ness, they are called unconscious
activities of the organism. There are many other unconscious factors
which also modify the sex life of the human individual. The most
fundamental of these are the impressions and associations of the infancy
period, which may well be classed as conditioned reflex mechanisms, but
are sufficiently important to receive separate consideration.

It is generally conceded by students of child psychology that the social
reactions of the child are conditioned by the home environment in which
the earliest and most formative years of its life are passed. It is not
surprising, therefore, that the ideal of the opposite sex which the boy
or girl forms at this time should approximate the mother or father,
since they are the persons best loved and most frequently seen. The
ideals thus established in early childhood are very often the
unconscious influences which determine the choice of a mate in adult
life. Or the devotion to the parent may be so intense as to prevent the
transference of the love-life to another person and thus entirely
prohibit the entrance upon the marital relation. Elida Evans has given
some very convincing cases in illustration of these points in her recent
book, "The Problem of the Nervous Child."[2]

On the other hand, in those unfortunate cases where the father or mother
is the object of dislike, associations may be formed which will be so
persistent as to prevent the normal emotional reaction to the opposite
sex in later years. This, too, results in the avoidance of marriage and
the establishment of vicarious outlets for the sexual emotions, or less
often in homosexual attachments or perversions of the sex life.
Conditioned emotional reactions such as these play a dominant role in
the social problem of sex, as will become apparent in succeeding
chapters.

In addition to the influences which naturally act to condition the
original sexual endowment of the individual, there are artificial forces
which still further qualify it. The system of taboo control which
society has always utilized in one form or another as a means of
regulating the reproductive activities of its members, has set up
arbitrary ideals of masculinity and femininity to which each man and
woman must conform or else forfeit social esteem. The feminine standard
thus enforced has been adequately described in Part II of this study. Dr
Hinkle has also described this approved feminine type, as well as the
contrasting