SPORT OVERDONE.

Western Star, 21 March 1922, Page 4

SPORT OVERDONE.

A WARNING TO WOMEN

'. A physician writes in the London 'Daily Mail': There has sprung up among us. as a. post-war product, or perhaps as a result of the so-called emancipation of women, a class of girls who seriously menace not only their future health, but also the birth rate of this country.

The declining birth rate is not only duo to the deliberate limitation of families, but also to the fact that many women —far more than ever before—are unable to bear children. As a medical man I meet and isee all types of , women, and a sad impression that is constantly being received is that there is a studied repression of feminine instincts by many of our young women. ! These naturally attractive girls and women scorn all men, and profess a holy horror of, and avowed repugnance to, the idea of marriage. This cult, for it is nothing else, seems to be rapidly 'progressing, and it is, being imbibed wholesale in many of our big girls' schools. The chief offenders seem to be physical training and sports mistresses in our schools and teachers of similar subjects in colleges and massage schools. These'"" women hold up to their pupils an ideal of the- wonderful possibilities, from a purely athletic and physical standpoint, of a woman's body, and encourage them to believe in their ability to rival and beat men. At the same time they point a

scoffing finger at the" dull, domestic, ■ subservient life which they say marriage offers. These adolescent girls and! young wdmen are by a gradual •process taught to view men only as pursuers seeking nothing more than a selfish marriage, which robs women of their freedom, activity, and development. Many such youthful feminists will lose all chance of marriage, • and will go on to bitter middle and old age. Some may eventually drift into mar-

riage, attracted solely by wealth or position, refusing, however, the responsibility of children, and insisting on living separate lives from those of their husbands,, who had fondly hoped that marriage would change their attitude . Many, again—particularly the extreme physical-training, athletic type —ruin their health and become either incapable of bearing children or capable of bearing them only with great

difficulty,- others early become the neurotic, selfish type of women whom medical menyknow to be. the worst type cf patient. Such is the prospect for devotees of this cult, and it .is sad indeed to see quite young girls making heroines of instructresses in games, and pouring out to their friends and relatives those harmful thoughts on men and marriage so subtly inculcated! by their "heroines." Much is said to-day of the need for teaching sexual hygiene to young girl.-;, but it would be infinitely morel valuable if, some happy matron could give them occasional talks on how to treat mien, so that their young minds on the threshold of their responsible lives might have right thoughts about marriage.