SEX HYGIENE AND YOUNG PEOPLE
To the Editor:
The present excessive demand for prostitution which comes largely from young boys is, I believe, caused by the nature of our present social organism which abnormally emphasizes the sex relation and puts it before every other influence a boy meets. Women’s dress, current literature, musical comedies and problem plays, “smutty” stories told by boys among themselves, even our advertisements—all combine to throw a fascinating glamor around sex indulgence and develop an abnormal instinct in our boys, which takes command of their nervous system and insists that sex indulgence is necessary.
The average boy of eighteen cannot think of marriage for economic reasons, but his nature craves action, and under these ever-present influences he comes to believe that the perfect “good time” is sex indulgence—and he will exercise all his ingenuity, when with a girl, to attain his goal. No one, who is not in the confidences of young people, has the least idea of the pressure thus brought to bear on girls. The girl finds it necessary in order to hold a boy’s attention, with the amusements and companionship that goes with it, to do as he wants; many girls fall through their perfectly natural desire for healthful recreation which they can get more plentifully by giving in—or through a sentimental desire to retain the favor of boys who are satisfied with nothing short of intercourse.
The ultimate remedy must be to put against this “prevailing spirit of the times” a powerful combatting influence, which will establish in our boys a high ideal of womanhood and marriage.
E. C. S.
Swissvale, Pa.
FREE ACRES COLONY
To the Editor:
Many persons interested in social betterment work, have written to me enquiring about the Free Acres Colony at Berkeley Heights, N. J.