t of at least 18 months between each succeeding pregnancy. But this
cannot be achieved in the natural course of events, except in very
rare cases, without wrecking the marriage.

If we crystallize this sexual, social question, we arrive at the
following conclusions:

There are a great many cases, especially of a pathological character,
but none the less also in normal and sound individuals, in which
procreation, within wedlock or without, is dangerous either definitely
or temporarily, either for the mother or the child, or for both, and
for that reason should be interdicted. Very few men and a very small
proportion of women--no matter how firmly they may be resolved--are
capable of effectually suppressing their sexual needs. And even if
they succeed, the consequences are generally of a disastrous nature,
loss of marital love, secret illicit relations with others and
subsequent infidelity, nervous disorders, impotence, etc.

In all these cases we are confronted with the following dilemma:

(1) In the unmarried person: onanism or prostitution, or both. Is that
morality? Such people must either forever forego love, marriage, and
normal, lawful sexual intercourse, or face sterility in wedded life.
(I do not recognize prostitution--see chapter X--as normal
intercourse.)

(2) Within marriage: onanism, prostitution, and infidelity, or the
adoption of rational preventive measures.

I leave it to the reader and to the lawmakers to pick out the correct
alternative and to arrive at the one possible, decent, and ethical
solution of these conflicting questions.

I do not admit that constitutionally frigid natures or those who find
it easy to control their sexual appetite, have any right whatsoever to
pose as normal samples of the human race and to simply ignore the
existence of temperaments, characters, and constitutions so widely
differing from their own. This world's history teaches us that nothing
good has ever come from such vain assumptions, unless it be empty
phrases and dead letters. These righteous, frigid, and strong natures
ought, indeed, to be grateful to their ancestors for having handed
down to them that happy disposition, and to prove their gratitude by
making particular efforts to help those that are yet to come, in
obtaining and sharing the same benign blessing.

It seems almost incredible that in some countries medical men who are
not ashamed to throw young men into the arms of prostitution, blush
when men