such power of choice. We may fan the flame by the thoughts we think or
the environment we seek, or we may smother the flame until it is out
of sight, but we cannot extinguish it by any act of ours. The issue
has always been too important to be left to the individual. The
stimulation comes, primarily, not by way of the mind but by way of the
body. With this instinct we cannot "stop before we begin," because
Nature has taken the matter out of our hands and begins for us.


THE BULWARK WE HAVE BUILT

With the competing forces so strong and the issues so great, it is not
to be wondered at that society has had to build up a massive bulwark
of public opinion, to establish regulations and fix penalties that are
more stringent than those imposed in any other direction. Nor is it
remarkable that in its effort to protect itself, society has sometimes
made mistakes.

These blunders seem to lie in two directions. Assuming that it is
nearly impossible for the male to control his instincts, and that,
after all, it does not matter so much whether he does or not, society
has blinked at license in men, and thus has fostered a demoralizing,
anti-social double standard which has broken up countless homes, has
been responsible for the spread of venereal diseases, and has been
among the greatest curses of modern civilization. At the same time
society, in its efforts to maintain its standards for woman, has
taught its children, especially its girls, that anything savoring of
the word "sexual" is sinful, disgusting, and impure. To be sure, very
many women have modified their childish views, but an astonishingly
large number conserve, even in maturity, their warped ideas about the