Page:Fielding - Sex and the Love Life.pdf/33

 doubtful if it has in the least helped to prevent excessive sexual indulgence; in fact, as extremes usually go hand in hand, it is more probable that the extreme measures of the prudish minded have indirectly stimulated sexual exesses [sic].

Error of Sex Denial. The idea of the impurity or sinfulness of sexual intercourse is distinctly traceable to theological concepts and precepts. In the last analysis, it is probably associated with the notion of the "impurity of woman," which was an obsession of almost all the early religious founders, and a great deal of the stigma has remained down to modern times.

For instance, ecclesiastical law reads: "Lying-in women should stay at home about six weeks after the birth of a child, because Christian custom and modesty, as well as their own health, demand it; after that time they should be churched as customary." After giving birth to a child—or, fulfilling the most sacred rôle within the province of womanhood— the mother had to be "purified" before she could be admitted into good church standing.

The ancient Hebrews, who considered women distinctly inferior creatures—as we gather by their traditional customs and writings—looked upon marriage with no little disdain. Their attitude has profoundly influenced Christianity in this, as in many other respects. We find Jeremiah saying: "The earth is filled with marriage and the heavens with virginity."

Paul, the real founder of Christian dogma, placed celibacy above marriage, and so puts himself on record most unmistakably in his Epistles to the Corinthians. Indeed, Paul was quite disturbed over the "sins of the flesh." With this as a beginning, the Church fathers further extolled the virtues