Book: Woman and Womanhood

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What has been said about the reaction against excess in the physical
education of girls applies very forcibly to excess in their mental
education. We are undoubtedly coming upon a period when more and more
will be heard of the injurious consequences of such ill-timed
preparation for stupid examinations as has been referred to; and there
will be not a few to sigh for the return to the bad old days which a
certain type of mind always calls good. Here, again, we must find the
golden mean, recognizing that the danger lies in excess, and especially
in ill-timed excess. We shall further discover that if we desire a girl
to become a woman, and not an indescribable, we must provide for her a
kind of higher education which shall take into account the object at
which we aim. It will be found that there are womanly concerns, of
profound importance to a girl and therefore to an empire, which demand
no less of the highest mental and moral qualities than any of the
subjects in a man's curriculum, and the pursuit of which in reason does
not compromise womanhood, but only ratifies and empowers it.

_Muscles worth Developing._--When men and women are carefully compared,
it is found that women, muscularly weaker as a whole, are most notably
so as regards the arms, the muscles of respiration, and the muscles of
the back. The muscles of the legs, and especially of the thighs, are
relatively stronger. In these facts we can find some practical guidance.
The muscles of all the limbs may be left comparatively out of account;
whether naturally weak or naturally strong they are of subordinate
importance. On the other hand, it is always worth while to cultivate the
muscles of respiration, as it is always worth while to keep the heart in
good order. Again, the weakness of the muscles of the back, and more
especially in the case of the growing girl, is not a thing to be
accepted as readily as the weakness of the biceps and the forearm
muscles. Various observers find a proportion of between 85 per cent. and
90 per cent. of those suffering from lateral curvature of the spine to
be girls, the great majority of these cases occurring between the ages
of ten and fifteen. Everywhere it is our duty to prevent such cases, and
everywhere physical training will find only too abundant opportunities
for endeavouring to correct them. It may be doubted perhaps whether we
may rightly follow Havelock Ellis in attributing woman's liability to
backache to the relative weakness of the muscles of the back, for we
know how often this symptom depends upon not muscular but internal
causes peculiar to woman. On the other hand, we may certainly follow
Havelock Ellis when he says, regarding this lateral curvature of the
spine, from which so many girls and women suffer: "There can be no doubt
that defective muscular development of the back, occurring at the age of
maximum development, and due to the conventional restraints on exercises
involving the body, and also to the use of stays, which hamper the
freedom of such movements, is here a factor of very great importance."
We shall not here concern ourselves with the details of practice, but
the principle is to be laid down that perhaps second only in importance
to the right development of the heart and the muscles of respiration is
that of the muscles of the back.

Always, however, we are apt to judge by the obvious and to value it
unduly. Nature makes the biceps and the muscles of the forearm naturally
the weakest in woman compared with man, but it is just the bending of
the elbow that makes a good show on a horizontal bar or rope; and so we
devote too much time to the training of these muscles in our girls, with
the results which make such creditable exhibitions at the end of the
session, while we forget the muscles of the back, the right development
of which is far more valuable, but does not lend itself to display.

In this connection it is to be added last, but not least, that special
importance attaches in woman to those muscles which one may perhaps call
the muscles of motherhood. It is common experience amongst physicians to
find the appropriate muscularity defective at childbirth in women the
muscles of whose limbs may have been very highly developed. Thus Dr.
Havelock Ellis, amongst other evidence, quotes that of a physician, who
says: "In regard to this interesting and suggestive question, it does
seem a fact that women who exercise all their muscles persistently meet
with increased difficulties in parturition. It would certainly seem that
excessive development of the muscular system is unfavourable to
maternity. I hear from instructors in physical training, both in the
United States and in England, of excessively tedious and painful
confinements among their fellows--two or three cases in each instance
only, but this within the knowledge of a single individual among his
friends. I have also several such reports from the circus--perhaps
exceptions. I look upon this as a not impossible result of muscular
exertion in women, the development of muscle, muscular attachments, and
bony frame leading to approximation to the male."

In his lectures ten years ago, the distinguished obstetrician, Sir
Halliday Croom, now professor of Midwifery in the University of
Edinburgh, used to criticise cycling on this score, not as regards its
development of the muscles of the lower limbs, but as tending towards
local rigidity unfavourable to childbirth. It may be doubted, perhaps,
whether longer and wider experience of cycling by women warrants this
criticism, but it is probably worth noting.

On the other hand, while exercise of certain muscles may interfere
obscurely or mechanically with motherhood, we are to remember that the
muscles of the abdomen are indeed the accessory muscles of motherhood,
and therefore specially to be considered. According to Mosso of Turin,
it is only in modern times that civilized woman shows the comparative
weakness of these muscles which is indeed commonly to be found. There is
verily no sign of it in the Venus of Milo, as any one can see. That
statue represents very highly developed abdominal muscles in a woman
less notably muscular elsewhere. The muscles lie near the skin, the
disposition of fat being very small, yet the woman is distinctively
maternal in type, and every kind of aesthetic praise that may be showered
upon the statue may be supplemented by the encomiums of the physiologist
and the worshipper of motherhood. It is highly desirable that, in
physical training to-day, attention should be paid to the development of
the abdominal muscles. Holding the abdomen together by means of a corset
may serve its own purpose, but does less than nothing in the crisis of
motherhood. The corset indeed conduces to the atrophy of the most
important of all the voluntary muscles for the most important crisis of
a woman's life. "Some of the slower Spanish dances" are commended for
the development of the abdominal muscles, but one would rather recommend
swimming, the abandonment of the corset, and, if the gymnasium is to be
used, some of the various exercises which serve these muscles, however
little they may serve to exploit the apparatus of the gymnasium when
visitors are invited.

There is no occasion in the present volume to discuss in detail any such
thing as a course of physical exercises, but it is a pleasure, and, for
the English reader, a convenience to direct attention to the Syllabus of
Physical Exercises for Public Elementary Schools, issued by the English
Board of Education in 1909.[7] After nearly forty years of folly, the
dawn is breaking in our schools. It is evident that the Board of
Education has followed the best medical advice. Indeed, now that medical
knowledge is actually represented upon the Board, and represented as it
is, there is no need to go far. The principles which have been laid down
in previous pages are abundantly recognized in this admirable syllabus.
The exercises recommended for the nation's children are based upon the
Swedish system of educational gymnastics. But it is fortunately
recognized that that system requires modification, since "freedom of
movement and a certain degree of exhilaration are essentials of all true
physical education. Hence it has been thought well not only to modify
some of the usual Swedish combinations in order to make the work less
exacting, but to introduce games and dancing steps into many of the
lessons." "The Board desire that all lessons in physical exercises in
public elementary schools should be thoroughly enjoyed by the children."
"Enjoyment is one of the most necessary factors in nearly everything
which concerns the welfare of the body, and if exercise is distasteful
and wearisome, its physical as well as its mental value is greatly
diminished." An interesting paragraph on music recognizes its value in
avoiding fatigue, but underestimates, perhaps, the desirability of
including music for use at later years as well as for infant classes.

The syllabus contains admirably illustrated exercises in detail. They
are earnestly to be commended to the reader who is responsible for
girlhood, and notably to those who are interested in the formation and
conducting of girls' clubs. The syllabus is excellent in the attention
paid to games, in the commendation of skipping and of dancing. The
following quotation well illustrates the spirit of wisdom which is at
last beginning to illuminate our national education:--"The value of
introducing dancing steps into any scheme of physical training as an
additional exercise especially for girls, or even in some cases for
boys, is becoming widely recognized. Dancing, if properly taught, is one
of the most useful means of promoting a graceful carriage, with free,
easy movements, and is far more suited to girls than many of the
exercises and games borrowed from boys. As in other balance exercises,
the nervous system acquires a more perfect control of the muscles, and
in this way a further development of various brain centres is brought
about.... Dancing steps add very greatly to the interest and recreative
effect of the lesson, the movements are less methodical and exact, and
are more natural; if suitably chosen they appeal strongly to the
imagination, and act as a decided mental and physical stimulus, and
exhilarate in a wholesome manner both body and mind."

Plainly, our educators have begun to be educated since 1870.

Of course, there is dancing and dancing. The real thing bears the same
relation to dancing as it is understood in Mayfair, as the music of
Schubert does to that of Sousa. The ideal dancing for girls is such as
that illustrated by the children trained by Miss Isadora Duncan. Some of
these girls were seen for a short time at the Duke of York's Theatre in
London not long ago, and the American reader, rightly proud of Miss
Duncan, should not require to be told what she has achieved. Just as we
are learning the importance of games and play, so that a syllabus issued
by the Board of Education instructs one how to stand when "giving a
back" at leap-frog, so also we shall learn again from Nature that
dancing of the natural and exquisite kind, never to be forgotten or
confused with imitations by any one who has seen Miss Duncan's children,
must be recognized as a great educative measure--educative alike of
mind, body, ear, and eye, and better worth while for any girl of any
rank than volumes of fictitious history concocted by fools concerning
knaves.

_Girls' Clubs._--Allusion has been made to girls' clubs, and one may be
fortunate enough to have some readers who may feel inclined to partake
in the splendid work which may be done by this means. It requires high
qualities and a certain amount of expert knowledge. Much of the latter
can be obtained from the little book recommended above. For the rest, it
is worth while briefly to point out what the girls' club may effect, and
why it is so much needed.

It has been insisted that puberty is a critical age because it means the
dawn of womanhood. It is critical in both sexes, not only for the body
but also for the mind. It is now that the intellect awakes; it is now
that the real formation of character begins. We often talk about spoilt
children at three or four, but any kind of making or marring of
character at such ages can be undone in a few weeks or less--that is, in
so far as it is an effect of training and not of nature that we are
dealing with. The real spoiling or making is at that birth of the adult
which we call puberty. During adolescence the adult is being made, and
everything matters for ever. This is true of physique, of mind, and of
character. The importance of this period is recognized by modern
churches in their rite of Confirmation, and it was recognized by ancient
religions, by Greeks and by Romans. Our national appreciation of it is
expressed by our devotion of vast amounts of money and labour to the
child, until the all-important epoch is reached, when we wash our hands
of it. We educate away, for all we are worth, when what is mainly
required is plenty of good food and open air; and we have done with the
matter when the age for real education arrives. In time to come our
neglect of adolescence in both sexes, more especially in girls, will be
marvelled at, and many of the evils from which we suffer will cease to
exist because the fatal and costly economy of the practical man is
dismissed as a delusion and a sham, and it is perceived that whether for
the saving of life or for the saving of money, adolescence must be cared
for.

Meanwhile, it behoves private people who care about these things to do
what they can. If they rightly influence but ten girls, it was well
worth doing. The girls' club is a very inexpensive mode of social
activity. Practically the only substantial item of expenditure is the
hire of a gymnasium, say for two evenings in a week. The girls' dresses
can be made at home at quite a trivial cost. The primary attraction
would be the gymnasium. It must, of course, contain a piano, not
necessarily one on which Pachmann would play, but a piano nevertheless.
There is also required a pianist, not necessarily a Pachmann. Two girls
are better than one to run such a club. They will not find it difficult
to obtain material to work upon. They must acquire at a Polytechnic, or
perhaps they have acquired themselves at school, some knowledge of how
to conduct the work and play of the gymnasium. It will depend upon the
conductors of the club how far its virtues extend. Much elementary
hygiene may be taught as well as practised, and if it confine itself
only to matters of ventilation, clothing, care of the teeth and feet, it
is abundantly worth while. It is often possible to get medical men or
women to come and talk to the girls, and in the best of these clubs
there will be some more or less conscious and overt preparation in one
way and another for matters no less momentous alike for the individual
and the race than marriage and motherhood.

_Girls' Clothing._--There is little good to be said about much of the
clothing of girls and women. All clothing should of course be loose, on
grounds which have been fully gone into in the previous volume on
personal hygiene. A woman's headgear is perhaps too often the only
article of her dress which conforms to this rule. It is good that the
stimulant effect of air, and air in motion, upon the skin should be as
widely extended as is compatible with sufficient warmth and decency.
Thus most women wear far too many clothes, apart from the question of
tightness. A woman handicaps herself seriously as compared with a man,
in that, while she is much less muscular, her clothes are often so much
heavier. All this applies with great force to girls. The following
quotation from the syllabus referred to above is worth making:--

"_A Suitable Dress for Girls._--A simple dress for girls suitable
for taking physical exercises or games consists of a tunic, a
jersey or blouse, and knickers. The tunic and knickers may be made
of blue serge, and, if a blouse is worn, it should be made of some
washing material.

The tunic, which requires two widths of serge, may be gathered or,
preferably, pleated into a small yoke with straps passing over the
shoulders. The dress easily slips on over the head, and the
shoulder straps are then fastened. It should be worn with a loose
belt or girdle. In no case should any form of stiff corset be used.

The knickers, with their detachable washing linen, should replace
all petticoats. They should not be too ample, and should not be
visible below the tunic. They are warmer than petticoats and allow
greater freedom of movement.

Any plain blouse may be worn with the tunic, or a woollen jersey
may be substituted in cold weather.

With regard to the cost of such a dress, serge may be procured for
1s. 6d. to 2s. per yard. For the tunic some 2 to 2-1/2 yards are
usually required, and for the knickers about 1-1/2 to 2 yards. It
may be found possible in some schools to provide patterns, or to
show girls how to make such articles for themselves. Such a dress,
though primarily designed for physical exercises, is entirely
suitable for ordinary school use.

Though it is, of course, not practicable to introduce this dress
into all Public Elementary Schools, or in the case of all girls,
yet in many schools there are children whose parents are both
willing and able to provide them with appropriate clothing. The
adoption of a dress of this kind, which is at the same time useful
and becoming, tends to encourage that love of neatness and
simplicity which every teacher should endeavour to cultivate among
the girls. And as it allows free scope for all movements of the
body and limbs, it cannot fail to promote healthy physical
development."




IX

THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN


In the last chapter brief reference was made to the effects of ill-timed
mental strain. Our principles have already led us to the conclusion that
there are special risks for girls involved in educational strain, and
that is, of course, equally true whatever the curriculum. But that being
granted, it is necessary to draw very special attention to a new
movement in the higher education of women which is based upon the
principle that a woman is not the same as a man; that she has special
interests and duties which require no less knowledge and skill than
those with which men are concerned. A tentative experiment in this
direction has already, we are assured, altered the whole attitude
towards life of those girls who partook in it, and there is no question
that we now see the beginning of a new epoch in the higher education of
women upon properly differentiated lines such as have been utterly
ignored in the past. I refer to the "Special Courses for the Higher
Education of Women in Home Science and Household Economics," which now
form part of the activities of the University of London at King's
College. "The main object of these courses," we are told, "is to
provide a thoroughly scientific education in the principles underlying
the whole organization of 'Home Life,' the conduct of Institutions, and
other spheres of civic and social work in which these principles are
applicable." The lecturers are mainly highly qualified women, and the
courses are extremely thorough and comprehensive. The following are the
subjects which are dealt with: economics and ethics, psychology,
biology, business matters, physiology, bacteriology, chemistry, domestic
arts, sanitary science and hygiene, applied chemistry and physics.[8]

It will be seen that there is no underrating here of the capacities of
women. The courses are not limited merely to cooking and washing, though
these are most carefully gone into. It is a far cry from them to
psychology and ethics or "A Sketch of the Historical Development of the
Household in England." One can imagine the joy with which girls, largely
nourished on the husks which constitute most of the educational
curricula of boys, will turn to a series of lectures on Child
Psychology, that deal with the general course of mental development in
the child, with interest and attention, the processes of learning,
mental fatigue and adolescence. The highest capacities of the mind in
women are not ignored when we find included a course of which the
special text-book is Spencer's "Data of Ethics." One can imagine also
that the course on the elements of general economics, with its study of
wealth and value and price, the laws of production and distribution,
may bring into being a kind of housewife who, whether or not eligible
for Parliament, would certainly be a much more desirable member thereof
than nine-tenths of the prosperous gentlemen who daily record their
opinions there upon matters they know not of. All who care at all for
womanhood or for England must rejoice in the beginnings of this revised
version of higher education for women which, for once in a way, finds
London a pioneer. We must have such courses all over the country. Every
father who can afford it must give his girls the incalculable benefit of
such opportunities. The girl thus educated will glory in her womanhood,
and will help to gain for it its right estimation and position in the
state.

But it is to be pointed out that such courses as these, admirable though
they be, are yet not everything. The influence of our great national
deity, which is Mrs. Grundy, is apparent still. It is not specifically
recognized that the highest destiny of a woman is motherhood, though in
such courses as this motherhood will doubtless be served directly and
indirectly in many ways. There is, nevertheless, required something
more--something indeed no less than conscious, purposeful education for
parenthood. The chief obstacle in the way of this ideal is Anglo-Saxon
prudery, and, perhaps, the reader will not be persuaded that education
for parenthood is our greatest educational need to-day, more especially
for girls, until he or she has been persuaded of the magnitude of the
preventable evils which flow from our present neglect of this matter. In
the following chapter, therefore, one may point out what prudery costs
us at present, and indeed, the reader may then be persuaded that
education for parenthood, or, as it may be called, eugenic education,
is, perhaps, the most important subject that can be discussed to-day in
any book on womanhood.




X

THE PRICE OF PRUDERY


Just after we had succeeded in getting the Notification of Births Act
put upon the Statute Book, the present writer occupied himself in
various parts of the country in the efforts which were necessary to
persuade local authorities to adopt the provisions of that Act.
Addressing a meeting of the clergy of Islington, he endeavoured to trace
back to the beginning the main cause of infant mortality, and
endeavoured to show that that lay in the natural ignorance of the human
mother, about which more must later be said. In the discussion which
followed, an elderly clergyman insisted that the causes had not been
traced far enough back, maternal ignorance being itself permitted in
consequence of our national prudery.

Ever since that day one has come to see more and more clearly that the
criticism was just. Maternal ignorance, as we shall see later, is a
natural fact of human kind, and destroys infant life everywhere, though
prudery be or be not a local phenomenon. But where vast organizations
exist for the remedying of ignorance, prudery indeed is responsible for
the neglect of ignorance on the most important of all subjects. Let it
not be supposed for a moment that in this protest one desires, even for
the highest ends, to impart such knowledge as would involve sullying the
bloom of girlhood. It is not necessary to destroy the charm of innocence
in order to remedy certain kinds of ignorance; nor are prudery and
modesty identical. Whatever prudery may be when analyzed, it seems
perfectly fair to charge it as the substantial cause of the ignorance in
which the young generation grows up, as to matters which vitally concern
its health and that of future generations. Let us now observe in brief
the price of prudery thus arraigned.

There is, first, that large proportion of infant mortality which is due
to maternal ignorance, as we shall see in a subsequent chapter. At
present we may briefly remind ourselves that the nation has had the
young mother at school for many years; much devotion and money have been
spent upon her. Yet it is necessary to pass an Act insuring, if
possible, that when she is confronted with the great business of her
life--which is the care of a baby--within thirty-six hours the fact
shall be made known to some one who, racing for life against time, may
haply reach her soon enough to remedy the ignorance which would
otherwise very likely bury her baby. Prudery has decreed that while at
school she should learn nothing of such matters. For the matter of that
she may even have attended a three-year course in science or technology,
and be a miracle of information on the keeping of accounts, the testing
of drains, and the principles of child psychology, but it has not been
thought suitable to discuss with her the care of a baby. How could any
nice-minded teacher care to put such ideas into a girl's head? Never
having noticed a child with a doll, we have somehow failed to realize
that Nature, her Ancient Mother and ours, is not above putting into her
head, when she can scarcely toddle, the ideas at which we pretend to
blush. Prudery on this topic, and with such consequences, is not much
less than blasphemy against life and the most splendid purposes towards
which the individual, "but a wave of the wild sea," can be consecrated.

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