Sex efficiency through exercises : special physical culture for women / by Th. H. van de Velde ; [photos, by E. Steinemann].

" tone " or control is all the more regrettable when there has been inevitable distension of that passage in giving birth, or when the whole pelvic floor has not been properly attended to and restored. (There is, of course, a certain reflex action of the muscles, independent of the conscious will.) But, in the circumstances just outlined, the vagina, instead of a soft, and yet close, elastic sheath, forms a limp sack ; and there is inadequate contact between the vaginal walls and the phallus : thus, both partners are deprived of natural and obvious stimuli. After several confinements this condition is, unfortunatelv. very prevalent; but it may supervene even after the first birth in women who have never cultivated or trained their perivaginal muscles. And women are still generally unaware of the disastrous effects of this excessive stretching and slackening, and so they take no measure to prevent or counteract it. Men, on the other hand, are very well aware of the possibility and often deliberately defer parenthood in order to avoid it. And if parenthood is subconsciously desired yet indefinitely postponed there may be very unwelcome results. Of course, there may be extreme levity and one-sided carnality and irresponsi- bility here; but there is no doubt that the damage which a confinement may inflict on the female organs is taken into consideration by people of entirely serious character and worthy of respect. Ascetics who shut themselves away from life and the forces of life may deny this ; other-worldly moralists may condemn it; but it is so, and, for those versed in physiological and psychological fact, it is wholly under- standable. But birth is not necessarily devastating to this most intimate physical charm. With the exception of certain structural anomalies, and granting adequate obstetric skill in command of all modern resources, deformation of the coital apparatus may be avoided. This may best be achieved by previous physical training,* as well as proper care and remedial exercise after child-birth, carried on with accuracy and perseverance. We shall have occasion to refer to the almost incredible benefits following the cultivation of the *> * See Chapter VI., and also " Ideal Marriage " and " Fertility and Sterility in Marriage," passim.