Psychology of sex - Total No. of Records in System :: 2032

PSYCHOLOGY OF SEXtermission which may be necessary during absence, illnessof one of the partners, or the period (amonth or sixweeks) following childbirth. The questionof intercourseduring pregnancy is difficult. The physician is usuallyreluctant to give advice in this matter on account of thedomestic difficulties that may arise. It is largely,no doubt,a question of the predispositionto abortion, which variesgreatly; some women, it has been said, will abort ifyousneeze in their presence,while others will not abort ifyou throw them out of the fifth floor window. Where thetendency exists, it is certain that sexual abstinence shouldbe enjoined. It is also desirable that it should be cultivated,in any case, during the latter months of pregnancy.But it seems necessary to exercise a certain amount ofcircumspection in recommending abstinence during thewhole of pregnancy.A sympathetic and intelligent couplecan often find their own solution of the difficulty, andthere is not much risk of a habit of masturbation undersuch circumstances. But the physicianwho enjoins sexualabstinence during pregnancy may sometimes find that hehas evoked difficulties it may be beyond his power toremove.We are not here primarily concerned with the regulationof the conditions of procreation, nor with the optimumnumber of children for a normally healthy couple.It is widely held that, unless when marriage occurs at anunusually late age, conception should not be allowed tooccur at too early a period after marriage. Under presentsocial conditions, that danger, however, is small. Nor isit by any means so injurious as isfrequently supposed fora young woman to bear a child. Thus at the EdinburghObstetrical Society recently (8 June, 1932) Miller gavethe results of 174 cases of pregnancy and labor in girlsof 17 years of age and below at the Royal Maternity Hos-[294]