CHAPTER I 



SEX IN TERMS OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY 



Bearing of modem psychology on the sex problem ; Con- 

 ditioning of the sexual impulse ; Vicarious expression 

 of the sexual impulse ; Unconscious factors of the sex 

 life ; Taboo control has conditioned the natural 

 biological tendencies of individuals to conform to 

 arbitrary standards of masculinity and femininity ; 

 Conflict between individual desires and social standards. 



An adequate treatment of the sex problem in 

 society must necessarily involve a consideration 

 of the sexual impulse in the individual members 

 of that society. Recent psychological research, 

 with its laboratory experiments and studies of 

 pathology has added a great deal of information 

 at this point. The lately acquired knowledge 

 of the warping effect of the environment upon 

 the native biological endowment of the individual 

 by means of the establishment of conditioned 

 reflexes, the discovery that any emotion which 

 is denied its natural motor outlet tends to seek 

 expression through some vicarious activity, 

 and the realization of the fundamental import- 

 ance of the unconscious factors in shaping 

 emotional reactions, — such formulations ^of 

 behaviouristic and analytic psychology have 



209 p 



