series of social reactions which demand
great skill to adjust.

Largely, no doubt, from anxiety to counterbalance these dangers, there
has been a tendency to emphasize, or rather to over-emphasize, the moral
aspects of sexual hygiene. Rightly considered, indeed, it is not easy to
over-value its moral significance. But in the actual teaching of such
hygiene it is quite easy, and the error is often found, to make
statements and to affirm doctrines--all in the interests of good morals
and with the object of exhibiting to the utmost the beneficial
tendencies of this teaching--which are dubious at the best and often at
variance with actual experience. In such cases we seem to see that the
sexual hygienist has indeed broken with the conventional conspiracy of
silence in these matters, but he has not broken with the conventional
morality which grew out of that ignorant silence. With the best
intention in the world he sets forth, dogmatically and without
qualification, ancient half-truths which to become truly moral need to
be squarely faced with their complementary half-truths. The inevitable
danger is that the pupil sooner or later grasps the one-sided
exaggeration of this teaching, and the credit of the sexual hygienist is
gone. Life is an art, and love, which lies at the heart of life, is an
art; they are not science; they cannot be converted into clear-cut
formulae and taught as the multiplication table is taught. Example here
counts for more than precept, and practice teaches more than either,
provided it is carried on in the light of precept and example. The rash
and unqualified statements concerning the immense benefits of
continence, or the awful results of self-abuse, etc., frequently found
in books for young people will occur to every one. Stated with wise
moderation they would have been helpful. Pushed to harsh extravagance
they are not only useless to aid the young in their practical
difficulties, but become mischievous by the injury they inflict on
over-sensitive consciences, fearful of falling short of high-strung
ideals. This consideration brings us, indeed, to what is perhaps the
chief danger in the introduction of any teaching of sexual hygiene: the
fact that our teachers are themselves untaught. Sexual hygiene in the
full sense--in so far as it concerns individual action and not the
regulative or legislative action of communities--is the art of imparting
such knowledge as is needed at successive stages by th