n't it better so?
Didn't Edith's parents act more decently, more kindly, more humanely,
more wisely than the parents, say, of Mary B, who, when they found out
her condition, put her out of the house, into which she was brought
back two days later a corpse, fished out from the East River? Didn't
Edith's father act more nobly, more wisely even from a purely selfish
point of view than the father of Bridget C, who kicked his daughter
out penniless into the street, where he had to see her afterwards
powdered and painted soliciting men and boys? The mother died of a
broken heart, and the father, unable to bear the constant, daily
repeated disgrace, became an incorrigible drunkard.
Fathers and mothers! So bring up your daughters, so guard them and
protect them, that the misfortune of an illegitimate pregnancy may not
befall them. But if the misfortune has befallen them, then stand by
them! Do not desert them then in these dark hours, the darkest hours
in a girl's life. Do not kick them--they are down enough. Stand by
them, and they will become good women and you will have their eternal
gratitude. If you do not stand by them, you are worse than the beasts
of the jungle and deserve their eternal curse. You are unworthy to be,
or to be called, parents, for you are devoid of the least spark of
that sacred feeling called Parental Love, a feeling which
unfortunately in only too many parents is replaced by nothing but the
most sordid, most brutal egotism.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
SEXUAL RELATIONS DURING MENSTRUATION
Heightened Sexual Appetite of Many Women During
Menstruation--Sexual Intercourse During Menstrual Period--When
Intercourse May be Permitted--Injection Before Coitus During
Menstruation--Fallacy of Ancient Idea of Injuriousness.
This may seem to some a strange and superfluous question, a question
which would never present itself. Still the laity would be surprised
if it learned how frequently nowadays that question is presented to
the physician who specializes in sex matters. Some husbands come to
the physician complaining that the menses are the only period during
which their wives demand sex relations, and ask if something cannot be
done to cure them of what they consider an abnormal desire.
Biologically considered, the desire on the woman's part for sex
relations during the menses should not seem strange or abnormal, for
we must bear in mind that menstruation bears a certain analogy to the
rut
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