,,sex-,,love1  ,,and ,,its ,,place ,,in 
,a ,,free ,,society3 7,,second          
,,edition7  ,,by ,,edward ,,carpenter4  
,,price ,,fourpence4  ,,manchester3     
,the ,labour ,press ,society ,limited1  
,printers and ,publishers  #ahid4       
,,sex-,,love  ,the subject of ,sex is   
most difficult to deal with1 not only on
 account of a certain prudery as well as
 a natural reticence on the subject1 but
 doubtless also because the passion     
itself being so tremendously strong and 
occupying such a large part of human    
thought--and words being so scanty and  
inadequate on the subject--everything   
that is said is liable to be            
misunderstood2 the most violent         
inferences are made1 and equivocations  
surmised1 from the simplest remarks2    
qualified admissions of liberty are     
interpreted into recommendations of     
unbridled licence2 and generally the    
perspective of literary expression is   
turned upside down by the effect of the 
unfamiliarity of the topic on the       

reader's mind4  ,there is indeed a vast 
deal of fetishism in the current        
treatment of ,sex2 and the subject is   
dealt with as though it lay quite out of
 line with any other need or faculty of 
human nature4 ,nor can one altogether be
 surprised at this when one perceives of
 what vast import ,sex is in the scheme 
of things1 and how deeply it it has been
 associated since the earliest times not
 only with man's personal impulses but  
even with his religious sentiments and  
ceremonials4  ,next to hunger this is   
doubtless the most primitive and        
imperative of our needs4 ,but in modern 
civilised life ,sex enters probably even
 more into consciousness than hunger4   
,for the hunger-needs of the human race 
are in the later societies fairly well  
satisfied1 but the sex-desires are      
strongly restrained1 both by law and    
custom1 from satisfaction--and so assert
 themselves all the more in thought4    
,to find the place of these desires1    
their utterance1 their control1 their   

personal import1 their social import1 is
 a tremendous problem to every youth and
 girl1 man and woman4  ,there are a few 
of both sexes1 doubtless1 who hardly    
feel the passion--who have never been in
 love1 and who experience no strong     
sexual appetite--but these are rare4    
,practically the passion is a matter of 
universal experience2 and speaking      
broadly and generally we may say it is a
 matter on which it is quite desirable  
that every adult at some time or other  
should have experience--actual and      
physical1 as well as emotional4 ,there  
may be exceptions2 but1 as said1 the    
sex-instinct lies so deep and is so     
universal1 that for the understanding of
 life--of one's own life1 of that of    
others1 and of human nature in          
general--as well as for the proper      
development of one's own capacities1    
such experience is almost indispensable4
  ,and here in passing ,i would say that
 in the social life of the future this  
need will surely be recognised1 and not 

only will young people be deliberately  
prepared and instructed for the         
fulfilment of ,sex when their time      
comes1 but 7while there will be no      
stigma attaching to voluntary celibacy7 
the state of enforced celibacy in which 
vast numbers of women live to-day will  
be looked upon as a national wrong1     
almost as grievous as that of           
prostitution--of which latter evil      
indeed it is in some degree the         
counterpart or necessary accompaniment4 
,of course ,nature 7personifying under  
this term the more unconscious1 even    
though human1 instincts and forces7     
takes pretty good care in her own way   
that most people should have sexual     
experience4 ,she has her own purposes to
 work out1 which in a sense have nothing
 to do with the individual--her racial  
purposes4 ,but she acts in the rough1   
with tremendous sweep and power1 and    
with little adjustment to or            
consideration for the later developed   
and more conscious and intelligent      

ideals of humanity4 ,the youth1 deeply  
infected with the sex-passion1 suddenly 
finds himself in the presence of        
,titanic forces--the ,titanic but       
sub-conscious forces of his own nature4 
,in love he feels a superhuman          
strength--and rightly so1 for he        
identifies himself with cosmic energies 
and entities1 powers that are preparing 
the future of the race1 and whose       
operations extend over vast regions of  
space and millennial lapses of time4 ,he
 sees into the abysmal deeps of his own 
being1 and trembles with a kind of awe  
at the disclosure4 ,and what he feels   
concerning himself he feels similarly   
concerning the one who has inspired his 
passion4 ,the glances of the two lovers 
penetrate far beyond the surface1 ages  
down into each other1 waking a myriad   
antenatal dreams4  ,for the moment he   
lets himself go1 rejoicing in the sense 
of limitless power beneath him--borne   
onwards like a man down rapids1 too     
intoxicated with the glory of motion to 

think of whither he is going2 then the  
next moment he discovers that he is     
being hurried into impossible           
situations--situations which his own    
moral conscience1 as well as the moral  
conscience of ,society1 embodied in law 
and custom1 will not admit4 ,he finds   
perhaps that the satisfaction of his    
imperious impulse is1 to all            
appearances1 inconsistent with the      
welfare of her he loves4 ,his own       
passion arises before him as a kind of  
rude giant which he or the race to which
 he belongs may1 ,frankenstein-like1    
have created ages back1 but which he now
 has to dominate or be dominated by2 and
 there declares itself in him the       
fiercest conflict--that between his     
far-back ,titanic instinctive and       
sub-conscious nature1 and his later     
developed1 more especially human and    
moral self4  ,while the glory of ,sex   
pervades and suffuses all ,nature2 while
 the flowers are rayed and starred out  
towards the sun in the very ecstasy of  

generation2 while the nostrils of the   
animals dilate1 and their forms become  
instinct1 under the passion1 with a     
proud and fiery beauty2 while even the  
human lover is transformed1 and in the  
great splendors of the mountains and the
 sky perceives something to which he had
 not the key before--yet it is curious  
that just here1 in ,man1 we find the    
magic wand of ,nature suddenly broken1  
and doubt and conflict and division     
entering in1 where a kind of unconscious
 harmony had first prevailed4  ,heine ,i
 think says somewhere that the man who  
loves unsuccessfully knows himself to be
 a god4 ,it is not perhaps till the     
great current of sexual love is checked 
and brought into conflict with the other
 parts of his being that the whole      
nature of the man1 sexual and moral1    
under the tremendous stress rises into  
consciousness and reveals in fire its   
god-like quality4 ,this is the work of  
the artificer who makes immortal        
souls--who out of the natural love      

evolves even a more perfect love4 ,in   
tutti gli amanti1 says ,giordano ,bruno1
  questo fabro vulcano 7in all lovers is
 this ,olympian blacksmith present74    
,it is the subject of this conflict1 or 
at least differentiation1 between the   
sexual and the more purely moral and    
social instincts in man which interests 
us here4 ,it is clear1 ,i think1 that if
 sex is to be treated rationally1 that  
is1 neither superstitiously on the one  
hand nor licentiously on the other1 we  
must be willing to admit that both the  
satisfaction of the passion and the     
non-satisfaction of it are desirable and
 beautiful4 ,they both have their       
results1 and man has to reap the fruits 
which belong to both experiences4 ,may  
we not say that there is probably some  
sort of transmutation of essences       
continually effected and effectible in  
the human frame8 ,lust and ,love--the   
,aphrodite ,pandemos and the ,aphrodite 
,ouranios--are subtly interchangeable4  
,perhaps the corporeal amatory instinct 

and the ethereal human yearning for     
personal union are really and in essence
 one thing1 with diverse forms of       
manifestation4 ,however that may be1 it 
is pretty evident that there is some    
deep relationship between them4 ,it is a
 matter of common experience that the   
unrestrained outlet of merely physical  
desire leaves the nature drained of its 
higher love-forces2 while on the other  
hand if the physical satisfaction be    
denied the body becomes surcharged with 
waves of emotion--sometimes to an       
unhealthy and dangerous degree4 ,yet at 
times this emotional love may1 by reason
 of its expression being checked or     
restricted1 transform itself into the   
all-penetrating subtle influence of     
spiritual love4  ,marcus ,aurelius      
quotes a saying of ,heraclitus to the   
effect that the death of earth is to    
become water 7liquefaction71 and the    
death of water is to become air         
7evaporation71 and the death of air is  
to become fire 7combustion74 ,so in the 

human body are there sensual1 emotional1
 spiritual1 and other elements of which 
it may be said that their death on one  
plane means their transformation and new
 birth on other planes4  ,it will       
readily be seen that ,i am not arguing  
that the lower or more physical         
manifestations of love should be killed 
out in order to force the growth of the 
more spiritual and enduring             
forms--because ,nature in her slow      
evolutions does not generally           
countenance such high and mighty        
methods2 but am merely trying to        
indicate that there are grounds for     
believing in the transmutability of the 
various forms of the passion1 and       
grounds for thinking that the sacrifice 
of a lower phase may sometimes be the   
only condition on which a higher and    
more durable phase can be attained2 and 
that therefore ,restraint 7which is     
absolutely necessary at times7 has its  
compensation4  ,any one who has once    
realised how glorious a thing ,love is  

in its essence1 and how indestructible1 
will hardly need to call anything that  
leads to it a sacrifice2 and he is      
indeed a master of life who accepting   
the grosser desires as they come to his 
body1 and not refusing them1 knows how  
to transform them at will into the most 
rare and fragrant flowers of human      
emotion4  ,until these subjects are     
openly put before children and young    
people with some degree of intelligent  
and sympathetic handling1 it can        
scarcely be expected that anything but  
the utmost confusion1 in mind and in    
morals1 should reign in matters of ,sex4
 ,that we should leave our children to  
pick up their information about the most
 sacred1 the most profound and vital1 of
 all human functions1 from the mere     
gutter1 and learn to know it first from 
the lips of ignorance and vice1 seems   
almost incredible1 and certainly        
indicates the deeply-rooted unbelief and
 uncleanness of our own thoughts4 ,yet a
 child at the age of puberty1 with the  

unfolding of its far-down emotional and 
sexual nature1 is eminently capable of  
the most sensitive1 affectional1 and    
serene appreciation of what ,sex means  
7generally more so1 as things are       
to-day1 than its worldling parent or    
guardian72 and can absorb the teaching1 
if sympathetically given1 without any   
shock or disturbance to its sense of    
shame--that sense which is so natural   
and valuable a safeguard of early youth4
  ,to teach the child first1 quite      
openly1 its physical relation to its own
 mother1 its long indwelling in her     
body1 and the deep and sacred bond of   
tenderness between mother and child in  
consequence2 then1 after a time1 to     
explain the work of fatherhood1 and how 
the love of the parents for each other  
was the cause of its own 7the child's7  
existence3 these things are easy and    
natural--at least they are so to the    
young mind--and excite in it no         
surprise1 or sense of unfitness1 but    
only gratitude and a kind of tender     

wonderment499 ,then1 later on1 as the   
special sexual needs and desires        
develop1 to instruct the girl or boy in 
the further details of the matter1 and  
the care and right conduct of her or his
 own sexual nature2 on the meaning and  
the dangers of solitary indulgence--if  
this habit has been contracted2 on the  
need of self-control and the presence of
 affection in all relations with others1
 and 7without asceticism7 on the        
possibility of deflecting physical      
desire to some degree into affectional  
and emotional channels1 and the great   
gain so resulting3 all these are things 
which an ordinary youth of either sex   
will easily understand and appreciate1  
and which may be of priceless value1    
saving such an one from years of        
struggle in foul morasses1 and waste of 
precious life-strength4 ,finally1 with  
the maturity of the moral nature1 the   
supremacy of the pure human relation    
should be taught--not the extinguishment
 of desire1 but the attainment of the   

real kernel of it1 its dedication to the
 well-being of another--the evolution of
 the human element in love1 balancing   
the natural--till at last the snatching 
of an unglad pleasure1 regardless of the
 other from whom it is snatched1 or the 
surrender of one's body to another1 for 
any reason except that of love1 become  
things impossible4       99,see         
,appendix4  ,between lovers then a kind 
of hardy temperance is much to be       
recommended--for all reasons1 but       
especially because it lifts their       
satisfaction and delight in each other  
out of the region of ephemeralities     
7which too soon turn to dull            
indifference and satiety7 into the      
region of more lasting things--one step 
nearer at any rate to the ,eternal      
,kingdom4 ,how intoxicating indeed1 how 
penetrating--like a most precious       
wine--is that love which is the sexual  
transformed by the magic of the will    
into the emotional and spiritual6 ,and  
what a loss on the merest grounds of    

prudence and the economy of pleasure is 
its unbridled waste along physical      
channels6 ,so nothing is so much to be  
dreaded between lovers as just this--the
 vulgarisation of love--and this is the 
rock upon which marriage so often       
splits4  ,there is a kind of illusion   
about physical desire similar to that   
which a child suffers from when1 seeing 
a beautiful flower1 it instantly        
snatches the same1 and destroys in a few
 moments the form and fragrance which   
attracted it4 ,he only gets the full    
glory who holds himself back a little1  
and truly possesses who is willing if   
need be not to possess4  ,on the other  
hand it must not be pretended that the  
physical passions are by their nature   
abhorrent1 or anything but admirable and
 desirable in their place4 ,any attempt 
to absolutely disown or despite them1   
carried out over long periods either by 
individuals ,or bodies of people1 only  
ends in the thinning out of the human   
nature--by the very consequent stinting 

of the supply of its growth-material1   
and is liable to stultify itself in time
 by leading to reactionary excesses4 ,it
 must never be forgotten that the       
physical basis throughout life is of the
 first importance1 and supplies the     
nutrition and food-stuff without which  
the higher powers cannot exist or at    
least manifest themselves4 ,intimacies  
founded on intellectual and moral       
affinities alone are seldom very deep   
and lasting2 if the physical or sexual  
basis is quite absent1 the              
acquaintanceship is liable to die away  
again like an ill-rooted plant4 ,in many
 cases 7especially of women7 the nature 
is never really understood or disclosed 
till the sex-feeling is touched--however
 lightly4 ,besides it must be remembered
 that in order for a perfect intimacy   
between two people their bodies must by 
the nature of the case be free to each  
other4 ,the sexual and bodily intimacy  
may not be the object for which they    
come together2 but if it is denied1 its 

denial will bar any real sense of repose
 and affiance1 and make the relation    
restless1 vague1 tentative and          
unsatisfied4  ,in these lights it will  
be seen that what we call asceticism and
 what we call libertinism are two sides 
practically of the same shield4 ,so long
 as the tendency towards mere           
pleasure-indulgence is strong and       
uncontrolled1 so long will the instinct 
towards asceticism assert itself--and   
rightly1 else we might speedily find    
ourselves in headlong ,phaethonian      
career4 ,asceticism is in its place 7as 
the word would indicate7 as an exercise2
 but let it not be looked upon as an end
 in itself1 for that is a mistake of the
 same kind as going to the opposite     
extreme4 ,certainly if the welfare and  
happiness of the beloved one were always
 really the main purpose in our minds we
 should have plenty of occasion for     
self-control1 and an artificial         
asceticism would not be needed4 ,we look
 for a time doubtless when the hostility

 between these two parts of man's       
unperfected nature will be merged in the
 perfect love2 but at present and until 
this happens their conflict is certainly
 one of the most pregnant things in all 
our experience2 and must not by any     
means be blinked or evaded1 but boldly  
faced4 ,it is in itself almost a sexual 
act4 ,the mortal nature through it is1  
so to speak1 torn asunder2 and through  
the rent so made in his mortality does  
it sometimes happen that a new and      
immortal man is born4  ,the ,sex-act    
affords the type of all pleasures4 ,the 
dissatisfaction which at times follows  
on it is the same as follows on all     
pleasure which is sought1 and which does
 not come unsought4 ,the dissatisfaction
 is not in the nature of pleasure itself
 but in the nature of seeking4 ,in      
consciously surrendering oneself to the 
pursuit of things external1 the ,i      
7since it really has everything and     
needs nothing7 deceives itself1 goes out
 from its true home1 tears itself       

asunder1 and admits a gap or rent in its
 own being4 ,this is what is meant by   
sin--the separation or sundering        
7,german ,snde7 of one's being--and all 
the pain that goes therewith4 ,it all   
consists in seeking those external      
things and pleasures2 not 7a thousand   
times be it said7 in those external     
things or pleasures themselves4 ,they   
are all fair and gracious enough2 their 
place is to stand round the throne and  
offer their homage--rank behind rank in 
their multitudes--if so be we will      
accept it4 ,but for us to go out of     
ourselves to run after them1 to allow   
ourselves to be divided and rent in     
twain by their attraction1 that is an   
inversion of the order of heaven2 and in
 so doing does sin and all suffering    
enter in4  ,of all pleasures the sexual 
tempts most strongly to this desertion  
of one's true self1 and stands as the   
type of ,maya and the world-illusion2   
yet the beauty of the loved one and the 
delight of corporeal union all turn to  

dust and ashes if bought at the price of
 disunion and disloyalty in the higher  
spheres--disloyalty even to the person  
whose mortal love is sought4 ,the higher
 and more durable part of man1 whirled  
along in the rapids and whirlpools of   
desire1 experiences tortures the moment 
it comes to recognise that ,it is       
something other than physical4 ,then    
comes the struggle to regain its lost   
,paradise1 and the frightful effort of  
co-ordination between the two natures1  
by which the centre of consciousness is 
gradually transferred from the fugitive 
to the more permanent part1 and the     
mortal and changeable is assigned its   
due place in the outer chambers and     
forecourts of the temple4  ,pleasure    
should come as the natural 7and indeed  
inevitable7 accompaniment of life1      
believed in with a kind of free faith1  
but never sought as the object of life4 
,it is in the inversion of this order   
that the uncleanness of the senses      
arises4 ,sex to-day throughout the      

domains of civilisation is thoroughly   
unclean4  ,everywhere it is slimed over 
with the thought of pleasure4 ,not for  
joy1 not for mere delight in and excess 
of life1 not for pride in the generation
 of children1 not for a symbol and      
expression of deepest soul-union1 does  
it exist--but for pleasure4 ,hence we   
disown it in our thoughts1 and cover it 
up with false shame and                 
unbelief--knowing well that to seek a   
social act for a private pleasure is a  
falsehood4 ,the body itself is kept     
religiously covered1 smothered away from
 the rush of the great purifying life of
 ,nature1 infected with dirt and        
disease1 and a subject for prurient     
thought and exaggerated lust such as in 
its naked state it would never provoke4 
,the skin becomes sickly and corrupt1   
and of a dead leaden white hue1 which   
strangely enough is supposed to be more 
beautiful than the rich rose-brown1     
delicately shaded into lighter tints in 
the less exposed parts1 which it would  

wear if tanned by daily welcome of sun  
and wind4 ,sexual embraces themselves   
are seldom sanctified by the glories of 
,nature1 in whose presence alone1 under 
the burning sun or the high canopy of   
the stars and surrounded by the fragrant
 atmosphere1 their meaning can be fully 
understood3 but take place in stuffy    
dens of dirty upholstery and are        
associated with all unbeautiful things4 
,even literature1 which might have been 
expected to preserve some decent        
expression on this topic1 reflects all  
too clearly by its silence or by its    
pruriency the prevailing spirit of      
unbelief2 and in order to find any sane 
faithful strong and calm words on the   
subject1 one has to wade right back     
through the marshes and bogs of         
civilised scribbledom1 and toil eastward
 across its arid wastes to the very     
dawn-hymns of the ,aryan races4  ,in one
 of the ,upanishads of the ,vedic sacred
 books 7the ,brihadaranyaka ,upanishad7 
there is a very beautiful passage in    

which instruction is given to the man   
who desires a noble son as to the       
prayers which he shall offer to the gods
 on the occasion of congress with his   
wife4 ,in primitive simple and serene   
language it directs him how when he has 
placed his virile member in the body of 
his wife and joined his mouth to her    
mouth he should pray to the various     
forms of deity who preside over the     
operations of nature3 to ,vishnu to     
prepare the womb of the future mother1  
to ,prajapati to watch over the influx  
of the semen1 and to the other gods to  
nourish the foetus1 etc4 ,nothing could 
be 7,i am judging from the only         
translation ,i have met with1 a ,latin  
one7 more composed1 serene1 simple and  
religious in feeling1 and well might it 
be if such instructions were preserved  
and followed1 even down to the present  
day2 yet such is the degradation we have
 come to that actually ,max ,mller in   
his translations of the ,sacred ,books  
of the ,east appears to have been unable

 to persuade himself to render this and 
a few other quite similar passages into 
,english1 but gives them in the original
 ,sanskrit6 ,one might have thought that
 as ,professor in the ,university of    
,oxford1 presumedly sans peur et sans   
reproche1 and professedly engaged in    
making a translation of these books for 
students1 it was his duty and it might  
have been his delight to make           
intelligible just such passages as      
these1 which give the pure and pious    
sentiment of the early world in so      
perfect a form2 unless indeed he thought
 the sentiment impure and impious--in   
which case we have indeed a measure of  
the degradation of the public opinion   
which must have swayed his mind4 ,as to 
the only ,german translation of the     
,upanishad which ,i can find1 it baulks 
at the same passages in the same feeble 
way--repeating nicht zu wiedergeben1    
nicht zu wiedergeben1 over and over     
again1 till at last one can but conclude
 that the translator is right1 and that 

the simplicity and sacredness of the    
feeling is in this our time indeed not  
to be reproduced4  ,our public opinion1 
our literature1 our customs1 our laws1  
are saturated with the notion of the    
uncleanness of ,sex1 and are so making  
the conditions of its cleanness more and
 more difficult4 ,our children1 as said1
 have to pick up their intelligence on  
the subject in the gutter4 ,little boys 
bathing on the outskirts of our towns   
are hunted down by idiotic policemen1   
apparently infuriated by the sight of   
the naked body1 even of childhood4      
,lately in one of our northern towns1   
the boys and men bathing in a public    
pool set apart by the corporation for   
the purpose1 were--though forced to wear
 some kind of covering--kept till nine  
o'clock at night before they were       
allowed to go into the water--lest in   
the full daylight ,mrs4 ,grundy should  
behold any portion of their bodies6 and 
as for women and girls their            
disabilities in the matter are most     

serious4  ,till this dirty and dismal   
sentiment with regard to the human body 
is removed there can be little hope of  
anything like a free and gracious public
 life4 ,with the regeneration of our    
social ideas the whole conception of    
,sex as a thing covert and to be ashamed
 of1 marketable and unclean1 will have  
to be regenerated4 ,that inestimable    
freedom and pride which is the basis of 
all true manhood and womanhood will have
 to enter into this most intimate       
relation to preserve it frank and       
pure--pure from the damnable            
commercialism which buys and sells all  
human things1 and from the religious    
hypocrisy which covers and conceals2 and
 a healthy delight in and cultivation of
 the body and all its natural functions 
and a determination to keep them pure   
and beautiful1 open and sane and free1  
will have to become a recognised part of
 national life4  ,possibly1 and indeed  
probably1 as the sentiment of common    
life and common interest grows1 and the 

capacity for true companionship         
increases with the decrease of          
self-regarding anxiety1 the importance  
of the mere sex-act will dwindle till it
 comes to be regarded as only one very  
specialised factor in the full total of 
human love4 ,there is no doubt that with
 the full realisation of affectional    
union the need of actual bodily congress
 loses some of its urgency2 and it is   
not difficult to see in our present-day 
social life that the want of the former 
is 7according to the law of             
transmutation7 one marked cause of the  
violence and extravagance of the lower  
passions4 ,but however things may change
 with the further evolution of man1     
there is no doubt that first of all the 
sex-relation must be divested of the    
sentiment of uncleanness which surrounds
 it1 and rehabilitated again with a     
sense almost of religious consecration2 
and this means1 as ,i have said1 a free 
people1 proud in the mastery and the    
divinity of their own lives1 and in the 

beauty and openness of their own bodies4
  ,sex is the allegory of ,love in the  
physical world4 ,it is from this fact   
that it derives its immense power4 ,the 
aim of ,love is                         
non-differentiation--absolute union of  
being2 but absolute union can only be   
found at the centre of existence4       
,therefore whoever has truly found      
another has found not only that other1  
and with that other himself1 but has    
found also a third--who dwells at the   
centre and holds the plastic material of
 the universe in the palm of his hand1  
and is a creator of sensible forms4     
,similarly the aim of sex is union and  
non-differentiation--but on the physical
 plane1--and in the moment when this    
union is accomplished creation takes    
place1 and the generation 7in the       
plastic material of the sex-elements7 of
 sensible forms4  ,in the animal and    
lower human world--and wherever the     
creature is incapable of realising the  
perfect love 7which is indeed able to   

transform it into a god7--,nature in the
 purely physical instincts does the next
 best thing1 that is1 she effects a     
corporeal union and so generates another
 creature who by the very process of his
 generation shall be one step nearer to 
the universal soul and the realisation  
of the desired end4 ,nevertheless the   
moment the other love and all that goes 
with it is realised the natural sexual  
love has to fall into a secondary       
place--the lover must stand on his feet 
and not on his head--or else the most   
dire confusions ensue1 and torments     
onian4  ,taking all together ,i think it
 may fairly be said that the prime      
object of ,sex is union1 the physical   
union as the allegory and expression of 
the real union1 and that generation is a
 secondary object or result of this     
union4 ,if we go to the lowest material 
expressions of ,sex--as among the       
protozoic cells--we find that they1 the 
cells1 unite together1 two into one2 and
 that1 as a result of the nutrition that

 ensues1 this joint cell after a time   
7but not always7 breaks up by fission   
into a number of progeny cells2 or if on
 the other hand we go to the very       
highest expression of ,sex1 in the      
sentiment of ,love1 we find the latter  
takes the form chiefly and before all   
else of a desire for union1 and only in 
lesser degree of a desire for           
race-propagation4  ,i mention this      
because it probably makes a good deal of
 difference in our estimate of ,sex     
whether the one function or the other is
 considered primary4 ,there is perhaps a
 slight tendency among medical and other
 authorities to overlook the question of
 the important physical actions and     
reactions1 and even corporeal           
modifications1 which may ensue upon     
sexual intercourse between two people1  
and to fix their attention too          
exclusively upon their child-bearing    
function2 but in truth it is probable1  
,i think1 from various considerations1  
that the spermatozoa pass through the   

tissues and affect the general body of  
the female1 as well as that the male    
absorbs minutest cells from the female2 
and that generally1 even without the    
actual ,sex-act1 there is an interchange
 of vital and etherial elements--so that
 there is a kind of generation taking   
place in each other1 as well as that    
more specialised generation which       
consists in the propagation of the race4
  ,at the last and taking it as a whole 
one has the same difficulty in dealing  
with the subject of ,love which meets   
one at every turn in modern life--the   
monstrous separation of one part of our 
nature from another--the way in         
which--no doubt in the necessary course 
of evolution--we have cut ourselves in  
twain as it were1 and assigned right and
 wrong1 heaven and hell1 spiritual and  
material1 and other violent             
distinctions1 to the separate portions4 
,we have eaten of the ,tree of          
,knowledge of good and evil with a      
vengeance6 ,the ,lord has indeed driven 

us out of ,paradise into the domain of  
that fabro vulcano who with tremendous  
hammer-strokes must hammer the knowledge
 of good and evil out of us again4 ,i   
feel that ,i owe an apology to the      
beautiful god for daring even for a     
moment to think of dissecting him soul  
from body1 and for speaking as if these 
artificial distinctions were in any wise
 eternal4 ,will the man or woman1 or    
race of men and women1 never come1 to   
whom love in its various manifestations 
shall be from the beginning a perfect   
whole1 pure and natural1 free and       
standing sanely on its feet8            
,,appendix4  ,i analysed a flower1 ,i   
pointed out to her the beauty of        
colouring1 the gracefulness of shape1   
the tender shades1 the difference       
between the parts composing the flowers4
 ,gradually1 ,i told her what these     
parts were called4 ,i showed her the    
pollen1 which clung like a beautiful    
golden powder to her little rosy        
fingers4 ,i showed her through the      

microscope that this beautiful powder   
was composed of an infinite number of   
small grains4 ,i made her examine the   
pistil more closely1 and ,i showed her1 
at the end of the tube1 the ovary1 which
 ,i called a 'little house full of very 
tiny children4' ,i showed her the pollen
 glued to the pistil1 and ,i told her1  
that when the pollen of one flower1     
carried away by the wind1 or by the     
insects1 fell on the pistil of another  
flower1 the small grains died1 and a    
tiny drop of moisture passed through the
 tube and entered into the little house 
where the very tiny children dwelt2 that
 these tiny children were like small    
eggs1 that in each small egg there was  
an almost invisible opening1 through    
which a little of the small drop passed2
 that when this drop of pollen mixed    
with some other wonderful power in the  
ovary1 that both joined together to give
 life1 and the eggs developed and became
 grains or fruit4 ,i have shown her     
flowers which had only a pistil and     

others which had only stamens4 ,i said  
to her1 smiling1 that the pistils were  
like little mothers1 and the stamens    
like little fathers of the fruit4444    
,thus ,i sowed in this innocent heart   
and searching mind the seeds of that    
delicate science1 which degenerates into
 obscenity1 if the mother1 through false
 shame1 leaves the instruction of her   
child to its schoolfellows4 ,let my     
little girl ask me1 if she likes1 the   
much dreaded question2 ,i will only have
 to remind her of the botany lessons1   
simply adding1 the same thing happens to
 human beings1 with this difference1    
that what is done unconsciously by the  
plants1 is done consciously by us2 that 
in a properly arranged society one only 
unites one's self to the person one     
loves4'--7,translated from ,la          
,revendication des ,droits ,fminins1    
,shafts1 ,april #ahid1 p4 #bcg47