The Dangers of Ignorance.
There are three main venereal diseases which constitute the roots of the giant tree of the venereal peril, and from which almost all venereal disorders spring out like branches and twigs. They are Gonorrhea, Syphilis, and Chancroid. The first two easily overshadow in widespread distribution and dangers of complications the third member of the venereal triad, so that Chancroid can be considered by far the least dangerous of the three.
A conservative estimate of the spread of venereal diseases, in the writer’s opinion, would be that from every hundred men, at least ninety have had at one time or another a venereal infection; that from every hundred cases of venereal diseases, not half of them receive a thorough and scientific treatment, not half of the patients are aware of the seriousness of their condition and possibilities of different complications, and only a minority of them bring the treatment to a complete and permanent recovery. Any physician doing genito-urinary work both in a clinic, hospital, or private practice knows that most of the patients take treatment only until they cure up their pains, sores, and other symptoms of the disease, and not until they are completely cured. As it were, they dismiss the physician; the physician does not dismiss them. As a result of this unsystematic and superficial treatment, the original disease recurs again and again, only each time it penetrates a little deeper into the system and requires a longer period of time for a complete cure, with less chances for success. Thousands and thousands of men develop serious and deep-reaching complications, sapping their vitality and undermining their strength, complications which would never have happened if the disease had been treated from the start, thoroughly and to the finish. Still another result of this indifferent and reckless attitude is that thousands of men, believing themselves cured, take upon themselves the grave responsibility of entering marriage, taking a pure and fresh girl, the girl they love and revere with all their hearts, trusting and unsuspecting of the terrible danger hovering over her head. The disease-producing germs that have been weakened and stunned but not killed by insufficient treatment, falling on a virgin and fertile soil, take on a new lease of life, and with the fury of a devastating tornado attack and ruin their new victim. A young bride often before the honeymoon bliss is over is struck down with an acute infection, a mutilating operation follows, and in a few months a beautiful, healthy girl is transformed into a permanent invalid and nervous wreck, deprived forever of beauty, health, and joy of life. This terrible tragedy is not an exceptional case, it is not an overdrawn statement, it is an every-day occurrence in medical practice, and every day adds its new victims of men’s folly, criminal indifference, and recklessness born of ignorance.
Self-Medication and Medical Quacks.
That the average boy or man has not the slightest idea about all the possible complications that may develop from a venereal infection is best shown by their attitude in time of such venereal mishap. What is an average boy doing when he discovers that he is a victim of a venereal mishap? The very first thing he does is to confide his shocking surprise to one of his companions, who he knows has already had a similar experience. The experienced friend first gives him a hearty laugh over his bad luck, and then assuming a wise look, pats him on the shoulder and confidently tells him not to worry, as he “will fix him all right.” He gives him a few general instructions, the kind he used to follow in his own previous experience, and sends him to the drug store for a certain kind of pills, capsules, or solutions for injections. If there be no such friend at hand, some other amateur “expert” is consulted; sometimes it is a barber, or even a bartender friend who gives an advice to drive out the sickness by copious drinking of beer. A grade higher in quality, but equally poor and uncertain in results is a consultation with the neighboring druggist, who, not having any more knowledge about the developments of diseases than the average layman, takes up the case with the supreme confidence of an authority and hands over the counter the best advertised pills or solution for injections. The best that can happen to the beneficiary of these consultations is, that he will not see at once any improvement, or that he will feel worse, then he will go to a competent physician and will start regular treatment. But woe to him if he will feel some symptomatic relief, some checking of the discharge or the pains. This is the time when he is the real loser. Fooled by the temporary improvement and by clearing up of the symptoms of his disease into belief that he is cured or pretty nearly cured, and encouraged in his belief by his equally ignorant and often unscrupulous adviser, the patient resumes his former mode of life and discontinues what little precaution or treatment he has been using. The natural result of it is that a few weeks later, after some indiscretion like drinking alcoholic liquors or dancing, the whole sickness comes back as strong and violent as in its very beginning. Again he resumes his treatment and care, and acute symptoms again quiet down until, under a new provocation, the disease will break out once more. Thus trusting and ignorant victims of venereal mishap, wasting time and often considerable money on their amateur doctoring, let the roots of the sickness untouched, allow it to penetrate deeper and deeper into the body and develop some deep complication or permanent damage of the sexual system, which is either incurable or at best requires many months of the most painstaking treatment.
Probably the most pitiful of all venereal patients are those unfortunates who either have no friends in whom they could confide, or who, thru a false feeling of shame, do not care to have a personal consultation, and resort to a treatment by mail thru one of the quack medical concerns. In no other class of diseases, in fact in no other walk of life, is human ignorance, suffering, and fear so cruelly and unscrupulously abused and penalized as in venereal diseases.
Shielded from criminal persecution by the secret manner of dealing with their trusting patrons, secure in their shady operations by the fear of disgrace, and a reluctance on the part of their victims to bring to publicity the fact of their venereal infection, these human vultures ply their extortionate trade on thousands and thousands of men. Most extravagant claims, guarantees of cure, regardless of what the sickness is, most blatant, alluring advertisements and offers of free examinations—these are the stock of trade used by these leeches waxing fat on human ignorance and degradation. Fortunately, in recent years the attention of State and Federal government has been called to the use of the mail by these benefactors of suffering humanity for extortionate purposes. Energetic steps have been taken to curtail and abolish this criminal correspondence game and to close up many of these establishments. Public opinion is aroused on the subject, and it demands that the newspapers refuse and eliminate all fraudulent and alluring ads. of quack medical institutions. In the meantime the campaign of information and enlightenment should be carried on, and every young man should be informed that reckless and indifferent treatment of venereal diseases, self-doctoring, cures by correspondence, and “sure cures” by medical quack institutes may prove as disastrous as the disease itself.
Prostitution.
Considering the sources of venereal infection and the best possible methods of control of venereal peril, one strikes at once the sinister problem of prostitution. Prostitution is undoubtedly the main source of venereal infection, but the term prostitution should be taken broadly. There are two kinds of prostitution: one is openly organized in red-light district, tolerated by society, and regulated by the police; and another, secret, clandestine, practised by thousands of women and girls in large towns, women who do not make a living from the “life of shame,” but secretly indulge in illicit sexual intercourse for a side income or presents, while trying to keep up an appearance and social standing of a “respectable” woman. Which kind of prostitution is more dangerous to morals and health is not settled.
Many medical and social authorities believe that a woman secretly prostituting herself is more dangerous and more liable to spread venereal infection than an open registered prostitute, just because she is secret, and does not have to submit to medical inspection at any time. Yet it must be admitted that the medical inspection of houses of prostitution has failed to bring about the expected results and to give protection from venereal infection. It is well established that every prostitute is infected with gonorrhea or syphilis, and mostly with both, and that they practically at all times carry this disease in active or latent form. The degree to which they can transmit a venereal infection to a man depends mostly on the stage of the disease in the prostitute at the time of her visit by a man; that is, one time danger is greater than at another, but at no time the perfunctory medical examination given to prostitutes as it is conducted under police regulations can give the slightest guarantee of safety from venereal infection. All it can establish and claim is that no acute or active symptoms or lesions have been found on examination, and that there is no urgent necessity to move this woman to the hospital as an evident and prolific source of venereal infection. In other words, medical inspection can single out and isolate a few of the most flagrant and most evident cases of venereal diseases, but the women not excluded by medical examination from plying their trade are just as able to carry over venereal infection to a man as their sisters removed to the hospital. In fact, the reduction in the number of venereal infections because of isolation of a few most flagrant cases is so slight, and the increase in the number of venereal infections due to increase in numbers of exposures by men, who are misled into a feeling of security by alleged medical inspection, is so great that many medical authorities and sanitarians consider medical inspection of houses of prostitution useless and even harmful.