BY PHYLLIS BLANCHARD, PH.D.
THE SEX PROBLEM IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY
[I. SEX IN TERMS OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY]
Bearing of modern psychology on the sex problem. Conditioning of the sexual impulse. Vicarious expression of the sexual impulse. Unconscious factors of the sex life. Taboo control has conditioned the natural biological tendencies of individuals to conform to arbitrary standards of masculinity and femininity. Conflict between individual desires and social standards.
[II. HOW OUR INSTITUTIONS FIT INDIVIDUAL SEX PSYCHOLOGY]
Social institutions controlling sex activities based on the assumption that all women are adapted to as well as specialized for reproduction. Neurotic tendencies which unfit women for marriage—the desire for domination. Sexual anæsthesia another neurotic trait which interferes with marital harmony. The conditioning of the sexual impulse to the parent ideal and the erotic fetish as factors which determine mating. Homosexual tendencies and their part in the sex problem. The conflict between the desire for marriage and egoistic ambitions. The social regulations from the viewpoint of individual psychology.
[III. DYSGENIC NATURE OF CERTAIN FACTORS OF SEX PSYCHOLOGY AND NECESSITY FOR A SOCIAL THERAPY]
Mating determined by unconscious psychological motives instead of eugenic considerations. Some of the best male and female stock refusing marriage and parenthood. The race is reproduced largely by the inferior and average stocks and very little by the superior stock. As a therapeutic measure, society should utilize psychological knowledge as a new method of control. Romantic love and conjugal love—a new ideal of love. The solution of the conflict between individual and group interests.