Sex and the Love-Life, by William Fielding, (author of The Caveman Within Us) (HC, 1935, $3)
Wow, this book has it all: chapters on "Man's Sexual Nature", "Women's Sexual Nature", Preparation for marriage, Hygiene in marriage, Hygiene in pregnancy, Birth control, "Women's love rights", VD, Menopause, Sexual disorders of men, Sexual disorders of women, and Sexuality of the parent and the child.
This book was reprinted 12 times between 1930 and 1935. That people would buy so many books during the depression says something about how desperate people were to get information. I found it most interesting as to the parts a former owner thought important enough to underline in pencil: jealousy (never justified) the changes that occur in pregnancy, women's nerves and quarreling ("the price of sexually cheated womanhood") and premenstrual feelings. The parts underlined in ink included "The standards of feminine virtue, modesty, reserve and reticence have been set up by men as the dominating sex; and woman's dependence on the breadwinner and the protector of the brood has caused her subservience to man. Any divergence from tradition instituted by man as the patriarch or supreme head of the family, has brought penalties and sorrow to women." Getting so close to a former owner gives me goose bumps.
I was shocked to find the book so modern. Look for this book in the glass case at the front of the store.
