Essays in medical sociology, Volume 2 (of 2)Blackwell, Elizabeth
Science
Essays in medical sociology, Volume 2 (of 2)
Blackwell, Elizabeth
Prostitution; Sexual ethics; Social medicine
The waste of virile force and the degradation of womanly character
which result from the barbarous remnant of slavery existing in our
midst under the form of prostitution is incalculable. No community
which aspires to Christian life can permit this hideous trade to
exist. The buying and selling the human body is a natural wrong. The
fearful evils, moral and physical, which result from such trade prove
its inherent iniquity. Love, with the duties and responsibilities
which accompany its expression, is the only Christian warrant for the
intimate union of the sexes, and the growth and welfare of society
absolutely depends upon the wise guidance of these relations by
Christian principle. The wonderful advance of intelligence and moral
perception on this vital subject during the present generation is
the most hopeful sign of the nearer approach of organized Christian
society. As a striking contrast to growing immorality, the possibility
and incalculable benefit of equal purity for boys and girls, for men
and women, is the great truth which is springing into vigorous life
in this Nineteenth Century. A new world of hope and freedom opens to
women, a new realm of energy to men, from the consecration of this
mighty power of sex, which is descending upon our age as a great guide
for the future. This God-created force has hitherto been squandered
in these earlier centuries of our world’s life. Ignorance of woman’s
true dignity and providential position has been the greatest obstacle
hitherto in the Christian organization of society. This ignorance now
slowly but surely vanishing, opens to us a great and glorious promise
of unlimited future progress.
The principles thus expressed in very condensed form appear, from
their present maturer development, to be the especial gain of this
age. They are the legitimate results of Christian thought, growing in
comprehensiveness, and conscientiously applying itself to a solution of
the problems of social life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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