Sex and Marriage Through a Scientific Perspective

          Looking at sex through a scientific perspective often included the close observation of generative organs. Often using scientific terms, authors with a scientific background educated their audience about the function of male and female reproductive organs. Many believed that a scientific understanding of these organs was important to effectively please the sexual needs of their partner. The close inspection of male and female sexual anatomy and public education was controversial during the Health Movement because many determined the subject to be taboo within the public sphere [1]. As the conversations became more common the subjects acceptable within the public sphere expanded causing a large availability of sex education for the public.

The ideas behind sex between man and woman were also supported through comparisons with the actions of other species within the natural world. Many species of animals commonly have sex so it must be natural for humans to do the same.  Most animal species also were not monogamous and this caused scientists to question the effectiveness of monogamy in human relationships. Some, like Hollick, believed that monogamy was unable to satisfy the sexual needs of men and women, and provided the idea that having sex with multiple partners within a lifetime was natural for men and women [2]. One instance that animal practices did not match the sexual interactions of men and women was with the idea of forced sex. In many species the male pursues the female to the point of exhaustion and then has sex with her at a point in which she can no longer defend his advances. Authors of the Health Movement took a clear stance that sexual interaction between men and women must be consensual at all times.

1. Haynes, April, "Obsenity, Sex Education, and Medical Democracy in the Antebellum United States," In American Sexual Histories, 165-86. 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012.
2. Hollick, Frederick, The marriage guide, or natural history of generation; a private instructor for married persons and those about to marry, both male and female; in everything concerning the physiology and relations of the sexual system, and the production or prevention of offspring - including all the new discoveries, never before given in the English language, New York: T.W. Strong, 1853.