PERSONAL HYGIENE FOR GIRLS & PERSONAL HYGIENE FOR BOYS

            After the United States entered World War One , the American Social Hygiene Association, joined by the army and Public Health Service, produced a wide array of education films. These films were generally banned from theaters, however, after the war, the social hygiene association and public health officials “shifted their film efforts to community groups and schools.” [1] Promptly, the U.S. Public Health Service produced the Science of Life series, an assembly of hygiene films concerning mostly puberty, sex-ed and reproduction.

The first feature in the Science of Life series is Personal Hygiene for Girls and Personal Hygiene for Boys [2] . The opening portion is a short silent film with images of the female body. During the message about cleanliness and reproduction, we see pictures of the female body and reproductive organs. Arrows point to body parts as the narrator discusses their function. There are also pictures of girls with their friends smiling and mothers and daughters playing, all a ploy to get across the idea of the perfect woman, who is proper and hygienic. These visuals provide a good backdrop to the text, which tends to be more explicit than the visuals. You hear phrases like: “The healthy condition of these organs makes for happy wifehood and successful motherhood”, “Menstruation is a perfectly normal occurrence and not an illness” and “Perpetuation of the human species is accomplished through sexual reproduction.” A series of diagrams are used to illustrate the sexual organs and their function. Basically, this is a sex-education video that would have most likely been shown to children in middle school. Strangely, although this film can be dated back to the early 1900s, it is not much different from instructional films I watched in science class when I was in sixth grade. However, one part stands out because it is so completely dated and would not be the main feature of a hygiene film today: “Promiscuous sexual relations often result in the spread of two diseases, - gonorrhea and syphilis. If the father has syphilis, the child may be deformed or defective.” This phrase is followed by clips of screaming babies which sends the message that these babies are defective and should not have been born in the first place. In an ideal society, children are supposed to be well born. Health and success are good indicators of a visually attractive child. Some would call this “wise mating.” The statement follows the standard sentiment of this era, when the purpose of intercourse was for reproduction and abstinence was preached. They claim that the result of promiscuity will be a “deformed” or “defective” child. This parallels other eugenic documentaries like The Black Stork [3] and Homo Sapiens 1900 [4] , which showed defective babies that were a result of unhealthy parents and promiscuity. This film also parallels Olympia [5] with its clips of “strong, virile” men playing discus and women doing floor movements – in an effort to impress upon the viewers how important exercise is to maintain a healthy body. Today, preaching abstinence is a moot point. Most sex-education films prefer to preach safe sex than no sex at all. Many scientists used “heredity” to mean “parental responsibility.” In The Body and the Physical Difference [6] , David T. Mitchell claims, “whether or not all traits caused by parents were labeled ‘hereditary,’ any trait caused by parents was part of ‘eugenics.’ Identifying the parents as the cause made the parents morally as well as medically responsible.”

This film touches on the subject of parental responsibility and the possibility of a defective child. Harry Laughlin, superintendent of the Eugenics Record Office, proposed a sterilization law in 1922 that was designed “to prevent the procreation of persons socially inadequate from defective inheritance, by authorizing and providing for eugenical sterilization of certain potential parents carrying degenerate hereditary qualities.” [7] This applied to Carrie Buck, who, in 1924, was the first person selected for sterilization under Virginia’s new compulsory sterilization law. She was eighteen and lived as a resident of the State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded people. Part of the reason she was sterilized was because of the “three-generation law.” Her mother also lived in the institution as a “feeble-minded” person and her daughter was not only “feeble-minded” but also illegitimate. The director of Lynchburg Hospital interviewed Carrie and came to the conclusion that she had normal intelligence. This only proves how important it is to be born as a result of “wise mating,” suggested in the film. Inheritance, more than environment, played a huge part in the eugenics movement.

            Physicians welcomed the production of medical movies because they bridged the gap between professionals and the public. Few audience members, however knew that eugenics was an underlying message because they almost never used the term in their advertisings. As we are now in the technology age, where more women than not are selecting to have prenatal testing and possibly counseling and parents have more power over their future child’s appearance, it is more likely that the issues addressed in this film would seem obvious and old-fashioned. Even simple statements the film makes about young women, like the importance in keeping a slim figure so that men will find you attractive and marry you would be like promoting anorexia today. However, if you separate the silly claims about women who are “fit to marry,” you notice that this film backs up statements made in The Black Stork and Homo Sapiens 1900. As much as you want to deny it, hygiene films in general impact the way we view our bodies and provide us with insights into how they work, especially if used in schools, where children are prone to believe what they see. Any child in a science classroom may think after watching this that they have to conform in order to be accepted into society. This will help breed children who may one day decide they must undergo genetic counseling to maintain “perfection” and hygiene in their family.