William Lee Howard

William Lee Howard (November 1, 1860 – March 11, 1918) was an American physician and writer.

William Lee Howard was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on November 1, 1860. His father was one of the founders of the Republican Party. He attended Williston Seminary, and studied medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. Howard was memorably described by Howard A. Kelly, in the Dictionary of American Biography (1928) as "an eccentric, irresponsible character whose native ability was wasted in a desultory, rambling life, and in neglect of those codes which society has erected as safeguards to the perpetuity of the race. A writer of books on sex subjects, and a pamphleteer ... [he] was held to more esteem by the laity than by the profession".

After graduation he initially spent 2 years on a whaling ship, and later became second mate on a ship in the Africa trade. During 1880 and 1881 he was in Iceland, He was a correspondent for the New York Herald and was involved in the search for the USS Jeannette that was lost on a polar research journey in 1879, spent some time in Siberia and reported on the Mahdist War. He initially practised from 1891 in Baltimore, moving to Massachusetts in 1906, where he died on March 11, 1918.

Publications

The Perverts, 1901 Plain Facts on Sex Hygiene, 1910 Confidential Chats with Girls 1911 Confidential Chats with Boys, 1911 Facts for the Married, 1912 Sex Structure of Society, 1914 Sex Problems in Worry and Work, 1915 Breathe and Be Well, 1916 How to Live Long, 1916