The Social Emergency: Studies in Sex Hygiene and Morals
Science
The Social Emergency: Studies in Sex Hygiene and Morals
Sex instruction
Personal and social hygiene in matters of sex are, in very important ways,
dependent upon moral and religious training. On the other hand, morals and
religion are in important ways dependent upon forces set free by the
growth and activity of sex instincts and powers. One of the most
significant facts in modern social progress is its recognition of this
interdependence of mind and body. We have learned that physical health
depends upon peace of mind, hopefulness, courage, and many other things
that have seemed in the past to be purely mental or spiritual; and we have
learned also that the character of people and the spirit in which they do
their work depend upon their health, upon conditions of food and warmth
and shelter, things which in the past have been regarded as affecting only
the physical man. It is now somewhat out of date to set physical
conditions over against moral and religious; every great human problem is
more and more clearly seen in this day to involve all these conditions in
its rise, and to require thoughtful consideration of them all for its
solution. As we face the problems of sex, we must recognize the importance
of fresh air, exercise, wholesome food, clean cups and clean towels, and
we must also recognize the importance of clean thoughts and high purposes.
We must know clearly the facts of biological and medical science, and with
them in mind we must touch the springs of conduct in affection and
imagination. Our aim must be to achieve that mastery over the forces of
life finely expressed by Browning's Rabbi ben Ezra: "Nor soul helps flesh
more, now, than flesh helps soul."
We may consider, first, how, in matters of sex, flesh helps soul; second,
how soul helps flesh; and third, how in normal childhood and youth soul
and flesh grow together in mutual help.
The first great outstanding fact is that the physical powers of sex reach
maturity in the same years in which the moral and religious instincts are
greatly quickened. If we recall our youth, we must realize that, in the
years between twelve and twenty, our lives were greatly disturbed and
perplexed, and also greatly exalted and inspired by desires and impulses
partly toward the opposite sex and partly toward the service of God and
our fellows. In the normal adolescent boy or girl there is a powerful
expanding and enriching of sex thoughts and desires and purposes. There is
also a rapid development of social sympathy and passion; the revolutionary
movements of all lands are recruited from those who like Shelley have in
their youth vowed,--
"I will be wise,
And just, and free, and mild, if in me lies
Such power, for I grow weary to behold
The selfish and the strong still tyrannize
Without reproach or check."
And there is a wonderful flowering of the young life in religious feeling
and aspiration; a large majority of religious conversions take place in
adolescence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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