Sterility and conception / by Charles Gardner Child.

  • Child, Charles Gardner, 1873-1941.
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Sterility and conception / by Charles Gardner Child. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    be often derided and ridiculed. There are, of course, many spheres of usefulness for women as well as men, but there are certain fields for which she is preeminently fitted and in which she conspicuously shines. When we consider the great physical difference between the sexes and the special functions which each sex is called upon to main¬ tain, it would appear quite easy to understand that such marked sexual characteristics as distinguish between man and woman would of neces¬ sity limit each to their own vocations. While it is not to be denied that woman may, and at times does, excel in many walks of life which by training and physical develop¬ ment might be called masculine, and while it is likewise true that men oftentimes excel in those pursuits or vocations supposedly feminine, these examples are as a rule abnormal and are not to be admired or sought after. The woman lawyer and the man cook belong in the class with the short-haired woman and the long-haired man. Neither sex can with safety disregard the physical demands made upon them, and this is particularly true of woman. When she ignores her sex characteristics, she suffers to a greater extent than the male, and such divergence has a very marked effect upon her progeny both in quality and quantity. If her mind is constantly preoccupied by cares of state or by the mental excitement and mental trials of business, or any other occupation which tends to unsettle the proper balance between mind and body, she will not be able to become a mother of healthy children. \\ hen woman attempts man’s functions she proves to be but an inferior man, and the masculine woman is one of the monstrosities of nature. T o attempt to change woman into half-man and half-woman, a hybrid competing with, rather than supplementing, man, is to attempt a reform against nature as Horace Bushnell has truly said, and I hardly believe the time will ever come when the line of demarcation between the functions of the sexes will be abolished, for such would certainly be a most disastrous step backward in the march of social progress. CREATIVE AND DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES OF SEX 1 be sexes show marked creative and developmental differences, and it is only when working together, each in his or her own sphere! and not in competition, that the best results are obtained. There should be no question raised of superiority, inferiority, or equality, for