A RATIONAL VIEW OF SEXUAL HEALTH
The anatomy and the physiology of reproduction will not be considered in detail in this work, as this would require a very lengthy and technical treatise. The remainder of the lesson will be devoted to the relation of the reproductive functions to general health and happiness.
Development of reproductive instincts
In the process of evolution this function of reproduction was vitally essential to the life of the race. As a result there developed in all animal life strong sexual or reproductive instincts. As is plainly evident, all animals, including man, with such instincts most strongly developed would be the most successful in producing young, and through these offsprings the race or species would inherit like reproductive desires.
Kinship of the sexual, paternal and social instinct
In the case of man and the higher form of animals, this general instinct, the purpose of which was to produce offspring, became diversified in to many instincts. Not only does the reproductive instinct in this broad sense include what is commonly known as sexual passion in man, but it may very truly be said to be the essence of sexual love and parental love. Broad-minded scientists are even inclined to believe that the so-called social instinct or love for our fellowmen is but a distant reflection or shadow, as it were, of the original or natural instinct to produce offspring.
There has arisen among civilized man a tendency to separate and class as two distinct things the strictly physical element of sexual desire, and the associate emotion of intellectual love between the sexes. As a matter of fact there is no distinct line of demarcation.
Overindulgence, degenerating and destructive
That the former instinct has grown into disrepute and has come to be considered a forbidden topic in polite society, is due to the fact that sexual passion, like all other human acts which may be a source of gratification, can degenerate by overindulgence into a destructive and demoralizing vice. This is equally true of other forms of appetite, but the reason that the instinct of sex, when degenerated, becomes such a tremendous source of destruction and death is because of the important part played in the game of life by the reproductive function.
Relation of sexual functions to the nervous system
The functions of reproduction are, in both sexes, very intimately and closely associated with the nervous or vital mechanism of the entire body. For this reason, when the sexual function are perverted or abused the result is serious injury to the general nerve tone or vital force of the system. Likewise the contrary proposition is true; therefore, when for any reason, the general nervous tone or vital force of the body is deranged, the associated result is frequently abnormal passion or weakened sexual functions.
Necessity for popular knowledge concerning sex
A great deal of literature has been written and circulated throughout the country by well-intentioned individuals purporting to give popular knowledge regarding the subject of sex. But such literature has greatly exaggerated the evils and the dangers connected with sexual health. Outside of specific germ dis-eases transmitted through the sexual organs, and which, while serious, have been painted much darker than the facts justify, there is little excuse for all this horror and scare about sexual weakness and perversion.
Relation of nutrition to sexual health
Sexual health, like mental or muscular health, is a matter of common sense and right living. Proper feeding, proper oxidation, proper circulation (exercise), perfect elimination of waste-products, and a suitable distribution of both mental and physical work will result in perfect nutrition. This means normal, wholesome body-fluids and body-cells. With these things gained, the sexual organs and sex-function will have a fair opportunity for normal existence, and the matter of sexual health, and the consequent happiness which accompanies it, is then simply a matter of temperance, common decency, and self-control.