en we mean, sexual intercourse out of
wedlock. The term applies either to intercourse between any man and a
prostitute, between an unmarried man and a married woman, between an
unmarried man and an unmarried woman or between a married man and a
married woman not his wife. The term, illicit intercourse, applies to
all sexual intercourse that is illegal.

In our discussion of the young man's problem, we may confine our
consideration particularly to intercourse with professional
prostitutes and with clandestines, or women who are willing to accept
the sexual embrace for their own gratification or for money.

In this phase of sexual gratification, it is assumed that the woman
has these relations with various men. We purposely eliminate from this
discussion the deliberate seduction of pure girls for the purpose of
sexual gratification, as such seduction is a heinous offense against
the victim and against society, for which offense the man is legally
responsible. We are here discussing not the crimes of men, but their
vices.

The question that the young man naturally asks is--"Why should society
hold these relations as a vice when the woman, who is party to the
act, gives her free consent, perhaps even soliciting the relation, and
has given herself up to this sort of a life, either as a sole
occupation (prostitute) or as an auxiliary occupation (clandestine) to
supplement a wage on which she may not be able to live in luxury?"

The answer to this question is not far to seek. Women so occupied
have, as a rule, made themselves incapable of maternity. They are
outcasts from society, unfortunately exerting a most harmful influence
on all those who come into relation with them. Furthermore, they are
centers for the dissemination of venereal diseases which wreck the
health of all those who become infected. But for the uncontrolled
passions of men, there would be no such women. So while we,
individually, as men, may not be responsible for the ruin of any one
woman, we must confess that men as a class are responsible for this
condition of prostitution and clandestine intercourse. An overwhelming
majority of women would, if following their inclinations, seek these
relations in wedlock only and for procreation only. But many a young
woman, under promise of marriage, sometimes even under a bogus
marriage, is brought into a condition of hypnotism or into a mental
state that puts her in the power of the man whom she loves and
respect