The Eugenic Marriage, Volume 2 (of 4): A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better Babies — John Shaqi
The Eugenic Marriage, Volume 2 (of 4): A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better BabiesHague, W. Grant (William Grant)
Science
The Eugenic Marriage, Volume 2 (of 4): A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better Babies
Hague, W. Grant (William Grant)
Eugenics; Hygiene; Marriage
If the conditions are not as bad as those depicted above, the original
infection may have rendered her sterile. If the germs reached the womb
and tubes, the inflammatory process may close these tubes, with the
result that conception is impossible. In these cases the woman has to
bear the stigma and disgrace of a childless union, though she is not
the guilty party. Many husbands are sterile, however, as a result of
venereal disease. It is claimed that eighty per cent. of childless
marriages are caused by sterility of the male partner. Curiously and
unfortunately these men never suspect themselves. The wife is the
delinquent member, in their estimation. She is the victim of jest and
suspicion, and later of jibes and insults. Many women have had their
lives rendered miserable and unhappy because of this suspicion. They are
compelled by their husbands to submit to examination and unpleasant and
painful treatment and operations with the intention of rectifying a
defective condition that does not exist. Many conscientious physicians
refuse to treat women patients against whom the charge of sterility is
made, before subjecting the husbands to thorough examination, and, since
eighty per cent. of childless marriages are due to sterility in the
male, this is a just and reasonable course to pursue.
During the course of all this domestic trouble and tragedy, the young
wife's health has suffered--she scarcely enjoys one day of good health.
Her mental condition is even worse. She submits to innuendo and insult
under the impression that she is the unwitting cause of all the domestic
wretchedness and often wishes she had never entered the marriage state.
We must remember that these conditions wreck ideals and homes, and that
they frequently render inefficient both husband and wife. The economic
business of marriage becomes a failure, ambition is crushed and hope
dies in the heart.
If the mother has been inoculated with the virus of syphilis her
existence is equally wretched; her health is ruined; her efficiency is
forever mortgaged. If she becomes pregnant she will most likely abort
and she will go on aborting for years, in the effort to bring children
into the home, accusing herself meantime and submitting to the
reflections which are heaped upon her, while the real culprit is the
husband. He assumes an injured and innocent attitude and behaves as if
he had been imposed upon by marriage with a woman who cannot carry out
her marital contract.
If she gives birth to a child or children, they are syphilitic. They
may be deformed, or they may be feeble-minded or idiots. They may live
at home for years, always ailing, always sick. They may develop
epilepsy, St. Vitus' dance, skin disease, or mental vagaries, and they
may have to be put into institutions for the feeble-minded, or they may
die by inches at home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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