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
Most prominent of those who have declared that hygienic and moral
teaching should be dissociated is Dr. Richard C. Cabot, of Boston. I
shall discuss his point of view in connection with a later lecture on
"Criticisms of Sex-education" (Sec. 46). In the present discussion of
sexual morality as an important reason for sex-education, it is
sufficient to say that Dr. Cabot seems to disagree with other teachers
on the question of the influence of formal instruction on the morals of
people.
[Sidenote: Moral and hygienic problems.]
Sex-education is now commonly understood to be attempting to solve the
moral as well as the hygienic problems of sex. As suggested before,
these two lines of problems are clearly related but not coincident; for
sexual health and morals are not entirely coordinated. We must not
overlook the possibility that the marvellous progress of
bacteriological and medical science may some day largely reduce the
health problems of sex without improving morality. In fact, sexual
immorality that is hygienic does actually exist to a limited extent.
Such facts indicate that while sex-education was first planned to solve
health problems, the ultimate sex-education must attempt to guide
sexual conduct by moral principles. This coming need of more emphasis
on the moral problems of sex should be clearly foreseen by those who
are interested in sex-education.
[Sidenote: Super-morality desirable.]
Now, while sexual morality as commonly understood is a direct aim of
sex-education, it is not, in the opinion of many people, the ideal and
ultimate goal of sex-education in its broadest outlook. There is
something higher than conventional morality for the reason that, while
natural sexual union in monogamic marriage is never legally or
ecclesiastically immoral, it is very often far from ideal. It is not
ideal if it is unethical, unhygienic, or unaesthetic. It is unethical,
if it is not a bi-personal desideratum (_i.e._, based on mutual
love[9]); it is unhygienic when not promotive and conservative of
health; and it is unaesthetic if the concomitant psychical reactions are
not in harmony with the beautiful in nature and life. In all these
ways, morality as commonly and legally and ecclesiastically understood
may fall very far short of the ideal sexual relationships. Such an
ideal is now held by many men and women who wish that morality might
mean to all the world not simply the limitation of sexual union to
monogamic marriage, but also that it might be made to mean an
all-satisfying monogamic affection and comradeship based on certain
physiological, psychical, aesthetic, and ethical laws that underlie
human sexual potentialities. Such would be a morality so far beyond
the accepted standards that for convenience we may call it
super-morality, or the new morality. This, I sincerely believe, is the
ultimate goal of sex-education in its largest outlook.
[Sidenote: Super-morality deserves emphasis.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Sex-education: A series of lectures concerning knowledge of sex in its relation to human life — John Shaqi
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