by Doris Sharp 1896-2000
My fiance wrote me from London on the twenty-second of February, 1922:
I have been reading a book on the sexual question by Sorel. It is an exceptionally able analysis of the complex problem, and it contains much useful information for us. Thank goodness, sweetheart, we have lived in France and are not hampered by that false prudery that so many couples have.
Now this was in 1922 before the Great Sexual Revolution, before Planned Parenthood, before The Pill.
The secrecy, the embarrassment, the misinformation, the misunderstandings of so-called Victorian prudery are difficult for later generations to understand.
For instance, I was ten years old when my youngest sister was born. We five older sisters had been told nothing about a new arrival. When my sister Louise, the twelve year old, whispered to me that our mother was getting fat, I got red with uneasiness and told her she had a dirty mind.