While the sexual organs of little girls rarely require such special attention as is involved in circumcision for their brothers, the corresponding operation is necessary at times and certainly not less care should be expended upon the selection of their nurses. The same pleasurable sensations which it is possible to arouse in the boy-baby’s private parts lie dormant also in his little sister’s organs, and can be called into action by an unscrupulous nurse to quiet the child, regardless of the serious consequences to the physical and moral nature which may ensue. There are foreign nurses in this country, too, who make a habit of breaking up the hymen–the “maiden-head,” or membrane that closes in the vagina–in new-born or very young girls; a practice which, of course, should be condemned.
But care must be taken to maintain perfect cleanliness about the private parts, and to avoid all such sources of irritation as are found in woollen diapers; in skin diseases due to neglected discharges upon the diapers, to ill- fitting cloths or careless washing; and in the crawling forward from the back passage of worms, in case such pests should afflict the little infant. All of these causes may contribute to derange the sexual organs of girls at a very tender age, and even in the earliest years the female sexual apparatus is of prime importance with regard to the physical well-being of the future woman.
And conversely, the general physical well-being of the girl or woman is of prime importance in the maintenance of sexual health and activity. A woman differs from a man more or less in every department of her nature, and these differences, one and all, are calculated to fit her for the special work of motherhood. Every part of her body and every faculty of her mind is in subtle communication and sympathy with the organs in which sexual life centres. General health involves sexual health; sexual disease inevitably involves general ill- health.
It follows, then, that the best foundation for sexual health will be laid by the most judicious attention to general health in those years during which sexual life is comparatively quiescent owing to the undeveloped state of the organs through which it finds expression. Encourage “tom-boy-ism” and activity by every possible means in the growing girl, and never think of finding fault with dirt or rents acquired in healthful sport. Let her join her brothers and their friends in romping out of doors, and keep her in the open air and at active sport as much and as long as possible. Be sure she has plenty of sleep and let her wake up when she will in the morning, and in general let the body and its health be the chief considerations till childhood is past.
Sexual feelings are probably less likely to be awakened in girls than in boys before puberty. In fact, it seems to be true through life that distinctively sexual desires are, on the average, less imperious in the female than in the male. At least, society is organized on this hypothesis, and it is one that seems reasonable enough from the fact that in women, no such main-spring of passion can be discovered as is found in man in the secretion of the semen and the distention of the sac in which it is stored. But on the other hand, nothing is more certain than that even very young girls do sometimes manifest decided capacity for sexual pleasure, and it therefore becomes a matter of importance that parents should be on their guard, and that young girls as well as boys should be taught the functions, and the dangers of abuse of the genitals.
Question will present themselves to the girl’s mind as to the boy’s, and she will not be behind him in seeking answers. None but honest answers will stand the test of time, and keep intact that perfect confidence in parents which is the only security for the maintenance of a wholesome parental influence. But as a matter of course it is best plan in early life to keep the mind as far from sexual subjects as possible, and to do this reliance must be placed on general instruction in delicacy and modesty, upon activity and constant employment, and upon the positive teaching that no handling or irritating of the privates, except for washing, is good for them, but that, on the contrary, it may do harm.
The exception just made is, however, one of great importance. Young girls frequently have so impressed upon them an idea of the shamefulness of touching the privates, infact in some cases almost of the disgrace of having privates at all, that cleanliness of those parts is neglected with far worse than ordinary consequences. There are glands between the inner and outer lips of the external genitals, discharging themselves into the furrow at that point, precisely as the glands under the foreskin of the male organ discharge about the head in which it terminates, and this discharge allowed to remain untouched dries out partially and becomes, in the one case as in the other, a source of persistent irritation such as may lead to disease and to bad habits. It not infrequently happens that persistent itching and discomfort, nervousness, irritability, peevish restlessness, discontent, melancholy, and even mental disturbance in girls and unmarried women who have been taught never to touch the privates, may be completely cured by simply separating the larger and smaller lips that are found on either side of the vagina, and cleaning out from the furrow between them a mass of cheesy matter, the accumulated discharge of the glands at that point. So greatly have very serious symptoms been benefited in so many cases by this simple procedure that it must be thought an important matter to instruct girls and women to separate these lips and wash between them at least once a month, and in warm weather–say from May to November–as often as once a week.
And girls should be taught before puberty what they are to expect at that time. The flow of blood coming for the first time to an uninformed girl is more than likely to frighten her into doing something to arrest the bleeding, and she may easily injure herself for the rest of life by applying or sitting in cold water, or taking some other ill-advised step. The time of puberty cannot be foretold definitely; it is usually between the twelfth and the sixteenth year in this country, and the best guide in any given case is the age at which the girl’s mother began to menstruate, or “have her courses,” as it is popularly expressed. When the epoch does arrive, however, there is precisely as much, if not more, need of full and careful sexual instruction, as in the case of the boy. Natural sexual feeling may be less in the girl and the woman than in the boy and the man, but it exists, and to it is added the regularly recurring monthly flow to which attention must be given; and it would be strange, indeed, if these two elements together did not lead many an uninformed girl into the way of temptation and even into thoughts and acts certain to be followed by disastrous consequences.
The very bad habit of exciting the sexual organs by the hand is undoubtedly one into which many girls fall, although it is not so prevalent among them as among boys. Its results, however, are somewhat similar, as it puts an exhausting drain upon nervous vitality, draws blood to the parts, by which means menstrual irregularities and local pain are brought about; and it is, in all respects, mental, moral, and physical, as disastrous as is the corresponding habit among boys. It is to be met by much the same course of diet, surroundings, social influences, moral and physical treatment, and education, as that already advised for the opposite sex.
And let no mother lull her conscience to sleep with the ideas that her daughter is above such habits, or the temptation to them which comes from natural feelings misunderstood or misguided. The girl who lacks sexual feeling is as much to be pitied, and is as truly in an abnormal condition, as the girl who lacks sight or appetite; but the girl who, having sexual feeling without knowledge of its significance or proper restraints, acquires harmful habits ignorantly, as so many do, is far more to be pited than blamed, even when she falls the victim of some designing rascal who understands her nature better than does the mother who was made her guardian and instructor by the Creator Himself. The supreme sphere and office of woman is motherhood. Attain to what she may in other directions, this must ever be her crowning glory if it be accepted and used in accordance with the divine intention. So long as this is true–and it is admitted on all sides–the importance and beauty of the organs and functions which make the office possible must be admitted. It is no shame to have organs which can house and nurture a budding human life; it is no shame to study those organs, and learn how they can best serve the new being that will be dependent upon them and their healthy condition for a fair start in the race of life. It is a shame to consider those organs either nuisance, able to put unwelcome responsibilities upon us, or mere sources of animal gratification and pleasure, either in or out of wedlock; it is a shame to neglect, trifle with, or abuse those organs, as such treatment can but interfere with their office of nesting- place for a new soul.
Member New York State and County Homoeopathic Medical Societies ;
Formerly Staff-Physician to the College and Wilson Mission
Dispensaries ; Fellow of the N. Y. Academy of Anthropology ; Member American Historical Association,