Already 233 years ago, the famous American public figure, scientist, publisher, diplomat and inventor Benjamin Franklin recommended that people “keep their eyes wide open before marriage, and half-closed after marriage.” The wise sentence became part of the basic advice for a successful marriage and sex life, passed down through the generations. In 1845, Punch magazine offered its readers: “Advice on Marriage—Better Don’t Intervene.” But as people continued to marry anyway, marriage advice became in a small industry. Often much of this ancient advice was considered useless, or sexist, or too overbearing, such as Dorothy Dix’s 1939 advice on “How to Win and Keep a Husband.” In her view, this can be achieved by experiencing awe, listening to the partner’s opinion on a given issue, having a delighted expression on the face. Marriage is a commitment and a step that should not be considered if there is no real affection, devotion and love between a man and a woman. Calculations of profit or loss, the division of inheritance, or other external circumstances should not matter, believed William Olcott (“A Young Man’s Guide”, 1836). “He who marries for love has good nights and bad days.” , says Stephanie Konz, a professor at Evergreen State University in Olympia, Washington, and author of Marriage, A Story. As the middle class grew, so did the radical idea that people married for love. And because they do, they need help curbing their own passions, choosing against their environment. The opinion of the parents is no longer so important. “It created fears of a different nature. Nowadays, we see similar trends in conditions of rapid social change and increasing inequality. Then, as now, middle-class people were more likely to say that success or failure is based on what we do with our lives, rather than luck,” says Stephanie Konz. People need advice on self-improvement and rules of conduct. Sex, on the other hand, is a more problematic subject for advice, especially for the 19th century. The general opinion then is that married men should not masturbate. It is believed that, in addition to harming men’s health, masturbation can cause infertility. Alice Stockham described in her 1886 book Every Woman’s Book that sex during pregnancy is forbidden, not only because it damages the woman, but also because it destroys the morals of the future generation. Married couples avoided temptation by dieting, abstaining from the consumption of aphrodisiac foods, including coffee, eggs, oysters, etc., explains Stockham. “Sexual intercourse is among the most important uses of married life. It revives the affection between the partners in the relationship to each other,” said Dr. Andrew Ingersoll in 1882 in “In Health.”Most modern people are surprised to learn that since the early 1900s, sex advice has been extremely clearly worded with instructions down to the smallest detail. Dr. Marie Stopes, known as a leader in the birth control movement, advocated that sex is taken not as an obligation but as a mutual pleasure. The topic was touched upon in her book “Marriage and Love”, published in 1919 in Great Britain. Although this manual on how to make love was banned, in reality 700,000 copies, many smuggled into the US, were sold.