Sex Hygiene

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 233, 14 September 1922, Page 7

Sex Hygiene

PROPER INSTRUCTION. ESSENTIAL IN THE SCHOOLS. EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEE. [Per Press Association.] Wellington, Sept. 14. Mr. I. R Cresswell, M.A., headmaster of Wellington College and president of the Secondary Schools Association, giving evidence before the venereal Diseases Committee, said a close scrutiny of the whole subject would disclose the fact that a proper and adequate system of instruction in sex subjects lay at the root of the whole matter. If it was admitted that in sex matters many, if not the majority, of young people who go astray do so through sheer innocence and ignorance, rather than through flagrant viciousness, then it must also be agreed that the most helpful method of combatting sex diseases is by suitable instruction at the proper age. Preventive education is indicated' in preference to remedial medical treatment. He recently sent a questionaire to the head of every secondary school asking if there was urgent need of formal instruction in sex matters, when and how it should lie given and by whom; to what extent parents recognised the importance of this matter, how many children attending school had had definite instruction at home or at school, a guarded inquiry being advised with a view to endeavouring to estimate the percentage. These questions were sent to about 40 schools, and replies were sent from seven girls’ schools, twelve boys’ schools and four mixed schools. With one exception most of the lady principles evidently found some difficulty in giving clear-cut views, and perhaps the girls’ schools suffered somewhat through being staffed almost exclusively by celibate teachers. SCHOOL MOTHERS IN GIRLS* SCHOOLS. The knowledge and sympathy of a real mother would be invaluable to many girls in secondary schools. Does !t sound a trivial suggestion that in every girls’ school there should be one honoured official school mother, a sympathetic, matronly person whose duty it should be to get into personal touch, not only with individual girls but also with individual parents? He suggested that a determined public effort should be made to rouse parents to a sense of their responsibility by means of broadcasted pamphlets. COMPULSORY IN TRAINING ' COLLEGES. That sex hygiene be made compulsory in all training colleges, the instructors neing specially qualified doctors ; that regular courses of public lectures be delivered in suitable centres ; that teachers and especially physical instructors, ne encouraged to stress the value of physical fitness to pupils pqllectively, and, where, the need is indicated, to have private talks with individuals; that teachers be advised to take., every opportunity during lessons in hygiene, physiology, botany, etc., to give children a sane, normal outlook on sex matters. THE REPLIES SUMMED UP. The replies received to the questions were summed up, and indicated that formal instruction should not be general. as it called for special qualifications not found in the average parent of iteachor. Natural curiosity in a natural way should be satisfied. Silence often involves boys in avoidable anxiety. On some natures adolescence breaks in “with fulminating intensity.” THE DANGER OF IGNORANCE. Dr. Stanley Hall said doctors agreed that ignorance was the chief cause of women reaching rescue homes. As to sex instruction, knowledge was not wisdom —control is a habit, not a science. It was a mischievous fallacy to suppose that a clear perception of possible or even certain consequences would prevent passion from asserting itself. The assertion of Socrates that “no one sms willingly,” was merely juggling with words. Opinions varied as to the age at whiqb instruction should commence. There should., be continuous and gradually developing instructions in the first general principals. little by little, of the facts of sex relationship. Opportunities existed for nature study, moral health instruction, hygiene and physiology courses. At the ages of 11 or 12 pupils should be told some elementary truths about their own bodies. When adolescence was reached there should be some instruction about the other sex. There was a general agreement that, ideally, parents should instruct their children. A considerable number of teachers showed reluctance to undertake the task, confessedly a delicate one, requiring specialised knowledge. Addresses might he given in schools by qualified persons under the auspices of the Education Department. Jf teachers were enlisted for this kind of instruction they must themselves be taught. Sex hygiene must, therefore, be given a place in the training colleges. THE BEST SOLUTION. In reply to questions, Mr. Cresswell considered one of the best possible solutions was the education of parents by supply of suitable literature in pamphlet form and by means of lectures. He thought much good work could be done with the aid of physical drill instructors. Boys were by the aid of their instructors kept physically fit. It was possible to make a powerful appeal to boys through their sports. He believed strenuous sports were not only valuable to schoolboys, but to young men after leaving school in keeping them straight. MRS. HENDERSON’S EVIDENCE. FAVOURS EDUCATIONAL METHODS. At the sitting yesterday afternoon of the committee, Mrs.' John Henderson, representative of the Women Prisoners’ Welfare Society, also as a member of the special committee set up by the Wellington branch of the National Council of Women to investigate and report on the most suitable means of dealing with venereal diseases. declared most emphatically that they, as a body of women, were keenly

alive to the vital importance of the question. They regarded the elimination of this social evil as the most essential need and pressing problem that confronted the people of New Zealand to-day. Dealing with the question of venereal diseases, two widely divergent methods presented themselves. Mrs, Henderson favoured careful education and constructive work centred round a system of free and properly equipped clinics, staffed by. specially qualified experts. COMPULSORY EXAMINATION CONDEMNED. The treatment of venereal diseases or compulsory notification, representing legislation created more or less by a condition of social panic—panic legislation—had invariably proved abortive. At the last meeting of the international Council of Women hold in Christiania, representing 35 countries, including all parts of the British Empire, resolutions were carried unanimously warning women all over the world to oppose the reintroduction of regulations which, under the guise of health measures against venereal disease, gave power for the compulsory examination and detention of women, advising the introduction of instruction in essential principles of health and sexual morality in all sections of public education. Resolutions were also passed stressing the need for the segregation of persons proved incapable of sexual control and recommending a return to a simpler mode of life. These resolutions, said Mrs. Henderson, did not come from ignorant, unthinking people, but were the result of the considered decisions of the very best, most intelligent and educated women the world over. The British Medical Association of Great Britain and Ireland, the British Medical Women’s Association, the International Abolition Federation and many other important organisations were all against compulsion in dealing with venereal diseases, all stressing most strongly the value of educational work and free clinics. CONDITIONS IN NEW ZEALAND. Witness emphasised the great responsibility of alcohol in connection with the development and spread of venereal diseases. Mrs. Henderson then referred to sentenced delinquent girls and women in New' Zealand. Witness said the percentage of venereal disease amongst these women was markedly low, amounting to not more than one and a-half per cent., and that no girl or woman was allowed to leave State reformatories in a condition of infection. A number of reforms in dealing with the question wore recommended and the resolutions passed at the recent conference of the Council of Women at Christchurch were quoted. The real danger, Mrs. Henderson said, was not the presence of a certain number of persons in a contagious state- These persons were only intermediaries, carriers of the contagion. The true danger was found in bad habits and false mode of life not only of diseased persons, bub also of those who were healthy to-day but who. by reason of. their own actions, might be diseased to-morrow. It appears as if the old-fashioned rules regarding mental and moral obligations really are essential and that to ensure a clean, healthy race we must obtain observance of an equal moral standard and insist on men and women controlling their passions and not prostituting feelings which should be an impulse for good and a source of inspiration to humanity. MUST TAKE THE GLOVES OFF. The Rev. H Van Staveren gave evidence strongly in favour of compulsory notification. “This is a disease,” said the witness with emphasis. “with regard to which you must take the gloves off; indeed, take your coat off. If you do not do so you. will never tackle it successfully.” Witness said he spoke from long experience in dealing with social problems in Wellington. He also favoured compulsory treatment of patients who would not attend voluntarily for treatment. /