The moderates took on sex more like our high school gym

teachers did as they muddled their way through public school

sex ed. These guides were often mostly written by supposed
health professionals and approached sex in an almost clini-
cal style. Despite flowery names like Truths About the Gardens
of Pleasure, they were undoubtedly cold comfort to lascivious
youngsters and weren’t particularly enlightening to those with
little education. These types of guides came out of the reform-
ist tradition in the late 19th century and were popular through
the 1920s.
These rational guides to sex included not only glossaries
of anatomical body parts and diagrams of the reproductive
systems of adults, but also advice on how to sanely engage
in sex. Some of these guides even advocated the use of vari-
ous contraceptive devices and techniques. They also promoted
hygiene as well as positions that would maximize or minimize
pregnancy. They tended to be thicker than those written by
restrictionists and they often had line drawings to illustrate
their points. In addition to the more anatomical aspects, they
did offer practical advice to young grooms and brides: “As to
the clitoris, this should be simply saluted, at most, in passing,
and afterwards ignored as far as possible; for the reason that
it is a rudimentary male organ, and an orgasm aroused there
evokes a rudimentary male magnetism in the woman, which
appears to pervert the act of intercourse, with the result of
sensualizing and coarsening the woman.” (The Wedding Night
by Ida Craddock.)
Dr. Blumenthal, in his 1887 pamphlet The Veil of Love
Lifted, suggested that a new bride and groom refrain from
“genital intercourse” on their wedding night and ease into it
to start by sleeping together nude. Dr. Malcolm Birdsly, in his
1863 pamphlet (which was reprinted 13 times), suggested that
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