The subject of Sex is most difficult to deal with, not only on account of acertain prudery as well as a natural reticence on the subject, but doubtless alsobecause the passion itself being so tremendously strong and occupying such alarge part of human thought—and words being so scanty and inadequate on thesubject—everything that is said is liable to be misunderstood; the most violentinferences are made, and equivocations surmised, from the simplest remarks;qualified admissions of liberty are interpreted into recommendations ofunbridled licence; and generally the perspective of literary expression is turnedupside down by the effect of the unfamiliarity of the topic on the reader's mind.There is indeed a vast deal of fetishism in the current treatment of Sex; andthe subject is dealt with as though it lay quite out of line with any other need orfaculty of human nature. Nor can one altogether be surprised at this when oneperceives of what vast import Sex is in the scheme of things, and how deeply it ithas been associated since the earliest times not only with man's personalimpulses but even with his religious sentiments and ceremonials.Next to hunger this is doubtless the most primitive and imperative of ourneeds. But in modern civilised life Sex enters probably even more intoconsciousness than hunger. For the hunger-needs of the human race are in thelater societies fairly well satisfied, but the sex-desires are strongly restrained,both by law and custom, from satisfaction—and so assert themselves all themore in thought.To find the place of these desires, their utterance, their control, their personalimport, their social import, is a tremendous problem to every youth and girl, manand woman.