The Social Emergency Part 7

The boy's words awakened memories. I recalled the sense of shocked and shamed decency I felt when first I came to the city, a boy almost, and fresh from the country; how I tossed in my bed trying to see as right things that every one in the city appeared to accept as a matter of course, but that, from earliest boyhood I had been taught to regard as wicked. I could not for many months become accustomed to seeing immodestly dressed women on or off the stage, or to hearing half-veiled indecency flaunted from the stage, blazoned in the newspapers, or used even in ordinary conversation. I could not get used to ... scenes and actions directly forbidden as unforgivable at home.[46]

We are horrified by certain vices, the public now and then cries out against specific manifestations of l.u.s.t, and sometimes it is with difficulty that mobs are restrained from violence But about much of our immorality there is an attractiveness that has made it acceptable and even wins for it applause. The influence is there, and it is insidiously and perniciously working itself into the minds of our boys Many commercialized amus.e.m.e.nts now exploit the s.e.x impulse. It is impossible to measure the effects of such exploitation.

There are brighter pictures. Those who have intimate relation with hundreds of boys learn to admire the American boy for his earnest desire to be clean and strong and for his att.i.tude toward the sacred things of life. If we give the boy positive help, we may expect him to grow into n.o.ble manhood. We would not remove him from all the evil in the world, but we may expect a minimum of harm as a result of contact with evil. We may not expect to keep him away from all foul talk; but we may make foul talk disgust rather than attract him. The American boy is normally clean. If we will do our part, he will respond.

William Holabird represents a type which may well be taken as an example in s.e.x education.

While chiefly known to the public as a golfer, Holabird was catcher on the school baseball team, half-back on the eleven, held the gold medal for the inter-cla.s.s track meet, and, in fact, excelled in all athletic sports. As a scholar he always ranked high. He was devotion itself to his parents, his brothers and sisters, respectful to his elders, a leader among his a.s.sociates, and beloved by all who knew him; tall in stature and muscled like a Greek G.o.d, with clear-cut, delicate, refined, and manly features.... With a rare combination of strength and gentleness accompanied by a bearing and life well ill.u.s.trating "He was one of nature's n.o.blemen."... A splendid athlete, with a life without a spot or stain, he was a natural leader and a model for all the fellows in the school. The younger boys followed and imitated him.... He hated everything false or unclean or vulgar. To us all, men and boys alike, it was an inspiration to know him.[47]

Our standards for boys and men have been too low. Charles Wagner says, in writing of youth and love:--

Chast.i.ty has a host of enemies.... These enemies are quick to throw at your head, as an unanswerable argument, "He who tries to play the angel, plays the fool."

But he continues:--

Many play the fool who have never tried to play the angel. They have not fallen into the mud because they tried to fly too high, but because they began too low down.... A society which permits license in youth, and counsels it, degrades love.... Sin against love at its base,--in youth,--and the life of the whole nation is torn, and suffers immeasurably.... The rule of conduct here is chast.i.ty Every infraction is a sin. Though this law may seem difficult and severe, it is the only safe one. Morality without it is but rubbish.[48]

A start has been made. During the last decade, we have declared that we must no longer have two standards of purity, one for the man and another for the woman. We recognize a difference between the nature of the man and the nature of the woman; but as our goal and as our standard for practical life, we have abandoned "the double standard." This is a great advance, for our young people as a whole measure up fairly well to standards which society as a whole sets for them. It is entirely within reason to expect a large majority of our boys to reach full maturity and marriage with an absolutely clean record, as far as personal and social purity are concerned. In fact, we should be constantly working toward a time when the personally impure boy and the socially impure young man will be eliminated. Both the men and the women of our nation must demand this.

There are many ways by which we may guide and help the adolescent. Only the abnormal boy is not active and curious. If we do not provide wholesome activity, boys are likely to find activity which is destructive in its influence. Therefore, we must do far more than mitigate bad influences. We must plan proper regimen. We must supply a steady succession of constructive activities as well as definite instruction to satisfy curiosity. No other course will do.

In the matter of regimen, wholesome food, sufficient sleep, proper clothing, bathing, fresh air, and physical exercise are of great importance. The life and energy and pa.s.sion of the adolescent boy must not be checked, but diverted into wholesome and constructive channels.

Excessive mental labor, a sedentary life, pernicious reading, idleness, can transform into a tormenting and persistent desire that which, without it would have been easily mastered. On the other hand, a healthful regimen, energetic habits, amus.e.m.e.nts and physical fatigue are diversions so useful that, thanks to them, the most critical years pa.s.s by unnoticed.[49]

A daily cold shower, followed by a vigorous rubdown, is beneficial if the boy reacts favorably to it. The bath, acts as a sedative.

The value of gymnasium work, track and field athletics, swimming, and "hiking" is constantly demonstrated in the lives of American boys.

Athletics are to be recommended as possessing a positive prophylactic value against the indulgence of sensual propensities. Physical exercise serves as an outlet for the superabundant energy which might otherwise be directed toward the s.e.xual sphere. In the period of "storm and stress" which characterizes p.u.b.escence and which often leads to nervous perturbation and excitement ... there is no better divert.i.tive from s.e.xual thoughts than active athletic exercises pushed to the point of physical fatigue, as a relief to nerve tension.[50]

In addition, physical exercise tends to develop an ambition to excel, to become physically strong and robust. With such an ambition, boys realize, intuitively to a certain extent, that to succeed they must refrain from vice. Physical exercise has a fourfold moral value: it subst.i.tutes wholesome activity for vice; it serves as an outlet for excess of nervous energy; it develops the will; it develops ambition to be virile. All wholesome recreation is an enemy of impurity. Jane Addams says that recreation is stronger than vice, and that recreation alone can stifle the l.u.s.t for vice.[51] Recreation which involves physical activity is the most helpful to the adolescent boy.

The boy's companions are important. Emerson says, "You send your child to the schoolmaster, but 'tis the schoolboys who educate him."[52] Books which contain high ideals of manhood and also of womanhood are obviously helpful, as are also dramas of this character. And finally those general principles of moral and religious education must be used, without which we can have no strong foundation for clean living.

If we have failed to give proper instruction previous to adolescence, we now have a golden opportunity (and in thousands of cases, our last opportunity) to save the adolescent to a life of purity. As a rule, he has ideas of s.e.x life which are, at least, unwholesome. Curiosity is at a high pitch, and pa.s.sion is likely to be strong. Nevertheless, the ambitions and ideals of a boy at adolescence are high. He will fight to be clean if he understands that clean living means the acquisition of strength. He would rather have virility than anything else in the world.

As to method, let us deal with the boy as a creature with reason. The best plan is to place before boys a standard of virile manhood, and then to show how such a standard may be met by clean living. Real characters who have achieved high standards of vigor should be shown as heroes worthy of imitation. Lincoln is known by most adolescent boys to have been a man of great physical strength. He was "a man without vices, even in his youth, but full even in ripe age of the sap of virility."[53] The effect of clean living upon nations may also be spoken of. Charles Kingsley writes of the Teuton:[54]--

It was not the mere muscle of the Teuton which enabled him to crush the decrepit and debauched slave nations.... It had given him more, that purity of his: it had given him, as it may give you, gentlemen, a calm and steady brain, and a free and loyal heart; the energy which comes from self-restraint; and the spirit which shrinks from neither G.o.d nor man, and feels it light to die for wife and child, for people and for Queen.

Because thousands of our boys are now growing into manhood who will never receive the advantages of such a plan as we hope will be worked out during the next decade,--boys who are now at the danger point,--an emergency exists that must be met in the best way possible. For these boys, we are now forced to give single talks or short series of talks. Just what facts should be mentioned in a talk to any particular group of boys is a matter which must always be governed by the age, development, and environment of the boys concerned.

The first task for a teacher or a speaker giving a single lesson or a series of lessons is to set up a high standard of manhood. The lessons may concern the development and the conservation of virility. The teacher may explain that virility means not only muscular strength but endurance, energy, will power, and courage; and that in addition to these, a true man has chivalry,--he is concerned for the welfare of others, especially for the safety of women and children. He must possess more than physical prowess; he must possess human virtues or he is no better than a brute.

The need for the conservation of virility in the race as well as in the individual should be explained. Boys should see that the conservation of virility in men is of far more importance than the conservation of our water-power or our mines,--that we owe a duty not only to ourselves, but to the nation and to the next generation.

A statement somewhat like the following can then be made: "It is our duty to pa.s.s on to the next generation at least a little more vitality than we inherited from the past generation. It is, therefore, important that we understand the main facts of reproduction, so that now we may live right and make no mistakes which may cause us to reproduce inferior children when we mature." The speaker may then describe the wonderful and beautiful process of reproduction in plants, and explain that human reproduction is a similar process.

Under the subject of the development of virility, much time should be spent upon a discussion of various ways by which virility can be developed. The relative values of various kinds of physical exercise, proper eating, the value of fresh air and of sufficient rest should be emphasized. It may then be said that in addition to these things an important source of virility is the absorption of the secretions of various glands by the blood.

The speaker may make a statement similar to this: "When our bodies were designed, we were given reproductive organs for two different and distinct purposes. We have referred to the second and final purpose of reproduction. You already knew more or less about that. The earlier function of the reproductive organs is not understood by most boys. It is this: _the rebuilding of boys into men_. The first purpose and, in some respects, the most important purpose of the reproductive organs is to rebuild a boy into a man. It would be absolutely impossible for us to become men were it not for these organs. I will explain this by three ill.u.s.trations."

These three ill.u.s.trations are generally very effective: an explanation of the influence of the thyroid gland upon development; a comparison of two horses, one of which was castrated when a colt; and the effect of castration upon boys in Oriental countries.

The speaker may then say that the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es do two things: first, manufacture the male germ cells, spermatozoa, which are the most highly potentialized and highly energized portions of matter in all living nature; and, second, secrete a substance that is absorbed by the blood, giving tone to the muscle, power to the brain and strength to the nerves.

It should be made clear that this is one of the great sources of virility.

From the ill.u.s.trations referred to, a boy is likely to draw conclusions regarding the vital importance of the functions of the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es and regarding any possible misuse of them. It may be well at this point to use a cross-section drawing showing the s.c.r.o.t.u.m, the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e, the seminal vesicle, and the bladder.[55] Some teachers will consider it desirable to add that some boys, who do not understand the high purposes of these organs, misuse them; that when such boys realize their mistake, if they stop absolutely and at once, nature comes to the rescue and restores virility.

The talks should be essentially constructive. To warn boys against horrible effects of masturbation and to tell them things not to do is a poor method. It is far better to explain that by keeping clean a boy may acquire virility. The boy can draw conclusions.

In referring to the normality of seminal emissions, it should be explained that the fluid excreted by a nocturnal seminal emission comes from the seminal vesicles up in the body. This will show that the loss of fluid involved in a nocturnal emission is different from the loss caused by masturbation.[56] In this connection, boys should be warned against quack doctors; also against their advertis.e.m.e.nts which are often worded to scare the ignorant.

The venereal diseases should be referred to in talks to adolescent boys.

In this connection, the four s.e.x lies may be vigorously contradicted.

These are (1) that gonorrhea is no worse than a bad cold; (2) that s.e.xual intercourse is necessary for the preservation of health; (3) that emissions are dangerous and lead to debility, lost manhood, and insanity; and (4) that one standard of morality is right for men and another for women.

It should be explained that although both animals and human beings are endowed with the s.e.x instinct, only human beings have the gift of control.

That the s.e.x instinct is a great blessing, and not a curse, should be made clear. It may be stated that various blessings are sometimes converted into sources of destruction when not controlled. A spirited horse is a source of great enjoyment, but if not controlled may maim us for life.

Fire is a great blessing and a great joy to us when we are camping by a lake or in the mountains; but, beyond our control, it may cause forest fires. Temper, the capacity for anger, is highly desirable; but it must be controlled or murder may result. We must control the s.e.x instinct, or it may control us and sink us lower than the brutes. On the other hand, if we control this instinct, we gain virility, a keener appreciation of the beauties of life, and life itself becomes richer and fuller.

In conclusion, the appeal should be for clean living for the sake of physical strength and vigor, not for one's own sake, but for the sake of country and future wife and children.

The standard toward which we are working in s.e.x education involves the dissemination throughout the school curriculum of such information as we now give in a single talk. In addition to such nature-study work and simple biology and physiology and hygiene as should be included in the lower grades, there should be instruction in biology and in personal hygiene required for all upper-grammar and all high-school students, as soon as well qualified teachers are available. In personal hygiene a proper amount of s.e.x hygiene should be incorporated; and with the treatment of other diseases, gonorrhea and syphilis should be given adequate attention; the idea of the whole plan being to place all these matters in their proper setting, without undue emphasis on matters of s.e.x.

Either (first) as a part of one of these courses or (second) as a part of some other general course, or (third) as a separate course, the following subjects should be considered:--

1. What is virility?

(a) Virility and the next generation.

(b) Virility and our nation.

(c) Types of virility.

2. Muscle, exercise, and virility.

(a) How, when, and where to exercise.

(b) "Second wind."

(c) Rest.

(d) Will power.

3. Food, good blood, and virility.

(a) What to eat.

(b) Tobacco.

(c) Clogged-up machines.

(d) Blood and other body fluids.

4. Fresh air, bathing, and virility.

(a) Sleeping-porches, camping.

(b) How to bathe.

(c) Change of clothes.