Margaret Sanger

“ The waste of vital and nerve force attending the usual custom of intercourse is, in my opinion, a leading cause of the craving for alcohol and tobacco; while in this new practice both parties, if magnetism exists, experience a renewal of life force that is in the highest degree wholesome. If young men would abide by this practice they would find that their self-control would be immensely enhanced in every department of life, and that they would retain the vigor and enjoyment of their sexual nature long after the generality of men have become impotent. ”

“ I head them under one method—“magnetation.”
Those who practise it claim the highest possible enjoyment, with no loss of vitality and a perfect control of the fecundating power. Its practice greatly involves the art of love by a prolonged intercourse preventing that which puts an end to intercourse—the ejaculation. The seminal fluid, it is claimed, has an immense immanent value; and if kept in the system and magnetised, and reabsorbed by the blood, adds enormously to a man’s mental and magnetic force, which through the ordinary sexual act is constantly being expended. ”

“ There is nothing so productive of nervous disorders or so likely to decrease the sexual attraction or magnetation as fear and anxious thought. Perfect confidence in the man’s ability to control himself is essential to the perfection and desired results of these methods. Just as one begins, so can one develop. Young men and women about to enter alliances and desirous to establish a lasting affection and higher bond between themselves can easily put this method into practice and control the sex functions. ”

“ The more magnetic the individual, the greater the sex attractions between those who love, and the stronger the bond will grow between them, through this “magnetation” method.
The expression and adjustment of all theories is so largely personal that special regulations can scarcely be given. The road to science and the great natural laws are discovered through experience: there is no education but that of experience. ”

“ It gives me happiness to testify to the beneficial effects of this method, because I am earnestly convinced that no other discovery in physical science has ever been made which is of such importance to the welfare of the human race. In proportion as I have followed this method life has become wholesome and happy. It avoids the opposite evils of asceticism and self-indulgence, and does more than any other single thing to make the marriage relation a perpetual courtship. ”

“ She claimed she had always practised this method, and knew of a few others who practised it, and found its practice superior to any other. She was the most beautiful sexually alive woman I have ever known, and the most modest. “True modesty is a sentiment which springs, not from indifference or aversion to the sexual offices, but from a delicate and reverent appreciation of their value.” ”

“ The organs of propagation are physiologically distinct from the organs of union in both sexes. The testicles are the principal organs of reproduction in the male, and the uterus in the female. Sexual conjunction of male and female no more involves the discharge of semen than of the urine. The discharge of semen, instead of being the main act of sexual intercourse, is really the sequel and termination of it. Sexual intercourse pure and simple is the conjunction of the organs of union, and the interchange and flow of magnetic influences through that conjunction. ”

“ Yet there is no other department of life which needs so much instruction and education as the sex department.
A healthful sexual stimulation has a beneficial effect on both men and women, especially when the loved one is accessible and some demonstration of sexual feeling allowed, as in the restrained yet ardent caresses of an affianced pair. Here we often see not only the happiest but the most productive and healthful period of a man’s life. It is said this is particularly true of man’s intellectual activities. ”

“ It is the presence of the seed and not the absence of it that makes the bull superior to the ox, and it is the stimulating, retaining, and absorbing the semen in the man, and directing it into other creative channels, which make the amative act of greater benefit and more healthful and vitalising than the procreative act.
Most of us know that creative energy expressed through the sexual nature is an instinct to perpetuate life; that it has its origin in and is co-existent with life itself ”

“ Those who practise the magnetation method content themselves with and prefer the social act, unless the procreative act is desired. It is usually held that the sexual organs have two distinct functions, viz., the urinary and the propagative. The advocates of the magnetation theory claim that the sexual organs have three distinct functions, viz., urinary, propagative, and amative—i.e., they are conductors firstly of urine, secondly of semen, and thirdly of social magnetism. ”

“ As creative energy becomes understood and applied, men and women will grow in strength of character and in strength of love, and will naturally devote these powers to the interests and development of the human race.
THE PRACTICE. Each of these theories involves sedular absorption through intercourse without culmination. No discharge is allowed, but by a superior control is retained, thereby making the act an amative (love) act, and uplifting it from an exhaustive, abrupt fertilising function into a quiet magnetic charm, producing health and increased happiness. ”

“ When we realise we are living in an age when nearly all departments of life have been greatly modified and advanced by 9recent discoveries of steam, electricity, the telephone, telegraphy, the microscope, and other agents of enlightenment, is it not surprising that there has been almost no discovery or improvement in the vital department of the sex relations? The explorer, the pioneer, the discoverer may pursue his way into every department of life, and return to lay his riches at the feet of Science, Art, or Invention ”

“ In view of the thousands of testimonials of the healthful results of the practice of these theories, I present these methods like that of the others, and for convenience shall classify them all under one head, “Magnetation.”
There are thousands of men and women who object to the practical and mechanical means of Birth Control, who feel that the pessary, condom, and douche are gross and sordid, and take 5away the artistic and spiritual beauty of the act. It is those whom the magnetation method will interest most. ”

“ The physiological analysis of the procreative act shows that the pleasure of the act is not produced by contact and interchange of life with the female, but by the action of the seminal fluid on the internal nerves of the male organ. The desire and that which satisfies it are both within the man, and may be obtained without sexual intercourse. The amative function, or the simple union of two persons, is a distinct and independent function, giving a medium of magnetic interchange superior to that gained through the reproductive function. ”

“ This Yankee nation claims to be a nation of inventors, but the discovery of male continence puts you, in my mind, at the head of all inventors. There has been no higher conservation of force than that realised by this method, and I am confident that 15the blessings which will flow from it cannot be measured by those which have followed the steam engine and the electric telegraph. ”

“ She is expected to have an entirely new philosophy as soon as the marriage certificate is in her hands. The average young man knows little of the art of love, and is consequently unable to beautify their relations or to teach her a new psychology. The first year is spent in secret misery on her 10side, and ruptures and misunderstandings between them both. The average woman will tell you she loves to be caressed and to express her affection for her husband, but could be quite satisfied without intercourse. ”

“ The process of growth and fulfilment of functions is propelled by this energy, which is operative throughout all Nature. It is the force back of and expresses itself through the physical life of man and animal. ”

“ Like the engineer who masters the engine by his knowledge of its construction and the force that runs it, so can man master this creative energy and direct it where he wills. Creative life can be expressed in other ways beside parenthood. ”

“ Passion is the sign of creative power; it is the voice of creative life. If it were understood and its powers realised, it would be elevated and worshipped instead of lowered and debased, as the Comstocks would have us do. ”

“ There are few men who desire to expose the object of their affection to the burden of bearing children faster than her health will permit. They realise a woman’s strength is greatly undermined and her beauty and grace fast ebbing away ”

“ In the light of my own experience, I regard the idea that the seminal fluid is a secretion that must be got rid of as being the most pernicious and fatal one that can possibly be taught to young people. ”

“ Such long hours of labor would deplete and exhaust the average man, but this fellow was as radiant and strong as one could picture. Both claimed it is the practice of this method to which they owe their health, strength, and happiness. ”

“ It is interesting to note that the magnetation theory had its best and longest practice, as well as its beginning, in America, under the title Male Continence. This method was practised for over forty years by a group averaging 130 men and 150 women known as the Oneida Community. ”

“ It seems to me that no one who is seeking improvement would, after experiencing this practice, ever wish to go back to the crude sensual practice in whose wake follow satiety, exhaustion, disgust, and remorse. ”

“ The boatman may decide if he will remain in still water or venture down the rapids, or run his boat over the fall. They contend 8that experience will teach him the wisdom of remaining where the rowing is easy, unless the object is worthy of going over the falls. ”

“ Of course, a great deal of this aversion which women experience is the result of their former training. The girl is taught before marriage that the act is a most degrading thing, and is told that it is the accomplishment of this one thing for which man desires her before marriage. ”

“ Nearly all women who practise it testify to its benefits, while few men complain of it. Those who do, say that to control the ejaculation to-day means a seminal loss later during sleep. The advocates, however, say this will occur at first, but after the organs become accustomed to their new function this will wear off, and there will be no seminal loss. ”

“ If, as is claimed, the experience of this method must be practised on a higher plane of thought than the purely physical, then certainly it must tend toward a finer companionship and understanding between men and women than the fleeting physical gratification prevailing at present. ”

“ He knows nothing about the means to prevent it, and allows the one he loves best to wither and fade before his eyes.
It is especially necessary for the woman to be free from the mental dread of pregnancy. ”

“ Through personal experience and prolonged study, he discovered the theory of male continence. Since that time many others have come forward with the same theory under various names. Almost without exception, each advocate has injected some kind of religion into it. ”

“ Atoms, cells, and plants are unconscious of this force, and animals are conscious of it only in a slight degree. But man is 7conscious of this energy, and is capable of developing a greater consciousness of it and of its operation and utilisation to a remarkable degree. ”