This adds to their financial burdens and encourages
the young men to postpone marriage longer and to have fewer children
when they do marry,--a dysgenic result.
It appears, therefore, that old age pensions paid by the state would be
dysgenic in a number of ways, encouraging the increase of the inferior
part of the population at the expense of the superior. If old age
pensions are necessary, they should be contributory.
THE SEX HYGIENE MOVEMENT
Sexual morality is thought by some to be substantially synonymous with
eugenics or to be included by it. One of the authors has protested
previously[184] against this confusion of the meaning of the word
"eugenics." The fallacy of believing that a campaign against sexual
immorality is a campaign for eugenics will be apparent if the
proposition is analyzed.
First, does sexual immorality increase or decrease the marriage rate of
the offenders? We conclude that it reduces the marriage rate. Although
it is true that some individuals might by sexual experience become so
awakened as to be less satisfied with a continent life, and might thus
in some cases be led to marriage, yet this is more than counterbalanced
by the following considerations:
1. The mere consciousness of loss of virginity has led in some sensitive
persons, especially women, to an unwillingness to marry from a sense of
unworthiness.
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