Sex-education: A series of lectures concerning knowledge of sex in its relation to human lifeBigelow, Maurice A. (Maurice Alpheus)
Science
Sex-education: A series of lectures concerning knowledge of sex in its relation to human life
Bigelow, Maurice A. (Maurice Alpheus)
Sex instruction
In reviewing the literature that during the past decade has advocated
sex-education, it has seemed to me that there is left little
possibility of any decidedly new and important contribution to the
arguments favoring such instruction, for the whole case has been
splendidly presented by eminent writers in the fields of medicine,
biology, sociology, and ethics. It now appears that the great majority
of educators, scientists, and intelligent citizens in general have
accepted the arguments for sex-instruction, so far as they have been
informed concerning the meaning and need of the movement; and this
leads me to the belief that in the future we need not new arguments but
frequent restatements of the established facts which indicate the
importance of widespread knowledge regarding the function that is
inseparably connected with the perpetuation of life. In short, we now
need a propagandism for extending the sex-education movement among the
masses of people.
For those who have already accepted sex-education, a survey of the
facts that created a demand for sex-instruction will give a clearer
outlook on the movement. The rapid increase of interest in
sex-education has been the result of widespread dissemination of
convincing facts concerning some common disharmonies that grow out of
the sexual problems of the human race. These facts which have led to
sex-education should be kept in mind by all who wish to understand or
to play a part in the instruction of young people.
It is quite unnecessary, and still more undesirable, to recite at
length in these lectures the social, medical, and psycho-pathological
facts concerning abnormal or perverted sexual processes. Fortunately,
the educational ends may be gained by a general review that points out
the bearings of the main lines of the sexual problems, the
misunderstandings and mistakes that education may help prevent and
correct.
[Sidenote: Parents should know reasons for sex-instruction.]
It is important that the general public, especially the parents, should
understand the reasons which have induced numerous physicians,
ministers, and educators to become active advocates of systematic
sex-instruction for young people. Although the movement has made
extensive progress in the ten years of propagandic work, is probably
true that the majority of even intelligent parents are not yet
convinced that their children need sex-instruction. This is due largely
to the fact that the parents have not yet been shown the reasons why it
is now, and always has been, unsafe to allow children to gain more or
less sexual information from unreliable and vulgar sources. In fact, it
is surprising to find many parents, especially mothers, who seem unable
to grasp the idea that their "protected" children can possibly get
impure information.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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