As the knowledge of the sex functions is one of the most important to the health and happiness of the girl, we shall now consider the girl in the period when nature has developed and prepared her to carry out its plan, in the Age of Puberty.
CHAPTER III.
PUBERTY—PART I.
Puberty is the age at which the girl or boy becomes capable of reproduction. Writers differ in the use of the word. Many use it to denote the whole period of time during which the procreative ability continues, which is usually from the fourteenth to the forty-fifth year. There are still other uses of the word, but we will use it as the age when the boy or girl becomes sexually matured or ripe, the first indication of which is the menstrual flow in the girl and seminal emissions in the boy.
This sign of puberty is celebrated by initiations among the savage peoples, mostly for the purpose of trying the powers of endurance in the boy or girl. The boy is taken away among strange tribes, is subjected to the greatest physical pain and hardship, and among some tribes is circumcized. The girl is often subjected to a vaginal incision and should she cry out or show any sign of suffering she is disgraced among the women of her tribe and promptly expelled from the settlement. In Ellis' Psychology of Sex the author relates of the Yuman Indians of California how the girls prepare for marriage at the first sign of menstruation by being wrapped in blankets and placed in a warm pit for four days and nights. The old women of the tribe dance about them and sing constantly; they give away coin, cloth and wheat to teach the girls generosity, and sow wild seeds broadcast over the girls to cause them to be prolific. These and various other initiations are practiced by nearly all savage tribes. The boys and girls receive their sex knowledge at this time, and are instructed in the duties of married life.
The girls are fully informed of menstruation. It has been said the knowledge of sexual relations is openly discussed and naturally taught; that, therefore, it has no glamour for them, and in consequence the women of these tribes are virtuous.
Perhaps you will wonder what bearing all this has on What Every Girl Should Know. I relate it only to show that the savages have recognized the importance of plain sexual talks to their young for ages, while civilization is still hiding itself under the black pall of prudery.
When we speak of puberty it is necessary to have some knowledge of the organs of reproduction and their structure. So far the physiology taught in the public schools has not treated of these organs. In order to get books on this subject a girl is met with the question: “Are you a nurse or physician?” If not the books are denied her. Consequently the average girl is kept in ignorance of the function of these organs, and is at a loss to know where to go for clean information. It is necessary, therefore, to give this information here, without mincing words, if there is any benefit to be derived from the following subject. It is very simple for the girl to learn the correct names of these organs and call them by such names. They are the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, vagina and breasts. The breasts were not always classed as reproductive organs, but later writers recognize their relation to them, and as such they are now included.
Let us first take the ovaries, which are two small
