SEX
As might be supposed, there has been little writing on sex in this country—such discussion, more or less superficial, of the social aspects as may be found in books on the family, on marriage or prostitution, some quasi-medical treatises and of late a few books along the lines of Freudian psychology, that is all. Among all the organizations of the country there is no society corresponding to the British Society for the Study of Sex. I doubt if such a society or its publications would be tolerated, since even novelists who, like Dreiser, express an interest in sex comparatively directly, run afoul of public opinion, and a book such as “Women in Love” by D. H. Lawrence, its publisher felt called upon to print without his name.
It is not surprising, therefore, that in English the most adequate discussions of sex have been made by an Englishman, Havelock Ellis—“Studies in the Psychology of Sex.” Among less well known writing on the subject by Ellis I would note in particular an illuminating page or two in his essay on Casanova (“Affirmations”).
Discussion of the theories of distinguishing between mating and parenthood and of crisis psychology may be found in articles by the writer in the International Journal of Ethics, July, 1915, January, 1916, October, 1917, and in The American Anthropologist, March, 1916, and The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, March, 1918.
“The Behaviour of Crowds” by E. D. Martin, and “French Ways and Their Meaning” by Edith Wharton are recent books that the reader of a comparative turn of mind will find of interest, and if he is not already familiar with the writings of the Early Christian Fathers I commend to him some browsing in the “Ante-Nicene Christian Library” and the “Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.”
E. C. P.