Sex in female childhood

What has been said in general about practical observance of the laws of sex hygiene in the preceding chapter for boys, applies to girls as well. If anything the sex precautions taken in infancy should be even more closely followed, as girls are by nature less robust than boys. If children could be raised in entire accordance with natural laws, the sexual instinct of girls as well as boys would probably remain dormant during the period stretching from infancy to puberty. As in the case of the boy, so in that of the girl, any manifestation of sexual precocity should be investigated, to see whether it be due to natural or artificial causes. In either case the proper remedies should be applied.



Sex precocity in girls

There are cases of extraordinary sex precocity in girls. One case reported in the United States was that of a female child who at birth possessed all the characteristics usually developed at puberty. In this case the natural periodical changes began at birth! Fortunately, this is a case more or less unique. In little girls and boys undue sexual handling or titillating of their genital organs tends to quiet them, so nurses (let us hope in ignorance of the consequences!) often resort to it. Sending children to bed very early, to “get rid of them,” or confining them in a room by themselves, tends to encourage the development of vicious habits. A single bed, both in the school and in the home, is indispensable to purity of morals and personal cleanliness.