REPRODUCTION 159 



spell of antithesis. It is the inevitable inspiration of the poet. In every 

 religion we find in its metaphysical foundations some solution of the ques- 

 tion of the relation between man and woman. 



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SEX * 



MICHAEL F. GUYER 



Most biologists would agree that the fundamental behavior patterns 

 of the animal world,whether of mice or men, are determined largely bv 

 the two elemental urges of hunger and sex. To these, fear might be added 

 as a close third. If one is to understand the human individual or human 

 society, therefore, he must make his interpretations with the consciousness 

 of these inclinations always in mind. To be sure, they may appear in many 

 secondary forms: that of sex particularly may take on a thousand dis- 

 guises. Nevertheless these universal drives are always in evidence to the 

 discerning eye. 



One has but to pick up his daily newspaper to realize what share of 

 attention sexual affairs and their irradiations command in our enlightened 

 land. A4any newspapers probably give an erroneous impression about our 

 sexiness because they thrive on sensationalism. This fact in itself, however, 

 carries with it the conviction that they have a reading clientele avid for 

 their alleged revelations. By their constant harping on the theme of sex 

 and by playing up sexual delinquencies, real or fancied, on every occasion, 

 they have made us oversensitive to the subject and probably kept our 

 minds on it to an unwholesome degree. Through description and innuendo 

 certain newspapers have become veritable aphrodisiacs which keep many 

 of our more suggestible citizens at a fever pitch of amatory expectancy. 

 They give the impression that most of our people think of little else, 

 and this is far from true. 



Most amusing of all, perhaps, is what seems to be the belief of the present 

 generation, particularly the rising section of it, that they have discovered 

 sex — that it came into being coincident with bobbed hair, bare knees and 

 their adolescent ballyhoo. The whole matter is highly comical when one 

 realizes that as a matter of fact old Father Stonehatchet or even an Eocene 

 monkey could give them the laugh on their naivete. However this may 

 be, in these piping days of swing and jollity, of saxophones and sexophiles, 

 it is the fashion for our young folks to appear sophisticated and daring. 

 Particularly smile-provoking are the supposedly spicy and "hard-boiled" 

 contributions which so often appear in our college or high school mag- 

 azines. Occasionally, it is true, one finds sexually minded individuals who 



• Reprinted from Speaking of Alan, by Michael F. Guyer with the permission of 

 Harper and Brothers, Copyright 1942, by Michael F. Guyer. 



