of her natural functions till the moment when she has bound herself
for life to fulfill them? The law punishes persons who cause others to
enter into contracts, while intentionally concealing the true
conditions. This might almost equally well apply to parents who allow
their daughters to marry in ignorance. Some women reply to this that
marriage would be too sad and would have little attraction if it were
not preceded by any illusion. Certain illusions which are natural to
youth may be healthy, but the fantastic dreams which are in evident
contradiction with reality, and nearly always followed by disillusion,
are bad. A young woman who has always lived in a state of
transcendental idealism till her marriage, infallibly courts
disappointment, deception and heart-break. A wiser education would
often succeed in sparing young women from this sudden and cruel
disillusion. The moral level of men would also be raised if their
future wives were better instructed in sexual matters, and exacted
that the past life of their future husbands should give a better
guarantee for the future.

It must, moreover, be understood that blind and obstinate resistance
to new ideas serves no purpose. Our manners and customs change in
spite of us; our girls will no longer allow themselves to be led
blindly, but will seek more and more freedom. Would it not be wiser to
take things in time and warn them of the dangers ahead? With
incredible carelessness parents send their daughters into service
abroad, without considering that they may be at the mercy of the
first Don Juan who comes across them, or even fall into the meshes of
"white slavery," if they are left to go in ignorance of sexual
affairs, as is often the case (vide Chapter X). Moreover, by no longer
taking a false and artificial view of life, girls will be more capable
of understanding and sympathizing with the misery which surrounds
them--the troubles of unfortunate marriages, seduced and abandoned
girls, etc. What they lose in illusion they will gain in more useful
knowledge.

How are we to begin? We should certainly not wait till the eve of
marriage, but begin in childhood. In theory, it is wrong to lie to
children, if they are to maintain unshaken confidence in their
parents, and remain truthful themselves. No doubt we cannot explain
everything to a child at the age when it begins to ask its mother
certain embarrassing questions, but we should endeavor as far as
possible to tell it