Part 3
It is true that married women are often infected by their husbands or lovers, but this is only a result of the previous visits of the latter to houses of ill-fame. Hygiene and morals both suffer serious injury in this way. Any one who is infected, and nevertheless has sexual connection with a person not infected in the same way, commits a basely immoral act, if not a crime. This is done, however, _daily_, when the infection is concealed. Nay, more, the medical men who officially visit and examine prostitutes are well aware that they can at most only temporarily remedy a few of the worst symptoms, and that they are powerless to cure the disease itself. In spite of this such women are set at liberty once more to carry on their disastrous trade! And very few prostitutes ever completely escape venereal infection.
These are the fruits of paid “love,” maintained chiefly by the drinking habits of the present day. It is plain that the chief task of sexual ethics must be the cleansing of this Augean stable. There are, however, a host of other social evils of a similar kind, such as the seduction and exploitation of waitresses, women factory workers, and so forth. These abuses belong to the same domain and present the same opportunities of infection.
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The various perversions of the sexual instinct constitute another prolific source of disaster. Most of these are hereditary, and therefore inborn. We will only briefly mention sadism (the combination of acts of cruelty and violence with sexual gratification), masochism (sexual gratification combined with the passive endurance of similar cruelty and violence), inverted sexual feeling (homosexuality), fetishism (sexual attraction for inanimate objects), exhibitionism, sodomy, etc.
The unfortunate people who suffer from these perversions are treated unjustly and, for the most part, far too harshly. Perverse instincts which injure no one when carried into practice (fetishism, for example), are ethically indifferent and harmless, in that their possessors, generally speaking, do not multiply. It is, however, immoral for such persons to marry. Any one who suffers from an hereditary perversion of the sex instinct should avoid marriage and all procreation of children.
But if the pervert can only gratify his instinct by injuring other people, he must be regarded as a dangerous lunatic, and placed under curative treatment. There must, however, be no question of legal punishment. The foregoing treatment is above all necessary in the case of sadists (who frequently commit murder) and in that of persons of unsound mind who violate children. Homosexual persons (i.e. men or women whose sexual inclination is for their own sex) are, on the other hand, comparatively harmless as long as they direct their attentions to adults, and provided there is no seduction or use of compulsion. The same holds good in the case of other perversions such as inclination for animals. Our laws are still entirely at fault in these matters, and inflict punishment upon the basis of ancient theological dogmas.
The case of perversions acquired by suggestion, evil example, or frequent repetition is somewhat different. These latter are much more readily curable.
Perverted sexual habits often arise from a craving for variety, or as makeshifts adopted when the opportunity for normal sex intercourse is denied. Our efforts must be directed towards removing these causes by raising the general standard of social morals.
Religious morality has been the cause of untold mischief in this matter of sexual perversions by representing as great sins and crimes actions which are in reality the result of a diseased mental state.
The habit of self-abuse is also extremely variable in its origin. It arises usually as a makeshift, but often as the result of evil example. It may also (although less frequently) be inherited, or originate from nervous trouble, while in other cases it is prompted by mechanical causes (phimosis, worms, or gymnastic exercises). There is no greater blunder than that of exaggerating its importance by representing it as a horrible and extremely dangerous vice. It must be cured by _pacification_ and soothing, by strengthening of the will, and in some cases by providing the means of normal sexual intercourse (_not_, however, by means of prostitution). This is the only proper treatment of self-abuse, which is not as dangerous as is commonly maintained. In this, as in all other cases, our conception of sexual ethics will point out the right path.
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Abnormalities of the brain or mind, especially constitutional (hereditary) mental inferiorities, such as weakness of will-power, moral idiocy (inherent lack of conscience), epilepsy, hysteria, hypochondria, kleptomania, etc., together with all acquired mental troubles, are the cause of innumerable sexual disorders and perversions; of vices, crimes, and misdeeds of every description; of rapine and seduction; of unhappy marriages, or rather hells upon earth; and of the birth of countless doomed and wretched children.
Here we may see once again that ethics and social hygiene are at one. Until now the theologians and the lawyers have treated these mental conditions by denouncing them as deadly sins and imprisoning the unhappy victims. This is disastrous to morality, to the unfortunate persons themselves, and to society at large. Expert mental treatment with a view to a fundamental cure is the first necessity.
Here, again, alcohol and narcotics in general are the stone which sets the whole avalanche in motion. The use of alcohol produces mental inferiorities by its corrupting influence upon the cells (blastophthory), and many people whose weakness of mind is traceable to this cause cannot resist its use, and so become dangerous inebriates.
Once more, it is the source and fountain of the evil that must be stopped.
But there are other hereditary diseases and degeneracies of every kind, not only of the brain, but of the whole body, such as the disposition to tuberculosis, rickets, short-sightedness, and diseases of the blood, all of which are related to sexual life and morals, because they are all more or less injurious to the individual and to society.
If persons suffering from such diseases have children at all they must proceed with the greatest caution, and they should always be instructed as to the hereditary nature of their maladies and the risk of their transmission.
And now can we not hear the dictates of a truly human moral code, based upon the facts that we have just considered?
_It is true that we cannot change the present hereditary nature of man, but it is none the less our duty, now that Science has revealed this nature to us, to prepare for our posterity a greater degree of happiness and a higher standard of social life than we now possess. To this end we must first strive with all our might to destroy the all-corrupting supremacy of private capital and wealth, with its exploitation of human life and energy; and we must further combat the use of all narcotic poisons, especially that of alcohol._
_We must not rest until these two deadly monsters are overthrown._
_In the sphere of sexual life we must endeavour to replace by truth and justice the present-day hypocrisy which parades under the false banner of “morality.” We must also restore to woman the same natural and equal rights possessed by man._
_Moreover, we must no longer be content to remain indifferent and idle witnesses of the senseless and unthinking procreation of countless wretched children, whose parents are diseased and vicious, and whose lives are for the most part destined to be a curse both to themselves and their fellow-men._
_We must therefore recommend to all persons who are sickly or infirm in body or mind, and especially to all suffering from hereditary ailments, the use of means for the prevention or regulation of conceptions,[D] so that they may not, out of pure stupidity and ignorance, bring into the world creatures doomed to misery and misfortune, and predisposed to disease, insanity, and crime._
[D] We refer, of course, to such preventive methods as are completely harmless to the persons making use of them. Methods for the prevention of _conception_, in general fulfil this condition.
_We must endeavour in this way to bring about a vast and universal sterilisation of all worthless, incapable or diseased people, without attempting to prohibit in an ascetic and impracticable manner the gratification of their normal sexual instinct and their desire for affection._
_The qualification for parentage must not be the possession of a certain amount of money or property, but solely the social worth and intrinsic hereditary qualities of the two individuals._
_The multiplication of all who are healthy, capable, and ethically fit must be encouraged as far as possible._
_An excessive frequency of childbirths in the case of one woman must be prevented and regulated by the use of the means mentioned above._
_In this way we shall carry out a true racial selection and prepare the way for a better and happier Humanity. And so at last we shall have brought our true sexual ethics into living being and reality._
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THE SEXUAL QUESTION.
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Transcriber’s Notes:
――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_); text in bold by “equal” signs (=bold=).
――Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.
――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.