The question that the young man naturally asks is—"Why should society hold these relations as a vice when the woman, who is party to the act, gives her free consent, perhaps even soliciting the relation, and has given herself up to this sort of a life, either as a sole occupation (prostitute) or as an auxiliary occupation (clandestine) to supplement a wage on which she may not be able to live in luxury?"
The answer to this question is not far to seek. Women so occupied have, as a rule, made themselves incapable of maternity. They are outcasts from society, unfortunately exerting a most harmful influence on all those who come into relation with them. Furthermore, they are centers for the dissemination of venereal diseases which wreck the health of all those who become infected. But for the uncontrolled passions of men, there would be no such women. So while we, individually, as men, may not be responsible for the ruin of any one woman, we must confess that men as a class are responsible for this condition of prostitution and clandestine intercourse. An overwhelming majority of women would, if following their inclinations, seek these relations in wedlock only and for procreation only. But many a young woman, under promise of marriage, sometimes even under a bogus marriage, is brought into a condition of hypnotism or into a mental state that puts her in the power of the man whom she loves and respects. If he deceives her and betrays her, continuing such betrayal until the victim becomes pregnant, he will, in the average case, leave her to bear her child in shame, while he slips away to other scenes of activity. We cannot wonder then, that the girl—deserted, humiliated, crushed by the one in whom she reposed absolute confidence; cast out of society, perhaps thrust from the protection of her own father's roof—gives up the struggle and says—"What's the use?"
A vast majority of such poor girls make their way to houses of ill fame and give themselves over to a life of prostitution. Hardly one of these women, if married by the man who brought her to this condition, would have failed to make a true and loving wife and mother. So society, while it casts these women out, has come to recognize that men are the real sinners in such cases.
It may be added here, that an occasional girl goes wrong through temperamental shortcomings within herself—perhaps she may even be a degenerate; but the proportion of women who would willingly and deliberately sacrifice their virtue is vanishingly small as compared with the proportion of young men who seem to be willing to sacrifice their virtue. This is probably in part due to their training. Mothers, as a rule, instruct their daughters carefully regarding their relations with boys and men. It is in part due to the instinctive and inherent purity of mind of the normal woman.
Nature has devised a retribution for illicit intercourse in the form of venereal disease. If the parties observe fidelity to the marriage vows venereal disease is experienced in wedlock only on very rare occasions, and then through some accidental infection, as from contact with some public utensils, as a public water closet, a public towel or drinking cup. So rare is this unfortunate accident, however, that we may say, that intercourse in undefiled wedlock results normally in pleasure and gratification to both parties, while intercourse out of wedlock, or illicit intercourse, is destined, as a rule, to be visited with retribution.
What form does this retribution that nature metes out to the vice of illicit intercourse take? Besides the various psychic punishments, the principal of which are remorse, and impure thoughts, there are physical punishments in the form of venereal diseases. So prevalent are these venereal diseases among lewd women, whether prostitutes or clandestines, that specialists in this field say that "all lewd women are diseased part of the time and some lewd women are diseased all the time."
These sexual diseases are contagious—that is, transmitted by contact. They are all germ diseases; one of them is practically local, one is capable of spreading the infection to contiguous organs and one is systemic.
a. Chancroid or Soft Chancre.—This is the least dangerous of the venereal diseases. It is a contagious disease of purely local type, usually acquired during the sexual act, the infection taking place through a break in the continuity of the mucous membrane.
Chancroid may be single, though most often is multiple. It makes its appearance in from one to five days after exposure, anywhere on the penis, but most frequently on the under side of the glans beside the frænulum as a small red spot. This rapidly takes the form of a blister containing serum and pus, and in a few days may become the size of a ten-cent piece. When the roof is removed the ulcer has the appearance of having been punched out, the floor being covered with pus. It is surrounded by a zone of inflammation and is painful.
If uncomplicated the disease runs its course in from two to five weeks. The most common complication is swollen and suppurating glands of the groin on one or both sides. This condition is termed bubo or "blue ball" in common language.