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

levator vaginae muscle. But, at least, it is possible to make one definite statement in this context and to give it almost the weight of an axiom. A woman with well trained and co-ordinated muscles of the pelvic floor has, as a rule, even after several confinements, a more efficient vaginal organ than an untrained primipara, or even than a complete novice in these matters, who has not borne a child. For, though there is an inevitable expansion of the vaginal passage after any confinement, which diminishes the passive pressure of the close soft walls, this may be compensated by the active friction and contact of the encircling muscles on the male organ. And, in order to exercise this friction aright, the muscles in question must be so fully under control, so instantly responsive to the mind, that there is no need to concentrate attention on them, and their action becomes semi-reflex. The same process is experienced by us all with other important sets of muscles and nerves ; for instance, in learning to speak, to walk and to eat. The sensation accompanying the situation automatically " touches off " the muscular mechanism. The perivaginal muscles should pass through the necessary stages of training for efficiency in coitus and child-bearing, so that they may act automatic- ally when the hour arrives. And, as a rule, they adapt themselves with fair speed. But a certain degree of practised co-ordination is very desirable, for conscious muscular effort in coitus spoils the spontaneity, the deep impulsiveness of the whole act, and may dislocate its reactions to a degree which will repel and disable both partners and, finally, undermine the entire relationship/22 * Again, these muscles should not simply grasp or grip the phallus, they should, as it were, caress and stroke as well. It cannot be considered ideal sexual communion if the stimuli ire so violently concentrated that the climax ensues at the earliest possible moment in both partners. Not only intensity, but delicacy of sensation and a certain range of difference—of tactile nuances—are the ideal here. And they may be attained through the faint yet shifting pressures and vibrations of the perivaginal muscles of the pelvic floor.