Female body

“ Faithful to these organs which generally impress in the body the seal of sex, the general state of the body becomes equivocal like them and presents a mixture in different proportions of the male and female attributes. ”

“ The breast and the [Pg 190] haunches are in an inverse proportion in the two sexes. Man has the breast larger and wider than that of woman: woman has the haunches less circumscribed than those of man.
The upper part of the body is also less prominent, and the lower part more prominent, in woman than in man; and therefore, when they stand upright, or lie on the back, the breast is most prominent in the male, and the pubes in the female. The indication this affords of the fitness of woman for impregnation, gestation, and parturition, is obvious. ”

“ Moreover, the female form, and the cavity of the womb, most suitable for receiving, and cherishing, and vivifying the germ, who does not believe that it has been made as it is by reason and foresight?—because in that part alone of her body the female differs from the male, in which the fœtus being placed, is kept and cherished. ”

“ Coupled, however, with our attitude of callous indifference to the young female’s body is also the increasing doubt which is spreading among all classes regarding the actual value of the normal and natural life for woman. ”

“ What's female beauty, but an air divine,
Thro' which the mind's all gentle graces shine?
They, like the sun, irradiate all between;
The body charms because the soul is seen. ”

“ A minute study of the human frame shows us that the form of the female differs from that of the male on purpose that it may be adapted to the necessities of this interesting period. The breadth of the pelvis, the structure of the tissues, and a number of other phenomena, are all modified in her for the purpose of giving life and health to her pro­geny. ”

“ Hence it is, that women naturally and instinctively affect abstemiousness and delicacy of appetite. Hence it is, that they compress the waist, and endeavor to render it slender.
Second Variety or Modification of this Species of Beauty.
Women have, in greater abundance than men, several of the fluids which enter into the composition of the body. They appear to have a greater quantity of blood; and they certainly have more frequent and more considerable hemorrhages. There is less force in the circulation and respiration; but the heart beats more rapidly. ”

“ The habit of throwing the breast over the shoulder, in order to enable infants to nurse while swinging at their backs, contributes not a little to increase their deformity. Yet [Pg 288] some of the women, when very young, are said to be perfect models of beauty in the female form. Every joint and limb is well turned and proportioned, and the hands and feet are remarkably small and delicate, though they never wear shoes, or sandals. ”

“ Yet it may be, that, with the smaller general bulk and the muscular fineness, and the preponderance of brain and nervous system in net bulk over the fleshy and osseous parts of the organism, which generally, though by no means always, characterises the female as distinguished from the male of the human species, there do go mental qualities which will peculiarly fit her for the labours of the future. ”

“ Be it said, then, first, that it is the duty of every bride and groom, before they engage in sexual commerce with each other, to acquaint themselves thoroughly with the anatomy and physiology of the sex organs of human beings, both male and female, and to make the acquirement of such knowledge as dispassionate and matter-of-fact an affair as though they were studying the nature, construction and functions of the stomach, or the digestive processes entire, or the nature and use of any of the other bodily organs. ”

“ You must confidently lean on her breast, you must confidently blend yourself with her, you must let her touch you as your mother used to touch you when, a helpless babe, you lay in your cradle. Her hand went all over your body, from head to foot, with loving, soothing caress. Let the sun and the breezes touch your body in like fashion. ”

“ The object of these lectures is to illustrate the effects of clothing on the health and figure of the female sex. All the deformities of after-life are due, says the authoress, to nursing and clothing. The latter of these she endeavours to set right in this very useful little book, which ably exposes the mischief of tight-lacing and the other abuses to which ladies subject nature. Madame Caplin has had great experience, and her book has considerable literary merit to boot.—Morning Chronicle, Dec. ”

“ From the earliest days of the medical art this sexual life of woman has aroused in the leaders of medical thought the highest interest, and for this reason great attention has been directed, not only to the anatomy of the genital organs and to the diseases of the reproductive system, but also to the individual manifestations of sexual activity and to the influence exercised by these on the female organism as a whole. ”

“ She will be well clad in clothes that allow of lithe and even development of the body; she will be taught to run, to play games, to dance, to swim; she will be supple and healthy, finely moulded and knit in limb and organ, beautiful in face and features, splendid and graceful in the native curves of her lissom figure. No cramping conventions will be allowed to cage her; no worn-out moralities will be tied round her neck like a mill-stone to hamper her. ”

“ The early appearance of wrinkles in the face, the stiff, angular character of the movements, the ungraceful carriage of the body, all these combine to make a woman of five-and-twenty who groans under the burthen of toil appear at the first glance an elderly woman, and a closer investigation shows what damage has been wrought to the attributes of beauty, how the breasts are flabby and flattened, the belly prominent, the buttocks pendulous, the arms muscular. ”

“ The bodily changes which at first almost imperceptibly steal upon the mother, if she be a girl who has enjoyed her own physical beauty, and has taken that care of herself which so delightful a thing as a young woman’s body merits, will be at first a series of amazements and perhaps of delights as her body rounds itself and becomes more perfect. ”

“ The adherents of the second theory, "that the act is a love relation, mutually demanded and enjoyed by both sexes, and that it serves other purposes besides that of procreation," claim that the female sexual life indicates that the healthy woman is neither indifferent nor passive in the generative act. It has much the same effect as in man— a powerful increase in her sensations, whole groups of muscles are set in motion, and the uterus as well as the entire nervous system are in an excited condition and activity. ”

“ These conditions pertain to, and are ap­plicable to all people; but in a proper system of hygiene, regard must always be had to age, sex, temperament, and constitutional force.
But as we write exclusively for the use of ladies, it may be as well here to notice some of the more striking distinctions between the perfect male and female form that may be easily perceived. The bones of the female are lighter, softer, and more elegantly shaped than those of the male. The female head is smaller, the pelvis is broader and deeper, and the cavity of the acetabulum less deeply sunk than in man. ”

“ In that day a beautifully shaped leg and a fine head of hair will be rather a disgrace than a distinction. They will be survivals of a barbarous age. Indeed that they are already so regarded, there can be no doubt, by the more 'advanced' representatives of the female sex. ”

“ At this period of which we are speaking there are constructions of the most important kind going on in the girl's body, compared with which the construction of additional muscular tissue is of much less than no importance. ”

“ The gait and bearing of woman are now no longer the same; and the voice changes as well as the physiognomy.
In all that has yet occurred, it will be observed that nutrition and growth take place with great rapidity in woman. Her internal structure, her external form, her faculties, are all developed promptly. It would appear that the parts which compose her body, being less, less compact, and less strong, than those of man, require less time to attain their complete development. ”

“ Madame Caplin's Corsets.—"It is rarely that anatomical principles are applied to the fashioning of any article of ladies' attire, and still more rarely that they are applied, as we are assured on competent female authority, with such complete success as in the ingenious and very elegant articles named at the head of this paragraph. ”

“ The breasts grow round and full, the whole body, even the voice, undergoes a change. It is right that they should be taught the natural law of life in reproduction and the physiological structure of their being. ”

“ Such is the distinctive construction of woman’s form, that labor with the muscles of the arms and trunk, such as is demanded in washing and ironing, is peculiarly favorable to the perfect development and support of the most delicate and most important portion of her body. ”

“ The chest is expanded, the eye acquires a brilliancy peculiarly its own, and the frame takes that beautiful undulating form and proportion which gives it its peculiar charm. The province of woman is now to be the preserver of the species, and the several stages of marriage, pregnancy, and maternity are the destiny which opens before her. ”

“ For the elucidation of the manifold reflex and other processes which are dependent upon or accompany the sexual phases of woman, we must in the first place consider the anatomical changes and physiological functions of the female reproductive organs characteristic of the several periods of sexual life which have already been distinguished. ”

“ The degree to which the female organism as a whole is influenced by the processes of the sexual life that occur in the genital organ depends upon many of the characteristics that combine to make up the individuality. Inherited characteristics, temperament, and race, play a great part in this connection; and not less important than these are the social conditions, the environment, in which the women under consideration pass their life. ”

“ The women, also, in whom the uterus and the ovaries remain inert during life, approximate in forms and habits to men. It is stated, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1805, that an adult female, in whom the ovaries were defective, presented a corresponding defect in the state of the constitution. ”

“ A Careful Study of this organ, of its location, of its arteries and nerves, will convince the growing girl that her body should never submit to corsets and tight lacing in response to the demands of fashion, even though nature has so bountifully provided for the safety of this important organ. By constant pressure the vagina and womb may be compressed into one-third their natural length or crowded into an unnatural position. We can readily see, then, the effect of lacing or tight clothing. ”

“ As a rule, girls mature earlier in warm climates24 than in cold and in cities than in country districts. The signs of the approach of this period are the growth of hair on the pubes and other parts of the body, the enlargement of the breasts, a general rounding and increased grace of the body, the development of the pelvis so that the hips become more prominent, and a change in the mental qualities of the child, the girl naturally becoming more retiring. The menstrual function usually is not established at once, there being premonitory symptoms of a vague nature. ”

“ The fact than an anabolic surplus, preparatory to the katabolic process of reproduction, is stored at an earlier period in the female than in the male, and that this period is retarded in the ill-nourished female, is a confirmation of the view that femaleness is an expression of the tendency to store nutriment, and explains also the infantile somatic characters of woman. ”

“ At the risk of its becoming repulsive to the dainty and sentimental among my readers, I will venture to give a short description of those parts of the body which are affected by the wearing of tight corsets; for I firmly believe that if women were more familiar with the construction of their own bodies, they would shrink with horror from the sins that they are now ignorantly committing against their own health and happiness. ”

“ So it is with the female organs, the parts must be bathed carefully every day. I have been surprised in the past to find how many intelligent women neglect these parts. Women come for an examination, their clothing is scrupulously clean, their bodies show recent care but in the folds of the labia, especially near the clitoris, I find an accumulation of a cheesy-like material which has an odor very offensive to any21 truly refined woman. ”

“ Now, if ever, must be laid the foundation of physical vigor and of a healthy body. Girls should realize the significance of this fact. Do not get the idea that men admire a weakly, puny, delicate, small-waisted, languid, doll-like creature, a libel on true womanhood. Girls admire men with broad chests, square shoulders, erect form, keen bright eyes, hard muscles and undoubted vigor. Men also turn naturally to healthy, robust, well-developed girls, and to win their admiration girls must meet their ideals. ”

“ Although these internal displacements are most common249 among women, some foolish members of the other sex are adopting customs of dress, in girding the central portion of the body, that tend to similar results. ”

“ A lady believes what she feels, and hence, practically, the staymakers triumphed, for the corset was still worn; but the facts upon which the medical man based his reasoning remained unanswered, for the other party, knowing nothing of physiology, made the stays with as little relation to the requirements of the body as before. ”