffering and physical disa- 
bility are no more natural for girls than for boys. 
That this condition of ignorance is practically uni- 
versal in an age where boy children babble in terms 
of radio-activity and its wonders, is so wicked and 
inexcusable as scarcely to bear discussion. The 
meeting of this crying need is not a demand of sex 
education but of common humanity. There can 
legitimately be no problem in connection with this. 
The thing is to give this instruction and give it with 
as little delay as possible-in the schools, elemen- 
tary, high, training and college; in social settle- 
ments; in women's and girl's clubs-anywhere and 
everywhere, where girls and women can be brought 
together for instruction. And this must be done by 
women-simply, and directly, and thoroughly. To 
just the extent that this work is properly conceived, 
* The question of Best for Women During Menstruation-Mary- 
Putnam Jacoby, New York, 1877. 
t Functional Periodicity-Leta S. Hollingworth-Columbia Uni- 
versity Contributions, Teachers College Series, 1914. 254 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
men by their psychology and the exigencies of the 
situation, are unfitted to do it-and would not want 
to. They can teach the inevitable amoeba, and the 
chick which has come to share honors with the flower 
as "practical aids" in their instruction of girls and 
women. But what girls need is the plainest possible 
instruction in the what and where, and conditions of 
normal development and functioning of the ovaries 
and uterus-and all that is involved therein. And 
they need to have it under conditions where they can 
freely ask questions that naturally arise out of their 
own experience. 
How futile are the usual screen and lecture 
methods, or even a year of daily high school biology 
plus a half year of training school nature study, for 
imparting the information girls need, is shown by the 
questions asked by the young women-who had been 
regaled with amoebas and earthworms and chicks 
and flowers fairly annually, from the nature study 
days of elementary school. The prevalent modes 
of referring to their genital organs were as "the 
parts," "the organs," or even the "vital organs" 
of a girl. As far as simple nomenclature was con- 
cerned, "reproductive organs" was evidently the 
one term that they had brought away, of which they 
really knew the correct meaning, when applied to 
their own genitalia. The few attempts which they 
made to employ the terms they had heard, show how 
dense was the wilderness of confused ideas which 
made up their stock of knowledge about their own 
bodies. "Uterus" was used once-in a question FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
255 
which asked why since there are two ovaries in the 
uterus, only one is ordinarily active; and "utris" 
occurred once in a question which asked what it is! 
4'Ovary" occurred three times in connection with 
questions asking how it gets fertilized! and how 
and when it leaves the body! If evidence is required 
to prove the futility of round-about instruction, and 
the desperate need for straightforward, unincum- 
bered and thorough information, my investigation 
furnishes a wealth of it. But this again is only a 
requirement of the laws of learning, as outlined in 
any up-to-date general or educational psychology. 
To teach one thing in the hope that the student is 
going to carry over the knowledge to something 
more or less closely related, is to ignore the laws of 
attention in the learning process, and to depend for 
results upon a "transfer of training" which has 
long been discredited by experimental psycholo- 
gists. 
If the instruction is to be direct and adequate, it 
must be clear that it is woman's work to give it; 
and that we have here a duty of the public spirited 
women of the country that can no longer be blinked, 
with any regard for the public welfare and the needs 
of their own sex. It would not necessarily be a long 
drawn out project. A few years of well organized 
and adequate effort would finish the work, as far 
as active propaganda would be called for. Indeed 
the very aim of the project should be directed toward 
creating the educational situation which would ren- 
der its continuance unnecessary. It should definitely 256 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
have the two-fold aim, (1) of giving the sort of in- 
formation I have referred to directly by word of 
mouth to every American girl and woman who does 
not possess it-which means the mass; and (2) to 
establish such instruction as an integral part of the 
physiology and hygiene in the fifth and sixth grades 
(before the majority of the girls leave school), and 
as an integral part of the physiology course in train- 
ing schools for teachers throughout the country. If 
for one year only, the time now wasted in the public 
schools of the country 4'teaching" fifth and sixth 
grade girls to make dust caps, sleevelets, and 
similar gimcracks, should be devoted sedulously to 
this instruction, it would revolutionize the physical 
and mental habits of hundreds of thousands of girls; 
and thereafter salvage annually to family and social 
service, years of time of American girlhood and 
womanhood needlessly spent in bed. 
But if the project is to be accomplished thor- 
oughly and expeditiously, as it should be, it requires 
as complete and well-managed organization, and as 
great persistence of intelligent effort, as those which 
characterized the suffrage movement in its later 
stages. This of necessity means the taking up and 
pushing through of the project by social minded wo- 
men of leisure. The day of Mary Lyon and of Susan 
B. Anthony-the day of the leader and martyr with 
her handful of ardent supporters in initiating and 
carrying on great social projects for the betterment 
of women-has passed. The day of organized effort 
backed by large wealth must take its place. This 
was recognized by the suffragists several years be- FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
257 
fore the end. It was the entrance of American 
women of leisure, and of big means, into the cause 
that gave it the effective machinery and surplus 
energy that made propaganda on a large scale pos- 
sible. And, too, it was through the suffrage move- 
ment during its final years, that the American 
woman of wealth came into her own as a positive 
active force for social betterment. Here is her next 
project. Hers because there is no one else who can 
do it adequately-who can unite the will to do with 
the necessary money and time. This part of the 
debt which American owes to its girlhood must 
surely be paid by women, and should be paid com- 
pletely and quickly. 
But in the training of girls for their legitimate 
inheritance of marriage and motherhood, and their 
responsibilities and rights in connection with all that 
these imply, we strike perhaps the most fundamental 
and far-reaching problem which America has left 
practically unattacked. It comprehends not merely 
a pubertal and adolescent training aimed toward 
making girls physically and mentally fit for ma- 
ternity and wifehood, but it strikes at the very roots 
of the girl child's treatment and the social attitude 
toward her, from the day she is born. It compre- 
hends not only the training of adolescent girls (and 
boys) into a favorable attitude toward marriage, but 
the whole broad subject of the conventions and prac- 
tical relations between the sexes in everyday life 
-in home and education, in work and play, from 
infancy on. It comprehends not merely training 
girls and boys to save a marriage fund, and to work 258 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
out the problem of the maintenance of a home and 
the support of children together, but it involves the 
working out of a new type of home life and child 
care, suitable to a new industrial and economic age. 
And still further in this problem of training of girls 
for responsible womanhood, is comprehended the 
very life and spirit of our typically American world. 
The social importance of this problem can scarcely 
be overestimated; and its seriousness and scope 
must not be underestimated if any truly effective 
solution is to be found. Something of its far reach- 
ing significance may perhaps be glimpsed through 
the changes which have come about in America in 
the last half century of the progress of science, and 
of the entrance of women into the educational and 
economic worlds. During the lifetime of those of us 
who came up in the last quarter and imbibed the 
spirit of the old rather than of the new century, 
America has so changed materially as scarcely to 
be recognized for the world we were born in. The 
automobile and the telephone, the submarine and the 
airplane, preventive medicine and industrial educa- 
tion, the gorgeousness of enormous wealth, and 
broadcasting-it is almost impossible to compass 
the change. But we look in vain for any corre- 
sponding growth in the moral and spiritual life of 
America-or even for the maintenance of the level 
of the old. As surely as the training of girls for 
marriage and motherhod has gone awry under the 
changing conditions of American life-with the 
sexes at odds in fairly every line of practical and FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
259 
spiritual interests-just so surely in these years of 
transformation of material existence, has America 
been running spiritually and morally amuck. The 
American youth of to-day it is true, fall heir to a 
material wonderland of infinite possibilities, com- 
pared to the world in which our early youth was 
spent. But just as truly have they fallen heir to a 
spiritual morass-where the young manhood is al- 
ready old; the adult womanhood, perpetually im- 
mature ; and the young women of twenty to twenty- 
three and four, who in a spiritually sound and 
morally fit society would be looking to the responsi- 
bilities and joys of the rearing of a new generation, 
are amiably looked upon as "fledglings." 
Following the precedent of the next older growth 
in one of the most favorable of the western states, 
over 50 per cent of these rather old fledglings who 
finally do grow up in the marital sense, will reach 
the state of matrimonial maturity somewhere be- 
tween the ages of forty and forty-five. And, again 
following the precedent of the same older growth, 
they will then enter upon a more or less permanent 
and largely childless partnership-quite likely, with 
one of a new generation of old young men. 
Of course the matrimonial situation is but one of 
the manifestations of our spiritual decay. There 
are abundant others-the growth of crime among 
boys, the failure of education to educate, the in- 
crease of preventable accidents that yearly kill off 
more persons than we lost in the world war, the gen- 
eral lack of invigorating idealism that has thrown 260 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
idealism itself into the discard-these have all been 
pointed out frequently enough by other writers. But 
the marriage situation with all that its success in- 
volves in way of physical and mental fitness, ideals 
of personal responsibility, and unity of purpose be- 
tween the sexes, is the one most vital criterion of 
the spiritual health of a modern nation. 
This dark picture of the spiritual condition of 
America is not simply the working of natural middle 
age pessimism-which tends to see the younger gen- 
eration going to the dogs. Temperamentally my 
tendencies work in the other direction, especially in 
contemplating youth. But of the observant and 
thoughtful, only the wilfully blind, it seems, can fail 
to see the change of values (or rather the disappear- 
ance of values), which marks the spiritual decadence 
of American society. This is not the contribution 
of the youth of to-day, but its legacy. And the igno- 
rance and need of training of interests which my 
investigation reveals, are but an integral part of 
the whole moral and spiritual neglect, which-with 
all the advance in material values-has left Amer- 
ican youth, and especially the girls, anchorless in the 
whirlpool of modern life. But they are a funda- 
mental part of that neglect, and their special sig- 
nificance lies in the fact that the great problem of 
restoring and maintaining the spiritual and moral 
values of American social life, is at core the woman 
problem. Put differently, the significance of the 
neglect of America to see to it (as did the ancient 
Spartans), that the bodies and minds of its girls FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
261 
are rendered as fit as those of its boys, and to train 
them to an equally high standard of intelligent be- 
havior and social responsibility, lies in the fact that 
where the womanhood of a society falls short of the 
capacity required for keeping up its moral and 
spiritual ends, that society declines-and finally de- 
generates. 
Men have always felt this in an intuitive way, 
since Adam first blamed Eve for the loss of their 
Eden. Theoretically it has in the past been pretty 
well recognized by American men. But the error 
has been in not recognizing that girls are as depend- 
ent as boys upon proper training for the develop- 
ment of their capacities, that women, the same as 
men, can give back to society only what society gives 
to them. Take the male children of the country for 
one generation and train them from babyhood as 
girl children are now trained, and we should see 
the same result. The streets full of men nugging 
along with feet pinched into thin-soled, high-heeled 
shoes with ankles and legs exposed to the rigors of 
winter weather, while the heads are smothered in 
furs; lips and faces painted pink or red or yellow or 
brown, according to taste or lack of it; bodies cov- 
ered with tawdry gee-gaws and inveterately chatter- 
ing about nothing. And still further granting the 
pelvic and leg muscles to have been subjected from 
infancy to exactly the same treatment (with the 
physical inactivity of the first years of childhood, 
and the artificial restrictions to normal development 
which begin in early puberty), the outcome in one 262 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
generation would be the general approximating, if 
not the actual acquiring, of the incapacity for 
normal mating-with the inevitable result of render- 
ing marriage unattractive. 
This imaginary picture may seem overdrawn. It 
is not from any point of view, and it falls short in 
many; for these boys must also be trained into the 
socially and spiritually demoralizing faith that they 
have a natural right to be supported by somebody. 
And as no great thing morally, or spiritually, or 
materially, could be forthcoming from such an un- 
developed and spiritually warped manhood, so may 
we not hope for any adequate contribution from such 
a womanhood. The real contributions to the up- 
building of American life in the last fifty years have 
come from men. It would be childish to pretend 
otherwise. And these have not been solely "ma- 
terial" in the derogatory sense in which we tend 
to use the word. The discovery of the cause of yel- 
low fever; the conceiving and building of great 
systems for securing adequate and pure water 
supply; the invention of the phonograph and the 
low-priced automobile-to mention merely a sug- 
gestive few of the wealth of things with which men 
have enriched modern life-these are not simply 
material gifts. They are contributions to the safety 
and joys of living that have come to us from Amer- 
ican men. There is no corresponding American 
womanhood. This does not mean of course, that 
all men are intelligent and highly contributive, and 
that no women are either. But it does mean that FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
263 
there are large numbers of American men who con- 
ceive great things for the common good, and devote 
their best energies to their accomplishment-even 
in some cases to the voluntary risk and sacrifice of 
life, as in the yellow fever experiments. And it 
means that there is a still larger body of men eager 
for new knowledge, ready to spread or broadcast 
what the the smaller group discovers or invents, so 
that it soon becomes available for the general good. 
It means also a general run of men-a rank and 
file-capable of responding to and benefiting by 
the contributions from above. It is in this sense 
that there is lacking an American womanhood to 
correspond to the American manhood of to-day. So 
the perennial plaint of men against women goes on. 
And the failure of women can no longer be explained 
on the grounds that they are too busy taking care 
of babies and the home, or too restricted by artificial 
social restraints due to exclusion from the benefits 
of higher education and politics. Higher education 
has been with us too long. Home in the old sense 
has largely disappeared with the economic age of 
which it was an expression; and if the men of to-day 
did not raise cows and milk them, and sterilize the 
milk (by "man-made" methods), and bring it to the 
door, there would be fairly wholesale infant mor- 
tality in middle and upper class America, due to the 
incapacity or unwillingness of the women to assume 
the most primal of responsibilities for the welfare 
of their offspring. One can imagine the somewhat 
indignant inquiry, ' ' Do you think every woman must 264 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
nurse her own child?" Not necessarily. Economic 
and other considerations may come up in individual 
cases. But I think that every American girl who 
is not specially disabled in some way, has a right 
to the capacity to nurse her child-that her body 
should not be so maltreated as to deprive her of the 
power to do so. And I think too, that a high sense 
of spiritual motherhood would lead a woman to want 
to, in view of the common knowledge that normally 
nourished children have so much better resistive 
power. That neither women nor men take it seri- 
ously that the manhood of the nation has to feed its 
infants, is evidence of the low standard that is ac- 
cepted as "natural" to women even in motherhood. 
But low standards of physical and spiritual wo- 
manhood are not natural-they are vastly unnatural. 
They violate everything that is best in men and 
women. American girlhood lies like some great 
stretch of wonderful, uncultivated-by nature, 
boundlessly fertile-land, running ever more and 
more to weeds, in a spiritually hungry world. No 
time should be lost in its salvaging. And if the 
work is to be effective, we must be very clear in re- 
gard to the main issues involved. In the first place 
it means the complete emancipation of the girl child 
from the superstitions of sex that fore-dooms her to 
a life of physical and mental inertia, and life-long 
trivial interests. It means the recognition of the 
fact that the first four years of infancy and child- 
hood are the most important of the child's life for 
determining the fundamental trends of physical FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
265 
habits and mental interests-with a girl, the same 
as with a boy. It must be realized that the two and 
three year old girl sitting stupidly on the bench by 
the side of her mother, staring at nothing or fussing 
with a doll, inattentive to and oblivious of all the 
wonderful world of things about her, is already the 
mother of the woman who twenty-five (or thirty- 
five) years ahead will be complacently looking to 
her husband to feed her newborn babe. If a philter 
could be devised and injected into the parents when 
a girl child is born which would prevent their dis- 
covering that she was a girl, until she was nine or 
ten years old, it would give the necessary psycho- 
logical situation for the free development of her 
body and mind up to that age; and would provide the 
requisite mental condition for the substitution of 
scientific psychology for superstition, in fitting her 
for a normal womanhood. 
But failing the philter for accomplishing this 
rescue of the mind and body of the girl child, the 
usual means of propaganda must be resorted to, 
and the best men and women of the country must 
take up the work of educating teachers and parents. 
Men may possibly ask shouldn't women do it-isn't 
it properly their work, the same as the struggles for 
their own higher education and political freedom? 
I think not. First because I do not believe women 
can or will do it alone-and to ask the impossible is 
to get nothing much done. The mass of women by 
the very physical and spiritual inertia into which 
they are trained, are unfitted for such an enterprise; 266 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
and probably no really intelligent, thoughtful person 
would expect it of them. But the very considerable 
class of educated and professionally trained women 
with high ideals, shouldn't they bear the brunt of 
this new emancipation of their own sex? I do not 
believe they can or will. The energies of these 
women are largely used up in the struggle for ex- 
istence, to make good on the economic and profes- 
sional sides, for the mass of them are of necessity 
self-supporting. Their energies are further depleted 
in the nerve draining necessity to adjust to abnormal 
modes of living-for they make up our great celibate 
class of women. Thus two things argue against any 
such heroic effort as would be required on their 
part to initiate and carry through such a project 
-the lack of necessary surplus energy, for as with 
other women, their physical vitality has been sapped 
by a misused childhood (a condition that has been 
only imperfectly compensated for by later intelligent 
regimen); and, what is still more significant, the 
fact that however high may be their idealism on 
these subjects in an abstract way, their very psy- 
chology as celibates robs the case of the vitality 
necessary to inspire great effort. The situation is 
very different with men. The ablest and best- 
equipped men of America, those who contribute big 
things, are as a class married men. However active 
they may be in business or professional life, their 
souls are anchored, however imperfectly, to what we 
traditionally symbolize as the "home." And there 
is no doubt in the minds of these men that just there, FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
267 
in the final analysis, rest the real values of life- 
that there is where their interests are actually in- 
spired and finally center. The best-equipped and 
ablest women of America, as a class, are celibate, 
and possess no such inherent psychology. Their 
most vital interests emerge out of, and are directed 
toward life's activities as they have to meet them. 
There can be no "oughtness" about this. It is a 
case of inevitable "isness," by the very laws of the 
human mind. This partly explains why in all this 
half century of full scope for women to achieve in 
the realm of education, so little that is really vital 
and far-reaching has been accomplished by them 
for creating a more human type of education for 
girls and boys-the realm in which above all others, 
women were expected, and hoped, to contribute. It 
seems worth while to mention in passing, that the 
two notable contributions of women mentioned 
above, were made by married women. Had these 
contributions been taken up and properly exploited 
by women educators who have been entirely free to 
do so in their contact with girls and women (and 
who it seems must have known something of their 
existence and character), this alone would have 
brought untold good to the womanhood, and in- 
directly to the manhood, of the country. But the 
psychology of a celibate womanhood seems fairly to 
preclude the necessary interest and initiative. 
There are left only the women of leisure and 
means who could, with any show of reason be looked 
to, to undertake the enterprise. But here again, 268 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
lack of training in social and business responsibility 
and substantial social idealism, largely unfits them 
for the initiative required for so great a project; 
though they would furnish the greatest possible 
asset for carrying on the work. They would find 
in it an outlet for energy, and an opportunity for 
service sufficient to open up to the American world 
that enormous store of spiritual and material power 
which now lies in their keeping so largely unused. 
But aside from the question of the fitness of 
women to work out their own emancipation from 
their long-inherited chains of superstition and igno- 
rance of biological laws, it needs to be recognized 
that this is a social problem more than it is a 
woman's problem. By conserving their energies, 
women can continue to carry on fairly well as they 
now do, along the lines of least resistance-existing 
for themselves, as men do. It is society that loses, 
and most of all, the men. There is one way, how- 
ever, in which all intelligent men and women could 
and should help. This is to secure a national law 
against the wearing by girls, or women under forty, 
of any device calculated to restrict the normal de- 
velopment or activity of the trunk and leg muscles. 
Governments do not hesitate to compel women to 
wear veils wThen they appear on the street, if they 
consider it for the public good. In our own colonial 
days, the selectmen of one of our most prominent 
settlements, seriously contemplated passing a law 
forbidding women to gather together for purpose 
other than prayer and sewing; and our state gov- FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
269 
ernments have prevented women from voting nearly 
all the years of our existence as a nation. It would 
seem highly proper in our present civilization, for 
the government to take interest in protecting the 
girlhood of the nation from having their bodies un- 
fitted for normal health and maternity. Such a law 
would have the immediate effect of saving the girls 
who are now children, and be of the highest educa- 
tional value to everybody. 
But a sound body with a sound mind are but the 
prerequisite of a normal womanhood. They do not 
settle the marriage question, which is a sex problem. 
In a society where educational psychology was ap- 
plied to the education of girls as it already is to 
that of boys in America, much that I have written 
would not have been called for-any more than 
would the recommendation that modern science be 
substituted for paint and feathers, or preachment 
concerning the necessity of free development for the 
cranium, in writing of the training of boys. The 
release of the girl's body and mind from the bond- 
age of superstition, is a prime condition of normal 
sex life; but the big consideration of the conventions 
and ideals which determine the actual relations be- 
tween the sexes in America, is still before us. 
Our present practice in regard to girls and boys, 
may be represented fairly well by what is known in 
philosophy as the doctrine of "parallelism," as 
opposed to that of "interaction." These words 
applied to our present sex policy pretty well explain 
themselves. The object is to keep girls and boys 270 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
separate all along the line-not only actually in 
space, but in mental interests. Girls are trained to 
play with girls and leave the boys alone. Boys are 
trained to play with boys and leave the girls alone. 
And each side is trained into the undesirability of 
intermingling. Girls are taught to jump rope, and 
boys to play ball. Girls to dress up and dance 
"folk" dances (where all the folks are of one sex, 
and of school age); the boys, to run, jump, and per- 
fect their ball. Boys are organized into clubs for 
long hikes and the practical demands of vigorous 
camp life; and girls to sew, string beads and say 
incantations. In school, boys are given shop work 
and the sciences which contribute directly to the 
practical control of the environment in which they 
live-girls are given the home industries of a past 
economic age, a smattering of foreign languages, 
and esthetics. And finally, first, last and all the 
time, each side is trained to keep its distance. They 
may run parallel but never touch. Pass by but not 
speak or look. 
This picture does not take into account the ex- 
ceptions-that some girls and boys do break 
through, and that occasionally we find a family and 
even co-educational school, where by definite policy 
the girls and boys do mingle in a really human way. 
And I am not concerned either with the fact that 
we are having more girls learning to play hockey, 
tennis, swimming, etc. ("boys' " activities), than we 
used to. These are the exceptions, not the rule. I 
am trying to give what is on the whole an accurate FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
271 
picture of our general sex policy of separation in 
education and play and work; and taken in the large, 
in its actual effect upon the relation between the 
sexes, the picture is true. Separate interests are 
definitely and intentionally cultivated. And even 
where they do learn the same things, as with the 
sports just mentioned, sex conventions as a rule, 
prevent companionship in them. 
Inspiring this practice is a still more dangerous 
spiritual outlook. The sexes are not recognized, ex- 
plicitly or implicitly, as existing for each other, as 
actually having no meaning apart from their rela- 
tion to, and fife in each other-but merely as two 
separate worlds existing side by side-less inter- 
ested in each other on the whole, than is the earth in 
Mars. And where interested, with an undercurrent 
of planetary rivalry. Men and boys exist for men 
and boys. Women and girls, for women and girls. 
Men realizing that something is woefully wrong with 
our American moral and spiritual world, get to- 
gether the best brains and big wealth of the country, 
and bring into being the most effective educational 
movement of modern times (the Boy Scout move- 
ment on a national scale)-for boys only. Women 
not wanting the girls entirely left out of the running, 
trail along with such diluted duplicates as they can. 
Recognizing that the sense of citizenship among the 
young is not all it should be, the same splendid talent 
and means work out a scheme of children's week, 
to stimulate the pride of town and city and country 
in their future citizens-for boys only. Appreciat- 272 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
ing the spiritual need for relaxation and social con- 
tact (in a society where the form of home and 
neighborhood life renders them so barren of social 
values), they proceed to build clubs, stadia, camps, 
"homes," on the most complete and often luxurious 
scale-for men and boys only. And again, women, 
feeling that something must surely be done for the 
girls, try to provide parallel things, of necessity 
poorer and less effective-and most important of 
all psychologically, less stimulating. 
The actual effect of this policy of sex separation, 
and leaving the girlhood of the country to shift for 
itself for the real fun of life, has been a slow grow- 
ing but very positive widening of interests and feel- 
ings between men and women, which constitutes a 
spiritual menace of the most serious kind. Anyone 
who takes the trouble and time may observe the ex- 
ternal situation almost anywhere, where girls and 
boys, or men and women, of presumably common 
interests frequent the same places-such as the 
eating places that abound in college communities, or 
the work shops of factory districts, and even co- 
educational, or mixed, schools. A little close atten- 
tion will reveal how actually far apart are these 
men and women or girls and boys, who fairly rub 
elbows daily, for weeks, or months and years. They 
scarcely glance in each other's direction; and it ap- 
parently never occurs to them to attempt to become 
acquainted-even to the extent of speaking, except 
as some external situation demands it. And this 
is not a pose, or even conscious adjustment for con- FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
273 
ventional reasons. I at first thought it must be, at 
any rate with the girls. But close and prolonged 
observation has convinced me that with the younger 
generation, the girls are actually as unconcerned 
with the presence of the men, as the men are with 
theirs-and that their indifference to each other is 
fairly absolute. Either side could disappear from 
the scene, and its disappearance scarcely be noticed, 
except as the other experienced a comfortable sense 
of having more room. 
Then they pass from their eating or work places, 
each by themselves, to their separate evenings and 
amusements, to their separate camps and vacations. 
And so run the masculine and the feminine worlds, 
each for its own ends and interests, with each suc- 
ceeding generation of youth spiritually farther 
apart. Take even the "co-educational," or 
"mixed," schools of the elementary grade, and the 
situation on the whole is the same-there is no real 
mixing. The girls and boys pass on the side walk 
and as a rule never speak; and in the city at any 
rate may attend these schools for years without 
forming any real friendships with the opposite sex. 
In this respect at least, our educational policy func- 
tions effectively. It realizes its aims with the high- 
est degree of perfection-but it has every other 
social institution, and social pressure everywhere, 
ranged on its side. 
Thus by a system of sex parallelism, by separa- 
tion in space wherever practicable-and mentally 
always-do we educate boys and girls away from 274 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
each other, instead of toward each other; and train 
them for self-sufficient life apart, instead of for 
inter-dependent life together. The result is that 
most anomalous of American social products, a 
young manhood and a young womanhood each quite 
capable of traveling on its own, in work, in play, in 
their home life, in their joys and in their sorrows. 
They are thoroughly independent. Wherein educa- 
tional psychology gives added proof of its validity 
-for they are exactly what they have been trained 
to be. Hence there is little incentive for youth to 
marry; and if they do and marriage does not suit 
their notions of independence, they can let it go. 
That only one marriage in seven so far, actually 
does end in divorce (though this does not take into 
account the merely legal separations), is evidence 
of how difficult it is entirely to spoil human nature, 
however hard we try. 
If we are to get back to our early standards of 
stability in marriage, and our sense of the spiritual 
need of the sexes for each other, we must get back 
to the psychological conditions which formerly made 
these possible-a free intermingling of the sexes all 
along the line, with the development of common in- 
terests. Of course we cannot go back to the actual 
home and social conditions, which in the early times 
of our country naturally threw the men, women and 
children together in common interests in work and 
play and social contact. But we can stop building 
artificial walls for the abstract joy of preventing 
normal contact. We can go further, and actually FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
275 
create as favorable psychological conditions as we 
then had. The only real difference is, that whereas 
then, the character of the industrial and economic 
environment, and the sway of common sense among 
the people were sufficient to take care of the situa- 
tion, now it must be worked out by the intelligent 
application of the laws of psychology. This is what 
is being done in the world of advertising and selling, 
in fact in every line of business, and in every aspect 
of education, save this alone. If we cannot take the 
established facts of scientific and educational psy- 
chology, and apply them to the solution of the sex 
problem, then it would be better, if we could, to go 
back to our more primitive economic order, where 
it naturally took care of itself. For this is the one 
most important thing in the moral and spiritual life 
of a society, and it is foolish to sacrifice the greater 
for the less. 
But the problem is by no means incapable of solu- 
tion. Surely a nation which has contributed so 
enormously to human betterment, as has America, 
can solve this one most vital of its social problems, 
if it sets itself to it properly. It is not to be solved, 
however, by artificial attempts to create common in- 
terests and social life after the ruin has been ac- 
complished. In the first place the task is too big, 
even to make any considerable impression in com- 
parison to the total need. Then too, the young folks, 
especially the young men who can have a better 
time by themselves than these socially minded 
people can give them, will not respond. To train 276 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
boys and girls apart, and then as young men and 
women try to bring them together by means of well- 
intentioned, but artificial efforts to provide enter- 
tainment, is like training a girl habitually to wear 
her pelvis in a vise, and then in her womanhood try 
to teach her to take it off a few minutes a day for 
abdominal exercises; or like training boys from 
childhood to feel that they are a special class in 
privilege, and then in their manhood endeavor to 
induce them not to exercise it. 
The work must begin here as in these other re- 
spects, at the foundation; and must conform to the 
known principles of educational psychology. It 
must take cognizance of the character of the human 
mind, which is not a sex organ, and of the character 
of present day social environment, which is very, 
very different from that for which men seem end- 
lessly determined to have girls trained. Thus it 
must consider the general education which every 
child irrespective of its sex, should receive as its just 
heritage from the older generation, and it must take 
into account the fitting of girls and boys for occupa- 
tion so as to make early marriage possible. 
The early childhood training of girls has already 
been discussed, and the same psychological prin- 
ciple must guide the school work. It must be clearly 
recognized that what is unfit for the mind and body 
of a boy, is equally unfit lor the mind and body of a 
girl; and that what is necessary or good sauce for 
the boy, is just as necessary and good sauce for 
the girl. And it must be recognized as a working FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
277 
principle, that if they are to enjoy their sauce to- 
gether in manhood and womanhood, they must be 
trained to prepare and eat it together in childhood. 
Thus girls and boys must be educated together in- 
stead of apart; play together not only in early child- 
hood but later have their games, and clubs and hikes 
together, instead of apart; have their club houses 
and camps together instead of apart. They must 
learn the same things in the same way, and share in 
common. "What!", I can imagine being said, 
"would you have girls educated and trained just 
like boys?" Why not? Boys are educated and 
trained better than girls are-almost immeasurably 
better-and both live in and have to adjust to the 
same environment. The only difference is that boys 
are so much better prepared to meet it. Boys are 
better fitted for marriage and parenthood than girls 
are-in mind, in body, and in practical idealism, and 
often in cooking. I am almost inclined to say, as a 
rule in cooking. For they get their cooking under 
the practical exigency of preparing something good 
to eat for themselves and fellows; they bring to it 
a keener zest, clearer intelligence and a more effec- 
tive social stimulus, than are possible in pothering in 
a public school laboratory a few minutes a week as 
part of a compulsory course. They are likely too, 
to get more practice before marriage. 
"But," it may be said, "in shop work and 
athletics, girls could not keep up with the boys, and 
would hold them back. ' ' That was what was argued 
against admitting girls into the same college classes 278 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
with men. Now they are being put out again be- 
cause they embarrass the men by excelling them. 
Ability in shop work and athletics does not follow 
a line of cleavage corresponding to the sex line. And 
no honest person can think if girls were given a fair 
chance and equal training along the whole line, that 
the boys would outstrip the girls in all the active 
sports and occupations. But if some boys did excel 
all the girls it would not matter. It would be noth- 
ing to boast of on the one side, or to grieve over 
on the other. Some boys always outstrip the other 
boys, but this is not taken as justification for ex- 
cluding all but the champions from the best oppor- 
tunities and skilled instruction. That women tend 
to outstrip men in college classes, is not taken as 
psychological or biological grounds for excluding 
men from the best-but rather as a new reason for 
excluding the women. Thus sex bias, instead of con- 
structive psychology and human and social welfare, 
guides educational practice; and sex antagonism, in- 
stead of sex interest and harmony are directly gen- 
erated. 
"But competition! would you have boys and girls 
compete?" No, not as girls and boys. That is what 
is going on now under cover and in spirit, fairly 
everywhere; and it is just what I would remove all 
along the line. Sex competition is contrary to every 
law of nature, and as it now exists among us, cuts 
at the very vitals of the spiritual life of the nation. 
But as long as men continue to preempt for them- 
selves and boys the best educational and social op- FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
279 
portunities, and deliberately exclude women and 
girls, not only must the sex antagonism which such 
a policy inevitably generates, continue to exist-but 
is likely to flourish apace, under present day condi- 
tions of American Efe, where the vast majority of 
young men have nothing commensurate financially 
or socially, to offer girls in return for their enforced 
deprivations. The spirit created in girls by such a 
policy is pretty well illustrated by an incident in a 
public school, whose principal after considerable 
effort had succeeded in securing equipment for shop 
work. The first day he went into the fifth grade 
room of his "mixed" school, told of his success and 
concluded with, "Come on, boys, we'll go up." A 
girl on a front seat got up and asked "Mr. , 
aren't we going, too?" He told her no, the shop 
work was for the boys, that the girls had their sew- 
ing. As the boys were disappearing, another girl 
was heard to grumble, "All we can do is sit and 
sew." Toward the end of the period the teacher 
was called from the room, and when she returned 
the girls had passed out. But on the blackboard 
in large letters, they had left as expression of their 
sense of social injustice-"We want our rites." 
So it is not competition I would seek in having 
girls and boys freely share together, but that spirit 
of practical harmony between the sexes, which can 
probably never exist again among us, till the girls 
actually have their "rites"; in form of full and free 
sharing on the basis of natural tendencies and abili- 
ties, of the best things which are devised for mental 280 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
and physical and social enjoyment and development 
-the things which are provided so lavishly for boys 
just because of their great educational and social 
value, but from the benefits of which girls are ex- 
cluded for the one and only reason that they are 
girls-and, as they come to appreciate very early 
in life, don't count. But where there is competition 
it should be between matched teams, irrespective of 
sex, and primarily for the fun of the game rather 
than primarily for competition. Competition as it 
largely prevails in the sports of boys, eliminates 
even the mass of boys from their due share of in- 
struction. In the general education and training of 
boys and girls, games should be for fun, for exer- 
cise, for sociability, for the enrichment of the 
masses, not for the competition of the few who want 
to become experts. Competition can be attended to 
on the side, where those who will or must may be- 
come Dempseys and Firpos. But let the mass of 
girls and boys be wholesome-minded, healthy and 
fun loving humans-together. This is what obtained 
in the good old days of agricultural life and the little 
red school. And it can still be seen to sbme extent 
in certain rural communities, where sex separation 
has not yet become an end in itself. The girls and 
boys may be seen playing vigorously together in the 
school yard and going home together in groups after 
school-even competing together in games against 
neighboring schools. These boys are every inch 
boys, and the girls are every inch girls-and in such FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
281 
communities celibacy is fairly negligible. The un- 
married are usually the feeble-minded. 
But in the final analysis, it is a matter of relative 
values. It is a clear-cut issue between educating 
the girls and boys together in the interest of mar- 
riage, future parenthood, and spiritual harmony, or 
training boys alone in the interest of athletics and 
supposedly masculine welfare. The latter has been 
going on ever increasingly for many years, with 
very indifferent success indeed, for the mass of boys, 
simply from the standpoint of athletics; and with 
constantly growing social demoralization among 
them. The lack of success in the first respect may 
be due to a mistaken objective, and that every boy is 
not by nature an embryo athlete, any more than 
every girl is by nature an embryo seamstress and 
cook; and the growing social demoralization of boys 
as shown by the prevalence of the t'gang" spirit 
(from gunmen to congressional blocs), may be di- 
rectly fostered by a practice based upon the assump- 
tion that boys are capable of all-round social and 
spiritual development in and by themselves. There 
can be no question of the failure of the present prac- 
tice to produce socially responsible youth, in spite of 
the enormous sums spent upon education in general 
and upon that of boys in particular. The policy of 
the education of the sexes together on the basis of 
similar capacities, in the interest of sex harmony and 
marriage and parenthood, has never been tried. If 
finally put to the test, it may well be that boys will 
prove themselves better fitted by nature to make lov- 282 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
ing and devoted husbands and fathers, than to com- 
pete against their fellows in sports-and that in the 
long run they will like the results very much better. 
There can be no question as to what it would mean 
to the spiritual regeneration of America. 
This issue of having the girls and boys share and 
enjoy their general education and play opportuni- 
ties together, is closely related to the question of 
choice of occupations; and also to the general prac- 
tice of requiring girls to spend time in public school 
''learning" to tie knots, making garments which 
as a rule can be bought ready-made for less than the 
retail price of the material, and "taking" cooking 
for a few minutes a week for a year or two of their 
general school life. Certain it is, if young people 
in general are to marry in the prime of their youth, 
when by nature they should (and must for a morally 
and spiritually healthy society), girls must uni- 
versally be trained now, as they were in the past, 
to productive occupation in keeping with the 
character of the present industrial age. And if 
it is to be economically successful, and not be- 
come a constant source of mental conflict under 
present day conditions of specialization, the occupa- 
tion must be chosen in reference to the natural tend- 
encies and capacities of the individual girls. That 
differences in this respect are individual and not 
sexual, has been too long established by experimental 
psychology to call for discussion. But there is a 
crying social need that this fact of psychology be 
intelligently applied to the end of solving the prob- FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
283 
lem of fitting girls and boys for occupations, in such 
a way as to facilitate early marriage. 
It seems to have been forgotten, or overlooked 
by the good people who are fond of holding up our 
great grandmothers as examples, that these great 
(and great-great-great) grandmothers of ours, the 
ones who contributed so strongly by the side of 
their men, in giving to America its peculiar moral 
and spiritual place among the nations of the world, 
did pursue productive occupations-and that these 
occupations were essentially the same as their men's. 
That the two had a productive business which they 
carried on together, with very practical contribution 
from their children; and that in general one could 
do whatever the other could-whether milking cows, 
working in the field, making garden, or hooking the 
horse or oxen to the wagon and taking the produce 
to market. This situation was not confined to a 
special "working" class, but in its essentials was 
true of the flower of our Puritan American ancestry. 
There was a certain amount of specialization-as 
indeed there was between Mme. and M. Curie, in the 
discovery of radium. But the thing of great psy- 
chological and social importance was that they were 
'both producing and were both engaged in the same 
general line of business-thus admitting of a conser- 
vation of energy and reinforcement of output, that 
would not be possible, where the two were engaged 
in quite different lines. 
In this psychological and economic situation we 
may very well find a cue for the solution of our 284 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
present day problem. It cannot be emphasized too 
strongly that the notion which grew up after machin- 
ery and specialization took the industries out of the 
"home," i.e., out of the hands of the family unit- 
the notion that men single handed can ordinarily 
produce enough to maintain a wife, and feed, clothe, 
educate and provide in every way for offspring for 
fourteen or sixteen or even eighteen years without 
contribution on their part-is historically and bio- 
logically anomalous. It simply can't be done 
through the legitimate efforts of an ordinary man. 
The only way it can become possible at all, is by a 
wage and salary scale destructive to industry and 
social integrity. Such an ideal applied would have 
brought general starvation to the northern colonies. 
Its growing application during the last century, has 
resulted in the rapid elimination of the very stock 
and type which made America morally and spirit- 
ually great; and its pernicious influence is spread- 
ing in both directions to take in the more responsible 
among the working classes, and even the really well- 
to-do. Even the sons of the latter find it constantly 
more difficult to assume the responsibility for the 
maintenance of a vTife, to say nothing of children. 
It is coming so that only the inept and irresponsible 
(aside from those of really large means), may hope 
to marry in their youth and have a family of 
children. 
Thus it cannot be recognized too clearly, that it 
is just this false ideal, assisted by the separation of 
the sexes through training, which is the great pre- FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
285 
venter of marriage among the better class of youth; 
and that it is this same false idea, assisted by the 
physical unfitness into which girls are specifically 
trained, which is the arch agent of birth-control 
among the mentally and morally responsible. 
So instead of wasting the period of girlhood and 
boyhood trying to turn all girls into seamstresses 
and cooks, and all boys into shop workers and 
athletes, the school equipments which tend toward 
the development and acquisition of industrial 
capacities and abilities, should be gathered into cen- 
tral plants, one for each given school area, and 
opened freely to both girls and boys, on the basis 
of common capacity and interest as determined by 
specific test. The girls and boys should be given an 
intelligent foresight of the various occupations to 
which these various lines contribute, and stimulated 
to choose in reference to the future possibilities for 
marriage. The courses should be organized in ref- 
erence to the great variety of specific occupations 
to which the activities in these three different lines 
are related-the various skills required in the run- 
ning and management of good cafeterias and res- 
taurants, being among those which should receive 
big consideration in the domestic science depart- 
ments of these central plants. There should also be 
short practical courses in cooking and marketing for 
married women of the neighborhood who could profit 
by the instruction. In the sewing departments 
tailoring should be given as well as dressmaking; 
and the shop work should contribute in a practical 286 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
way to the various building trades. In this way the 
large amount of equipment and the skilled force of 
specially trained teachers, now necessarily largely 
frittered away in piecemeal work in connection with 
the public school curriculum, could be made to func- 
tion largely for the public good-in fitting girls and 
boys with similar natural ability and interest, for 
occupations which could be carried on together after 
marriage. And with a right-about face in the spirit 
which dominates our sex conventions, normal com- 
panionship would be fostered, and marriage between 
those in the same lines, naturally follow. The time 
which is now divided into short periods, and spread 
over years, and largely consumed in getting ready 
for work and putting the material away again, could 
be concentrated into weeks and months, when it 
would accomplish the most good. 
This truly co-educational plan (co-educational in 
spirit as well as in form), should be made operative 
in all industrial, technical and professional schools, 
and colleges, of whatever kind or grade. The pro- 
fessions of all sorts, from engineering to analytic 
chemistry and navigation, are particularly suitable 
for co-operative work between the sexes; and it is 
the professional class of men who are finding it 
practically impossible to marry in youth. But fairly 
every occupation could be utilized in the same way. 
Instead of the best colleges, medical, law schools, 
etc., filling up with men from the first comers who 
can pass the examinations, all these schools should 
plan to make up their quota with practically equally FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
287 
numbers of men and women, taken from the higher 
levels as determined by tests of specific abilities and 
capacities-and the ideal of marriage between those 
of similar occupations be definitely fostered. The 
same policy should obtain along the whole line of 
the professions and trades. The argument will of 
course come up, that some would always be attracted 
to and marry those of dissimilar occupations. This 
used to happen in olden days when occasionally the 
king married the beggar maid-there are exceptions 
in everything. But the law of life in mating is for 
like to keep to like, and on the whole youth will fol- 
low the ideal and habits into which they are trained 
-as witness our present sex separation and an- 
tagonism. If young people can be trained away 
from each other with such conspicuous success, in 
spite of the laws of sex attraction which would 
naturally bring them together, they can certainly be 
trained toward each other and into marrying their 
like, if brought together normally under conditions 
fostered by social ideals. 
Such a plan would not only solve the economic 
problem in relation to marriage but it would fairly 
immeasurably raise the general standards in the 
professions and trades, by bringing to each the best 
natural ability of both sexes. It would tend to 
eliminate not only the army of inferior dentists, 
lawyers and physicians necessarily turned out every 
year, where such a wide range of natural ability is 
admitted among candidates; but also the army of 
inferior artisans, painters, plumbers, etc., whose 288 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
choice of a trade has been a matter of sex and 
happen-stance, largely irrespective of specific ca- 
pacities. It would mean a great deal, too, for indi- 
vidual happiness, since it would tend to place each 
one in the place he could work with the least fric- 
tion-hence with the greatest personal satisfaction. 
It would also go a great way toward solving the 
wage problem which is fairly disrupting our indus- 
trial and social order. 
But that which is most germane to our subject, 
though all these factors obviously bear upon it, is 
the fact that such a policy of co-education in the in- 
terest of marriage, would recreate the womanhood 
of the nation, by tying it to the responsible activi- 
ties and interests of life-instead of to the trivalities 
of dress and inconsequential chit-chat, in which by 
training its interests are now so largely centered. 
It would also inject a new psychology into the home 
-that of common social interests and of unified pur- 
poses of producing, earning and spending in com- 
mon, which is a very different thing for spiritual 
harmony, from the psychology created by a producer 
and earner on one side and a consumer and spender 
on the other. It would mean the salvaging of the 
professional and industrial capacities of American 
women to the upbuilding of society; and a revitaliz- 
ing of family life which recuperate our moral and 
spiritual world. 
Two other serious factors in our woman and mar- 
riage problems should not go unnoticed-factors 
which would largely be eliminated by such a prac- FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
289 
tical scheme of co-education in the interest of social 
welfare and marriage. One is the large number of 
celibate women of the middle class. Our problem 
of celibacy among women is different from that of 
the European nations where war and emigration 
have so largely depleted the marriageable male 
population. In America we not only have actually 
more men than women, but a greater percentage of 
unmarried men than of unmarried women. The 
problem with us is that of training into the ideal of 
marrying young, and of creating the conditions by 
which marriage between equals becomes natural and 
easy. The plan outlined would largely accomplish 
these ends. The professional and college trained 
business men to whom the middle class celibate 
women should be married, are the ones who largely 
swell the ranks of celibate men. They are the men 
who have been segregated from women in men's 
colleges and professional and technical schools way 
into mature manhood, and who even then are not 
in a position to "support" a wife-even if they were 
so inclined. But even inclination is pretty well lack- 
ing long before they finally emerge from college 
halls. With the elimination of "men's" and 
"women's" colleges, and a policy of co-education 
in keeping with the principles and aims which have 
been outlined, these high-class celibates, would be 
high-class husbands and wives, and parents. 
The other factor consists of the large class of 
mothers, who, through lack of legitimate occupa- 
tional and social responsibilities and interests, and 290 
SALVAGING OF AMERICAN GIRLHOOD 
lack of independent means of support, are driven to 
absorbing the lives of their children into their own. 
Under present economic conditions, great numbers 
of women see little of their husbands, and their chil- 
dren become practically their whole social world. 
To such a mother her child or children form the 
only companionship upon which she can depend, and 
still more significant, in case of loss of husband, her 
sole means of support. Her son cannot hope to sup- 
port her and a wife too, and she has no economic 
value-as did the mothers of olden times. Her only 
interests even consist ordinarily in small personal 
service which the presence of a wife would most 
likely cut her off from. So by every law of self- 
defense she must keep her son (or daughter) so 
bound to herself that he practically cannot get away. 
The result is an American youth in disastrously in- 
creasing numbers irretrievably welded to their 
mothers-a condition as demoralizing to a high 
sense of social responsibility in motherhood, as it 
is to a high standard of manhood. Even a mother 
bird pushes her reluctant offspring out of the nest 
for his own good. She pays the price that nature 
places upon motherhood-that for which mother- 
hood exists. But then, she can forage and fly for 
herself. The American mother must use her efforts 
to keep hers in the nest, in at least sufficient num- 
bers to protect herself-there is practically no al- 
ternative for her. So as far as society is concerned, 
her motherhood has been in vain. Her child must 
exist for her, not she for him. He must cleave to FINAL EMANCIPATIONS 
291 
his parent and leave his wife-not only a subversion 
of the fundamental laws of nature, but a direct re- 
versal of the most explicit teachings of Jesus. 
A productive occupation which a woman follows 
after marriage and grows more and more proficient 
in, would not only render her immune to thes& 
dangers which now constantly threaten her, if her 
child should marry, but it would tend to make her 
a real asset in the home of her married son or 
daughter. In any case, it would remove from her 
the necessity of cutting off her child from those life 
experiences which in the depth of her soul, she knows 
to be the things which give life its supreme meaning 
-and it would restore to the American wife and 
mother the active and honorable place which she 
once held in the forming of our practical and 
spiritual destinies. INDEX 
A 
Abnormal births, 43 
Abnormal sexual practices, 60, 
62, 70, 71, 154, 166-168, 176 
Acquired sexual interests, 13ff, 
176, 177 
Adolescence, 3, 8, 15, 52, 162, 
195, 230, 239, 247, 256; erotic 
literature concerning, 8 
Adolescent girls, vii, viii, 1-16, 
19, 31, 35, 36, 45, 137, 175, 
176, 181, 222, 235, 257 
Adolescent Interests, vii, 186 
Adolescent psychology, G. Stan- 
ley Hall's work on, 195; effects 
of, 196, 197; negative value of, 
196 
Afterbirth, 42, 73, 95, 97 
Aims of author's investigation, 
36, 37, 74ff 
American life, capacity of women 
to nurse their children, 264; 
home, disappearance of in old 
sense, 263; low standards of 
physical and spiritual woman- 
hood unnatural, 264; manhood 
of nation feeds its infants, 
264; real contributions to up- 
building of come from men, 
262; sacrifices of men for, 263; 
superstitions of sex, emancipa- 
tion of girlhood from, 264; 
women not contributive to, 262 
Anesthetics, 100, 104 
Anomalous congenital conditions, 
41, 43, 60, 62, 71, 133, 147-153, 
177 
Anthony, Susan B., 256 
Attitude toward sexual subjects, 
168 
B 
Balliet, Dean Thomas, 18 
Barrenness, 42, 94 
Bashkirtseff, Marie, 9 
Bathing, 53, 80, 85, 86, 89, 219, 
220, 223 
Birth control, 14, 42, 44, 92, 95, 
104, 105, 285 
Birth marks, 144, 149, 180 
Buffalo, 17 
C 
Celibacy, causes of, 251 
Change of life, 52, 53, 58, 60, 65, 
78, 79, 111, 134 
Child, 4, 17, 20, 41, 43, 44, 47, 
56, 57, 58, 61, 63, 65, 75, 76, 
91, 93, 94, 101, 102, 103, 104, 
111, 116, 121, 137, 140, 147ff, 
163, 164ff, 170, 178ff, 180, 190, 
200ff, 228ff, 239, 240ff, 258, 
269ff, 276, 290, 291 
293 294 
INDEX 
Childbearing, 11, 12, 14, 41, 52, 
57, 61, 70, 71, 73, 78, 82, 87, 
89, 90-105, 107, 113, 119, 120, 
164, 177, 180ff, 186, 189, 190, 
223, 228; age as affecting, 95; 
attitude toward, 95; question- 
ing as to, 14, 92-95 
Children difference in number, 
causes of, 94; welfare of, 41 
Childlessness, 94 
Clark University, 195 
Co-educational plan, a new, 286ff 
Coitus (copulation), 52, 61, 70, 
71, 72, 90, 107, 108-120, 136, 
138, 161, 176, 228ff, 236ff 
Columbia University, vii, 253 
Compatibility, 157 
Conception, 61, 90, 91ff, 102, 103, 
104ff, 239; conditions of, 91, 
94 
Confinement, 44, 57, 73, 75, 91, 
93, 97 
Congenital conditions, 177, 178, 
180 
Consumption, 44, 80, 83, 92, 96, 
110, 185 
Curie, M. and Mme., 283 
Curiosity concerning men and 
boys, 40, 61; instinct, 76; in- 
tellectual, 75, 76; scientific, 
75; sexual, 75, 76 
D 
Definition, of aim of sex educa- 
tion, 206ff; of classes of in- 
terest, 49; of " one-term ' ' 
question, 55, 56, 57; of "two- 
term" questions, 58 
Development before birth, 140, 
142 
Dewey, Prof. John, 76 
Double sexual standard, 129, 131, 
167, 189, 245, 246, 285 
Dunlap, Professor, 200 
E 
Economic conditions, 213, 249, 
263, 287, 290 
Education and social propaganda, 
15; influences of organized, 14; 
to develop interest in marriage 
and motherhood, 15 
Education, general, for girls, 
adolescence, program for, 218; 
basis of program, 215; care of 
vulva, navel and anus, 220; 
concrete program of, 215-226; 
development of child's body, 
223; false psychology in mis- 
naming bodily parts, 221; 
giving bodily parts their 
correct names, 219; gross 
differences between parents, 
teaching of, 221, 222; human 
biology and heredity in high 
school curriculum, 226; men- 
struation, importance of early 
instruction as to, 225; mental 
activity, stimulation of child's, 
224; misdirected play of child, 
224; physical freedom In dress 
and play, 224; program before 
puberty, 216, 217; reproduc- 
tive system, physiology and 
hygiene in school curriculum, 
226; training before puberty, 
216; training in adolescence, 
216 
Embryology, 14, 61, 90, 181, 218; 
questions on, 14 
Environment, influence of social, 
family and religious, 14 
Equivalent one-term questions, 
55, 56-58, 59, 62, 70, 71, 74 
Erotic literature, 8, 9 
Erotico-mystic sex psychology, 
196, 197 
Erotico-mystic superstition, 12 INDEX 
295 
Ethics and conventions, 39 
Eugenics, 152 
Evaluation, standards of, 74, 76 
F 
Fatherhood, 42, 44, 45, 60, 96, 
148, 154, 170, 220, 209, 221, 
232, 282 
Female organs, futile methods of 
instruction concerning, 254; in- 
struction concerning, twofold 
aim of, 255, 256; need for in- 
struction concerning, 253; 
organized effort by women of 
leisure to make teaching 
propaganda, 256; universal 
ignorance of functions of 
among American girls, 252; 
women teachers for instruction 
concerning, 253, 255 
Flirting, 52, 53, 159, 161 
Free love, 124, 127, 130, 131 
Freudian psychology, 198, 199ff; 
anecdotes with ill-drawn 
morals, 201ff; as erotic litera- 
ture, 205; as related to child's 
sexual development, 205; fails 
as a basis of sex education, 
205; impotence of, 201; un- 
scientific basis of, 199 
Functional Periodicity, 253 
G 
Gang spirit, 281 
Genitalia, 189, 216ff 
German sex philosophy, perni- 
cious influence of, 194 
Gestation, 91, 93, 98, lOlff, 148 
Girls, as inheritors of sexual in- 
stincts, 4; ignorance of Amer- 
ican, as to sex life and 
hygiene, 190; ignorance of 
sexual intercourse as related to 
spiritual life, 6; practical 
education of, vii, viii, 2; 
sexual nature, conflicting and 
erroneous notions of, 2-16; 
well-being of, 2 
Gonorrhea, 39, 57, 58, 72, 119ff, 
247; and syphilis, 39 
H 
Habits, sexual, 13, 162, 166 
Hall, Dr. G. Stanley, 195 
Heredity, 14, 41, 43, 52, 53, 55, 
72, 120, 179, 180, 216; and pre- 
natal influence, 61, 147-149, 
151, 180; Mendelian principles, 
151, 152ff, 218 
Hermaphroditism, 52, 54, 147ff, 
180 
Hollingsworth, Professor Leta S., 
viii, 253 
Home, passing of the, 263 
Hygiene, 3, 40; confusion with 
sexual matters, 107, 138ff, 246; 
futile teaching in, 11; special 
courses in, 11; of pregnancy, 
100; scientific viewpoint, 183, 
184 
Hymen, 143 
I 
Ideals, 15, 37, 76-77, 104, 113, 
128, 158, 218, 222, 230, 231, 
233, 235, 237, 240, 284, 289 
Infectious diseases, 20 
Illicit practices, 115, 117 
Infant mortality, 263 
Inner life of girls, 7, 8, 9 
International Association for 
School Hygiene, triennial con- 
gress of, 17 
Interpretations biased, 45; un- 
warranted, 46 296 
INDEX 
J 
Jacoby, Dr. Mary Putnam, 253 
Jealousy, 128 
Johns Hopkins University, 200 
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 
199 
Judgments, classification of 
method of, 64-66; subjective, 
64ff 
K 
Kissing, 52, 54, 120, 159, 161, 
186, 188 
L 
Leg muscles, restriction of, 262, 
268 
Leucorrhea, 52, 53, 59, 62, 70, 71, 
72, 78, 105-107, 164, 177, 179 
Libidos, 2 
Life, American social, 260; mod- 
ern, 260; spiritual, 278 
Locomotor ataxia, 33, 119, 122, 
146, 247 
Love, 6, 14, 16, 52, 57, 61, 70, 
76, 119, 124ff, 130, 132, 158, 
176, 177, 178, 181, 184, 187, 
212, 227, 232, 236, 238 
Lust, 125, 128 
Lyon, Mary, 256 
M 
Male organs, 53, 134, 222 
Marriage, 3, 5, 6, 16, 29, 39, 42, 
52, 57, 59, 60, 61, 70, 71, 76, 
106, 111, 112, 113, 115, 124, 
138, 152, 154-158, 161, 177, 
178; a concrete example, 242; 
childless and one-child, 212; 
early, duty of parents to en- 
courage, 249; economic condi- 
tions as delaying, 240, 241; 
environment, influence of as 
affecting, 251; failures of 
American, 212; lack for oppor- 
tunity for among American 
girls, 250; need for co-opera- 
tion between man and woman, 
244; obstacles to early, 240; 
opposition of parents to, 242; 
preparation for the right of 
every child, 212; respect for, 
228; reasons for women going 
to work, 250; situation, a vital 
criterion of spiritual health of 
a nation, 260; voluntary celi- 
bacy negligible, 249 
Mashing, 159 
Masturbation, 244ff 
Maternal instincts, 211; precon- 
ceived notions as to, 45, 47 
McLean, Mary, 9 
Medievalism, 182 
Men, 3, 5, 6, 11, 44, 52, 54, 56, 
57, 59, 61, 63, 64, 75, 76, 79, 
82, 87, 96, 108, 109, 115, 116, 
119, 122, 125, 130, 133-139, 
140, 166, 168ff, 184ff 
Mendelian principles, 151, 152ff, 
218 
Menstruation, age of appearance, 
length of period, amount of 
flow, 81, 85; attitude toward, 
82, 87; bathing during, 80, 85, 
89; exercise during, 81, 85, 86; 
general hygiene during, 81, 85, 
86; in relation to childbearing, 
82; irregularity and delay in, 
80, 85, 86; physiological and 
biological questions, 87, 88; 
questions on, 79-83; suffering 
during, 80, 85, 86, 89; super- 
stition concerning, 82, 86, 87 
Metabolism, 209ff INDEX 
297 
Miscarriage, 42, 73, 93, 97, 99, 
100, 101 
Montague, Dr. Helen, viii 
Moral and spiritual life, lack of 
growth of American, 258 
Morbidity, 40 
Motherhood, 14, 15, 16, 40, 41, 
43, 44, 46, 52, 55, 97, 107, 109; 
and parenthood, 61, 163-165; 
preparation for, 209ff; pro- 
gram of education to develop 
interest in, 15 
Mothers, ignorance of concerning 
physiology and hygiene of 
body, 6, 7; lack of knowledge 
of, 12 
Motives, 21, 30, 36, 96, 208, 235; 
altruistic, 96; family, 96; 
sexual, 75, 234; social, 96, 176 
Mutilation of boys, 231 
Mysticism, vii, 199 
Mystic school of psycho-philos- 
ophy, 19 
N 
Navel, 143ff 
Native sexual interests, 13 
Nervous system, 45, 222 
Neurotic autobiographies, 9 
Neurotics, constitutional, 9 
"New Psychology," 192 
New York University, 18 
Nomenclature, correct, 216ff 
O 
Object of inquiry, 49, 51-54, 56, 
58, 62, 90, 113, 122, 127, 142 
Objective treatment of questions, 
48, 49 
Occupations, training for, 251ff 
Omni-sexual theory, 261ff 
One-term questions, 53, 55-56, 
57, 59, 70, 73, 74 
Ovaries, 139, 140, 142, 143, 146, 
179, 187, 254; normal func- 
tions, 254 
P 
Parallelism, 269ff 
Paralysis, 119, 121, 122 
Parenthood, 13, 32, 42, 43, 44, 
45, 60, 61, 76, 113, 148, 163, 
177, 178, 181 
Parent - Teachers ' Association, 
19; sexual instruction, discus- 
sion by, 20 
Parents, responsibility of in giv- 
ing sex instruction, 32 
Parturition, 12, 72, 91, 99-100, 
104ff, 141 
Passion, 52, 57, 59, 61, 63, 64, 94, 
128, 130, 131, 140, 185, 186, 
187 
Pathological conditions, 7, 76, 99, 
101, 102, 106, 107, 126, 136, 
179, 183, 189 
Pelvic regions, normal develop- 
ment of, 194, 216ff, 225ff, 230 
Perversion, 52, 166, 246 
Philadelphia, 204 
Physiology and hygiene, 87, 118, 
134, 136, 137, 161, 175, 177 
Platonic love, 123, 124, 130, 131 
Pollution, 52 
Pregnancy, 12, 42, 57, 91, 93, 97, 
98, 100-102, 181; faulty in- 
struction concerning, 12 
Preliminary sexual behavior, 60, 
61, 158-163 
Pre-natal influences, 14, 43, 61, 
71, 133, 147-156, 177 
Prevention, 103, 104, 123, 124, 
149, 167, 180, 183, 189 
48, 49 298 
INDEX 
Primitive sexual interests, 13, 
128, 131, 176ff 
Propagandas, 10, 14, 15, 33, 104, 
105, 158 
Prostitution, 52, 62, 71, 108, 110, 
138, 149, 154, 161, 166-168, 
172, 182, 189 
Pseudo-philosophy, 12 
Pseudo-psychology, 8, 9, 193, 199 
Psychoanalysis, vii, 1, 4, 198 ff; 
claims of, vii; sexual tenets of, 
1; viewpoints of, 8 
Psychoanalytic school of psycho- 
therapy, 19 
Psychological literature, 8 
Psychological viewpoint, 1-16 
Psychology, clinical, 8; depart- 
ment of, Columbia University, 
vii; experimental, 8, 9; Freud- 
ian, 195ff; laws of, 35; normal, 
viiff, 1, 16, 192ff; principles of, 
12, 20; sex, vii, 1; sound, 10, 
193ff, 246ff; superstitious, 213 
Psycho-philosophy, 8, 9, 13, 16 
Psychotherapy, 1, 19, 198 ff, 205ff 
Puberty, 3, 51, 52, 138, 194, 195 
Q 
Questions, 14, 18, 25-27, 31-34, 
46, 48, 52, 59-65, 69, 74-77, 
102, 103; age as affecting con- 
ception, 103; analysis of, 32, 
33, 38, 40, 41, 43, 48, 75, 77, 
103, 113ff, 122ff, 128-132, 135- 
139, 141, 142, 145-147, 149- 
153, 156-158, 160-163, 164, 
165, 167, 169, 171, 172, 178ff, 
187ff; character of, 14, 33, 34, 
39, 77, 102; children, con- 
cerning, 33; classification, 
basis of, 37, 38; classification, 
difficulties of, 40, 41; classifica- 
tion of, first attempts, 36-47; 
comparison of, 40, 48, 49, 52, 
77; curiosity, 75, 97, 100, 101, 
113, 116, 130, 135, 137; de- 
termination of interest of, 33, 
37-46, 48-66; evaluation of, 
21, 37, 49; intellectual, 87, 88, 
97; negative trend of, 103; 
objective, 49, 51-54; on 
hygiene, 83, 115, 116, 122, 132, 
150, 151, 167; ' ' one-term, ' ' 52, 
55; examples of, 53, 54, 56; 
on sexual feelings, 124-132; on 
venereal and related diseases, 
119-124; seeking common fac- 
tor of, 48 ff; standard for 
classification of, 49; supersti- 
tious, 185, 186, 187; time for 
submitting, 34; " two-term, ' ' 
94; types of, divisions of ac- 
cording to sexual terms, 53- 
59; utility, 74, 87, 97, 98, 100, 
101, 102, 114, 116, 129, 131, 
137, 156; value of, for study of 
interest, 18, 31 
R 
Racial instincts, 16, 128, 180, 
182 
Racial tendencies, developing, 16 
Rape, 109, 112, 115, 161 
Related terms explained, 71, 73 
Relations with men, 40 
Religion, 9, 56, 126, 155 
Reproduction, 14, 38, 52, 53, 61, 
72, 90, 91, 103, 117, 165, 178; 
and embryological processes, 
60, 61, 71, 133, 139-141, 177; 
questions on, 140-141 
Reproductive organs of men, 
133ff, 181, 254 
Reproductive organs of women, 
52, 61, 71, 133, 142-147, 177, 
179; questions on, 144-145 INDEX 
299 
Rest for Women during Menstru- 
ation, the Question of, 253 
Robots, female, 10 
Rupture, 134, 138 
S 
Salvaging of girlhood, 288 
•Screen and lecture methods of 
teaching, futility of, 254 
Schools, training, for teachers, 
19ff, 28, 29 
Self-abuse, 52, 134, 166 
Segregation of sexes, 250 
Sentimentality toward boys, 160, 
187 
Sentiments, 40, 175, 176 
Sewing, 42, 93 
Sex, determination of, 140, 142 
Sex education of boys, 192 
Sex education for girls, 178-251; 
abolishing corsets, 232; atti- 
tude toward love, marriage 
and parenthood, 228; coitus, 
manner and frequency of, 239 ; 
control of native social tenden- 
cies, 234; control of sexual 
impulses, teaching of, 236; co- 
operation of couple in mar- 
riage, 244; cost of living pro- 
hibiting early marriages, 240, 
241; definition of aims, 206ff; 
determining the content of, 
206; early economic conditions 
and marriage, 240; early mar- 
riage, duty of parents to en- 
courage, 249; factors in 
normal development of sexual 
instinct, 230; faulty psychol- 
ogy of books on, 207; influence 
of welcome or unwelcome 
parentage on child, 239; lack 
of parental effort to secure 
husbands for daughters, 240; 
literature exploiting sexual 
vices, danger of, 246; love and 
marriage, true nature of, 238; 
marriage a social institution, 
211; marriage and parenthood 
as a goal in, 209, 210; marriage 
fund, importance of, 244; mar- 
riage the fulfillment of life, 
239; masturbation as a prob- 
lem, 248; matter and manner 
of imparting instruction, 235, 
236; modem child training pre- 
cludes normal development, 
232; muscular development 
through play, 231; need of 
healthy psychology of sex, 208; 
obstacles to early marriage, 
240; opposition of parents to 
marriage, 242; outline of aims, 
227, 228; pelvis, constricting 
by clothing, dangers of, 231; 
perversions usually problems of 
general health, 246; prepara- 
tion for marriage the right of 
every child, 212; repression of 
sexual tendencies, 233; re- 
sponsibility for attitude of 
girls toward marriage, 212 ; sex 
attraction and moral and social 
ideals, 237; sexual impulses, 
guiding and controlling of, 
233; sexual instinct, normal de- 
velopment of, 230; sexual 
urge, 236; sexual vices, omis- 
sion of from program, and 
why, 245; social conditions and 
marriage, 212; special school 
schedules, 249; two programs 
of, 214; venereal diseases, 246, 
247 
Sex hygiene, conditions requisite 
to expression of interest, 21; 
investigations, author's, 17; 
questions and answers as a 300 
INDEX 
basis for teaching, 18; ques- 
tions on, age, education and 
social position as factors deter- 
mining, 27; questions on, plan 
of, 25; teaching of, 17, 18 
Sex instinct, 52 
Sex instruction, 39, 40, 49, 52, 61, 
170-172; lack of in American 
life, 191 
Sex intercourse, 58, 59, 60, 63 
Sex life, attitude toward, 40 
Sex literature, 1; unscientific 
quality of current, 193 
Sex, narrow American compre- 
hension of, 194 
Sex psychology, vii, 1; a new, 
192-213; definitions in, 195; 
"Freudian," 195, 198 
Sexual development, 136, 144 
Sexual feelings and attraction, 
57, 60, 61, 124-132 
Sexual ignorance of mothers, 6 
Sexual information of adolescent 
girls, 5, 6 
Sexual instincts, girls as in- 
heritors of, 4 
Sexual interest, 36, 37, 45; ac- 
quired, 13; conception of by 
average girl, 193; integral part 
of girl's life, 13; native, 13; 
objective methods of investiga- 
tion, 13; of men, 12; of 
women, 12; reflect formative 
influences, 14; susceptible of 
investigation, 13 
Sexual intercourse, 6, 50, 54, 56, 
57, 58, 59, 61, 63, 65, 72, 82, 
90, 94, 106, 108, 116ff, 120, 
140, 169, 185 
Sexual knowledge, investigation 
of, 17 
Sexual matters, attitude toward, 
60, 62 
Sexual nature, of girls, 4 
Sexual perversions, polymorphous, 
2 
Sexual relations, 39; faulty in- 
struction concerning, 11, 12 
Sexual urge, 200 
Social evil, the, 166 
Social policies, 15, 16 
Society, 5, 15, 16, 77, 151, 166, 
183, 187; American, 69, 188, 
195, 244ff, 258 
Soul, 3, 8, 291 
Spiritual decay in America, mani- 
festations of, 259, 260 
Spiritual life in America, restor- 
ing, woman problem, the core 
of, 260 
Stackpole, Miss Caroline, viii 
Standards, religious and ethical, 
77 
Stewart, Mrs. Ella Sees, viii 
Subjective method of judging 
questions, 64-66 
"Sublimation" of sexual tend- 
encies, 233 
Superstitions, 40, 168, 184ff; as 
to facts of life, 14 
Suppressed desires, 2 
Syphilis, gonorrhea and, 39, 50, 
57, 58, 59, 66, 72, 119ff, 155, 
246 
Synonymous terms explained, 70, 
72, 73 
T 
Table of main groups of ques- 
tions, 71; explanation of, 70 
Tables of major interests, 176- 
178 
Technical terms, explanation of, 
72 
Three-term questions, 55, 58-59, 
62-66, 71 
Tolstoy's conception of love, 125 INDEX 
301 
Training of girls for marriage 
and motherhood, 257; Boy 
Scout and similar movements, 
271; celibate women, problem 
of, solution through co-educa- 
tion, 289; celibate women, psy- 
chology of, 266; central tech- 
nical training schools, neces- 
sity of, 285; childless mar- 
riages as a result of social con- 
ditions, 259; co-education as 
influencing economics, 287; co- 
education in the interest of 
marriages, to recreate nation's 
womanhood, 288; co-education 
to foster early marriage, 
287; " co-educational " and 
"mixed" schools, 273; co- 
educational plan, a new, 285, 
286; competition irrespective 
of sex, 280; comprehensive 
program for, 257; contracted 
interests of mothers under 
present economic conditions, 
290; economic situation and 
sex problem, 284; educational 
psychology applied to sex prob- 
lem, 275; effect on, of chang- 
ing conditions of American 
life, 258; first four years of 
infancy most important, 264; 
fitting of girls and boys for 
occupation, 276; girls and boys 
should learn the same things in 
the same way, 277, 278; girls 
as dependent as boys on 
proper, 261; intermingling of 
sexes and development of com- 
mon interests, 274; little red 
school and sex co-operation, 
280; marriage question a sex 
problem, 269; national law 
against wearing any restrict- 
ing device, 268; occupations, 
choosing of, 282; our grand- 
mothers and grandfathers both 
producing, 283; "parallelism" 
of sexes, 269; productive oc- 
cupation for mothers, 291; 
propaganda by the best men 
and women of the nation, 265; 
psychology of married men, 
267; separation of sexes, 269; 
sex antagonism, 279; sex com- 
petition, contrary to laws of 
nature, 278; sex policy of 
separation in education, play 
and work, 271; sex problem 
susceptible of solution, 275; 
sex separation, the clear-cut 
issue in, 281; sexes not recog- 
nized as existing for each 
other, 271; social importance 
of, 258; superstition, substitut- 
ing scientific psychology for, 
265; widening of interests be- 
tween men and women as effect 
of sex separation, 272; women 
of leisure largely unfitted for 
propaganda, 268 
Trends of interest, 13-15, 31, 36, 
37, 69, 88, 95, 97, 103, 127, 
136 
Twilight sleep, 73, 93, 185 
"Two-term" questions, 55, 58, 
62-66, 71 
U 
Union of protoplasm, 140 
Urge, sexual, 200, 236 
Urinary and genital organs, 38 
Uterus, 7, 143, 144, 179, 254, 255 
V 
Venereal and related diseases, 
14, 33, 40, 45, 50, 52, 58, 61, 302 
INDEX 
70, 71, 108, 119-124, 156ff, 
177, 246 
Virgin, 143 
W 
Wet dreams, 52, 53, 110, 113, 137, 
185 
Whites, 59 
Woman's work, 253 
Womb, 141 
Women physicians, duty of in 
dispelling sexual ignorance, 
253 
Woodworth, Professor Robert S., 
viii, 199