Your boy and his training

by Edwin Seward Puller

CHAPTER XVI
AN OUTLINE OF SEX-INSTRUCTION

THE limitations of this chapter will prevent more than a mere outline of the periods in a child’s life when sex-information should be imparted and the character of it. Familiarity with the boy’s psychology given in Chapters III and IV will be of value in its application. From birth until the child is six years old—the prescholastic age—he is at home under the care and guidance of his mother, excluding the kindergarten which is attended by a small proportion of children. During this period the mother’s chief concern should be the hygienic care of the child’s body and the prevention of danger which may come from an injudicious or immoral nurse. The only sex-instruction should be a simple answer to his question as to the origin of human life—usually prompted by the birth of a baby whom he has seen or of whom he has heard. This may be done by the statement that God sent it in a human basket and the doctor delivered it, or other phraseology which carries the same import and will satisfy his curiosity for the time being until another inquiry is made. It is desirable to remember that the child up to approximately ten years of age will continue these interrogatories to his mother from time to time and that whenever he ceases to make such inquiries it is evidence that he believes he has obtained full information on the subject either from parental or from outside sources.

The mother, not the father, should begin the sex-education of her son. The most effective method of imparting sex-information is by what is called the biological approach. At age seven or eight the foundation for sex-instruction should be laid by information concerning plant production; that the pollen dust of the father plant becomes attached to the legs of the honey-seeking bee and is transferred to the mother plant, where it fertilizes the seed from which a baby plant grows. The function of the wind, also, in effecting the conjunction of pollen with the ovule of the stigma should be explained; and how the pollen or male principle fertilizes and gives life to the female ovule, making seed from which a new plant is born.

Now by successive stages and in detail his mind should be directed to the processes of reproduction in the lower forms of animal life, such as fishes, snakes, and frogs; then to the higher forms of life represented in birds and domestic fowl, and then to the still higher form of mammals, and finally to reproduction in the human being, emphasizing its biological and sacred aspects. The wonderful workings of nature should be made predominant in explaining the reproduction of the lower orders of life while the pure and spiritual phase of human reproduction should be stressed. Coincident with the conclusion of such instruction, there should be given a brief explanation of the functions of the generative organs in the process of reproducing the species, the injury of secret vice and the necessity for personal purity.

At this first sign of approaching puberty the father should assume the duty of further instruction, which should now advise the boy of the wonderful sexual changes about to take place in his body and the new and powerful desires about to be awakened. The normal development of adolescence should be pointed out and a warning sounded as to the error of mistaking certain natural phenomena for the abnormal.

At the age of fifteen to sixteen the necessity arises for admonition against sexual promiscuity and its relationship to the hygienic health of the individual and its eugenic influence on coming generations. During the entire period the note of personal purity should be sounded by a strong appeal to his moral and religious sense.

Untold numbers of boys go wrong sexually through ignorance, who would have kept to the paths of purity had they but known.

It is important that the boy, especially during adolescence, shall be kept from the contaminating influences of theatrical productions whose sex-appeal is conspicuous. The moving picture show, which fascinates children with its interest, is objectionable chiefly because of its connection with the cheap vaudeville so commonly associated with it. Few vaudeville “turns” have any ethical, moral, or intellectual value. They are, at best, ephemeral entertainment and frequently are so coarse as to be unmoral if not positively immoral in their persuasiveness. The sex excitation produced by the physical display of the partly clothed female, risqué dialogues and suggestive songs which are common, in some degree, to a certain class of musical comedies, burlesques, and vaudeville shows is a potent reason for keeping the adolescent away from their influence. And it must be obvious that the sex-problem play is equally unsuited to his needs.

As a guide to the subject matter and methods of sex-instruction the author appends a brief bibliography culled from the flood of literature on the subject. Much that has been published is good; some is bad and some is indifferent. The necessity for widespread sex-education has resulted in the formation of many societies whose primary object is the dissemination of knowledge on the subject through lectures and the publication of pamphlets designed for the education of the parent in how and when to impart sex-instruction to his child. Other pamphlets, graded according to the age of the reader, are to be placed in the hands of the boy himself. Such leaflets may be purchased from these societies for the few cents which they cost to publish, and samples are frequently issued gratuitously. Among the many pamphlets, leaflets, and circulars issued by the several societies for sex-hygiene, the following are suitable for the instruction of parents or may be placed in the hands of the boy himself if so indicated:

American Federation for Sex Hygiene.