future husband be in good
health, physically and sexually, and that he be free from venereal
disease. His previous sexual life, provided he is a man of fine moral
character in general, is no concern of hers. Even if the man was
unfortunate enough to have contracted gonorrhea, that fact should
constitute no bar to marriage, provided he is completely cured of it.
The only exception is that of syphilis. The girl has a right to refuse
absolutely to enter into union with any man who has been infected with
syphilis unless she is willing, and does it with her eyes open, to
live her life without any children. In syphilis we can never give an
_absolute guarantee_ of cure and we have no right to subject a woman
to any danger of infection with syphilis, be the danger ever so
slight, without her knowledge and consent.

=Disastrous Effects of Wrong Teachings=

What disastrous effects wrong teaching which inoculates the minds of
our women with wrong ideas may have, the following three cases
reported briefly in _The Critic and Guide_, will show:

=Case One= was a girl of twenty-four, of well-to-do parents, a college
graduate. She was engaged to a really very nice, sympathetic young
man, who undoubtedly would have made her an excellent husband. But
during her last two years in college she became imbued with the single
standard stupidity, and "chastity for men, votes for women" became her
slogan. She asked her fiance if he had been absolutely chaste before
he met her. He did not want to play the hypocrite, and he told her the
truth that he had not. But he assured her that he had never been
infected and that his general and sexual health was in excellent
condition. Being then in an exalted mood, she impulsively broke the
engagement, declaring that her husband will have to be as "pure" as
she was. She soon regretted her step, because she loved the man; but
pride did not let her take the initiative towards a reconciliation,
and in the meantime her former fiance fell in love with and married
another girl. After four years had passed, and she was in danger of
becoming an old maid, she married a man considerably beneath her
socially and intellectually, and in every way inferior to her former
fiance. Her marriage is not a happy one.

=Case two= is similar to case one, except that the young lady in
question--now not so very young--is still living in single
blessedness, and the chances of her ever being a wife or even
somebody's sweethear