CONTENTS OF CHAPTER XIII
THE DANGER OF SECRET DISEASES
Extent of the evil—Why these diseases are not treated—Need for secrecy prevents those afflicted from obtaining the best treatment—Recommendations of the Royal Commission—Enlightened interest in the subject needed—Desire to punish men prevents wise action—If men fear to tell the truth they are more likely to infect their wives—Three attitudes towards the evil—Bad effects on both boys and girls of too romantic views of love—Woman often to blame for cleavage between husband and wife—The wife’s responsibility for the husband’s unfaithfulness—The art of love—Certain reflections.
CHAPTER XIII
THE DANGER OF SECRET DISEASES
“The abolition of prostitution and the suppression of venereal diseases would be almost tantamount to the solution of the entire sexual problem.”—Iwan Bloch.
So far in writing of marriage and of the irregular partnerships entered into outside of marriage I have ignored the question of venereal diseases and of prostitution, so intimately connected with them, but to continue to do this would be to make my inquiry useless, as, properly speaking, they constitute the central problem of the sexual relationships. There are no other factors of the same importance to motherhood and to the life and health of the race.
Without doubt the subject is eminently complicated, while the problems involved are so immense, far-reaching and perilous, linking themselves with the deepest interests of the race, that I hesitate almost in making an attempt to discuss so wide a subject briefly, and necessarily inadequately, in the short space at my disposal. Yet it is clearly impossible to take the easy way and pass these matters over in silence.
On the question of prostitution I have written already in my earlier book, The Truth about Woman, where I stated as truthfully as I could some facts I had come to know about the prostitute class, as well as my own opinions on this very complex social phenomenon. I shall, therefore, now as far as possible leave this side of the problem without further comment. It must, however, be remembered that the problem of prostitution and the problem of venereal diseases are inseparably interconnected, the former evil being the chief cause of the latter. Indeed, if prostitution could be ended venereal diseases would of themselves disappear.