FIFTH DIVISION
VITAL FACTS OF LIFE FOR THE YOUNG WOMAN, MARRIED OR SINGLE
CHAPTER XXVI
THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SEX
Views of the past.—In the past, sex has been regarded as vitally a part of our physical organism. We are now learning that sex is vitally and substantially a part of our psychic nature—physical, mental and moral life. In the male, this sex life may become chemicalized and find expression on a purely physical plane, but this is not its true or highest function. Its highest function in relation to the individual, male or female, is the creation of new life—physical, mental and moral. Its highest function in relation to society is that of reproduction.
The unsexed male horse.—If the male horse be deprived of certain sexual glands when he is a year old, at maturity he will not have the sparkling eye; the high arched muscular neck; the heavy flowing mane and tail; the deep hip and chest muscles, and the elastic bearing of the stallion.
The caponized male bird.—If a male bird be caponized, he will not grow a large comb, ear-lobes and wattles, long glossy, flowing neck and tail feathers, or strong sharp spurs on his legs; he will be without gallantry, courage and energy.
The eunuch.—If a boy be made a eunuch, when he is twenty-five he will have no beard, unless it be a few short scattering hairs; his voice will be devoid of the deep bass tones of a man; his shoulders will be round and drooped like a girl’s; he will be without bravery, gallantry, ambition, energy and will be very limited in mental capacity.
The unsexed girl.—If the ovaries and breasts of a small girl should be removed, when she is twenty she would not have the graceful outlines of limbs, body, shoulders, neck and face; her skin would not become thin and fair; her cheeks would not have the ruddy glow; her eyes would not be bright and expressive; her hair would not be long, heavy and glossy; her voice would not be rich and tender, sympathetic and musical; she would not take a keen interest in intellectual, moral and social questions; she would be a woman devoid of many of the physical, mental and moral characteristics belonging to attractive, beautiful womanhood.
Without these organs of sex it would not be possible for a girl to develop into attractive normal womanhood. Should these organs be removed after she has attained maturity, she and her friends would notice a gradual loss in her physical, mental and moral tone.
The two functions of the sexual glands.—These easily recognized and well established facts show that these organs perform an involuntary and continuous function that is vitally related to the attainment and maintenance of perfect womanhood. We know that whatever interferes with this function will prevent the attainment and maintenance of these ideals. What is the nature of this function? The monthly creation of the ovum and the monthly period do not answer the question, for both represent a sacrifice. The function of becoming a mother does not explain it, for the reason that perfect womanhood may be attained and maintained in the single life. The explanation lies in the fact that the sexual glands of a woman, breasts and ovaries, each have two functions—a periodic and special function and a continuous involuntary function. After the dawning of puberty the ovaries, once every twenty-eight days, produce an egg or ovum. This is their periodic function. Should she become a mother and nurse her child, this function of lactation would be the periodic function of the breasts.
The continuous function.—Day and night, asleep and awake, both the breasts and the ovaries are generating an internal secretion that is being absorbed and used by every organ of the body, faculty of the mind and attribute of the moral nature. This continuous function, not only aids in the attainment and maintenance of perfect womanhood, but enables her to perform perfectly the periodic functions of motherhood and lactation.