EUGENIC ASPECT OF 



SEXUAL IMMORALITY 



Those Affected Are Inferior In Eugenic Quality and the Decrease of Their Racial 



Contribution Is Directly a Gain Rather Than Loss Social Hygiene 



Therefore Opposed to the Eugenic Movement' 



RoswKLL Hill Johnson 

 rnivcrsitv of Piiishuri'Ji, Pa. 



SO WIDESPREAD is the confusion 

 in the minds of the general public 

 as to the distinction between 

 eugenics, sexual hygiene and the 

 sexual purity propaganda that sexual 

 morality is thought by some to be 

 substantially synonymous with eugenics 

 or to be included by it. 



On a previous occasion- I have 

 protested against this extension and 

 modification of the valuable word 

 "eugenics" as defined by Galton. It is 

 my purpose here to analyze sexual 

 immorality in order to see to what 

 extent it may have eugenic and dys- 

 genic effects. 



Let us consider first whether sexual 

 immorality increases or decreases the 

 marriage rate of the offenders. We 

 may conclude that it reduces the 

 marriage rate. Although it is true that 

 some individuals of less strong sexual 

 passion might by sexual experience 

 become so awakened as to be less 

 satisfied with a continent hfe and might 

 thus in some cases be led to marriage, 

 yet this is more than counterbalanced 

 by the following considerations : 



1. The mere consciousness of loss of 

 virginity has led in some sensitive 

 persons, especially women, to an un- 

 willingness to marry from a sense of 

 unworthiness. This is not common, yet 

 I have known of such cases. 



2. The loss of reputation has pre- 

 vented the marriage of the desired 

 mate. This is not at all uncommon. 



3. Venereal infection has led to the 



abandonment of marriage. This is 

 especially common. 



4. Illicit experiences may have been 

 so disillusionary, owing to the disaffect- 

 ing nature of the consorts, that an 

 attitude of pessimism and misanthropy 

 or misogyny is built up. vSuch an 

 attitude prevents marriage not only di- 

 rectly, but also indirectly, since persons 

 with such an outlook are thereby less 

 attractive to the opposite sex. 



5. A taste for sexual variety is built 

 up so that the individual is unwilling 

 to commit himself to a restriction of that 

 variety. 



6. Occasionally, threat or blackmail 

 by a jilted paramour prevents marriage 

 by the inability to escape these impor- 

 tunities. 



We consider next the relative birth 

 rate of the married and the inconti- 

 nent unmarried. There cannot be the 

 slightest doubt that this is vastly 

 greater in the case of the married. The 

 unmarried have all the incentives of the 

 married to keep down the birth rate 

 in addition to the obvious powerful 

 incentive of concealment as well. 



Passing to the relative death rate of 

 the illegitimate and legitimate progeny, 

 the actual data invariably indicate a 

 decided advantage of the legitimately 

 born. The reasons are too obvious to 

 be retailed. 



THE QUESTION OF QUALITY 



Now then, knowing that the racial 

 contribution of the sexually moral is 



1 Read in New York City at the thirteenth annual meeting of the American Genetic Associa- 

 tion, December 27, 1916. 



2 Eugenics and So-called Eugenics. Am. Jour, of Sociology, July, 1914, Vol. xx, pp. 98-102. 



121 



