Margaret Sanger

“ It is impossible to separate the ignorance of parents, prostitution, venereal diseases, or the silence of the medical profession from the great economic question that the world is facing today. It is here ever before us, and the more we look into the so-called evils of the day the more we realize that the whole structure of the present day society is built upon a rotten and decaying foundation. Until capitalism is swept away, there is no hope for young girls to live a beautiful life during their girlhood. ”

“ Every girl should know that to hold in check the sexual impulse, to absorb this power into the system until there is a freely conscious sympathy, a confidence and respect between her and her ideal, that this will go toward building up the sexual impulse and will make the purest, strongest and most sacred passion of adult life, compared to which all other passions pale into insignificance. ”

“ No other thought has entered the mind except to be a good mother—which has usually meant a slave-mother. This has been her only use, her only wish and hope—and when the age arrives where she cannot perform this function longer, she considers herself useless. No wonder she becomes melancholic or even insane.
Fortunately the woman of today is gradually ridding herself of such archaic notions. More and more is she realizing that motherhood is only one of her capabilities ”

“ Better a thousand times to live alone and unloved than to be tied to a man who has robbed her of health or of the joy of motherhood, or welcoming the pains of motherhood, live in anxiety lest her sickly offspring be taken out of her life, or grow up a chronic invalid.
I have more faith in the force of love. I believe that two people convinced that they love each other and desire to live together will talk as frankly of their own health and natures as they do today of the house furnishings and salaries. ”

“ This goes to prove that the boy a girl is willing to elope with, or even starve for at 18, is quite forgotten at the age of 25.
When girls marry between the ages of 19 and 20—the years when they are developing in body, mind and character, they are at a loss to understand themselves, because they are ignorant of the fact that the wonderful instinct of sex is making itself felt. For thousands of years this instinct has been in the germ of life. When they have reached that age nature is preparing them to proclaim its right, to perform their natural functions, to propagate. ”

“ Another form of affection which the girl of this age manifests is that for an older woman, often a teacher or neighbor. Parents sometimes look askance at this relation, and rightly so, for a friendship can be beneficial or harmful according to the character of the older woman. But with all these interests there is nothing so all-absorbing or so interesting to the adolescent girl as herself. She has become conscious of self. Now she burns with ambition to go out into the world and do mighty things. She feels sure she will be a great singer, or a dancer, or, perhaps, an actress. ”

“ Their love for each other will protect them from ill health and disease, and prompt them to procure of their own accord, a certificate of health if each has the right information and knowledge.
There are, however, different phases of nature, the knowledge of which binds and cements the love of two people, other than venereal diseases, for these diseases are only symptoms of a great social disorder.
Every girl should first understand herself; she should know her anatomy, including sex anatomy; she should know the epochs of a normal woman's life, and the unfoldment which each epoch brings ”

“ If women voluntarily exposed themselves to diseases which would sap the husband's vitality, making him a dependent invalid, or expose him to the shock of a mutilating operation, or death—would men continue to suffer? Would they allow the medical secret to protect women in this alleged “freedom”? Every girl knows he would neither protect her nor continue to suffer. ”

“ The same can be said of gonorrhoea, and the same physician who clamors against the prices of the so-called quack, forgets that the price he asks of the public is exorbitant in the extreme. So the only course for the individual to take, if he cannot pay the price, is to remain a menace to society. The physician assumes no responsibility toward society to find out if the patient is under treatment elsewhere; the patient can do as he pleases with his disease when he closes the doctor's door. ”

“ If the mother can impress the child with the beauty and wonder and sacredness of the sex functions, she has taught it the first lesson, and the teacher can elaborate on these teachings as the child advances in school. All schools should teach anatomy of the sex organs and their physiology, instead of teaching the human body in the neuter gender as has been done up to this time. ”

“ SEXUAL IMPULSE—PART II. In the first part of this article we learned that the sexual impulse is a combination of the two impulses: the one which impels the discharge of ripe sex cells, strongest in the boy, and the other which impels the individual to touch or caress an individual of the opposite sex, strongest in the girl.
Every girl has in mind an ideal man. This ideal begins to form sometime in the early adolescent age. He is usually distinct in her mind as to his physical qualities, such as dark or light hair, or brown or blue eyes. ”

“ Yet few girls follow this instinct on account of the specter of economic insecurity which looms up before them. Instead of asking themselves: “Are we mateable and sympathetic?” they ask: “Shall we have enough food, clothing and shelter?”
Indeed, girls, this system increases our degradation, and places us in ideals lower than the animals. All over the civilized world today girls are being given and taken in marriage with but one purpose in view: to be well-supported by the man who takes her. She does not concern herself with the man's physical condition ”

“ The girl of wealth, of the so-called upper class, can beautify herself and adorn her body with the costliest jewels and fabrics. All eyes are upon her in admiration of her exquisite taste and attractive appearance. Yet this same manifestation in a working girl is condemned. Any attempt on the part of a working girl to give expression to the desire to be beautiful is considered “dangerous to her welfare” ”

“ Women should protest against the so-called medical secret which decrees that they be kept in ignorance where their health, as well as life, is directly concerned. That there are men in the medical profession in this country, as well as in Europe, who have openly protested against respecting the secret where another life is involved, seems a cheerful signal of a general social awakening in this field. ”

“ In plant and animal life the reproductive cell of the male is the active seeker of the passive female cell, imbued with the instinct to chase and bodily capture the female cell for the purpose of reproduction.
This instinct man, as he is today, has inherited, and, as with the lower forms of life, the senses are intensely involved. It is kept alive by the sense of sight, sound and smell, and reaches its highest development through the sense of touch. ”

“ In the Medical Record, April 20, 1912, Maude Glasgow says: “After suffering for years a woman becomes a feeble, worn-out, nervous woman; her life is a burden The operating table is her only hope, and she leaves it deformed, mutilated and sexless.” ”

“ A woman does not need to be a college graduate, with a special degree in the study of botany, before she can tell her child the beautiful truth of its birth. But she does need to clear her own mind of prudishness, and to understand that the procreative act is natural, clean and healthful; that all nature is beautified through it, and consequently that it is devoid of offensiveness. ”

“ Just as the nucleus of the male sperm has within it all the contributions which the father of the child can give it, until after it is born, so does the mother give it its physical qualities right at the beginning.
Whatever is to be inherited from the father must be within the substance of the spermatozoon at the time the ovum is fertilized. He has no further pre-natal influence over it.
It is interesting to observe that the children of so-called great men are seldom above the average in intelligence, where, on the other hand, almost all men of great minds have had intelligent mothers. ”

“ But it is not love; it is the creative force or sexual impulse scattered through his being and the sexual act brings it to a focus.
If motherhood comes to the girl through this relation, she has developed and the experience has enriched her life. But today the girl has an idea she has escaped the greatest disgrace when she has avoided motherhood. ”

“ It is the opinion of the foremost medical men that if women at the first sign of irregularities, consult a gynecologist, it would be the means of saving thousands of lives every year, and would prepare women to enter upon the post-climatic period in health and happiness.
90 CONCLUSION In conclusion I cannot refrain from saying that women must come to recognize there is some function of womanhood other than being a child-bearing machine. Too long have they allowed themselves to become this, bowing to the yoke of motherhood from puberty to the grave. ”

“ No sexual attraction or impulse is the foundation of the beautiful emotion of love. Upon this is built respect, self-control, sympathy, unity of purpose, many common tastes and desires, building up and up until this real love unites two individuals as one being, one life. ”

“ The individual promises himself over and over again after such exercises to overcome the habit, but his will power gradually becomes destroyed and the impulse continues. He knows and intuitively feels such practice degrades him and destroys his character; he feels he is losing control of himself, and also realizes that his health, especially his nervous system is being undermined. ”

“ There is no doubt that the natural aim of the sexual impulse is the sexual act, yet when the impulse is strongest and followed by the sexual act without love or any of the relative instincts which go to make up love, the relations are invariably followed by a feeling of disgust. ”

“ The first subject will deal with the girl during the age when sex first manifests itself, in that most fascinating, interesting and puzzling period of a woman's life—the budding period, called girlhood. ”

“ It is also shown that more young girls join church than boys. Some girls seem almost consumed by the desire to do good and be good in every thought and word and act, and have been known to go through various forms of self punishment, such as fasting, sacrificing pleasure, etc. Again, others spend hours in absolute devotion to the neglect of health and studies. It is very easily seen why the church takes its “flock,” while still in the adolescent period, for at no subsequent time is the girl's mind so plastic or impressionable. ”

“ For sickness, poverty or disease will affect even the most seemingly perfect physical attraction.
Let us not confuse the sexual impulse with love, for it alone is not love, but merely a necessary quality for the growth of love. ”

“ The adolescent period is the time occupied between the ages of 12 and 22, when the physical development comes suddenly into prominence; when the mental faculties become independently active, and the sex of the individual strongly manifests itself. It is a period of the greatest importance to the girl herself, for her physical, mental and moral development during this time will have an important effect on her future life. ”

“ A curious point to know is that a man may have a hidden or latent gonorrhoea, of which he is not aware, for it gives him no trouble, and may infect a clean, healthy woman during sexual relations, and she in turn, can infect him with the same disease, acting like a fresh infection, giving rise to pain and discomfort. The great majority of infections in women are contracted from men who believe themselves cured, being under the false impression that they are cured because the discharge has ceased. ”

“ At the first signs of hemorrhages or excessive flow, a woman should place herself under the care of a gynecologist (specialist in the diseases of woman) , just as a pregnant woman is under the care of a physician until she is entirely free from the dangers of childbirth.
Women have heretofore looked to this period with dread, on account of the consequences which neglect has caused. It need not be dreaded for assuring word comes from prominent physicians who have made this special period a study, that the natural symptoms of the Menopause do not portend loss of life, reason or health. ”

“ There are a few strong women to whom this period makes no difference, but the average girl in this country spends two days of pain and discomfort. Out of 1,000 girls questioned, only 16 per cent. were entirely free from pain, which proves that the time has come for women to cease being ashamed of this function, and insisting upon at least one day's rest at the expense of her employer. Some of the old biblical ideas instilling into the man's mind, that a woman is unclean at this time has been the cause of much hardship and many sneers endured by a woman during these periods. ”

“ The whole process tends to show that the child-bearing period is at an end, which in fact has caused much mental anxiety and disturbance among women to the extent of melancholy and insanity.
It seems a very small things to give to every woman, going through this disagreeable period of life—a complete change of climate and rest, until the change has become established. Certainly she has served society to 89the best of her knowledge, often “entering into the valley of the shadow of death”; many times fearlessly, to give the best of herself to the race. It is a small thing to give in return. ”

“ Too much emphasis cannot be put upon the danger of placing any one with this disease into the hands of the doctors who advertise so conspicuously, claiming rapid and complete cures for all sexual diseases. Experience has found that thousands of boys and young men, attracted by such alluring promises as only the quack can put forth, have been under such treatment, only to find later that the disease was allowed to remain in the tissues, the discharge only having been dried up. The germs were allowed to continue their work on up into the bladder, kidneys, joints, heart and even to the brain. ”

“ According to one writer, the rapist has just enough brain development to raise him above the animal, but like the animal, when in heat, knows no law except nature, which impels him to procreate, whatever the result. Every normal man and woman has the power to control and direct his sexual impulse. Men and women who have it in control and constantly use their brain cells thinking deeply, are never sensual. ”