St. Louis.
SEX HYGIENE LECTURES
To the Editor:
In the health section of your issue for April 19, the writer saw your article on Courses on Sex Hygiene. Considering the fact that these lectures were given expressly for social workers, it was surprising to learn that only the first few were well attended. If there is any subject demanding the attention of social workers, it surely is this most important one.
About eighteen months ago a young woman, a member of the Factory Committee of the Wolf Company’s plant, incidentally mentioned the interest taken in a series of lectures on this subject given to members of a girls’ club in one of the main social houses on the East Side. The question of giving these lectures was immediately taken up with the management, with the result that four series of four lectures each were given to about 175 employes. This was the first time that many of these workers had the opportunity of learning, in a dignified and instructive manner, the interesting story of reproduction.
The lectures were given by Nellie M. Smith whose book containing these talks, The Three Gifts of Life[[1]] has recently been published, and many of those who attended the lectures purchased copies of this volume with the intention of giving them to their mothers or younger sisters to read.
[1]. The Three Gifts of Life. By Nellie M. Smith. Dodd, Mead & Co. 138 pp. Price $.50; by mail of The Survey $.56.
These same lecturers are now being given by a large industrial corporation in this city which is always ready to investigate thoroughly, any work that makes for the betterment of the life of its workers. Furthermore, the question of giving these lectures to six other manufacturing establishments is now being seriously considered.
It might be well to mention that these lectures were merely announced to the workers and in no case was attendance compulsory. They were given without charge during regular working hours.