nl_e17

"The Morality of Sex," 1913
five in the group, in order that the individual may be lost in the whole. It
is universally agreed, however, that it takes a genius to get results in
this way.
Interests which
strengthen character.
There are several leading
motives to which intelligent social
workers appeal in promoting practical
morality. Everything possible should
be done to ennoble the relations between the sexes; to purify the
tradition concerning romance through the spread of the great novels;
to eliminate cheap kissing games, cheap plays, and low dances; to
create a love of fine things in the home, in literature, and in life
generally; to multiply opportunities wherein young people themselves
assume the responsibility of planning recreation, conducting
negotiations, expressing ideas for groups, and holding office. Many
adolescent girls are greatly strengthened by being helped to the
acquisition of some characteristic skill or power, especially where it
leads to advancement in their work. Certain are fortified through
encouragement to save, to work against special odds, or to meet new
and trying situations. Participation in a good home and early religious
training, especially where religion is interpreted in terms of
responsibility to others, are safeguards of a constructive sort. There is
a strong feeling that membership in trade unions and in organizations
for the promotion of woman suffrage is a vital source of character
growth to working girls. But the most often mentioned source of moral
power is capacity for leadership. The girl who excels in athletics,
dancing, dramatics, skating, music, intellectual interests, homemaking,
or even in the artistic side of dress, apparently has a
superiority over the average girl which goes far toward compelling a
general standard above that which she finds about her.
The net result of experience with working girls is that they have
remarkable capacity of moral resistance. On the whole the discerning
social worker is constantly moved by the knowledge of their instinctive
rectitude. The most serious meaning of this chapter is not that a great
proportion of girls are unchaste, but that of all those who escape that
fate practically every one has her whole moral nature grilled, harrowed,
and distraught, by tests and strains that are well-nigh overwhelming in
their intensity and persistence.
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