What Every Girl Should Know

Students of vice, whether teachers, clergymen, social workers or physicians, have been laboring for years to find the cause and cure for vice, and especially for prostitution. They have failed so far to agree on either the cause or the cure, but it is interesting to know that upon one point they have been compelled to agree, and that is, that ignorance of the sex functions is one of the strongest forces that sends young girls into unclean living. This, together with the knowledge of the rapidly increasing spread of venereal diseases and the realization of their subtle nature, has awakened us to the need of a saner and healthier attitude on the sex subject, and to the importance of sex education for boys and girls. This need has shown itself so clearly that the question no longer seems to be, "Is there need of instruction?" but, "Who shall instruct?" Shall the mother or teacher instruct? When shall such instruction be given? In childhood, or in puberty? These are the points now under discussion. To the writer the answer is simple. The mother is the logical person to teach the child as soon as questions arise, for it is to the mother that the child goes for information before he enters the schoolroom. If, therefore, the mother answers his questions truthfully and 8simply and satisfies his curiosity, she will find that the subject of sex ceases to be an isolated subject, and becomes a natural part of the child's general learning. A woman does not need to be a college graduate, with a special degree in the study of botany, before she can tell her child the beautiful truth of its birth. But she does need to clear her own mind of prudishness, and to understand that the procreative act is natural, clean and healthful; that all nature is beautified through it, and consequently that it is devoid of offensiveness. If the mother can impress the child with the beauty and wonder and sacredness of the sex functions, she has taught it the first lesson, and the teacher can elaborate on these teachings as the child advances in school. All schools should teach anatomy of the sex organs and their physiology, instead of teaching the human body in the neuter gender as has been done up to this time. - Taken from "What Every Girl Should Know" written by Margaret Sanger