then be gratified"; while a refined girl of 19,
living a chaste life, without either coitus or masturbation, which she has
never practiced, habitually feels very strong sexual excitement about the
time of menstruation, and more especially during the period; this desire
torments her life, prevents her from sleeping at these times, and she
looks upon it as a kind of illness.[110] I could quote many other similar
and equally emphatic statements, and the fact that so cardinal a
relationship of the sexual life of women should be ignored or denied by
most writers on this matter, is a curious proof of the prevailing
ignorance.[111]

This ignorance has been fostered by the fact that women, often disguise
even to themselves the real state of their feelings. One lady remarks that
while she would be very ready for coitus during menstruation, the thought
that it is impossible during that time makes her put the idea of it out of
her mind. I have reason to think that this statement may be taken to
represent the real feelings of very many women. The aversion to coitus is
real, but it is often due, not to failure of sexual desire, but to the
inhibitory action of powerful extraneous causes. The absence of active
sexual desire in women during the height of the flow may thus be regarded
as, in part, a physiological fact, following from the correspondence of
the actual menstrual flow to the period of _pro-oestrum_, and in part, a
psychological fact due to the aesthetic repugnance to union when in such a
condition, and to the unquestioned acceptance of the general belief that
at such a period intercourse is out of the question. Some of the strongest
factors of modesty, especially the fear of causing disgust and the sense
of the demands of ceremonial ritual, would thus help to hold in check the
sexual emotions during this period, and when, under the influence of
insanity, these motives are in abeyance, the coincidence of sexual desire
with the menstrual flow often becomes more obvious.[112]

It must be added that, especially among the lower social classes, the
primitive belief of the savage that coitus during menstruation is bad for
the man still persists. Ploss and Bartels mention that among the peasants
in some parts of Germany, where it is believed that impregnation is
impossible during menstruation, coitus at that time would be frequent were
it not thought dangerous for the man.[113] It has also been a common
belief both in ancient and m