| OCR Text |
Show I Women's Discussion Corner hand it sets up an ideal of con- tinence before marriage, regardless re-gardless of the age at which marriage takes place. This ideal is difficult to attain and squarely square-ly opposed to the laws of biology. biolo-gy. Then, instead of taking steps to make this goal easier of attainment, society surrounds young people with sexual excitants ex-citants to a surprising extreme and even glorifies rather than deplores sexual irregularities. This leaves only two courses open during the ten or more years when the sexual drive is I at its peak. Young people can . remain chaste or they can throw ; the ideal overboard and be promiscuous. pro-miscuous. Neither course is satisfactory and both are beset with serious and far-reaching hazards. Ancestors More Realistic "Our ancestors were more realistic re-alistic about the sexual problem," prob-lem," Dr. Clarke states in the Companion article. "Not all of their ideas are good but our early-marrying forebears enjoyed en-joyed the satisfaction of normal, nor-mal, socially approved sex relations re-lations at a period of life when sexual demands are greatest. Their women bore children at an age when child-bearing is easiest. They reared large families fam-ilies which were more stable social units than those of the present. If they had had as good medical care, nutrition and sanitation, sani-tation, they would certainly have lived as long as we do and j EARLY MARRIAGE The way to combat the alarming alarm-ing increase in divorce rates, sexual license, veneral disease, mental illness and 'juvenile delinquency, de-linquency, is through early marriage mar-riage for our young people, Dr. Walter Clarke, executive director direc-tor of the American Social Hygiene Hy-giene Association, states in a signed article in the October issue is-sue of the Woman's Home Companion. Com-panion. Rerive Dowry System. To make early marriages possible, pos-sible, Dr. Clarke advocates the cooperation of parents and suggests sug-gests that many might find it wise to revive the old dowry system. "When a boy or girl is born," the doctor writes, "parents "par-ents could start a savings or insurance in-surance program to help him or her through the first years of married life', just as now they save to put them through college col-lege or set them up in business." 'Higher education is not only compatible with early marriage but an almost necessary adjunct to it in Dr. Clarke's opinion. He cites the excellent records of married exGIs studying in our nations colleges and universities universi-ties under the GI Bill of Rights as an example that the responsibilities respon-sibilities as well as the privileges of marriage are what our young people need. Young People Need Marriage Modern society's idea that young people should nest marry until they are financially able to live as their parents do is a shabby and false concept, according ac-cording to this social hygiene specialist, wtio insists that millions mil-lions of our most promising young people desperately need the natural outlet which only marriage can give. The normal male human being be-ing reaches sexual maturity at about 21, the female two or three years earlier, he points out. In both, the hunger for sexual expression is believed to reach its maximum with bodily maturity and remain at high level during the third decade of life. Dr. Clarke blames our modern society for the sexual dilema of our young people. On the one more yhappily." The doctor also advocates a 1 more favorable social and intellectual intel-lectual climate for early mar-marriage. mar-marriage. "Too many upper middle class Americans have been brought up on the idea that it is foolish and even a bit vulgar to marry young," he accuses. ac-cuses. "It is really vulgar and foolish not to." |
