e
who is manifestly a cocotte, will be socially recognised, provided she
has attained some great position, such as that of a great artist, for
instance. In such cases we may even find that women who on other
occasions are unable adequately to express their hatred and contempt for
prostitutes and similar unfortunate beings, will yet be proud of their
friendship with such a woman, and will boast of it in public. But such
opportunities of social recovery are open to very few; most women of the
upper classes sink rapidly and far in the social scale as soon as it is
publicly known that they have experience of illegitimate intercourse.
For this reason, such consequences must be taken into the reckoning. The
objection need not be raised that the sexual enlightenment would not
safeguard a girl, since, when she gives herself to a man, a girl knows
well enough that children are the result of sexual intercourse. The
objection is unsound, if we only have a right understanding of what we
mean by sexual enlightenment, and if at the same time we do not neglect
the general sexual education. Enlightenment should not be limited to
merely making the person concerned aware of the consequences of sexual
acts; it should, as it were, become ingrained in the flesh and blood, so
as to influence the actions, even unconsciously. A girl brought up in
this way will defend herself instinctively against the wiles of a
seducer. But only by such an education, by one which is not confined to
the mere imparting of information, can we produce in the girl greater
powers of self-protection and a more enduring self-consciousness, and so
save her from the far too common fate of behaving like a stupid unripe
creature, and believing all the asseverations of the first man who makes
love to her--asseverations which the man himself, in the moment of
passion, very probably believes. Let me, then, repeat that all that
appertains to the sexual enlightenment must became part of the flesh and
blood of the subject; only from this can we expect good results, whereas
a sexual education which consists merely in the acquirement of
information, is altogether valueless. But by a true sexual
enlightenment, in the sense above defined, it is probable that many a
girl may be safeguarded from prostitution; and many a child, boys as
well as girls, may be better protected against the attempts of
paedophiles. And these considerations apply, not merely to childhood, but
also to subsequ