,transcriber's ,note ,italic text displayed as3 italic ,,woman ,a ,vindication ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author ,a ,,defence ,,of ,,aristocracy ,,man',s ,,descent ,,from ,,the ,,gods ,,the ,,false ,,assumptions ,,of ,,democracy ,,etc4 ,,woman ,a ,vindication ,by ,,anthony ,m4 ,,ludovici ,,constable ,,london ,,bombay ,,sydney #aibc ,printed in ,great ,britain by ,butler ,tanner1 ,frome and ,london ,,contents ,,chap4 ,,page ,,introduction vii ,part ,i ,,preliminary ,,considerations ,i ,,positiveness--,,the ,,saying ,,of 8,,yea0 ,,to ,,life #c ,,ii ,,the ,,subject ,,treated ,,generally #bd ,,iii ,,woman ,,and ,,her ,,unconscious ,,impulses #cg ,,iv ,,the ,,positive ,,man ,,and ,,the ,,positive ,,woman #ed ,v ,,virgin ,,love ,,in ,,the ,,positive ,,man ,,and ,,the ,,positive ,,girl #hj ,,vi ,,the ,,positive ,,english ,,girl #ajd ,part ,,ii ,,inferences ,,from ,,part ,i ,,vii ,,the ,,marriage ,,of ,,the ,,positive ,,girl ,,and ,,the ,,positive ,,man #abe ,,viii ,,breaches ,,of ,,the ,,marriage ,,contract ,,and ,,divorce #agh ,,ix ,,the ,,old ,,maid ,,and ,,her ,,relation ,,to ,,society #bbi ,x ,,the ,,virtues ,,and ,,vices ,,of ,,women #bhj ,,xi ,,women ,,in ,,art1 ,,philosophy ,,and ,,science4 ,,the ,,outlook4 ,,conclusion #cdf ,,index #cfi ,,introduction 8,the most disgusting cant permeates everything4 ,except for the representation of savage and violent sentiments1 everything is stifled by it40--,stendhal1 ,de l',amour4 ,the object of this volume is twofold3 in the first place to raise certain weighty objections to that industrialization and commercialization of woman1 which has stamped the 8progress0 of ,western ,europe during the last fifty years2 and1 secondly1 to reveal woman1 not only as a creature whose least engaging characteristics are but the outcome of the most vital qualities within her1 but also as a social being in whom these least engaging characteristics themselves only become disturbing and undesirable when she is partially or totally out of hand4 ,while trying to escape the influence of all that 8tinsel of false sentiment0 which in the atmosphere of ,democracy and sentimentality has gathered about the subject of ,woman in modern ,england1 it has been my endeavour to defend her against certain traditional and well-founded charges1 by showing that the very traits in her character which have given rise to these charges form so essential a part of her vital equipment that it would be dangerous to the race to modify or to alter them4 ,thus1 despite the fact that there is much in this book that may possibly strike the reader as unfriendly1 if not actually harsh1 ,i am aware of no other work in which so complete and so elaborate a plea 7from the standpoint of ,life and ,life's needs7 has been made in defence of ,woman's whole character1 including all that side of it which the wisest of mankind1 and the oldest traditions of mankind1 have consistently and unanimously deprecated4 ,couched in the briefest possible terms1 my thesis is practically this1 that1 whether we contemplate ,woman in the rle of the adulteress1 of the heartless stepmother1 of the harlot1 or of the creature whose duplicity has been the riddle of all ages2 or whether we contemplate her as the staunchest of lovers1 as the most reliable of allies1 as the mother whose noble devotion to her offspring will drive her to any extreme of danger in defence of them1 and as the representative of that sex which has given us a ,joan of ,arc1 an ,emily ,bront1 and an ,emily ,davison of ,derby fame2 we are always confronted by a creature whose worst can1 on final analysis1 be shown to be only the outcome of her best and most vital qualities1 turned to evil by mal-adaptation2 and whose best is but the normal and effortless expression of her natural endowments4 ,seeing1 however1 that among the mal-adaptations which cause ,woman's best to manifest itself as her worst1 ,i include lack of guidance and control from the quarter of her menfolk1 ,i range myself naturally among the ,anti-,feminists1 though at the same time ,i most emphatically disclaim all anti-feminine prejudices4 ,indeed1 so far from this being the case1 ,i am a deep and passionate admirer and lover of ,woman4 ,in order to love her1 however1 ,i do not find it necessary to exalt her to a plane on which all her sturdier1 more vital1 and more 8dangerous0 characteristics are whittled down to mere sweetness4 ,those to whom the love of woman depends upon so gross an idealization of her nature as to cause them to overlook or deny that 8wickedness0 in her1 which is at once her greatest vital strength and her most powerful equipment as the custodian and the promoter of life1 will find very little to sustain them in this love throughout the present volume4 ,and1 if in this age of 8,safety first10 they fancy that it is expedient to rear and to love only those women from whom all 8danger0 has been removed1 they will find that ,i have endeavoured to demonstrate to them the extreme peril even of this plausible ideal4 ,as far as ,i know this work represents the first radical attempt that has been made to differentiate two very definite and dissimilar types of women--the positive and the negative--and to account for their respective virtues and vices on the grounds of their peculiarities of health1 tonality1 vigour1 and constitutional bias in favour of life4 ,it is my belief that this is a necessary and useful differentiation1 that without it there can be no clarity about ,woman1 and that the fact that it has not been attempted by previous writers1 accounts for much in their work which is both unfair and untrue4 ,it must be quite plain to everyone1 that in a world where so-called virtue is all too frequently the outcome of a minus rather than of a plus in vitality1 it would be grossly inaccurate to class all women together2 for while in the case of one woman chastity may be a great feat of discernment and self-overcoming1 in the case of another whose body is less tonic and less vital1 it may be the easiest of human accomplishments4 ,all reactions are known to differ according to the vitality of the organism stimulated4 ,to overlook tonality and vitality in any description of human beings would therefore be a most unpardonable omission4 ,thus1 ,weininger's and ,schopenhauer's failure to differentiate between positive and negative women effectually invalidates1 in my opinion1 most of what they have said about her2 while a good deal of the rest of the literature dealing with the subject of sex seems to me to fail owing to the fact that it makes no attempt to describe a standard or a norm before it proceeds to expatiate upon sex characteristics and their consequences4 ,the fact that a classification on these broad lines does not prevent me from occasionally bringing charges which will seem severe against the very type that ,i most warmly recommend1 is in no way inconsistent with my claim that my work is a vindication2 for while ,i show that all the charges that ,i myself advance are only an indictment of ,woman in so far as she is unguided and uncontrolled1 ,i also defend her against many other harsh judgments which are commonly passed against her1 and with which ,i will have nothing to do4 ,thus in the course of this work1 the reader will find that ,i defend even the so-called 8male0 woman against the gibes which recently it has been the fashion to level against her4 ,and on what grounds do ,i undertake her vindication8--,i point out that1 in a nation that can boast1 as ,england undoubtedly can1 of great and worldwide masculine achievements in the past1 such achievements can only have been possible because the women of the nation did not too seriously dilute the masculine qualities of the race1 with the element 8effeminine40 ,but for this to have been the rule1 these women must have had a large share of masculine virtues4 ,i show that other nations1 such as the ,romans and the ,red ,indians1 also reared generations of masculine women1 and always to the advantage of the community4 ,these male women1 against whom so much has been said1 are therefore merely the vestiges of our great masculine past4 ,now they are ill-adapted1 because they can no longer find the men to whose greater masculinity they might adapt themselves4 ,it is the degeneration of man that is the cause of their mal-adaptation4 ,women1 or at least the best women1 nowadays1 are no longer inspired or uplifted by their association with him4 ,to reply to this1 as most people all too hastily do1 that the last ,war was a proof that ,englishmen at least have not degenerated1 does not constitute a serious objection to my statement4 ,for1 after all1 successful fighting is only one--and the most primitive--among the many desirable qualities that the masculine civilized being has cultivated4 ,degeneration may be defined as a departure from the high qualities of a race or a kind4 ,but it is possible to depart from a very great number of cultivated qualities1 and still to retain the moral and physical equipment of the good fighter4 ,when1 therefore1 ,i seek to explain a good deal of ,woman's discontent with ,man1 and most of her very justifiable contempt of him1 by pointing to his degeneration1 ,i mean that1 despite the evidence of the great ,war1 in which the modern ,european admittedly revealed the primitive fighting qualities in all their pristine strength1 the man of to-day in many other respects--in the matter of catholicity of tastes1 for instance1 versatility of gifts1 will-power1 vigour1 character1 and health--shows a marked departure from the higher endowments of his ancestors4 ,the fact that this degeneration is due to the devitalizing1 cramping and specialized labours which several generations of ,commercialism and ,industrialism and excessive 8,urbanism0 have imposed upon the male sex1 can hardly be questioned2 and if we are in search of an explanation of ,feminism1 if we are anxious to discover how and why it is that women are now coming forward in large numbers to measure their strength against men in all those callings and offices which hitherto have been regarded as ,man's special spheres1 we may be sure that the true cause of all this does not lie so much in a desirable change in ,woman's nature itself1 as it does in an undesirable depreciation in our own general abilities1 which women have been only too slow to observe4 ,to point to the great ,war in such circumstances1 is only cant2 but like all cant1 it is the outcome of a desire to spare our vanity at a moment when everything points indubitably to our humiliation4 ,there is1 however1 no subject in the whole world1 or at least in the whole of our ,english world1 around which more cant has collected1 than the subject of sex and the relation of the sexes4 ,but perhaps it would be as well to make quite clear what is precisely meant by 8cant0 in this respect4 ,with ,stendhal1 ,i am of the opinion that cant is created more by vanity than by ,puritanism1 or the sense of propriety4 ,and it is because vanity is involved1 that the fight against cant is so stubborn4 ,if ,psycho-,analysis had really assailed our vanity1 instead of merely offending our sense of propriety1 we should have heard much less about it4 ,also we have only to think of the huge popular success of writers like ,zola in order to assure ourselves that for a man's work to be hushed up and ignored1 he must be guilty of a greater crime than the mere violation of the proprieties or conventions4 ,as a rule1 mankind will listen patiently when it is told of the material and not infrequently sordid animal background to some of its dearest emotions2 for1 after all1 it is only disturbed in its prudery by such revelations4 ,but proceed to tear away the tinsel of cant from those activities1 for instance1 which are alleged to be humanitarian1 8unselfish10 or to belong to the class known as 8self-sacrifice10 and point out how all these activities themselves invariably arise from purely egotistical emotions and desires1 and mankind will immediately become both incredulous and indignant4 ,why is this8 ,obviously because a very large section of the population of the western world find the very basis of their self-esteem in the activities enumerated4 ,to show the egotistical root of these activities1 as ,hobbes1 ,helvetius1 ,stendhal and ,nietzsche consistently did1 is therefore to wound these people in the very sanctuary of their vanity2 and those against whom this kind of violence is attempted nowadays usually retaliate with both rancour and rage4 ,hence the determination with which writers like ,hobbes1 ,helvetius1 ,nietzsche and ,stendhal are forgotten and ignored4 ,over the writings of all these men there hangs a very pronounced and unmistakable fragrance1 which may be almost painful at the first inhalation1 and a certain atmosphere which has a noticeably low temperature4 ,frequently this atmosphere is quite glacial1 and produces the distinctly unpleasant reaction of goose-skin in the reader's mind4 ,both in the ideas they present1 and in their manner of presenting them1 these authors scorn to please4 ,they all possess the same penetrating insight into the psychology of man2 they reveal what the ,french call 8une psychologie fouille10 and their honesty is hampered by no desire to fortify themselves or their fellows in their self-esteem4 ,unlike ,swift1 however1 it is certain that these men did not write 8to vex the world more than to divert it10 but because they realized that certain falsifications of sentiment are dangerous and lead to degeneration4 ,now there is an instinctive inclination in every reader to identify himself with the picture of humanity presented to him in the book that he happens to be perusing1 whether it be a novel or a scientific treatise4 ,naturally enough1 therefore1 he is exposed to the severest shocks if at every turn he is prevented from idealizing his own nature1 or from thinking too well of it1 owing to the fact that the picture he is contemplating is too humiliating to be pleasant1 and yet too convincing to be lightly rejected4 ,the bulk of modern readers1 however1 are women4 ,this fact1 too well known to editors and publishers1 is quite inadequately understood from the standpoint of its influence on taste and quality in literary production4 ,for not only do women reveal the trait common to all readers1 which consists in a tendency to identify themselves with one of the characters of a novel1 or with the portrait of humanity presented in a scientific treatise1 but they are also addicted to the practice of confounding that which is pleasant to themselves with that which is true4 ,thus in the woman reader there is a twofold tendency to tolerate or to applaud cant2 for1 on the one hand1 she views truth hedonistically1 and1 on the other1 she feels deep discomfiture1 either when she finds herself unable1 through her false idealization of herself and her motives1 to identify herself with the anti-cant portrayal of a certain heroine 7,stendhal's ,flicie ,fline1 for instance71 or1 when she finds her reading of human nature1 which is based upon her idealized reading of herself1 affronted by a picture of humanity which shatters her rosy view4 ,to the influence of women in this connexion1 however1 ought in all fairness to be added that of a vast number of men1 who1 in these days1 whether from the same hedonistic view of truth1 or prompted by a certain poltroonery and vanity in the face of reality1 tend to shrink ever more and more from any understanding of human relations and the passions that govern them1 which would distort their comfortable and comforting assumptions concerning both4 ,if1 however1 they actually form1 together with the women1 a force sufficiently powerful to govern the taste of the day1 especially in the world of literature and in that department of it which treats of human psychology1 we may well feel some anxiety concerning the real worth of that literature4 ,if ,byron and ,stendhal could honestly complain of cant even in their time1 what can be our position to-day8 99 99 99 99 99 ,frankly acknowledging my indebtedness to the school of writers that can be said to have adopted the rigorous psychological uprightness of our great philosopher ,hobbes1 ,i have endeavoured also to strip the 8tinsel of sentiment0 from one of the most important of human relations1 in order1 if possible1 to build afresh1 and to build wholesomely1 where too much confusion and too much falsehood have been allowed to flourish in the past4 ,in order1 however1 to protect myself from a charge to which the asperity and frequent severity of my language is almost sure to expose me1 it may be as well for me to state at once that1 unlike many that have written on the subject of ,woman1 ,i have been animated by no bitterness and by none of those unhappy experiences which often warp judgment and impair the vision4 ,on the contrary1 to all my principal relations to women ,i owe the most pleasant and possibly some of the most valuable experiences of my life4 ,unlike ,schopenhauer1 ,byron1 or ,balzac1 my relationship to my mother was an exceptionally devoted and happy one4 ,both friends and relatives are unanimous here1 and have frequently declared that they rarely saw anything to equal it1 both on her side and on my own4 ,up to the time of her death she was my best and dearest friend1 and in my passionate love for her1 my love for my subject may well be said to have begun4 ,what has my relation to other women been8 ,in this regard ,i can only say that1 though ,i have spent an enormous amount of my time with women1 ,i have never suffered the smallest wrong at the hands of any one of them2 neither have ,i had any experience which could possibly give me a distorted view of the sex1 or a resentful attitude towards it as a whole4 ,i have learned a tremendous deal from women1 and1 having not a little of the woman in me besides 7and to comprise is to comprehend71 ,i have through the usual channels of introspection been able to supplement my objective studies with a good deal of subjective information4 ,from my earliest youth1 too1 the subject of sex has interested me deeply4 ,true1 it interests every one deeply2 but ,i have fortunately never felt any of the customary shame that so often arrests thought and speculation on the subject4 ,neither can ,i say that my environment was ever of a kind to hinder me in my free and careful study of it4 ,brought up in an atmosphere of art and literature1 ,i never became acquainted with that false modesty and embarrassment that seizes upon most young people when1 for the first time1 they are confronted with the most mysterious and fascinating subject of existence4 ,i was allowed to dwell on the question1 had no reason to suppose it was wrong to do so1 and even when1 at the age of ten ,i took my first steps in the science of physiology--a subject ,i used to beg all my elders to instruct me upon--,i and they little knew that ,i was anticipating1 by at least six years1 a passionate interest in the principal and most fundamental question of human relations4 ,to this day ,i remember the little green manual of ,physiology1 by ,professor ,huxley1 that my governess put into my hands1 and ,i cannot say ,i remember any book better1 save perhaps another little green volume containing ,schopenhauer's essays on ,woman and the ,metaphysics of ,love1 which ,i read when ,i was eighteen4 ,at the age of nineteen ,i wrote my first book1 which bore the title ,girls and ,love2 but1 needless to say1 it was never published4 ,and ever since the subject of sex has scarcely ever ceased from occupying my mind in various ways4 ,for the rest1 ,i have listened with respectful attention to the voice of the ,ancients--of the ,orient1 of ,egypt and of ,greece--and1 as usual1 have listened most intently there where ,i knew relative permanence to have been achieved and humanity to have flourished best4 ,such preoccupations in regard to a matter that ought to be so natural1 so well ordered1 as to be taken for granted1 just as breathing is1 can denote but one thing1 namely3 that to the thoughtful1 nowadays1 sex has undoubtedly become a real and puzzling problem2 that is to say1 something that is not in order1 that is not properly understood1 and that every one has1 as it were1 to face and to overcome for himself afresh1 before he can 8carry on10 and before he can allow time and age to overtake him4 ,in the present work ,i have attempted to be as clear and as straightforward as is compatible with the task of handling a delicate subject delicately4 ,i am convinced that a good deal of the dangerous silence that hangs over the vital and fundamental questions ,i shall sometimes have to touch upon1 owes its existence for the most part to the unfortunate fact that the subject of sex1 outside medical circles1 has hitherto usually been confronted by only two classes of mind--the puritanically prudish1 who have done their best to shelve it1 and their opposite extreme1 the licentious and libidinous1 who have refrained from no excess or extravagance that could possibly offend and startle their opponents in the opposite camp4 ,with neither of these classes have ,i any connexion4 ,i object to the licentious as wholeheartedly as to the ,puritanical4 ,i protest against being suspected unjustly of a licentious turn of mind1 because ,i venture to speak freely concerning a subject that is systematically hushed up to the peril of all2 ,i also protest most emphatically against being suspected of ,puritanism because ,i make no attempt to conceal my loathing of certain modern aspects of the sexual relationship4 ,part ,i ,,preliminary ,,considerations ,,chapter ,i ,positiveness--,the ,saying of 8,yea0 to ,life 7#a7 ,,sex ,,versus ,,death ,a scheme of life that includes death as the periodic end of each generation of beings must1 if it is to persist1 include some form of periodic reproduction of life4 ,reproduction1 or the reproducing of a fresh generation of beings1 is thus the necessary balance of death4 ,this sounds the merest platitude4 ,but it is a platitude that cannot be dwelt upon too often or too carefully1 if one remembers how constantly and obstinately its consequences are denied or vilified4 ,to speak of the higher organic life on this globe as sexual1 therefore1 is merely to state in other words1 that all higher organic life is doomed to die1 and must be replaced by new life4 ,abolish death and you abolish the meaning and the need of sex and reproduction4 ,abolish sex and reproduction1 and1 if you cannot establish eternal higher organic life1 the higher organic life of the globe must for ever perish4 ,at least for human beings and myriads of animals1 ,death and ,sex are consequently counterparts4 ,sex with its purpose1 reproduction1 might be regarded as the contrivance for circumventing ,death1 for nullifying it1 for cheating it of its complete victory over life4 ,and that is why all dreams or concepts of eternal life are1 and cannot help being1 tainted by a certain hostility to sex3 because where eternal life is the scheme1 sex drops out4 ,conversely1 all hostility to eternal life is and cannot help being tainted by a certain positiveness1 friendliness and favour towards mortal life and its ally sex3 because where eternal life is an impossibility1 sex is indispensable4 ,it is for this reason that1 in its depths1 ,christianity is more logical and more acceptable to a rational man than ,mohammedanism4 ,christianity1 accepting the concept ,eternal ,life1 says3 8,in heaven there will be no marriage or giving in marriage40#a ,it realized that you cannot eat your cake and have it4 ,mohammedanism1 while accepting the concept ,eternal ,life1 imagines an eternity of sex-life into the bargain1 which is an absurdity4 ,mohammed did not realize that you cannot eat your cake and have it4 ,read the ,koran and you will understand how it happened that he could be guilty of this confusion of thought4 ,sex1 then1 while as a scheme it is opposed to eternal life1 is nevertheless the enemy of death--the most unconquerable1 crafty1 resourceful and untiring enemy of death--so much so1 indeed1 that whereas mortal life is not nearly such a good opposite of death as is eternal life 7for the dead mortal is eternally dead to this world71 sex might1 and in this book will be regarded as the opposite of death1 the reverse of death4 ,this point is important in any case2 but it is particularly important to me in this book2 because all my conclusions will be based upon it4 ,to repeat1 then1 the equation reads3 ,sex ,mortal ,life2 ,no-,sex ,eternal ,life1 or1 in the absence of ,eternal ,life1 ,death4 ,from this chapter onwards1 however1 save in regard to the one particular question of virtue1 ,i shall cease from considering ,eternal ,life2 because1 as we see from the equation1 ,eternal ,life and ,death come strangely as correlatives together--that is to say1 for all ordinary purposes1 and as far as this world is concerned1 they mean the same thing--they both oppose mortal life and sex4 ,a very significant conclusion arises from this3 that in this conflict of sex and death1 all those who are opposed to sex1 or who call it a sin1 or who associate it with guilt1 or who cast odium upon it1 range themselves on the side of death2 while all those who stand by sex1 favour it1 wish to vindicate it1 and claim for it a character absolutely free from all sin1 guilt or odium1 range themselves against death4 ,here ,christianity is quite logical4 ,at its root it is hostile to mortal life1 and in favour of ,eternal ,life4 ,but it never refers to ,eternal ,life as a possibility on this globe1 but always as an existence that is a correlative of death on this globe4 ,christianity1 therefore1 being an advocate of ,eternal ,life1 very logically preaches that sex is to be deplored1 to be avoided1 and1 if possible1 negatived4 ,and the ,puritan1 who may be regarded as the extreme ,christian1 is notorious for his implacable loathing of sex4 ,unconsciously he sees quite clearly that any scheme of organic life that involves sex1 must be a substitute for eternal organic life#b--which in an idealized form is the life for which he has been taught to crave4 ,death to him1 therefore1 is merely a merciful gateway leading from ,sex into ,eternal ,life4 ,being the foe of ,sex1 he knows quite well that ,death must be his ally1 his accomplice1 his ringleader1 in his conspiracy to realize ,eternal ,life4 ,is this quite clear8 ,for the present ,i have wished to say nothing concerning the respective merits either of ,sex1 ,death1 ,eternal ,life1 or ,mortal ,life2 ,i have only wished to point out that1 as schemes1 as ideas1 they are mutually exclusive and irreconcilable1 and that you cannot desire the one without thereby coveting the doom of the other4 ,as far as this world and its problems are concerned1 however--and who1 if you please1 stands outside this world and its problems8--we have to deal with one kind of life only--,mortal ,life4 ,as ,i have shown1 the necessary correlative of ,mortal ,life1 if it is to continue1 is ,sex4 ,we are concerned1 therefore1 immediately and directly1 with ,mortal ,life1 and its indispensable correlative ,sex4 ,we need not accept the scheme as it is thus unceremoniously thrust upon us4 ,we can deny ,mortal ,life and its concomitant need1 ,sex1 by putting an end to everything at least for ourselves1 through straightway committing suicide the very moment we realize that ,mortal ,life and ,sex are undesirable4 ,if1 however1 we accept the proposition1 8,mortal ,life is desirable10 we necessarily commit ourselves to the rider1 8,sex is desirable40 ,these features are all we know concerning ,life2 they constitute the two sides of the only kind of ,life of which we are aware1 and however real and realistic our visions of an ,eternal ,life may be1 however vivid our mental pictures of a ,heaven may seem1 such visions and such mental pictures1 as we very well know1 are of a kind the true existence of which is quite incapable of proof or demonstration2 whereas ,mortal ,life is here before us1 with us and in us1 and the way to live it is our chief concern2 the way to live it well so that it may redound to the benefit and credit of all1 is our highest concern4 ,throughout this book1 ,i shall argue on the assumption that the reader1 like myself1 believes that mortal life is desirable4 ,i shall take it for granted that he1 like me1 is content to allow transcendental questions to weigh with him only in so far as they do not render him hostile to ,mortal ,life4 ,i shall therefore assume all along that he believes1 as ,i do1 that ,sex is desirable1 however far the consequences of such an admission may lead him4 ,be this as it may1 let him entertain no qualms as to the direction in which ,i wish these consequences to lead him4 ,there are more than two alternatives in the choice of one's attitude to ,sex4 ,to most people there appear to be but two opposite extremes3 the attitude of the lecherous reprobate who makes decent women ashamed of being women2 and the attitude of the ,puritan who1 in his heart of hearts1 feels that if only he could have been at the ,almighty's elbow at the time of the ,creation1 he would have respectfully suggested a somewhat more 8drawing-room0 method of propagating the species4 ,to neither of these attitudes has this book1 or the spirit of it1 even the remotest relation4 ,the acknowledgment that ,mortal ,life is desirable1 and that consequently its indispensable correlative ,sex is desirable1 can be made by a man in full possession of a healthy control over his passions1#c in a state of complete mastery over his appetites1 and endowed with the most fastidious taste as to where normal desire and its gratification end1 and where excess begins4 ,extremes belong only to the uncultured1 to the hogs of life4 ,it is they who make everything appear disgusting1 simply because they are unable to approach a single aspect of life with that amount of understanding and reverence which is due to all things connected with the sacred task of making mankind and his existence an honour and not a curse to the universe4 ,to accept the proposition that ,mortal ,life is desirable and to commit one's self by so doing to its inevitable rider that ,sex is desirable1 may lead one very far1 as this book will show2 but1 if it lead one to a tastelessly pornographic or licentious attitude towards the most fundamental instinct of life1 then one is of a nature that has no right to ,mortal ,life1 much less1 therefore1 to its indispensable correlative ,sex4 ,without wishing to labour this point1 but with a keen sense of the host of misunderstandings and prejudices that will cling like barnacles to a book of this kind1 unless ,i make my position unmistakably clear from the start1 let me put the case a little differently by the use of another instinct of ,mortal ,life4 ,let me say1 to accept the proposition1 ,mortal ,life is desirable1 is to commit one's self to its inevitable rider that eating and drinking are desirable4 ,there is no objection to this statement as it stands4 ,all who endorse ,mortal ,life also endorse eating and drinking4 ,and those who attack eating and drinking1 simultaneously strike at ,mortal ,life4 ,this conclusion1 however1 provides absolutely no sanction for those who are sufficiently material and gross to make food and drink things of shame and of horror4 ,no man1 therefore1 need fear lest by acknowledging that eating and drinking are desirable he should find himself supporting gluttony1 drunkenness and bestiality of all kinds4 ,it is1 however1 a strange and significant coincidence that1 where we find hostility to ,sex1 we also find a certain suspicion of all things connected with the body4 ,the ,puritans did not accept ,sex as desirable2 at the best they held it to be a necessary evil2 but we also find the ,puritans hostile to eating and drinking1 and not only to excessive eating and drinking4 ,i have already shown with sufficient elaboration elsewhere what regrettable reforms in food and drink they introduced into ,england in the seventeenth century4#d ,this only supports my contention that you cannot be hostile to ,sex without being hostile to ,mortal ,life in general4 ,if1 therefore1 you believe that the acceptance of ,sex is immoral1 as ,otto ,weininger did2#e if you believe1 as he did1 that 8woman is the sin of man02#f if1 moreover1 you claim1 as he did1 that 8it is the ,jew and the woman who are the apostles of pairing to bring guilt on mankind02#g if1 again1 you assert that 8sexual union is immoral02#h that 8women must really and truly and spontaneously relinquish it02#i that 8woman will exist as long as man's guilt is inexpiated1 until he has really vanquished his own sexuality02#aj that 8man must free himself of sex1 for in that way1 and that way alone1 can he free woman02#aa and1 finally--this gem of negativeness3 8all sexuality implies degradation02#ab--;if this be your position1 ,i say1 then1 you must logically be hostile to ,mortal ,life1 and you cannot rationally accept it4 ,your only course is to commit suicide4 ,this1 as we know1 ,otto ,weininger was logical and consistent enough to do4 ,he died by his own hand on ,october #d1 #aijc4 7#b7 ,,mortal ,,life ,,and ,,its ,,consequences ,,accepted ,as we have seen1 it is impossible to have it both ways and to remain consistent4 ,you are at liberty1 of course1 to take up the ,puritan's1 or ,otto ,weininger's1 or ,st4 ,paul's attitude towards ,sex2 but1 by so doing1 you straightway disclaim ,mortal ,life itself and reject it utterly4 ,let this be quite clear to you before you go any further1 because a good deal depends upon this simple but profoundly significant issue4 ,the fact that ,st4 ,paul and the ,puritans did not put an end to themselves right away1 as ,otto ,weininger was clear-headed and honest enough to do1 need not disturb you4 ,fanatics are rarely clear-headed1 and they are scarcely ever honest4 ,it is sufficient for my purpose to point to ,st4 ,paul's and the ,puritan's hostility to life in general in order to show that1 although they did not reach the logical end of their journey1 they were certainly well advanced along the road thither4 ,besides1 if you study ,st4 ,paul and the ,puritans1 you will find1 as ,i have done1 that there is perhaps another explanation to their apparent inconsistency4 ,a man may remain longer than he likes in a certain vicinity or apartment1 if he feels it his duty1 before taking his leave1 to get others to accompany him thence1 to persuade and exhort others to forsake the place as well4 ,st4 ,paul certainly felt it his duty to act in this way1 and so for that matter did ,schopenhauer4 ,for us who accept ,mortal ,life and say 8,yea0 to it wholeheartedly1 there are certain very grave duties too4 ,the thing to which we say 8,yea10 we wish to keep both clean1 sweet and alluring4 ,this world is our home1 and we take a pride in it4 ,we must make it such that we are able to take a pride in it4 ,we recognize that ,mortal ,life includes pain as a prominent factor2 but1 provided that pain is practically inseparable from the best purposes of life 7as1 for instance1 the pain of self-discipline1 self-mastership1 the pain of habituation to new knowledge1 new arts1 the pain resulting from the natural relationships to our myriads of fellows1 and the pains of child-birth71 we say 8,yea0 to it too1 and with the same wholeheartedness4 ,we do not shrink from pain1 as ,schopenhauer did1 we do not magnify it or concentrate upon it1 as he did1 and condemn the whole of existence because of it4 ,we do not call our glorious history1 as the ,king of the ,animals1 the ,martyrdom of ,man1 as ,winwood ,reade did4 ,we call our history the ,triumph of ,man2 and it is because we wish to maintain it as the triumph of man that we face it with spirit and positiveness4 ,our duties are grave1 ,i say2 they involve everything1 in fact1 that can be conceived as belonging to the task of keeping that to which we say 8,yea0 in the highest degree worthy of our 8,yea0--worthy1 that is to say1 of our unreserved acceptance4 ,the conduct of ,mortal ,life1 therefore1 is our principal concern4 ,and for this conduct to be correct and fruitful in good things1 we must be quite clear as to the 8shall0 and the 8shall not0 of what we should hate and what we should love1 of what we should call bad1 and what we should call good4 ,throughout this book the word 8good0 will always mean 8that which is favourable to the best kind of ,mortal ,life and its multiplication40 ,if this book reveals any hate at all1 it will be for that which is hostile to the best kind of life1 and if it reveals any love at all it will be for everything that is friendly to the best kind of life4 ,this takes us far1 no doubt2 but not farther1 ,i believe1 than anyone should wish to go who has said 8,yea0 honestly and sanguinely to ,mortal ,life4 ,for instance1 in opposition to men like ,st4 ,paul1 ,knox1 ,calvin1 ,prynne1 ,schopenhauer1 ,otto ,weininger and their like1 we say that ,sex is good1 ,woman is good1 the flesh is good4 ,and we heartily dislike men like ,st4 ,paul1 ,knox1 ,calvin1 ,prynne1 ,schopenhauer and ,otto ,weininger because their attitude shows not only hostility to ,woman and to ,sex1 but also1 by implication1 to ,mortal ,life1 to which we have said 8,yea40 ,we call good all that which actuates us and maintains us in a proper exercise of our functions1 and makes ,mortal ,life desirable3 appetite1 desire1 lust1 motherhood1 fertility1 reproductive love1 reverence for the body1 prepossession in favour of health and prejudice against sickness1 respect of love1 of beauty and of its multiplication4 ,we also call good the loathing of ugliness and the desire to suppress it2 we therefore approve of deep suspicion towards ugliness and illness1 and towards everything and everybody that attempts to give ugliness and illness fine-sounding and euphemistic names1 and we cultivate a love of moderation and a loathing of excess4 ,we call bad all that thwarts us in a proper exercise of our functions and all that makes ,mortal ,life undesirable or seem undesirable3 loss of appetite or desire1 the abuse of appetite or desire1 as of all things2 the finding of excuses or extenuating circumstances for ugliness1 botchedness and sickness4 ,we also call the following bad3 excess1 sterility1 non-reproductive love1 prostitution1 homosexuality1 irreverence towards the body1 the setting of transcendental questions before vital questions4 ,on our side1 in our advocacy of the first-named things1 we have our instincts which1 if they are sound1 confirm us on every point4 ,it frequently happens1 however1 that ,mortal ,life is so difficult1 and those who preach against it are so many1 so eloquent and so powerful1 that we need almost an intellectual assent over and above our instinctive acceptance of it4 ,for it is precisely in the moments of our greatest weakness1 when we feel uncertain1 when we have made mistakes and know that we have erred1 that the preachers against life and the body1 and against the fundamental instincts and desires of ,mortal ,life1 will seem to be right1 will seem almost to convince us that they are right4 ,like vultures they wait afar off till they see the body of our trust and hope in life1 the corpse of our clean conscience1 prostrate on the ground1 and then down they swoop and devour the carrion that is their natural food4 ,it is before such disasters happen that an intellectual assent to the deepest promptings of our instincts is the greatest need of all4 ,in practical life it may be taken as a general rule that it is more helpful to have an intellectual justification for our mistakes and the instincts that have led to them1 than the most convincing theories in favour of our virtues4 ,for it is innocence in the exercise of our natural functions that the preachers against ,mortal ,life and the body are most anxious to undermine1 and most successful in undermining4 ,and how often1 particularly when an instinct has1 so to speak1 8drawn in its horns10 or ceased to assert itself owing to a momentary mistake1 check or rebuff1 would not an intellectual justification of its vigorous re-assertion help us to tide over the evil hour without our falling a prey to the opposing party--to the enemies of ,mortal ,life and the body6 ,if1 however1 we bear in mind the maxim that everything is 8good0 that is favourable to the best kind of ,mortal ,life1 and everything is 8bad0 that is unfavourable to the best kind of life2 if1 moreover1 we stand bravely and firmly by the principle that ,mortal ,life is acceptable and desirable1 and therefore that all it exacts for its continuance must also be acceptable and desirable1 and consequently that the things of the body--beauty1 charm1 ardour--together with the flesh1 the world1 sex1 woman1 procreation1 multiplication and good food1 are for the glory1 joy and exaltation of ,mortal ,life and man2 if1 over and above all this1 we heroically embrace pain as a necessary incidental factor in the process of living1 then1 ,i say1 we have an intellectual weapon far more formidable and far more effective for the warding off of those vultures of gloom and doubt--the preachers against life and the body--than any known engine of destruction could possibly be4 ,it is this intellectual attitude to ,mortal ,life1 with all its consequences in our code of morals1 our likes and dislikes1 that throughout this book ,i shall call the 8positive0 or 8yea-saying0 attitude3 while the opposite attitude of mind will be designated by the word 8negative40#ac ,nor shall ,i refer any longer in these pages to 8,mortal ,life10 but will speak merely of ,life itself3 for not only is it the only kind of life that will concern me here1 but also1 as we know nothing about ,eternal ,life1 and our only notions of life are derived entirely from what we know of ,mortal ,life1 ,mortal ,life and ,life are to all intents and purposes one and the same thing for us1 and the expression 8,mortal ,life0 can well fall out at this stage of the discussion4 7#c7 ,,the ,,characteristics ,,of ,,the ,,positive ,,mind ,unless they are very delicate or very sick1 all children are positive4 ,they are fresh from the anvil of ,life4 ,life itself speaks through them without reserve1 without constraint4 ,they have made no mistakes yet1 or are not aware of having made any2 they have had none of those rude shocks that shake our faith in ,life and render us an easy prey to those vultures of which ,i have already spoken1 that live on the carrion of shattered hopes and broken consciences4 ,they say 8,yea0 to ,life innocently and unconsciously1 like kittens playing with balls of wool4 ,and it is because they say 8,yea0 to ,life innocently and unconsciously that they are so deeply interesting to the positive philosopher4 ,because in them he sees the attitude which he must maintain and sustain intellectually1 despite all the shocks and misfortunes life has brought4 ,but ,i point out again that ,i speak of this intellectual positiveness only as a helpful confirmation of sound instincts4 ,if the sound instincts are not there1 the positive intellectual attitude is nothing but a pose4 ,there is something strangely pathetic about this positiveness of the child4 ,the philosopher knows the wilderness it is in4 ,he knows that on the mountain peaks all around1 the vultures are waiting hungrily to see it make its first mistake1 to see it writhe under its first misfortune--or its first 8guilt0 as they like to call it4 ,he knows with what extraordinary vigilance they are tracking its footsteps1 so that they may be there in time1 so that they may be at its side in the first moment of its doubt in ,life1 to tell it that ,life is sinful1 that lust is sinful1 that sex is sinful1 that the ,world1 the ,flesh and the ,devil are interchangeable terms4 ,and the positive philosopher cannot help wondering with some alarm how the child will survive this first encounter with doubt1 with suspicion1 and with distrust concerning that to which a moment ago it said 8,yea0 so wholeheartedly4 ,the positive philosopher trembles over the outcome of the conflict4 ,with fear and trepidation he forges the weapons of intellectual positiveness and flings them with anxious prodigality before the child1 hoping that they will sustain it in the struggle and confirm its best instincts2 trusting with all his heart that they will revive its 8,yea0 to ,life before it is completely overcome4 ,and when the positive philosopher succeeds in this and sees the birds of ill-omen turn disconsolately away1 foiled in their endeavour1 he celebrates his feast of feasts2 because there is more rejoicing in his heart over one child that is saved from negativeness than over thousands that repent6 ,to the positive philosopher1 then1 the healthy child is the best pattern for the yea-saying and positive man4 ,the only danger the child is in1 as ,i have shown1 consists in the fact that it is intellectually unprepared to justify its 8,yea0 in the face of the preachers of 8,nay40 ,apart from this one flaw1 however--which in a universally positive world would not be felt as a disadvantage at all 7because it is only in negative environments and negative ages that a conscious or intellectual confirmation of one's soundest instincts is necessary7--the child1 or the animal for that matter1 presents the perfect example of the positive attitude towards ,life4 ,the positive philosopher1 therefore1 learns from the child1 and watches it with interest4 ,the principal characteristic of the healthy child is1 that it does not play with its primary appetites2 it does not laugh about them2 it cannot abide a joke about them4 ,watch a healthy child eat6 ,it is absolutely serious1 absorbed1 concentrated1 intent6 ,a very healthy boy will even frown over his meal1 just as he will frown when he eats a piece of chocolate4 ,it is obvious from his expression that eating is no joke with him4 ,it is one of the gravest1 most pressing1 most engrossing interests in life4 ,and the same holds good of all healthy1 positive adults4 ,watch a healthy and positive adult at his meals2 he is serious to a fault6 ,it is only when the demands of his body have been satisfied that he begins to indulge in levity4 ,the man who habitually jokes at the beginning of a meal is past salvation4 ,he is negative by nature and cannot be rescued4 ,seriousness towards the primary instinct of self-preservation is one of the principal characteristics of the healthy child4 ,but the healthy child is not yet fully1 consciously concerned about any other instinct2 if it were--if1 for instance1 it were fully conscious of the reproductive instinct--we may be quite sure that it would take it quite seriously too2 for it is serious--most serious perhaps--even when it is playing4 ,in spite of all the apparent light-heartedness of the healthy child1 which is all that superficial people can see in it2 in spite of the ease with which it turns from sleep to wakefulness1 from tears to laughter1 and vice vers1 there is a profundity1 a sobriety1 a solidity about its seriousness that nothing can affect4 ,it takes its own body1 itself1 the world1 and life tremendously seriously4 ,it takes its wants and its desires seriously4 ,it takes its loves and its hates seriously4 ,little children can be homicidal in their loathing of other children2 they can be heroic in their devotion4 ,those who always depict children with a smile on their chubby faces1 and hopping about on one leg1 know nothing about them4 ,they know nothing of the imperturbable gravity of the child1 and of positiveness generally4 ,to watch the face of an elderly1 negative spinster when a really healthy boy loses his temper1 is to witness in one human countenance the whole history of the long conflict between those vultures of which ,i have spoken and the artless yea-sayer to ,life4 ,later on1 if he is carefully handled1 this boy will take his love seriously2 he will cling to the girl he chooses in a manner that will make that same spinster marvel at his determination1 and he will be as fierce and as serious in his desire for the woman of his choice as he once was over his games1 over his hates1 and over his meals4 ,laughter is not nearly such a common characteristic of healthy positive life as the superficial imagine--more particularly noisy laughter4 ,in every mixed party where much loud laughter or shrill laughter is heard1 there is sure to be a good deal1 not of gaiety1 not of wanton spirits1 but of nervous irascibility1 sexual excitation1 and particularly sexual abstinence1 exasperation and--negativeness6 ,he who travels the world over ascertains this curious fact3 that loud1 shrill laughter is essentially the social noise of ,puritanical countries4 ,positive people take too serious an attitude to life1 to themselves1 to each other1 and particularly to members of the opposite sex1 constantly to vent what they feel in an idle cackle or giggle4 ,they laugh1 but their hilarity is short1 violent1 and apparently effective2 because it seems to relieve them for longer periods than does the laughter of negative people4 ,one of the chief characteristics of the positive mind1 then1 is the gravity1 the solemn interest1 with which it confronts life itself1 the body that holds it1 and everything vital1 including sex4 ,behold the healthy child1 and you have an automaton guided absolutely by a positive mind6 ,to retain this positive mind throughout one's youth and adulthood is the greatest triumph--particularly nowadays--that anyone can achieve4 ,he who achieves it may well laugh2 he has a right to laugh2 for he has mastered the most redoubtable foe a man can encounter--the powerful false values that are now seeking to prevail everywhere1 and over the victims of which the vultures are muttering their thanksgiving4 ,the only positive form of laughter is the expression of a consciousness of acquired power4 ,this is ,hobbes' view1 it was ,stendhal's view2 it is the biologist's view1 who says that laughter is the expression of superior adaptation4 ,another characteristic of the positive mind is its forgetfulness in regard to the things that incapacitate it for taking a lively interest in life4 ,this quality of the mind is simply a spiritual counterpart of the healthy body's power of evacuating those portions of the food absorbed which cannot be assimilated without hurt3 forgetting and digesting being the same function of evacuation in two different departments4 ,the positive mind1 like the healthy body it is in1 knows how to get rid of a useless thing quickly--in fact knows how to forget4 ,things do not weigh on it1 or bear it down1 any more than a hearty meal lies heavily on its body's stomach4 ,its body digests quickly1 and has very soon done with the process4 ,the positive mind digests quickly--particularly its supposed misdeeds4 ,that is why it is so difficult to give a positive person a guilty conscience2 because a guilty conscience is simply a costive conscience4 ,the positive mind remembers only so much as interests it keenly1 or as much as does not stand in the way of a continued positive attitude to life2 just as its body only retains the nourishment out of all it absorbs4 ,the positive mind has no fear of pain1 particularly if this pain is incurred in a vital effort4 ,little boys will actually enjoy enormous discomfort and pain1 provided it is encountered in doing things that reek of active life1 that bring their bodies into violent action1 and give them the thrill and bracing sensation of overcoming an obstacle1 of resisting an attempt at capture1 or of effecting a capture4 8,yea0 is their constant attitude to everything1 even to the things which1 to the adult1 are disagreeable4 ,i remember on one occasion1 when ,i was walking home from a friend's house in the pouring rain1 ,i met that same friend's two little sons returning at a perfectly leisurely pace from school4 ,i had an umbrella1 they had not4 ,naturally ,i felt it incumbent upon me to see them home1 and1 gathering them carefully under my silk shelter1 ,i marched them smartly in the direction of their father's house4 ,i soon found1 however1 that all my pains were wasted on them1 for whenever ,i was not looking1 out one of them would stray into the drenching shower2 and when ,i insisted on their keeping quite close to me1 each of them gravely extended his free arm out into the rain to catch as much of it as possible1 while every puddle was conscientiously and solemnly explored by their feet4 ,this may seem a trifling circumstance to dwell upon2 but unimportant as it was1 it struck me as being but another example of the indomitable yea-saying of healthy childhood to anything and everything4 ,the gravity of the little boy when he does these things shows clearly the relation between positiveness and things that matter--things that have weight1 solidity1 importance1 tangibility1 definition4 ,another incident occurs to me as ,i write4 ,i remember once feeling a little intrigued by the sight of a knot of little village boys standing like conspirators very seriously together in one of the streets of my favourite ,sussex village4 ,their ages ranged from about eight to eleven years4 ,i knew them all perfectly well1 and the fact that ,i drew close up to them did not disturb them in the least4 ,when ,i was near enough to discover what they were talking about1 this is what ,i saw and heard3--,in the centre of the grave and almost hushed group there stood a lad of about nine years of age4 ,he was exhibiting his dirty hands proudly and almost arrogantly to his friends1 and the latter were listening with rapt attention to his harangue4 ,i noticed that they all appeared to be a little crestfallen and dejected1 save the boy who was demonstrating with his hands1 and one other boy who seemed to be arguing with him4 ,now the explanation of all this profound interest1 rapt attention and conflicting emotions1 was as follows3--,the central figure1 the boy of nine1 had hands that were covered thickly with large warts1 and he possessed one particularly big and ugly-looking specimen just beneath the knuckle of a finger of his right hand4 ,he was exhibiting these horrible excrescences to his schoolfellows triumphantly and defying them to show anything like them1 or even approaching them in size and number2 and there was but one of them who had a sufficiently respectable record1 where warts were concerned1 to be able to answer him and meet him1 as it were1 on equal ground1 and this was the boy who had been contesting his point all the time4 ,again1 this is a trifling incident1 but it is full of significance for the analyst of the positive mind4 ,this yea-saying to anything and everything1 which surges up with the conviction of an explosion at every moment1 everywhere1 is far more important1 far more profound1 far more solid1 as a characteristic of childhood1 than that mythical innocence and sweet merriness which is the only characteristic of healthy childhood that superficial child-lovers will either grant or recognize4 7#d7 ,,discipline ,,in ,,its ,,relation ,,to ,,the ,,positive ,,mind ,the discipline of healthy children1 because of their very positiveness1 is one of the most intricate and delicate tasks that devolves upon the adult man or woman4 ,it is the task and problem of practical morality1 and to solve it without chilling any of that valuable positiveness of childhood1 to impose a limit1 in fact1 upon juvenile positiveness without destroying or blighting it1 is the most difficult achievement in education4 ,to say 8yea0 to everything--to mud1 to filth1 to danger1 to illness 7for positive children are positive even to their bodily disorders71 to the rain1 to animals1 to vermin1 to the knife1 to explosives1 to ladders1 to dangerous altitudes1 to the precipice1 and so on--is of course1 supremely delightful1 supremely healthy2 but it cannot be allowed in its full catholicity4 ,this ,i am perfectly ready to knowledge4 ,the luxuriance of the child's positiveness must be pruned4 ,the human being must be reared for society4 ,he must be taught the limitations of his freedom2 above all1 he must be taught taste and discrimination3 what to select and what to reject4 ,and there is perhaps no more solemn moment in life than when a full-grown man or woman1 in perfect possession of all the necessary intellectual equipment for the task1 approaches his universally yea-saying junior to discipline it--that is to say1 to determine its 8yea10 to limit it1 and to confine it only to a certain set of things4 ,the problem is obviously1 how can the child be kept positive to this world while being rendered negative to the undesirable elements in this life4 ,or to put it in a sentence3 how can ,i make my little boy say 8,no0 to warts without saying 8,no0 to the world8 ,to all those who approach the child with a negative creed1 to all those who are vultures themselves1 or who derive from the vulture breed1 the order is clearly 8,hands off60 ,only people who have retained their positive attitude to life should be allowed to interfere where children are concerned2 because ordered social life itself is discipline1 and but very little careful and discriminating guidance need be added4 ,when ,herbert ,spencer said that children of large families were always better than those of small families1 because in the case of the former the parents have less time to interfere with natural processes1 he propounded a very true principle as far as the modern negative world is concerned2 because most of the juvenile discipline nowadays is not only imposed by negative people1 but the very social environment in which these people move and breathe is also negative and hostile to life4 ,the object and province of juvenile discipline are simply these3 to rear a positive human being for social life2 to discipline it to selection and rejection without forcing it to scout or to suspect vital functions or vital virtues4 ,it sounds simple enough when stated in a single line2 but how many misunderstandings1 how many ruined careers1 how many bitter1 disappointed and ill-adapted adults are not the result of the opposite principle1 the principle which reads that the positive child should above all be taught to distrust its deepest instincts1 its body1 and to be suspicious of the world1 the flesh and the ,devil--the latter meaning very often no more than wanton spirits4 ,sometimes when one sees the kind of people--men and women--into whose gentle bloodless hands1 into whose drab1 lifeless but well-meaning existences1 healthy helpless children are made to fall1 it is difficult not to shudder4 ,how good they are6 ,how sweet is their ideal of what a child ought to be6 ,how vigilant they are for any signs of 8wickedness06 ,who can submit to their ,procrustean method and survive a whole1 positive being8 ,they know6 ,they know what pleases ,god and the angels6 ,no one is better informed than they on this subject4 ,honest8--no one could be more so than they4 ,reliable8--they could be trusted to stamp the exuberance out of a boa-constrictor6 ,good8--not merely good1 but holy6 ,their mild cerulean eyes gaze beyond the child in their tender care1 and towards a wonderful ideal1 far away1 of perfect childhood--a bright1 merry1 glowing angel who1 preferably1 would have wings on his shoulders1 la ,joshua ,reynolds1 and nothing--no nothing at all--beneath the thorax4 ,his body might end there with advantage4 ,that is their belief1 their hope1 their ambition4 ,all human beings might end there with advantage2 but above all the child1 because children are so pure1 so guileless1 so sweet2 it is such a pity that---- ,luckily1 robust positiveness has a tenacity and a vigour that frequently survive even the contagion of these toads with evil consciences4 ,but how few are the survivals compared with the number that go under annually6 ,that is why little girls survive the process more often than little boys2 because1 as a rule1 unless attacked from the side of the body1 a female's positiveness to life is wholly and utterly unbreakable4 ,but it is deeper1 more silent1 less conspicuous1 less articulate than that of the little boy2 therefore it more easily eludes the cerulean but very superficial glance of the negative adult4 ,it is more unconscious and consequently less liable to betray itself in the presence of constraining influences4 ,it manifests itself1 too1 in a less arresting1 less annoying fashion2 it appears to be 8harmless40 ,behold the girls that are turned out annually from convent schools or strictly ,puritanical ,high ,schools4 ,if their tremendous positiveness had not been secret1 concealed1 subcutaneous1 unconscious1 how could it possibly have survived8 ,again and again ,i have heard the negative adult deny a passionate positive temperament in a little girl1 when ,i saw it clearly4 ,it is this mistake1 this inability to detect a trait that is deep enough to be very far below the surface1 that is alone responsible for the salvation of thousands of girls to-day4 ,modern man is not only less positive generally than woman1 but the modicum of positiveness he possesses is also more apparent1 less resisting1 more self-assertive1 more conscious and therefore less secret4 ,it also manifests itself in a more obtrusive and more irritating way4#ad ,boys suffer most from a negative discipline4 ,men are suffering most physically and mentally from our negative age4 ,women only suffer from the indirect results of the age--that is to say1 from the deterioration it causes in their men4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,see ,st4 ,matthew1 chap4 xxii4 verse #cj3 8,for in the resurrection they neither marry1 nor are given in marriage1 but are as the angels of ,god in heaven40 #b ,it should always be remembered that the promise of ,christianity is 8the resurrection of the body40 #c ,for an explanation of what ,i mean by this much-abused phrase1 see pp4 #gj1 #ij-id4 #d ,see my ,defence of ,aristocracy 7,constable71 chap4 ,v4 #e ,see ,sex and ,character 7,heinemann1 #aijf71 p4 #bii4 #f ,ibid41 p4 #bii4 #g ,ibid41 p4 #cbi4 #h ,ibid41 p4 #ccf4 #i ,ibid41 p4 #cdc4 #aj ,ibid41 p4 #cde4 #aa ,ibid41 p4 #cde4 #ab ,op4 cit41 p4 #cdf4 #ac ,of course1 ,i mean this intellectual positiveness only as a rational confirmation of bodily and constitutional positiveness2 for frequently when ,i shall use the expression 8positive0 it will also mean the unconscious1 spontaneous positiveness of a healthy body4 ,from the context there will be no mistaking which ,i mean4 ,the same remark applies naturally to the expression intellectual negativeness4 ,for instance1 ,st4 ,paul and ,calvin were both intellectually as well as spontaneously negative4 ,an unhealthy child1 or an unhealthy adult1 may be only unconsciously or spontaneously so4 #ad ,in this connexion1 see pp4 #ih-ajc4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,the ,subject ,treated ,generally ,in my ,introduction ,i have said enough to show that ,i can be neither a so-called ,woman-hater nor a ,woman-despiser4 ,and if ,i have departed somewhat from the common rules laid down by precedent for the writing of a book of this nature1 it was because ,i felt compelled to safeguard some of my hardest and most unacceptable views and conclusions from the withering suspicion of having been dictated by bitterness or resentment4 ,other men have written about ,woman1 and have said hard things about her too3 ,knox1 ,schopenhauer1 ,nietzsche and ,weininger are among them4 ,neither ,knox1 ,schopenhauer nor ,nietzsche1 however1 started life with such a large fund of prepossession in her favour4 ,neither ,knox1 ,schopenhauer nor ,nietzsche can be said to have been free1 as ,i am1 from those bitter experiences and shocks that distort one's vision and destroy one's focus4 ,if ,i appear to say things that are hard1 therefore let it be plainly understood at this stage in my work1 that ,i do so only because ,i wish to speak frankly and clearly about my subject2 and that in view of the muddled and maudlin misunderstandings that now hang like a stifling mist over the female sex1 it is impossible to dissipate errors or to take up a clear and definite stand at all1 without occasionally seeming hard1 unrelenting1 metallic4 ,any flash may be taken for a flash of steel1 particularly when one is in a fog4 ,my intention in writing this book was to save ,woman from the cruel misconceptions that are steadily undermining her body and her character1 and although there is much in my work that will try the patience and the endurance of many of my readers--particularly men and unhealthy women--,i could not possibly eliminate a single one of the more provocative passages without failing in what ,i feel to be my duty to my undertaking4 ,i maintain that ,woman is now miserable1 wretched1 desperate4 ,i am not one of those who are certain that present woman is a product of man's own fashioning4 ,if she were she would not be miserable1 because1 step by step1 as man has advanced--or declined6--she too would have changed1 and thus remained his adapted and contented mate4 ,but there is something essentially idiosyncratic in ,woman1 something that makes her an individual1 unalterable and for ever fixed2 something that nothing can fashion4 ,you can make her miserable2 you can make her sick2 you cannot change her6 ,i would go further and say1 that all women from ,pekin to ,london and ,lisbon are the same2 they are only a little more happy or healthy1 or a little more miserable and ill1 according as to whether their men do or do not understand how to treat them4 ,disbelieving utterly1 as ,i do1 in the theory that ,modern ,woman is as man has made her--,i mean apart from her wretchedness or sickness1 of course--,i cannot uphold the view that ,woman has any destiny to work out for herself4 ,she has no 8true ,womanhood0 that has yet to be sought and found while we leave her alone4 ,we cannot leave her alone4 ,the moment we leave her alone she ceases to be true ,woman3 where1 then1 could she go alone to seek and find her 8true ,womanhood08 ,all those who speak of a 8true ,womanhood0 to be sought and found away from us and from the children we give her1 would do both ,woman and the world a kindness1 a great and inestimable kindness1 in henceforward for ever holding their tongues on the subject of ,woman4 ,we try to soothe our consciences2 we try to slur over our social mistakes2 we sneakingly pretend to ignore the fact that our social life is wrong2 and we1 and even some women themselves1 preach the accursed doctrine that there is a true ,womanhood to be sought and found in women alone1 by women alone1 for women alone6 ,we have not1 cannot1 will not1 do our duty by ,women1 and we assuage their blind and often unconscious misery by this damnable falsehood which thousands of them in their trustfulness believe4 ,we tell them that somewhere in the ,far ,away1 in the ,never-,never-,land--not in the ,backwoods of ,superior ,bunkum--there is a ,true ,woman1 a hybrid of a misunderstood ,joan of ,arc and a glacier4 ,she is alone glorying in her ,true ,womanhood4 ,no man has fashioned her4 ,she has no fashioning--or fashion either1 for that matter6--and she simply sits and exults in her manless1 childless1 splendid independence6 ,towards this ideal we bid our sisters strive--nay1 some of our sisters themselves bid their sisters strive2 and we have not enough decency left to blush at our perfidy1 at our blackguardly deception6 ,the problem is out of hand2 its difficulties have proved too much for us1 otherwise we could not have the barefaced duplicity to settle it in this transparently farcical manner4 ,what should we think of a cattle-farmer1 who1 on discovering that he had not enough pasture-land for all his sheep1 taught the pastureless ones1 when they had grown thin and wan for want of their proper food1 that there was a ,true ,sheephood somewhere1 a lofty ideal--a ,sheephood that could go without pasture-land and without grass altogether2 a ,sheephood that was self-contained and self-reliant1 independent and indisputable1 and that they were to go in search of that ,true ,sheephood1 and if necessary grow thinner and less attractive every day in their search for it8 ,we should feel that they would have to be very inferior sheep to believe this story1 or1 rather1 very real sheep indeed6 ,everything in their body1 from their cud-chewing molars to their long grass-digesting gut1 would surely tell them that the ,ideal of ,true ,sheephood was arrant nonsense1 and cruel arrant nonsense too4 ,no1 it is impossible to accept the 8,true ,womanhood0 ideal of woman gloriously alone1 emancipated from man1 independent and 8discovered40 ,inasmuch as we have not fashioned her1 and could not do so if we tried1 woman is as her rle in the course of evolution has made her4 ,she is certainly more unhappy1 more tormented1 more unwell1 than she ever need have been2 but that is because her principal adaptation--her relation to man--is now so often entirely wrong1 or alas6 non-existent4 ,i point out again3 if1 as some presumptuously maintain1 we have been fashioning her all through the ages1 she would have followed us contentedly to our present stage--a thing she has not done4 ,there is something essentially idiosyncratic in woman then1 something that defies our clumsy 8fashioning0 hands4 ,this unalterable individuality has not to be found4 ,it is not an ideal after which we might strive4 ,it is present1 it is seated in ,woman now and for evermore1 and one of its principal characteristics is that it cannot brook isolation1 solitude1 independence1 glorious singleness4 ,the 8,true ,womanhood0 hoax of ,woman refound by herself1 for herself1 and in herself1 as if all this time her association with man and her dependence upon him had been a mistake1 an error of judgment1 a cramping1 limiting and disturbing factor in the evolution of 8,pure ,woman10 is simply pure falsehood of the worst description2 because it overlooks the facts precisely there where they are most glaring1 most undeniable1 most conspicuous4 ,examine the tendrils of the vine and deny that it is a creeping plant destined to cling to a wall or to a tougher plant than itself1 and you would declare yourself in so many words an ignoramus or a madman4 ,examine ,woman and deny that she must have two primary adaptations--that to the man and that to the child--in order simply to fulfil her destiny as it is stamped indelibly on her body2 and you acknowledge yourself straight away not only an ignoramus and a madman1 but a dangerous specimen of both4 ,immersed as ,woman obviously is1 up to her shoulders in the business of ,life and its multiplication1 let it be said plainly and unequivocally3 all those who teach her that any other business is her business1 all those who1 in face of the dilemma of modern problems1 confuse her with tales about a true ,womanhood away from ,life and its multiplication2 all those1 in short1 who beguile her with promises of happiness1 contentedness1 or even comfort1 without her primary adaptations to man and the child1 are liars both unscrupulous and criminal4 ,and here ,i have touched upon what ,i claim to be idiosyncratic and perfectly individual in ,woman--her deep and almost whole-bodied concern with ,life and its multiplication4 ,above all the other functional differences and similarities between the sexes1 this fundamental trait must prevail as a permanent and ineradicable characteristic of ,woman1 and it is the bedrock on which we must build1 and from which we must set out1 if we wish to arrive at a clear and untainted image of ,woman as distinct from ,man4 ,when1 moreover1 one remembers that this principal characteristic of hers is the seed and generating force of all her will1 her leading instincts and her virtues1 it is simply deliberate blindness to deny that she has not a distinctive and powerful individuality that places her far outside the possible influence of those 8fashioning0 male hands that some have the impudence to maintain have warped or diverted the true course of her evolution4 ,leave her alone then2 leave her to work out her own salvation1 and like ,nora in ,ibsen's ,doll's ,house1 to venture single-handed in search of that true ,womanhood which according to some theorists has yet to be found1 and has never yet been allowed a free development1 and what happens8--,she ceases from being a true ,woman at her very first step into the wilderness of isolation4 ,she denies her principal characteristic1 her distinctive individuality1 by the very act of desertion constituted by her flight into so-called freedom and autonomy4 ,for the only power that rules ,woman with an iron hand1 the only power that moulds her destiny and actuates her behaviour and aspirations1 she can never desert2 and that is a power far more inexorable and irresistible than the power of man4 ,it is the power of ,life itself1 with which she is much more deeply1 secretly and thoroughly in touch than we are1 or could ever hope to be4 ,we are an amputation from ,life1 to which we return only at odd intervals1 as it were to pay tribute3 she is ,life's uninterrupted stream that receives this tribute4 ,i repeat1 therefore1 that while we have the power to make ,woman miserable and ill--a power which for the last #bej years in ,england we have exercised with ever-increasing folly--we have no more right to boast that we have moulded or directed her evolution than we have a right to boast of having shaped the stars and the moon4 ,and those women who allow us this boast and who accuse us of having arrested their development 7whatever that may mean71 or of having distorted their true individuality1 fall with treacherous perfidy to their sex1 into the ranks of ,woman's worst enemies4 ,how have we made ,woman miserable and ill8 ,let me explain what misery and illness means3 ,put a mole to live upon a concrete floor1 lay a frog in a parched sandy plain1 and confine the agile cat to a space only just large enough to allow it to lash its tail1 and you will have succeeded so thoroughly in thwarting the primary instincts of these three animals--the subterranean life of the mole1 for which its large forelegs and its whole body crave2 the amphibious life of the frog after which its webbed feet and nimble limbs hanker1 and the stalking1 hunting and prowling lust of the cat to which all its magnificent body is so superbly adjusted--that you will have made them utterly and desperately miserable and probably ill as well4 ,what have you done8 ,you have deprived them of their primary adaptations4 ,the same holds good of ,woman4 ,millions of women to-day are hopelessly irrevocably deprived of their primary adaptations1 and even those who are given their primary adaptations1 so frequently receive them in a form that is inadequate and unsatisfying1 effete and inferior1 that even among the married women of our day there is a depth of disappointment1 disillusionment and vague dissatisfaction that makes some of them even more miserable than their single sisters4 ,the latter1 at least1 are still able to hope against hope 7a wonderful power in women72 the others can only await the end1 knowing the worst and knowing that everything is hopeless4 ,how do we men absolve ourselves from the blame of this8 ,for it is certainly we who mould society and ourselves1 even if we do not mould women4 ,how do we try to evade1 escape1 circumvent the main issue8--,we have the effrontery to teach ,woman the doctrine that since we fail them both in quantity and quality1 there is a life away from us and the children they could have from us that is worth living4 ,we do not scruple to tell them that they can be happy1 content1 comfortable1 without the surroundings to which they are primarily adapted4 ,we abet and promote a process by which millions of our women deliberately turn their backs upon their primary adaptations1 and spring to our side like neuters in the arena of our active life1 our besotting duties1 our drudgery6 ,but not content with undermining their health and their happiness by denying the just privilege of their primary adaptations1 we undermine their spirits by casting them like convicts into the wheels of the very machine that has already reduced us to such pale shadows of our former selves1 such faint echoes of manhood1 that they were rightly growing dissatisfied with us4 ,but not only that1 we taught them that they could find happiness in this independence1 in this single-handed struggle--happiness6 ,aye1 there were even some women who arose and assured their sisters that we were right and that they could live lives1 yes1 and enjoy ,life1 in this independent isolation6 ,if this were not all visible before us1 many would still refuse to believe it4 ,unfortunately it is all only too true6 ,this incredible farce is our present-day existence--our age6 ,we have actually not refrained from telling young girls that they can live a life away from their principal adaptations6 ,only recently1 for instance1 when the #aiba census revealed that there were approximately #b1jjj1jjj more women than men in ,great ,britain--that is to say1 #b1jjj1jjj women who on the monogamous principle could not be expected to find mates--several prominent people wrote to the papers protesting indignantly that these women were not superfluous1 and arguing that there was 8enough work in the world0 for all the women4 ,these people wrote as if the whole question were an economic one1 and that1 provided the two million unmated women could only make themselves self-supporting in their singleness1 the difficulties of the case would be entirely overcome4#ae ,but this attitude towards the question was ridiculously unsympathetic4 ,for1 if the only object in life were to become self-supporting by means of work1 one would not require to be either a man or a woman2 a neuter1 after the style of the worker-bee1 would be all that one required to resemble4 ,but the attitude of these prominent people was unfortunately worse than unsympathetic2 it was insulting and dishonest4 ,for1 to tell a body of two million women that they need not despair1 that even if they could find no mates1 there would be work enough for them in order to render them self-supporting1 was to assume1 without enquiry1 that they were neuters1 or that they were capable of leading satisfactory lives as neuters4 ,it was at least tantamount to assuming that they would be content in leading the lives of neuters--an assumption insulting both to their physical as well as to their mental development1 and one which1 having not a fact to support it1 was entirely dishonest4 ,apart from all this1 however1 it amounted to a vulgar narrowing down of all earthly aspirations and desires1 to the economic struggle--to success in the task of finding sustenance4 ,the ,holy ,catholic ,church was more honest in this1 and more practical than we are4 ,it told all those women for whom society failed to provide their principal adaptations1 that they could find comfort1 occupation1 and even a high purpose1 by entering the ,church1 but it was frank enough to add3 if you do so you must turn your back for ever upon those things for which you were built1 those things to which your whole body was ingeniously and artfully adjusted and contrived4 ,and even when the system broke down1 as it frequently did1#af at least where ,life was illicitly found in the convent or the monastery1 it was found and enjoyed secretly1 under the respectable auspices of a powerful institution1 and not on the streets of big cities where the fruits are nothing but distress1 disgrace and disease4 ,but behind all this unwillingness to recognize or admit that ,woman cannot really be 8adapted0 7which is simply a biological way of saying she cannot be really happy or well7 without fulfilling the destiny that her rle in the process of evolution1 and not man1 stamped indelibly upon her body from the start1 is the very same insidious and devastating force that has made her unhappy in other directions1 that has reduced her men1 for instance1 to nincompoops4 ,i refer to ,puritanism4#ag ,puritanism1 always so hostile to sex1 would fondly like one to believe that sex is no longer one of the first considerations of ,life1 even for women4 ,it would give a good deal1 and has given a good deal1 to convince everybody that one can 8get on without it06 ,and1 indeed1 its values and atmosphere have now reared so many thousands of wretched1 lank1 bloodless and lifeless men and women who can get on without it1 and who do get on without it1 that quite a large number of people are beginning to believe that ,puritanism is right4 ,in any case1 it is to these unconscious victims of its system that it now has the effrontery to point as evidence of its criminal contention when it seeks to persuade the unwary that it is right4 ,when1 therefore1 the cruel solution of modern sex problems 7problems that only arose through the kind of society ,puritanism has created7 was supposed to have been found by telling women that 8they really did not want men or children1 and could easily #8get on' without either10 it was the voice of ,puritanism that was distinct and persuasive here2 ,puritanism at last within an ace of complete triumph1 and exulting over having achieved what to all intents and purposes must have seemed an impossible undertaking from the start4 ,when1 however1 one remembers how carefully and skilfully the ground had been prepared1 when one remembers how unscrupulously every possible means had been exploited in order to consummate the end in view1 how can one wonder at the unravelment6 ,after having reduced man to a mere shadow of his former self1 after having atrophied1 besmirched and slandered the sex instinct until it was literally ashamed to show its face 7fancy1 the fundamental instinct of life being ashamed to show its face67--after having heaped up so much odium on the waning innocence of sexual beauties and the sacred joys of procreation that shame descended upon them like a deadly and withering shroud--no wonder that there were some1 nay1 thousands1 who were ready to acknowledge that there was a life away from the fundamental instinct of life6 ,for fire alone purifies2 fire alone renders some fusions and combinations possible4 ,damp the ardour of man1 therefore1 reduce his fire1 and the sexual act does indeed become an affair from which many might be justified in shrinking4 ,the procreative love of human beings was obviously designed on the presumption that they would remain warm-blooded animals4 ,once they grew to be cold-blooded1 it of necessity became improper1 impious4 ,the procreation of fish is accomplished without any embrace1 without any treinte of male and female3 but fish are cold-blooded4 ,thus in support of the ,puritan's chilling cry that there was a life away from the fundamental instinct of ,life1 there arose very soon a chorus of disillusioned and indignant married women's voices1 who knew the anguish and embarrassment of human sexual life with a human fish1 and who were not in the least prepared to conceal its horrors4 ,and how convincing all this seemed6 ,how many sensitive and intelligent girls have not listened to this married woman's chorus in support of the ,puritan's plea1 and felt their hope in life1 their trust in life1 their love of life1 shake in its foundations6 ,so much so1 indeed1 that it is now possible for them to listen no longer with suspicion but with eager interest to those of their 8fortunate0 sisters who are too unhealthy1 or too deficient in vigour to feel any desire for their principal adaptations2 it is possible even for the naturally sterile among women1 for the women below par in every respect1 and incapable1 either through repulsiveness or botchedness1 to fulfil their destiny1 to pass through the world without being despised1 without being looked down upon4 ,and since the number of women who lack the vigour and the spirit really to crave for their principal adaptations increases every year1 an atmosphere of reality and naturalness is imparted to the artificial and destructive claims of ,puritanism1 which is as deceiving as it is dangerous1 and as difficult to dissipate as it was slow and gradual to form4 ,it is precisely because women are so deeply in touch with ,life1 so secretly and unconsciously ,life's ally1 ,life's ambassador1 ,life's custodian1 that they cannot help being miserable and in pain nowadays4 ,the voice of ,life inside them tells them emphatically that things are wrong1 that the muddle man has made of ,life is tragic1 cruel1 insufferable4 ,as ,life's unconscious advocate1 ,woman is essentially opposed to modernity1 however much she may seem in favour of it4 ,when she appears to be most in favour of it1 she is only following modern man and his ideals most closely4 ,having all the equipment for ,life's most important business1 it will not appear hard to believe that ,woman is positive4 ,life through her says 8,yea0 to itself4 ,in fact when ,woman says 8,yea0 to ,life1 it is simply ,life itself accepting itself as such4 ,all women's apparent negativism is either only skin deep1 or else it is the outcome of bodily sickness or degeneracy4 ,the mere fact that in all periods of decline ,woman has always come to the fore1 the historical fact that ,feminism is undeniably a phenomenon of male degeneration--the swan-song of male-constructed societies--shows how inevitably ,life itself comes forward at the last moment in order to try to rescue itself when it feels all else is failing4 ,but it comes forward in a form that cannot lead to salvation4 ,because1 although ,woman is equipped for carrying on ,life's business1 she is not equipped for ordering it4 ,you cannot be a thing and above it1 or out of it1 at the same time4 ,the part is not greater than the whole4 ,and1 as ,woman is immersed in ,life1 she has not the duality of vision that is necessary for placing and ordering ,life4 ,she knows1 because she feels1 when ,life is going to pieces2 she knows when ,life has been outraged1 when hostility to ,life is working havoc with ,life's material2 but she can only ascertain the fact1 she can only protest against the fact2 she cannot remedy it4 ,to remind me that modern women--or the most far-seeing among them--organized a powerful agitation to obtain the ,parliamentary vote1 is simply to point to a proof of what ,i say4 ,the ,parliamentary vote is essentially a male invention4 ,it is essentially a male idea4 ,it is not an idea of ,life4 ,in fact1 three-quarters of the harm that has come to ,life might be ascribed to this very ,parliamentary vote1 and the ,democracy it implies2 and yet1 when ,woman in her agony casts about her for a remedy for ,life's sickness1 she can do nothing more than lay hold of this futile and dangerous male invention1 and seek salvation through it4 ,it is her cry of protest1 however1 that is interesting as a symptom1 as a warning4 ,and all those who have ears to hear1 know it is the cry of ,life itself1 agitating for reform4 ,but1 as the feeling is unconscious with ,woman1 and as she is not equipped for the task of standing outside ,life and ordering it1 the remedies she advocates must be suspected and rejected just as earnestly as her cry of warning must be respected and observed4 ,,footnotes3 #ae ,see ,arabella ,kenealy in ,feminism and ,sex-,extinction 7pp4 #baa-ab73 8,that all women do not marry--cannot marry1 indeed1 because of their preponderance in number over the other sex--is no reason for dissembling the truth that in wifehood and motherhood lie women's most vital and valuable rles4 ,nor is it a warrant for training the whole sex as though none were destined to fulfil this1 their natural and noblest1 if not always their happiest1 vocation40 #af ,the reports made in the reign of ,henry ,,viii by his ,commissioners1 concerning the state of the convents and monasteries1 give proof enough of this1 as do also the reports of visiting bishops in the ,middle ,ages4 #ag ,for an exhaustive description of the metamorphosis of the ,englishman through the influence of ,puritanism1 see chapter ,v of my ,defence of ,aristocracy 7,constable ,co41 #aiae74 ,,chapter ,,iii ,woman and her ,unconscious ,impulses ,if a healthy child be told to sit still for a long time at a stretch1 the chances are that it will disobey the order at the end of the first two minutes4 ,likewise1 if a rhinoceros be placed in a soft-floored stable1 the chances are that it will very soon plough up the whole of its place of captivity with its nasal horn4 ,other examples can be thought of3 the wallowing of ducks1 unprovided with water1 in dirty puddles and ditches2 the nail exercise of the cat on the legs of our dining-room tables2 and the gnawing away of wood by white mice in a manner that can in no way effect their escape4 ,let me explain some of these examples3 ,a healthy child--a little boy--is told to sit still4 ,what happens8 ,the muscles and tissues of his body are well-nourished4 ,in his constitution there is a reserve of strength which1 like the power of a galvanic battery is seeking an outlet1 a method of discharging itself4 ,all his muscles tell him most emphatically that they want to be moving1 that they want to be actively employed4 ,now let us turn to the child's consciousness and to his brain4 ,let us look to see what is happening there4 ,these impatient messages that are constantly coming up from every nerve and tissue in his body are registered in the brain1 but they do not enter consciousness in their original form4 ,consciousness receives only an interpretation of them4 ,the child is not really aware of them at all4 ,if you asked him when he first began to move or fidget3 8,what is the matter with you80 he would reply either 8,i don't like sitting here0 or 8,i want to go and play40 ,not only is he unconscious of the fact that while he is sitting there his body is in a state of genuine distress1 because of energy seeking to be discharged1 but he would be utterly incapable of using the proper phraseology to explain his condition1 even if he were aware of it4 ,all he knows1 all he is conscious of is this3 7#a7 ,playing is good fun4 ,he does not know that the reason why his body insists on moving is that all his tissues are alive with energy that wants to be used4 7#b7 ,sitting here is a hopeless bore4 ,he does not realize that sitting still to a live body in a state of energetic exuberance is actually painful1 and even if he cries from sheer pain1 on this account alone1 his consciousness will still say3 8,i want to play10 8,i don't want to sit here40 ,he will never say1 8,i am in pain10 or 8,it hurts not to play40 ,let him get down from his chair and go to play1 and in less than a minute you will probably find him exerting vain efforts to move a huge stone or a massive log from one place to another4 ,the purpose of the transposition of this solid and inert mass will be clear neither to you nor to him2 but that is immaterial4 ,his body wants to spend its energy1 and the little boy1 therefore1 likes moving a large stone or a large log about4 ,and he will cry or protest violently if you tell him he is not to do it4 ,he does not know in the least why he wants to do it2 he only knows1 for the moment1 that moving big stones is good4 ,from all this it is clear1 not only that the brain's interpretation of a bodily state is unreliable as a sign of what is actually proceeding in that body1 but also that it does not always require to be reliable in order to lead its owner to do the right thing1 or to adopt the proper course of action4 ,now let us suppose the same child peevish and irritable4 ,what actually happens8 ,let us look inside his body for a moment6 ,the large intestine is congested2 his bowels have not been properly opened for thirty-six hours4 ,last night1 owing to this condition1 his sleep was restless and feverish4 ,this morning he has eaten a good breakfast1 but he is not so lively as he was yesterday4 ,messages are going up to his brain every second from every tissue in his body4 ,and all these messages say one and the same thing3 8,we are not happy3 we are not in our usual clean1 healthy condition40 ,the brain itself1 owing perhaps to disordered circulation1 is also a little surcharged with blood2 so that1 in addition to the messages of distress that incessantly rise from the body1 it has its own distress4 ,now let us turn to the child's consciousness6 ,what is happening there8 ,the child is not conscious of all the alarms and signals of distress coming up from his body2 he is not conscious of the pressure of blood on his brain4 ,all he knows is that he is feeling thoroughly and utterly discontented4 ,and since his human intelligence tells him that discontent must have a cause1 this cause must be found4 ,an incident at breakfast soon provides the whole scheme of a convincing cause for his feeling of distress4 ,his little sister picks up a crumb of his bread and eats it--an innocent action which1 if it had happened yesterday1 or the day before1 would only have provoked laughter4 ,it is1 however1 sufficient to provide the badly informed brain with material for a false interpretation4 ,the sister's action is immediately posited as the cause of his feeling ill at ease1 and in a moment all his body's angry discontent about its bad condition is vented against the unfortunate little sister1 who is as staggered as she is hurt by his sudden unaccountable outburst of tears and bitter words4 ,in the two examples given1 what has been the unconscious motive of the little boy's behaviour8 ,in ,example #a it was a reserve of physical energy that was seeking an outlet--interpreted by the little boy's consciousness as a desire to roll a stone or a log as an end in itself4 ,in ,example #b it was a state of physical depression which1 reaching the lad's consciousness as a vague discontent1 led him to seek its cause4 ,thanks to a false interpretation1 and still acting quite unconsciously of the real cause1 he flies into a passion with his little sister1 because her taking of his crumb of bread seems to him a sufficient cause for his discontentedness4 ,this part of my disquisition on the unconscious1 together with what follows1 will do excellent service1 if understood1 in helping the reader to see more clearly into the complicated train of consequences which1 as ,i shall point out later on1 in ,chapter ,,viii1 lead to most conjugal differences1 and ultimately to ,divorce4 ,irrelevant as the above examples may seem1 therefore1 ,i would ask the reader to endeavour to make quite sure that he understands the principle they involve2 because much of the lucidity of ,chapter ,,viii will depend upon a thorough grasp of this principle4 ,when ,i speak of people acting in a certain way1 or doing otherwise unaccountable and apparently immoral deeds as the result of a bodily impulse that they misinterpret1 ,i shall speak of an unconscious motive on their parts4 ,only in this sense shall ,i speak of unconscious motives4 ,the correlation of bodily equipment and motive or desire1 therefore1 must always be kept very carefully in mind if we are to comprehend the behaviour of our fellows1 and of the lower animals4 ,an animal that has a horn on its nose1 like the rhinoceros1 will have a concomitant desire to use it4 ,its motive for using it may be quite unconscious2 but that does not matter4 ,the little kitten does not hate you1 or desire to hurt you when it uses its claws on your hands4 ,it has a bodily part1 well supplied with intricate mechanism and nerves1 and it is more than it can do not to use that part4 ,the impulse coming from a bodily part that cries to be used is generally misinterpreted4 ,that can be taken as a more or less universal rule4 ,we have seen how the child1 though it acted in the right way in the first example1 was utterly unconscious of the true springs of its action4 ,but that almost every positive action we perform in our lives is the outcome of a correlation of our bodily parts sending commands to our brain1 is nevertheless an undeniable fact4 ,take1 for instance1 the man who possesses the happy combination of a very good eye and an agile1 dexterous hand4 ,according to the sort of environment into which he falls1 he may be one of several things--either an excellent shot and warrior1 or an excellent draughtsman1 sculptor1 craftsman or painter4 ,the correlation of his bodily parts determines his desires and consequently his career4 ,his motives throughout may be unconscious--that is to say1 he may be unaware until the end1 of the nature of the forces that actuated him4 ,turning now1 with these considerations in our mind1 to the contemplation of ,woman1 what do we find8 ,we find a creature who stands up to her shoulders in the business of ,life and its multiplication4 ,artfully contrived and richly equipped for this business1 and with the whole of her trunk and its nervous system intricately organized for it--so that even in her limbs and the skin upon them1 so that even in her face and the hair on her head one can detect reverberations1 as it were1 of the mighty and momentous forces that irradiate her being--,woman cannot evade the common fate of all creatures1 and cannot help being guided in her conduct rigidly by the correlation of her bodily parts1 any more than all other creatures can4 ,but her actions and the unconscious motives behind them will be all the more inevitable1 for having such an elaborate1 such a purposeful1 and such a deep-seated mechanism as their generator4 ,woman's positiveness to ,life1 therefore1 only amounts to her saying 8,yea0 to her bodily impulses1 and this she cannot help doing without entertaining thoughts of self-destruction4 ,and her 8,yea0 to ,life is more determined1 more unswerving1 more unrelenting than man's1 in proportion as she is more thoroughly organized and equipped than he is for ,life's business4 ,her 8,yea0 to ,life cannot be changed to 8,nay10 because she is utterly unconscious of it1 and is therefore powerless to change it4 ,she may in a moment of bottomless despair say 8,nay0 to herself1 when a sufficient number of people1 or a sufficiently important one of many people1 has said 8,nay0 to her2 but even then1 she is not saying 8,nay0 to ,life1 but 8,nay0 to the thought of living an empty life1 or no life4#ah ,woman may ultimately marry4 ,but she is already wed when she is born4 ,she is wed to ,life4 ,life is her taskmaster1 and ,life is her ,lord4 ,i shall show very soon how she unconsciously acknowledges this sway1 sacrifices herself to it1 and immolates herself before it--aye1 even commits adultery for it1 lies for it1 murders and thieves for it1 and sometimes kills herself for it4 ,what is man in the presence of this formidable engine of ,life's purpose8 ,merely a means that ,woman unconsciously exploits while she consciously imagines that she loves him4 ,what are her children8 ,children are the object of her eternally unconscious gratitude1 because they are the product of her healthy functioning1 the instruments on which she has played off the whole gamut of her sensibilities and sensations4 ,the hierarchy then reads3 7#a7 ,life1 7#b7 ,woman1 7#c7 ,man4 ,for the present this will do4 ,to understand ,woman1 then1 we must first of all think of her as a creature who is constantly being actuated by the readiness and desire her bodily equipment feels1 to be used1 to be made to function1 to exercise its powers4 ,but we must always remember that she is not aware of the nature of this actuating force1 that it is always the unconscious motive of her actions4 ,we know it must be so2 we know it is so2 but we also know that she does not know it4 ,all her will1 all her conduct1 all her crimes or great deeds--if she perpetrate any--must be ascribed to the actuating force of her bodily equipment2 but she will always be aware only of other motives for her conduct1 and her mind will invariably misinterpret the causes of it4 ,let me go over the ground ,i have just covered1 in a slightly different way1 in order that ,i may be quite sure of being understood4 ,all those who have already thoroughly grasped my point can skip this passage4 ,if we examine the relation of instinct to will1 what do we find it to be4#ai ,an instinct may be understood as a predisposition implanted in a living creature to act in a certain way prior to experience1 or1 as a bias in favour of a certain line of conduct before any knowledge of that line of conduct or its consequences has been brought clearly to the conscious mind by individual experiment4 ,an infant1 for instance1 has no experience of food and its relation to the body2 it has no experience of anything2 but it has a predisposition to suck1 which is the outcome of its bodily condition and ancestral history at a certain period of its life2 and1 as far as its early months are concerned1 a child may be said to have an indomitable will to be suckled or to suck--it will cry violently if this proclivity be not indulged2 its tears and cries will immediately subside if it has its way4 ,how does instinct become implanted in a living creature8 ,instinct may have two origins3 7#a7 ,a racial origin1 by which ,i mean that it is the outcome of an ancestral habit1 and constitutes a predisposition to perform certain actions in a certain way1 because of the incalculable number of times that the ancestors in the same line of descent have performed them in that way4 ,as an example of this1 take the circling movements of the dog before he lies down4 ,the movements have no purpose now1 because the domestic dog no longer lives in tall grass2 but it is reminiscent of his ancestors' behaviour for ages1 and in this sense may be called an instinctive action of racial memory4 ,the dog's will is bent on performing this unnecessary and now perfectly empty formality1 simply because his ancestors performed it so often in his line of descent4 7#b7 ,a bodily origin1 by which ,i mean that an instinct is the natural outcome of a certain correlation of organs1 bodily parts or weapons1 and the possession of which in itself is sufficient to suggest and to enforce a certain mode of conduct in their possessor4 ,as an example of this take the butting or tossing proclivities of the goat and bull respectively1 the clawing of the cat1 the burrowing of the mole1 etc4 etc4 ,all these activities are the outcome of the possession of certain organs or bodily parts1 that insist upon being used1 that cause the animal to feel ill-adapted and miserable if they cannot function4 ,what1 then1 is will8 ,all will is obviously the power of the instinct that determines conduct for the moment1 for a given period1 or1 as in some cases1 for a lifetime4 ,the will of an animal1 therefore1 is inseparable from the instincts to which either his racial memory or his bodily parts give rise4 ,for he will do whatever his most powerful instinct1 for the time being1 bids him do4 ,let us now turn to man4 ,with ,reibmayr let me posit the three fundamental instincts of man as 7#a7 the ,self-preservative ,instinct1 7#b7 the ,reproductive ,instinct1 7#c7 the ,social ,instinct4 ,according to his nature1 man has one of these instincts stronger or weaker than the other two1 and this strength or weakness determines his character1 his choice of paths in life and of conduct in life4 ,imagine the ,self-preservative ,instinct superior in power to the other two1 and1 like all ambitious men bent only on self-aggrandisement1 he will scout both woman and society at all points where either of these threatens to make him pay too heavy a toll4 ,suppose that his ,reproductive ,instinct is the most powerful--as was the case with ,mark ,antony--and he will be ready to sacrifice society and himself for the woman he loves4 ,if his ,social ,instinct leads him--as it lead ,napoleon1 ,disraeli1 ,charles ,i1 ,strafford1 ,colbert and others1 he will make woman and self subordinate to society's claims upon his energies4 ,his will--that is to say the guiding power directing his conduct--is thus only the popular term for 8leading instinct40 ,in men of the ,herbert ,spencer1 ,nietzsche1 ,st4 ,francis of ,assisi1 ,john the ,baptist type1 the social instinct was so strong that it completely mastered and sacrificed the other two instincts4 ,their reproductive instinct was suppressed and snubbed1 and women were scouted by them1 while they considered their self-preservative instinct only in so far as it assisted them in continuing and prolonging the exercise of their social instinct4 ,the will in these men resided in their leading social instinct4 ,it was that which determined their conduct4 ,in the coward1 the anarchist1 the deserter1 the ambitious upstart bent only on self-aggrandisement and security1 in the unscrupulous plutocrat1 the self-preservative instinct is so strong that woman and society are sacrificed or ignored1 whenever any emergency or dilemma occurs in which it becomes necessary to sacrifice them for the sake of self-preservation4 ,such men's wills reside entirely in the thought of their own survival and security1 and are determined exclusively by the self-preservative instinct4 ,if1 now1 we ask what is ,woman's will1 by what instinct is it determined8--we are in a position to say at once3 ,woman's will1 owing to the very correlation of her bodily parts and the important place the organs and business of ,life's multiplication hold in her constitution1 is at least likely to have a strong bias or predisposition in favour of being determined by her reproductive instinct4 ,for the latter is clearly very strongly implanted in her4 ,the two sources from which alone instinct can arise1 and from which this particular instinct can draw its strength1 are present within her2 they are undeniably her idiosyncracy1 and they are3 7#a7 ,racial memory 7her women ancestors for millions of generations1 with the same organs as she possesses1 having performed all the functions of conception1 parturition1 and the rearing of children more or less successfully1 otherwise she herself would not be there7 and 7#b7 the correlation of bodily parts 7her body having the full equipment for reproduction1 which must crave the exercise of its functions and suggest its use1 if that equipment be healthy and well-formed74 ,you may suggest that the same holds good of man4 ,as a matter of fact1 it does not4 ,because in man there is some doubt1 some uncertainty as to the bias1 as to the prejudice1 suggested by his bodily parts4 ,if in man the organs concerned with ,life's multiplication held the same predominant place as they do in woman1 the same would certainly hold good of him4 ,but it is obvious that this is not the case4 ,the case is rather the reverse4 ,it is because of woman's elaborate and extensive equipment precisely for the business of ,life's multiplication1 that we are justified in suspecting that her will is likely to reside in this equipment1 or rather in the instinct that springs and takes its strength from it4 ,we are justified in suspecting this1 on the same principle as that which justifies us in suspecting that the will of the mole is determined by its forelegs and general correlation of bodily parts4 ,provided she be healthy and well-formed1 then ,woman's will cannot help being determined by the paramount equipment of sex in her body1 from which arises the reproductive instinct4 ,her social instinct will be subservient1 docile1 ready to retreat before its master the reproductive instinct on all occasions4 ,the self-preservative instinct1 too1 save when she is with child1 will be limited by and associated with the reproductive4 ,and all this will be so much ,woman herself1 so much part of her essential being1 that she will not be aware of it1 and while her reproductive instinct will guide her1 she herself will misinterpret its promptings while doing its bidding4 ,so much so1 indeed1 will she misinterpret its promptings1 and her unconsciousness will be so profound1 so genuine1 so unpretended1 and so impenetrable1 that it will deceive even the spectator himself1 even the contemplator and observer of ,woman4 ,if she has virtues1 they will be offshoots from the reproductive instinct2 her vices will be the same4 ,her immorality1 if she be capable of it1 will be ,life's immorality1 vital immorality1 positive immorality4 ,but what is most important in understanding ,woman is1 ,i repeat1 her inevitable mental misinterpretation of these phenomena4 ,weininger's book is wrong1 weak1 unjust1 because he never lays sufficient stress on this question of the unconscious and its bearing upon the nature and conduct of ,woman4 ,later on in this book many apparent problems in the life-conduct of ,woman1 many of ,woman's apparent crimes1 all ,woman's so-called immorality1 will be explained precisely on the basis of her unconsciousness of the true forces actuating her4 ,there is no other explanation4 ,there is no other way of understanding these things4 ,let me repeat the sort of dialogue ,i constantly have with the average man who is in the habit of taking things at their face value4 ,i4 ,how's ,miss ,a48 ,a4,m4 ,oh1 flourishing1 thank you6 ,i4 ,what is she doing now8 ,is she engaged yet8 ,a4,m4 ,no--not yet4 ,i4 ,any prospects8 ,a4,m4 ,none that ,i am aware of4 ,i4 ,where is she8 ,a4,m4 ,she's attending lectures on ,political ,economy4 ,i4 ,political ,economy6--whatever for8 ,a4,m4 ,oh1 she's a very clever girl1 and she's interested in these subjects4 ,i4 ,let me think6--how old is she8 ,a4,m4 ,just twenty-three4 ,i4 ,well1 well6 ,i suppose she will meet plenty of fresh men at the ,school of ,political ,economy1 and may find what she wants there4 ,a4,m4 ,oh1 but you misunderstand ,miss ,a4 ,she has no such thought4 ,she says herself that she is deeply interested in ,political ,economy4 ,i4 ,she does not know why she goes to the ,school of ,political ,economy2 she imagines it is because she is interested in the subject4 ,but ,i know why she goes there4 ,life sends her there4 ,and even if the only thing she could learn there were the turning and painting of skittles1 she would be interested in that4 ,life has found that one environment has failed to give the girl her primary adaptations1 so now it bids her seek a new environment4 ,a4,m4 ,oh nonsense6--you always imagine women think of nothing but men4 ,i4 ,i didn't say so6 ,a4,m4 ,but you imply it4 ,i4 ,i4 ,i don't even imply it4 ,a4,m4 ,you do6 ,i4 ,on the contrary1 ,i feel quite certain that ,miss ,a4 is quite unconscious of the true nature of the command that sent her to the ,school of ,political ,economy4 ,at this stage in the dialogue the average man usually shrugs his shoulders1 because he knows nothing of unconscious motives2 he knows nothing of the brain's misinterpretation of the body's messages to it1 and the consequence is that he believes honestly in the avowed motive in people's conduct always being the real and true one4 ,but if this were so1 women1 with their moral upbringing as it is at present1 would be ashamed of doing half they constantly and habitually do4 ,it is their salvation in the present ,puritanical age that their deepest motives for their actions are not apparent to themselves1 otherwise the more tasteful1 the more sensitive among them1 would fly to the nearest cellar for concealment and never show their faces again4 ,never accept a ,woman's explanation of the motives actuating her--not because she is deliberately lying1 but because she does not know them3 ,the motive to her is always the one that is apparent1 the one that is the outcome of her mind's misinterpretation of the body's messages to it4 ,people who say that women deliberately lie in these circumstances simply do not know the subject1 and had better start studying it afresh4 ,let us analyse ,miss ,a4's case4 ,i assume that she is a healthy normal girl4 ,her hips are broad1 her chest is full1 she has been regular in her periods from her fourteenth year4 ,what is going on inside her8 ,all this equipment1 in perfect working order and vigorously constituted1 has not ceased from signalling to the brain ever more and more insistently for years3 8,we are not content2 we are idle2 we are sitting still2 we are not functioning2 we are aching from sitting still40 ,the brain misinterprets all this straight away1 and transmits it to consciousness as follows3 8,what a bore life is6 ,when is anything interesting or exciting going to happen8 ,what are all the men in my circle doing8 ,why don't they notice me1 or fall in love with me80 ,the messages continue persistent1 and they are the same as in the first case1 but more emphatic1 more urgent4 ,again the brain transmits them to consciousness as follows3 8,what a bore home life is6 ,what a self-complacent1 heedless creature mother is6 ,what a tedious round this week at home has been6 ,i must go out2 ,i must get away from it6 ,i must leave home6 ,couldn't ,i study something8 ,anything that gets me out of this tiresome futility6 ,isn't there a course of something at the ,school of ,political ,economy80 ,and so on6 ,in the terms of ,life1 this means simply3 8,my present environment is failing to procure my principal adaptations for me4 ,life bids me seek another environment at once40 ,fidelity to ,life in ,woman must prevail over every other form of fidelity4 ,in order to be faithful to ,life and ,life's purpose1 therefore1 ,miss ,a4 must be unfaithful to her old environment4 ,but to accuse such a girl of falsehood or dissimulation when she declares that she is interested in ,political ,economy1 and is pursuing the study for its own sake1 would be the cruellest injustice4 ,life is quite unscrupulous in achieving her ends1 and if ,political ,economy can prove a road to them1 why not ,political ,economy8 ,but the woman is no more conscious of the fact that ,life is secretly directing her1 than the mole is of the reasons why it selects a subterranean life4 ,hitherto ,i have spoken only of the healthy or positive woman4 ,i must1 however1 refer to the unhealthy woman2 because1 unless she is rejected immediately1 as a standard1 we shall be utterly misled in our examination of the true ,female attitude4 ,for the present work1 all ,i shall mean by unhealthy or negative1 will be that condition in which the body may be said to be either atonic--that is to say1 lacking in tone1 in sanguine vigour--or unfit1 owing to inadequate1 arrested or faulty development1 for the performance of its functions4 ,the fact that ,weininger makes no classification of healthy and unhealthy1 but confines himself entirely to the two orders of women that are either inclined to be male or inclined to be truly female1 vitiates the whole of his argument4 ,unless ,i take into consideration whether a woman is properly equipped not only with the mechanism but also with the tonality of the mechanism for her functions1 how can ,i proceed to postulate that she is either male or female in her physical bias8 ,we know that the impulse to use an organ normally arises in the organ itself in a state of health1 and that the instincts of a creature have only the two sources--racial memory and a correlation of organs--from which they can possibly draw their strength4 ,suppress the more powerful of these two sources1 the organic impulse1 and you cannot help reducing1 depressing1 or even totally eliminating the instinct4 ,an unhealthy woman1 in my sense1 therefore1 will approach maleness in any case1 whether she have male elements in her or not 7to recall ,weininger72 because with the decline in vigour of her reproductive instincts consequent upon the atonic condition of her reproductive organs1 the voice of other instincts will make themselves heard1 and she will be less of a woman the more her other instincts dare to measure themselves against her reproductive instinct4 ,to me1 therefore1 ,weininger's classification 8,male0 and 8,female0 woman seems superfluous2 it serves no useful purpose--because almost all the secondary sexual characteristics of the male are rudimentary in woman and come into prominence when her sex is in abeyance1 either through negativeness1 immaturity 7childhood71 or at the climacteric 7late middle age72 besides1 even ,weininger himself admits that he has 8never yet seen a single woman who was not fundamentally feminine10#bj and scores of cases could1 moreover1 be adduced which show that certain races have reared women approaching as closely as possible to the male--the squaw1 for instance--without having produced feminine males to couple with them4 ,how ,weininger1 by the by1 reconciles the opinion just quoted with his other view1 it is not incumbent upon me to say4 ,his book is so full of shallow conclusions1 contradictions and superficial judgments1 that it is difficult to understand how it was ever taken seriously4 ,the relation of the unhealthy woman to ,life1 then1 is rather that of the renegade1 of the atheist1 of the infidel1 towards his native religion4 ,she will not hanker after the business of ,life and its multiplication4 ,her ,will will not reside in her reproductive instinct4 ,and this is what goes on in her mind3 7,we are now inside the unhealthy woman's brain47 ,messages are being received from all corners of her body4 ,her trunk with all its intricate mechanism for reproduction sends constant signals of no urgency at all--mere small talk6 8,we are quite content to be left alone2 we are quite happy sitting still2 we are not anxious to have our lot altered in the least40 ,the brain misinterprets all this straight away and transmits these signals to consciousness as follows3 8,man and my supposed fatal relationship to him do not interest me in the least4 ,i am above sex4 ,i do not even feel a thrill in the presence of the most virile1 most positive male4 ,all this talk about my lot on earth being the business of ,life and its multiplication1 is simply nonsense multiplied ad infinitum6 ,i am born for higher things2 ,i have the instinct of higher things40 ,as if there could be anything higher than the purpose of human life6--,unless1 of course1 one is of the opinion of ,schopenhauer1 ,weininger and the rest of that ilk1 and disbelieves in the desirability of prolonging human life on earth4 ,to us1 then1 who are positive to ,life1 and to whom sterility is therefore a thing to be regretted1 deplored1 and not admired1 as ,weininger admired it2 to us1 who loathe the infertility of prostitution and particularly of homosexuality1 and who regard such a statement as that of ,weininger's in regard to the last-named vice#ba as sufficient not only to condemn a whole book1 but a whole man as well3 the unhealthy or negative woman1 despite all her superior and overweening claims1 is a subject of repulsion and disgust2 and we would give her a place in society where all her misinterpretations of her condition would be rendered non-infectious and innocuous4 ,unfortunately1 what with the influence of ,puritanism and its hostility to sex and to sex-expression1 what with the depressing foods and drinks it has introduced1#bb or whose use it has fostered in the nation1 vitality even among creatures so positive and so vigorously positive as women1 has been greatly reduced and frequently hopelessly impaired2 and particularly in ,england1 negative women1 asexual women abound4 ,if1 however1 we keep strictly to our positive tenet3 8that all that is good which is favourable to the best kind of life and its multiplication10 we shall have no difficulty in deciding whether this increase of asexual women is a good or a bad thing2 and our judgment may be accordingly both definite and severe4 ,,footnotes3 #ah ,the statistics showing that more women than men commit suicide and go mad through disappointed love1 prove that the importance attached by women to this rebuff is much greater than that attached to it by men4 ,see ,lombroso and ,ferrero's ,la ,femme ,criminelle et la ,prostitue1 pp4 #eae and #eag4 #ai ,i have already done this in my ,defence of ,aristocracy2 but as the standpoint is comparatively new1 it will bear being related here in fresh terms4 #bj ,op4 cit41 p4 #ahh4 #ba ,op4 cit41 p4 #ff3 8,in the second part of my book1 however1 ,i shall show reasons in favour of the possibility that homosexuality is a higher form than hetero-sexuality40 ,see also p4 #bbf1 where ,weininger says3 8,her position outside the mere preservation of the race1 the fact that she is not merely the channel and the indifferent protector of the chain of beings that pass through her1 place the prostitute1 in a sense1 above the mother40 #bb ,see my ,defence of ,aristocracy1 chapter ,v4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,the ,positive ,man and the ,positive ,woman ,i have spoken about the positive child and its ,yea-saying attitude to ,life generally4 ,now ,i am going to turn to two creatures1 a man and a girl1 who have been fortunate enough to succeed1 despite the negative influence of the age1 in growing up to manhood and mature girlhood without having lost the positive attitude to ,life4 ,let us consider the positive male first4 ,and ,i refer to him only because no book on ,woman is complete without a more than passing reference to her counterpart--,man4 ,first of all examine his body6 ,it is clear that ,life and its business of multiplication have not nearly so strong1 so complete1 a hold over him as they have over ,woman4 ,the sphere the business of reproduction1 alone1 occupies in his body is limited1 comparatively small1 and confined4 ,the part he plays in this business is1 moreover1 incidental1 transitory1 spasmodic4 ,as ,i have already said1 he is an amputation from ,life rather than ,life itself2 and he returns to ,life only at certain intervals in order1 as it were1 to pay tribute to her1 to enable her to carry on her grand scheme4 ,when he has paid this tribute at stated intervals1 the fact that he willingly renounces any further concern in the matter1 in fact1 with some discontent and sense of surfeit1 turns away as one who does not want to have anything more to do with it1 is proof enough of the relatively small part he plays4 ,for while he turns away and refreshes his resources by indulging for a space his two other instincts only--the self-preservative and the social--,woman's reproductive work goes silently on and may be truly said never to cease4 ,in ,man1 therefore1 we must not confound the attitude of positiveness or yea-saying to ,life with positiveness or yea-saying to sex4 ,in ,woman they amount practically to the same thing4 ,her reproductive instinct and her yea to ,life are inextricably involved4 ,they merge2 they are simply different ways of expressing the same attitude4 ,but in ,man there is a positiveness to sex which is smaller1 more fitful1 more irregular than his positiveness to ,life4 ,for the latter may last uninterruptedly throughout his whole existence1 whereas the former1 as we have seen1 unless he be a mere beast1 is moody1 transient1 intermittent4 ,looking upon men from the outside1 therefore1 we should no more expect to find their reproductive instinct universally predominant in them1 than the vice of kicking is universally predominant in horses4 ,we should readily acknowledge that a certain supernormal sexuality might exist in men of the ,mark ,antony type1 in which the reproductive instinct prevailed over all others2 but we should be forced to conclude that as a general rule there would be every chance1 even in the healthiest and most normal man1 either of the self-preservative or of the social instinct obtaining the upper hand4 ,and this indeed is what we find constantly occurs in real life--at least sufficiently often for us to recognize that the reproductive or sexual obsession in ,man is more or less an exception1 or an abnormality4 ,from the correlation of his bodily parts1 then1 we cannot deduce a predominance of the reproductive instinct in ,man4 ,what do we know of his racial memory8 ,what have his ancestors done and been doing all these years8 ,if we can posit anything absolutely certain about them it is this1 that they have been almost incessantly concerned with the mastering of ,life1 and the organization of ,man's life as a social being4 ,nothing is more certain than that4 ,nothing can be read more clearly in the pages of history4 ,whereas the reproductive instinct has formed but a recurring leit-motif of man's life1 his social instinct1 with all that it entailed in the mastery of ,nature and the concomitant organization of man's life1 as a social being1 has constituted the unremitting and endless harmony of his existence4 ,whereas1 therefore1 a woman cannot be positive without being paramountly sexual1 a man who would be paramountly sexual would be negative to a most important part of his being--his relationship to ,nature1 to the mastery of ,nature1 and therefore to the ordering and organization of ,life1 including himself as a social being4 ,a paramountly sexual man1 therefore1 is as hostile to ,life as the asexual woman1 and just as useless4 ,when a positive man faces ,life with his social instinct keenly sharpened1 his ordering mind becomes creative and his creation is society4 ,he feels himself above ,nature and bends it to his will which is governed by his social instinct4 ,the stylobate of the ancient ,greek temple1 the elevation above the ground of the foundation of the ,chteau de ,versailles--these things are but instances of the unconscious tokens ,man has given all through his career as a rational being1 of his feeling of difference1 of distance1 from rude uncultured ,life4 ,when he faces ,woman1 he also faces ,life pure and simple1 and in exactly the same spirit4 ,but here his body obtains the mastery1 and the creation is the child4 ,nature and ,woman1 being both different forms of ,life unordered and unarranged1 yield to ,man's ordering mastery4 ,they understand it and follow it1 always provided it understands them2 for1 obviously1 the gardener who sought to turn the rose-tree upside down1 the cattle farmer who sought to make the sheep carnivorous1 or the social gardener who sought to convert woman into a sort of non-productive asexual worker1 might certainly come within an ace of success1 but would be equally certain of having consummated the wretchedness if not the death both of the rose-tree1 the sheep and woman respectively4 ,but when nature is understood it yields cheerfully and eagerly to ,man's ordering power1 although it does so dumbly and inarticulately4 ,woman1 on the other hand1 who is simply nature1 ,life itself1 become articulate1 does so admiringly1 cheerfully1 happily and consciously4 ,the positive man1 therefore1 is positive to three things2 ,society1 self-preservation1 and ,woman4 ,he cannot be wholly positive if he lack any one of these attitudes2 and those men who have maintained all these attitudes with dignity and creative success1 have been the only truly great men of history4 ,others are simply specialists1 cripples1 deformities or nonentities4 ,of course1 for a man to be positive to ,woman it is not necessary that he should actually have had a child from her4 ,circumstances may have been hostile to this consummating proof of his sexuality4 ,this is only documentary proof1 so to speak1 and its absence does not necessarily argue against his having maintained a strictly positive attitude towards her and sex all his life4 ,we must always remember1 too1 that the complicated and wearing responsibility that man has always cheerfully undertaken1 of ordering ,life and mastering nature1 is an arduous and very onerous business1 and that those men who have fulfilled their obligations to their social instinct most scrupulously and honestly1 have frequently come to their journey's end without having been able to cast more than a glance of hearty encouragement and tender affection at the women they passed on the road1 however positive may have been their feelings towards them4 ,when we see a whole regiment1 or two or three regiments1 present arms1 or slope arms simultaneously1 so that the glint on their rifles seems like one flash that illuminates the whole multitude in the same second of time2 when we see one policeman suddenly make a clear channel through the congested traffic of ,cheapside1 in order that a fire-engine may dash through to perform its work of rescue2 or when we watch the rhythmic and regular movements of a corps de ballet1 keeping strict time with a well-conducted orchestra2--a mysterious thrill passes through us1 a magic breath of cool air seems to lap the lower regions of our spine1 and for some reason which we do not stop to analyse1 we feel uplifted1 exalted1 in mystic and glowing fusion with something deep and distant1 buried far away in the history of our race4 ,what is this mysterious thrill1 this cold shiver8 ,it is intensely pleasurable4 ,it is the only purely non-sexual thrill that in any way approaches the sexual thrill4 ,its importance1 therefore1 to us and our lives must be enormous4 ,for the fact that it is poles asunder from sexuality1 ought to make us see that here we have something1 a deep instinct that is not reproductive1 which is capable of feeling immense bodily pleasure4 ,as a matter of fact1 this cold shiver is one of the most infallible signs of profound unqualified approval that our body shows4 ,when it is felt deep down in the back1 man may conclude with absolute certainty that one of the strongest1 most vital and most necessary chords of his nature has been touched and set vibrating4 ,for the fact that it is the body that speaks here1 is1 ,i repeat1 a proof that we are concerned with an instinct1 and not with an act of intellect4 ,it is always possible to make quite sure of this distinction by remembering that the body never participates in an act of intellect4 ,when the intellect apprehends anything1 the body1 remembering its superior rank1 and its superior age1 remains coldly distant and unaffected4 ,for the intellect1 as ,schopenhauer rightly observed1 is the servant of the body1 and not vice vers4 ,and the body does not share either its servant's triumphs or pleasures4 ,conversely1 when the body apprehends something by means of its instincts1 its servant--the intellect--is all agog1 intensely interested1 watchful and helpful2 the intellect 8stands by0 and is ready to seek ways and means by which the body may speedily be guided to the object of its longing or to the consummation of its desire--no matter what the instinct be that is providing the momentum4 ,all bodily thrills1 then1 are very important2 because they signify that the superior part of one1 the older1 more traditional1 more unalterable1 and more untractable part of one1 is gratified1 acquiescent1 deeply approving what happens to be taking place4 ,this fact is most significant1 particularly in regard to all that is going to follow in this book4 ,the thrill of the sexual union is easily explained and disposed of once and for all3--,it is the superior1 the oldest1 most traditional1 and most unalterable part of us--our body--approving the act of procreation1 which promises a continuation and a multiplication of ,life4 ,now my claim is that this other thrill1 which1 in its different way1 is just as pleasurable as the thrill of sexual union1 is also an act of bodily approval--but of what8 ,let us consider in what circumstances this thrill is felt4 ,i have said that it is when we see a large body of troops manuvring in such a manner that the movements of the whole multitude are as the movements of one man4 ,i have said that it is when we see one single man in blue step into the midst of the torrent of vehicles in ,cheapside1 put his hand up1 and clear1 as if by magic1 an open thoroughfare for the fire-engine to dash through on its mission of mercy and of rescue4 ,i have said also that it is when we see the rhythmic movements of a corps de ballet adjusted to perfection to the regular beat of a fine orchestra4 ,now what is common to all these three instances8 ,it is obvious that the only thing that can be common to them all is the quality of order1 the quality which is the result and creation of the ordering power of man4 ,where this is found in a tangible1 forcible1 overwhelming form1 the body approves1 the body is thrilled4 ,and this thrill is the body's exultation over witnessing what from time immemorial must have been one of the human being's strongest cravings and deepest faiths1--the faith in order1 in regular arrangement1 in the power of ordering confusion2 because such order1 such regular arrangement1 and such power of ordering confusion1 have always meant greater mastery over nature1 over our foes1 over ,life in general1 and therefore greater security1 better fruit1 more happiness1 more beauty6 ,the particular manifestation of order that the body may be witnessing is immaterial2 for it is not the nature of the manifestation1 but its quality of order1 that moves and thrills us so deeply1 that1 perhaps1 in no other moment of our lives--save possibly in sexual union--do we feel such an exquisite titillation of our nerves and tissues4 ,this approval1 this never-to-be-forgotten chorus of praise that our old body sings1 in spite of ourselves1 is the sign that our social instinct#bc feels gratified1 feels secure1 and in the environment in which it can thrive2 for it is our social instinct that knows how to appreciate the value of order1 how important order is1 and how great were those who first created order out of chaos4 ,i do not know whether women get this cold shiver down their backs at the sight of order--,i believe they do2 in fact ,i am sure they must3 because1 to the extent to which they feel positive to ,man and to the child they must feel positive to the order that makes men and children possible and safe acquisitions4 ,woman's respect for ,man1 her whole attitude of awe towards him1 must of necessity fall to pieces when the order which it is his duty to ,life to establish by means of his social instinct1 either collapses1 or proves in any way inadequate4 ,because1 although ,woman is constantly seeking to lure ,man to specialize in his reproductive instinct1 she never respects the man whom she thus succeeds in forcing to betray his other trusts2 and knows perfectly well1 unconsciously1 that only that man who remains positive both to his social and his reproductive instinct1 is of any use to the world and ultimately to her and her child4 ,for ,man to fail in the exercise of his social instinct brings him into just as bad repute with decent women as when he fails in his reproductive instinct4 ,women realize that he cannot be wholly positive to ,life without the exercise of both1 and although they may make a mad and delirious rush into voluptuous pastimes with the man of degenerate social instincts--as they are doing at present1 for instance--the more far-seeing among them1 the more sensitive and apprehensive of their sex1 will have a sense of insecurity and dissatisfaction which will make them look anxiously around and wonder whether all is well with ,life and the world4 ,this is not the place to discuss the ,woman's ,suffrage ,movement2 but the above adumbrates my view of the deepest causes that underlay this most interesting1 most significant and most symptomatic agitation of recent years4 ,it was by no means the most frivolous1 the most superficial1 and the most pretentious women who were militants in this movement4 ,all frivolous1 superficial and pretentious women nowadays are to be found only shoulder to shoulder with degenerate man wherever and whenever he is 8enjoying himself10 and whiling away his empty existence in a whirl of still more empty pleasure4 ,for the present ,i must proceed with the consideration of ,man's social instinct in its relation to ,woman4 ,in addition to the task of imposing order on chaos and of creating the foundations of civilized society1 it is the social instinct of man that has always been responsible for the contriving of all codes of morality1 however diverse1 however conflicting4 ,it is the social instinct in lesser men that keeps them moral4 ,for immorality is1 in the first place1 a crime against society4 ,social life--and all healthy human life is social life--cannot flourish unless it is well ordered2 unless1 that is to say1 it follows certain well chosen rules of conduct1 diet1 amusement and the like4 ,where man's social instinct begins to decline1 therefore1 he is not only ceasing from being positive to social life1 but he is actually immoral4 ,of all this the best women1 the most sensitive women1 are vaguely1 unconsciously aware4 ,as the custodians of ,life1 they cannot respect1 or feel confidence in1 men whose social instincts are declining4 ,by immorality ,i do not mean that limited1 foolishly narrow-minded notion of the ,puritans1 which confines itself to the condemnation of all sexual pleasure4 ,the ,puritans themselves were immoral in my sense2 because1 they were hostile to life4 ,st4 ,paul himself was immoral1 in my sense2 because1 being a celibate1 and as good as a monk himself1 he said to the ,corinthians3 8,it is good for a man not to touch a woman1444#bd ,for ,i would that all men were even as ,i myself#be4444 ,i say1 therefore1 to the unmarried and widows1 ,it is good for them if they abide even as ,i40#bf ,st4 ,paul was indeed very immoral in my sense2 because when he cast about him for a reason to justify the holy and sacred union of matrimony1 the only one he could find was that it alleviated a man's lust4#bg ,i mean by immorality1 as ,i have already explained1 all those crimes of omission and commission that are hostile to the best kind of life4 ,social life cannot continue unless it is well ordered4 ,disordered social life is in danger of annihilation3 therefore all those crimes that lead to social disorder as the result of man's declining social instinct are1 in my sense1 immoral4 ,in ,chapter ,,iii ,i showed how predominant the reproductive instinct must of necessity be in ,woman2 but ,i also showed that1 owing to her mind's constant misinterpretation of bodily messages1 it does not follow that ,woman will always be thinking of sex1 man and the child1 simply because her body thinks and works round nothing else4 ,the ,positive ,woman--the young fully formed girl--is all sex2 her body aspires and yearns for nothing more ardently than the fulfilment of her destiny2 this cannot help being so1 and yet what from all appearances could be more remote1 more different from thoughts of sexual relations and reproduction than the mental preoccupations of the healthy decent young girl8 ,she could not tell you why she is fond of men's society4 ,she knows only that she is fond of it4 ,she could not explain why she hopes to marry ultimately2 she knows her father and mother were married and that most adults seem to marry1 but she has not the faintest conception of all that this implies4 ,she notices that she has a marked taste in men--that some men are like wooden images to her1 and that others thrill her through and through2 but she is not aware of the reasons of all this4 ,while1 however1 the very mystery of these thrills1 the very impenetrability of her likes and dislikes in regard to men1 make her abandon any hope of knowing the why and the wherefore of these experiences1 she is not unfavourably disposed towards them4 ,on the contrary they interest her and attract her as if magnetically2 while men are the object of her most solemn and most undivided attention4 ,occasionally she has a terrible1 unutterable dream1 the very recollection of which shocks her for days afterwards2 but these adventures she has in slumber throw no fresh light on her problem for her2 for has she not had the most impossible dreams all her life8 ,who is to say that these she is having now are any more reliable than those she had three1 four1 five or six years ago1--although the subject of them is so entirely different8 ,still1 it is all very strange1 very strange2 and she regards men with perhaps a trifle more penetration on the morrow1 and the day after4 ,the very positive girl may be timid1 in fact is1 as a rule1 very timid in the presence of men1 and very self-conscious too4 ,her body is aware that in this environment it can find its consummation1 it would like to find its consummation1 and it is therefore all tense and braced with excitement--an excitement that the girl herself does not quite understand1 except that it makes her extremely uncomfortable4 ,and it is the difficulty she feels in overcoming her body's concern that constitutes the strain4 ,this difficulty may easily be understood1 however1 if we remember that ever since she first became fully formed1 her body has silently1 but regularly been preparing for the consummation of its destiny4 ,unbeknown to the girl's consciousness1 though of course she has been aware of the phenomenon1 every month ,life has prepared her--her body has dressed itself1 so to speak1 for the act that will lead to the consummation of her destiny1--no wonder that after all these months and years of silent waiting and waiting1 and elaborate and minute preparations for the guest1 that there should be some bustle1 some joyful apprehension1 when a potential guest is at hand1 or actually waiting4 ,but the mind knows nothing of all this4 ,what in fact is going on in the girl's mind8 ,all this bodily agitation gets telephoned through correctly enough to the brain2 but it is transmitted to consciousness in a form so utterly garbled and inaccurate1 that it becomes unintelligible4 ,consciously1 the girl only feels uncomfortable1 and sometimes so painfully so that she has to take flight altogether1 and retire somewhere alone to recover her self-possession4 ,charlotte and ,emily ,bront had to avert their eyes when they passed an attractive man in the street4 ,you may be quite certain that when a fully formed and decent girl looks boldly and unmoved 7as hundreds do nowadays7 into the eyes of men--even of the most attractive men--her degree of positiveness is very low indeed1 and her body feels very little at all in the presence of the male sex4 ,the whole of the above1 of course1 applies only to the virgin4 ,there is no true positiveness to the social instinct in the positive girl4 ,the social instinct's next finest products1#bh which are the fine arts1 are to her but means to an end--unconscious means to an end1 just as everything else is3 the end being the full exercise of her reproductive instinct4 ,if a girl show a strong desire to play the violin1 to paint or to write1 you may feel quite sure these next finest manifestations of man's social instinct are attracting her only temporarily1 as extra plumage with which to eclipse her sisters and friends4 ,and the really positive girl will throw all these accessories to her bodily charms overboard the moment they have served her purpose4 ,no admirably positive woman would ever continue the pastimes of painting1 or music1 once they had achieved her object for her4 ,as ,i suggested in ,chapter ,,iii1 for the social instinct to speak with even an ever so feeble voice in ,woman1 it means that some part of her reproductive instinct has had to stand aside--ergo1 that her reproductive instinct is not as strong as it might be1 and consequently that some flaw may be suspected either in her ancestry1 or in the tone or correlation of her bodily parts4 ,if1 then1 she applies herself to the fine arts--which are only the next highest bloom of the human social instinct working for order in expression--she can do so only under two conditions--7#a7 ,at the bidding of her reproductive instinct which makes her unconsciously adopt one of the arts temporarily as an extra feather with which to make her a more conspicuous female against the background formed by her sisters and friends2 or 7#b7 at the bidding of a genuine impulse to art1 arising from a real whisper coming direct from her social instinct--in which case her reproductive instinct may be considered as imperfect1 suspect1 lacking in vigour4 ,all positiveness to the social instinct in ,woman1 therefore1 denotes a decline of ,woman as ,woman1 a depression in the manifold and exalted virtues1 the beauty1 the charm1 and the power of ,woman as the breeder1 the mother1 and the custodian of ,life4 ,enough has now been said on this subject to leave the reader in no doubt as to how ,i distinguish between the ,positive ,man and the ,positive ,woman4 ,the first must1 in order to be whole1 be positive both to sex and to society1 through his reproductive and social instincts respectively4 ,the latter must1 in order to be whole1 be positive to sex only4 ,of course1 ,i need hardly remind the reader that all men1 by the exercise of their social instinct cannot be creative in social order1 or in the fine arts2 but the least of them1 if their social instinct is normal1 can protect and maintain society by observing its conventions and rules4 ,nor do ,i wish to imply that1 because ,woman is now anxious about the fate of ,life and society1 she is therefore developing or acquiring new powers of which neither her female ancestors nor her body can reveal the generating source4 ,i say only that the most apprehensive and most sensitive of modern women are losing their faith in man because of the undoubted decline in his social instinct1 and because of their having become aware of the danger that this entails to ,life4 ,i do not even mean to suggest that what they say on this subject is worthy of a moment's attention4 ,it is the fact that they feel the danger1 that is important4 ,it now remains for me to differentiate between the ,positive ,man's and the ,positive ,woman's attitude to the sexual act itself4 ,this is necessary1 in fact indispensable2 because upon a proper grasp of this matter a true and serviceable understanding of ,woman largely depends4 ,i shall deal with ,man first4 ,the ,positive ,man1 who is necessarily the healthy and moral man1 is faced by ,woman as a temptation from a few years after puberty1 practically until the end of his life4 ,he is faced by her as a temptation very much in the same way as the child of my third chapter was faced by the heavy stone as a temptation4 ,one of the first things he observes in regard to this temptation1 however1 is that it is not continuous1 not constant1 but intermittent and fitful4 ,it is much more in the nature of an appetite that can be satisfied and momentarily stilled1 a desire that can be met and gratified1 than a need that never ceases1 as for instance the need of air1 or of food4 ,what is more1 the very satisfaction it is possible to give it1 is the principal cause of its intermittent character4 ,i do not1 myself1 believe in any feeling of disgust or repulsion arising in the male towards the female after a gratification of the male sexual appetite2 ,i am convinced that where this occurs it is only the outcome of bestial excess2 but ,i am certain that the appetite of the male1 his desire1 undoubtedly can and does remain quiescent for a space after its gratification1 that it is possible for him during that quiescent period to act and live in a way which is absolutely1 to all intents and purposes asexual1 or indistinguishable from the asexual life4 ,the fact that the sexual act alone constitutes the whole of man's share1 the whole of his desire1 and the whole of his physical concern1 in regard to reproduction1 and that for a space after its accomplishment he may be regarded as practically asexual1 is so important in the understanding of ,man's attitude and his duty both to the world1 to ,life1 and to ,woman1 that it cannot be too thoroughly understood4 ,it is the fitful nature of ,man's sexual ,life1 the crescendo and diminuendo of his desire1 that constitutes its principal characteristic4 ,from the moment he rises from the couch--not refreshed1 but having rejoined the continuous stream of ,life for a moment1 only to pay it tribute--he becomes for a while purely social1 purely asexual1 turning his mind to other matters1 pleased to turn his mind to other matters1 and retaining the woman who is his mate1 no longer from pure desire 7let all women thoroughly grasp this71 but from pure morality1 pure sociability2--aye6 and supporting her children too1 no longer as a sexual accomplice or confederate1 but as a social agent1 prompted thereto by his social instinct4 ,this state of asexuality1 or pure sociability1 lasts until the next longing for the stream of ,life seizes him once more2 but even then again1 it is his social instinct that guides him in the way in which he should gratify it1 and the way he should meet the responsibilities arising from having gratified it4 ,one can recognize immediately the man with a normally developed social instinct 7just as one can recognize immediately a well-developed social community7 by the strictness with which his fitfulness in regard to sex is not allowed to work havoc among his female acquaintances generally1 or to make him neglectful of the responsibilities it imposes4 ,for1 it should always be remembered that to the positive man1 well-built and well-fed1 the sexual longing is sometimes the most intolerable anguish1 the most acute and importunate suffering1 and its gratification a thing which for the moment appears fraught with such unspeakable1 such ecstatic joy and delight1 that to think of subsequent responsibilities here1 to dwell on subsequent duties here1 denotes a degree of social instinct that is far beyond the measure usually supposed to be possessed by even the civilized individual4 ,during the moment of crisis1 at its most acute stage1 the only object that seems desirable1 reasonable1 possible1 the only prize that seems worth while1 is--gratification1 satisfaction1 in fact the willing ,woman2 even if damnation loom threateningly behind her1 even if death stand waiting at the end6 ,who has felt this and not marvelled at the fact that ,man was ever able to build up a possible human society6 ,who has felt this and not learnt thereby to admire and respect ,man's social instinct1 which was able1 out of this fierce and tremendous passion to construct a scheme whereby he who felt it took upon himself the responsibilities arising from its very gratification6#bi ,no wonder a cold shiver of exquisite and mysterious pleasure courses down our backs whenever we are in the presence of a masterful example of ,man's order6 ,what triumphs of the past that cold shiver remembers1 which we are at a loss to recall1 but which we still unconsciously applaud every time the regular movements of a multitude1 the measured strains of a rich melody1 or the swing and stride of a corps de ballet appear before our eyes6 ,for these are but the outward1 visible1 tangible and most obvious examples of ,man's social instinct working for order6 ,powerful as the sexual passion is in ,man1 small though intense as is his share in the joys of reproduction1 only think what a powerful force was required to meet this sexual passion1 with any hope of success1 in order to discipline and control it6 ,it had to be a force as great if not greater than the reproductive instinct itself4 ,and what force is it in us that gives us a mysterious thrill1 so different from1 and yet so subtly akin in bodily strength to the sexual thrill8 ,i have spoken of this thrill already2 it is the cold shiver mentioned in the preceding paragraph--the cold shiver of the social instinct gratified4 ,this1 then1 was the only power in man1 that he himself could rally against his fierce and ungovernable sexual desire2 it was the only power that held anything like a corresponding hold over his body2 and he turned it so successfully against his reproductive instinct1 that he taught the latter its limits1 and forced it to accept the responsibilities its tempestuous ardour involved4#cj ,this is the only form of 8self-control0 that arises from the strength and not from the weakness of a man4#ca ,to return1 however1 to the question of his attitude to the sexual act1 it is clear that man1 once he has risen from the couch1 after gratifying one of his fitful longings1 has for the time being done with sex4 ,this is most important4 ,after having rejoined the stream of ,life to pay it tribute1 he becomes once more the amputation from ,life1 and can turn away from its sexual thraldom until another of his fitful longings overtakes him4#cb ,as a well-known ,french painter once said to me at a moment when his house was in a turmoil over his wife's presenting him with his first child3 8,j'y suis pour si peu de chose l dedans60 ,it is clear1 then1 that while the joy of sex for man is intense1 immense and indescribably pleasurable--for1 in addition to the actual physical gratification it brings1 there is the spiritual ecstasy of the exercise of power1 and power in its most flattering form1 i4e4 over another human being--it is all concentrated into a few such brief moments1 into a space so short as to seem ridiculous when the efforts made to experience it are taken into account4 ,true1 it is zenithal1 stupendous1 quintessential2 but it is perhaps1 for that very reason1 short and exquisitely so4 ,it is as if all the qualities of pleasure1 physical and spiritual1 had for man been distilled and re-distilled until they had been reduced to the smallest possible compass1 in order that he might be quickly and sufficiently gratified1 and yet not detained too long from those other duties to ,life to which his other instincts direct him4 ,and it is precisely this tabloid form of sexual ecstasy that enables man to know exactly the limits and boundaries of his part in sexual life4 ,he knows that there it begins and ends4 ,it is a definite thing that he can seek and find4 ,he can be quite conscious about it and is quite conscious about it from the start4 ,it is small enough1 short enough1 intense enough1 to be grasped and understood by consciousness4 ,the only things connected with sex that last and endure1 where man is concerned1 are its responsibilities--and these are1 of course1 the very aspects of it that the man with a declining social instinct wishes to cast off from the problem of sex4 ,that is why the value of a man1 as a man1 may almost always be determined by his attitude towards ,woman4 ,the anarchist1 the degenerate1 loves the prostitute2 the true artist1 the sober1 healthy citizen loves the mother4#cc ,to turn now to the attitude of the ,positive ,woman to the sexual act1 how very different is the case with her6 ,take the little jewel constituting man's small instant of sexual ecstasy and beat it out to a length sufficiently great to cover twenty to thirty months1 and sometimes more1 and you have its extended and attenuated equivalent for the female4 ,until ,woman has gathered up all the experiences that constitute her participation and her share of pleasure in the sexual act1 and which are distributed over the period above mentioned1 her sexual life and the pleasure it brings to her1 cannot be said to be complete4 ,even the craving for the proper functioning of her organs and the primary instinct that animates and actuates her cannot be gratified unless she picks up every one of the moments strewn over that space of time--unless1 that is to say1 she passes through the whole cycle of events and sensations that go to make up her complete relationship to man and to the child4 ,to suppose1 by a false analogy with man1 that sexual union alone1 without its natural results1 is going to satisfy ,woman's body1 however much she herself may be deluded into believing it will1 is nothing more nor less than to condone an act of pure cruelty1 of savage violence1 against a basic instinct and its elaborate generating mechanism4#cd ,as a matter of fact1 although ,woman means everything to ,man's sexuality1 and is the embodiment of all that his reproductive instinct can desire1 even when it is at its keenest1 ,man means very little to ,woman4 ,he is1 after all1 no more than the sparking-plug that sets an elaborate process going1 and the brief moment in which his share in her business is accomplished1 and the incomplete pleasure it affords her1 are ridiculously insignificant when compared with the importance he himself would fain attach to them4 ,woman's supposed devotion to man1 and even her love for him1 is therefore much more of an illusion than ,man's love for ,woman4 ,regarded dispassionately and coolly1 ,woman's love for ,man must be more or less of an exaggerated and romantic ideal4 ,he is merely the first station on a long and delightful journey1 in which the subsequent destination is the chief concern4 ,of course he may be desired again as the first station for a second1 third1 fourth or fifth journey2 but it is always self-deception that induces any woman to regard a man as more than that1 as more final1 more satisfying than that2 although utilitarian motives may induce her to exploit and use his social instinct to the utmost while she is serving nature's and her own ends by having children by him4 ,the only kind of woman to whom ,man is everything1 is the prostitute1 and ,i shall show in ,chapter ,,ix what a cruel misconception even her position is4 ,by the time that man has done his share in the sexual act1 therefore1 and that his social instinct alone has taken command of him1 bidding him protect and support his mate1 and face the responsibilities that are coming1 the ,woman may be said to have only just begun1 only just started on the road4 ,silently1 secretly1 but with vigorous determination1 the reproductive instinct still reigns supreme1 and has an enormous amount to do--pleasures and pain to bring and to forget1 power to confer and to withhold4 ,this is as important as it seems generally to be misunderstood2 and yet its non-acceptance as a principle is the source of more than three-quarters of the crimes that are committed against and by women in the whole of the modern world4 ,unfortunately1 positive ,woman herself does not come forward with any help here4 ,because positive ,woman--sometimes even when she is married--is completely unconscious of what is necessary in order for her to have a complete and full sexual experience4 ,all positive women are in the first place positive to men1 and to men alone4 ,this cannot be helped1 as ,i shall explain later2 it is one of the inevitable consequences of ,woman's universal unconsciousness4 ,but how easy is the step from positiveness to men to exclusive positiveness to sexual union alone1 only those women who have experienced it can tell6 ,and this fatal step is taken by thousands of women annually--particularly in ,france1 and it is a step taken by all prostitutes4 ,it is1 of course1 physical anguish for the woman4 ,her body suffers2 because all the necessary subsequent stages of the sexual cycle are omitted3 the period of gestation2 parturition2 suckling1 when the mother's power reaches its zenith1 and when the soft helpless creature in her arms offers exquisite flattery to every fibre1 both mental and physical1 in her body4 ,all this1 until the actual day of weaning1 comes strictly within the cycle of ,woman's complete sexual experience4 ,to suppose that the mere act of sexual union1 which is the first step in this cycle1 is sufficient or adequate in the case of ,woman1 especially positive ,woman1 is to court disaster1 it is to violate her deepest craving4 ,she does not know this4 ,how many millions of women have lived and died sufferers through not knowing this6 ,but those who profit from her unconsciousness in this matter1 those who trade upon her apparent inability to understand her body's demands in this matter1 those1 in short1 who while debasing her from her exalted position of the mother of ,life to a mere instrument of pleasure1 also rob her of her full and complete sexual experience and its quota of pleasure1 are in my opinion no better than barbarians1 troglodytes1 common whoreson knaves6 ,many thousands of them get punished quite soundly enough1 as ,i shall show in ,part ,,ii2 but how many thousands get off scot free6 ,the ,positive ,woman1 although she does not know it1 must be and is positive to the whole cycle of female sexual experiences4 ,her body knows nothing else and craves for nothing else4 ,it is true that her body bids her seek the male alone 7consciously71 but merely because if it were not for man's diabolical skill and craft1 this attitude would perforce lead to the natural and inevitable results4 ,the body1 however1 knows nothing of the interception of the male fructifying element2 when1 therefore1 it drives woman to be positive at first to man alone1 it does the right thing2 it does all it can be expected to do4 ,it forces woman to the first step which1 as far as it is aware1 will lead to the inevitable cycle4 ,contraceptives obviously cannot come into its purview4 ,that is why positive woman is conscious only of desiring the male1 while her body insists blindly on obtaining the whole cycle4 ,no young virgin who craves for children1 or for a child of her own1 is really sincere4 ,such a desire never reaches consciousness from the body4 ,in fact the girls that make the best mothers are frequently absurdly impatient with and intolerant of other people's children4 ,my mother always told me that before she had her first child she took no keen interest in children whatsoever4 ,a positive girl may be fond of children1 and kind to children2 but she is consciously positive to man only4 ,it is only natural that she should be so4 ,the body knows of no royal road to the love and possession of offspring save through the portals of sexual life4 ,very often1 however1 a very positive girl will1 from mere bashfulness or decency1 express her strong desire for man by what she conceives to be a more polite and more euphemistic way of revealing it1 and will tell you that she longs for a child4 ,this should deceive no one4 ,it is either a pose on her part1 or a very transparent disguise of her genuine feeling4 ,although1 therefore1 we may again be deceived1 and frequently are deceived1 by ,woman's double life--the unconscious life her body leads with all its determined aspirations and desires constantly directing her footsteps1 and the mental or conscious life she leads1 which frequently has not the smallest bearing on the true aims of the body1 and as often misinterprets these aims--we cannot help admitting1 notwithstanding1 that positive ,woman1 though she appears to be1 and will declare she is1 positive to man and the sexual union alone1 must unconsciously be positive to the whole cycle constituting the female sexual experience1 including particularly those long months spent with the child alone4 ,the prostitute1 therefore1 is merely a positive woman whom unfortunate circumstances have conspired to petrify and confirm in her misunderstanding of her true needs and desires4 ,the important bearing this admission has on the subsequent chapters of this book1 emboldens me to urge the reader to bear it well in mind from now onwards2 for1 simple as it seems in its baldest statement1 it clears up so many of the apparent complications of practical sexual life1 that unless it be properly grasped and remembered now it may in itself appear complicated before my task is done4 ,i have but one more remark to make on positive ,woman's attitude to the sexual act1 and with it ,i shall draw this necessary but delicate discussion to a close4 ,after admitting that she1 or rather her body1 pronounces it1 alone1 inadequate1 insufficient1 why do ,i assume that though she consciously craves for it alone1 she unconsciously craves for the whole cycle8 ,as ,i have pointed out1 it is possible for man to recognize the limits1 the full extent of his momentary participation in the business of procreation4 ,it is short1 intense1 tangible4 ,but think of the host of accidents1 unexpected joys and pains that may attend an experience lasting eighteen to twenty months6 ,how could that possibly be grasped by the body1 let alone the mind1 as a definite desire6 ,prophetic power would have to enter into consciousness as well as into the body1 in order to distil from this panorama of events anything so delicate and unequivocal as a desire for a pleasurable experience6 ,it is impossible for the young girl consciously to desire all the events of these fateful eighteen to twenty months1 however much her body may insist upon having them1 and complain and murmur if it does not get them4 ,personally ,i am convinced1 from my knowledge of the healthy well-built and positive mothers ,i have known1 that once the joys of these eighteen to twenty months have been experienced1 they are consciously desired again4 ,as1 however1 such mothers are1 as a rule1 not very communicative concerning the precise nature and degree of these joys1 but secretly hug them all through their lives as something precious and private that elevates them and differentiates them from the rest of mankind1 a girl can scarcely be expected to know about them secondhand1 nor can she be blamed for not finding out about them4 ,have you ever injured or harmed1 even by accident1 a child that its mother had reared at the breast8 ,have you ever experienced the fierce love that immediately flashes out of the mother in the form of the heartiest and most unjust indignation at your unintentional trespass8 ,if you know all this1 like myself you can entertain no doubts concerning the untold joys that ,woman's life1 alone with the child1 can and often does bring her4 ,to regard her relationship to man 7without its natural consequences7 as her sexual consummation1 or even as her sexual pleasure1 is1 therefore1 simply the most crass and most hopeless form of primitive barbarism4 ,it is true that1 in order to rule man and to get a hold over him1 also with the view of providing herself with an ever-ready means for creating in him a guilty conscience about her1 ,woman1 in ,europe at least1 has grossly misrepresented her attitude to motherhood1 and by concealing its joys and exaggerating its pains as much as possible1 has at last succeeded in making maternity appear a sort of voluntary self-martyrdom4 ,it should never be forgotten1 however1 that with stupid and ill-informed men1 woman finds it easy to obtain power and mastery in this manner2 for1 if her man be foolish enough to believe her1 it is the best means she has for cowing him4 ,in making him believe that he gets all the joy and she all the suffering from the sexual life1 she gives him a constant sense of guilt or at least of indebtedness which makes him submissive4 ,but the whole attitude is of course pure misrepresentation and fraud4 ,for the very idea that the performance of a natural function should be so painful as to amount to an act of 8self-sacrifice10 is obvious nonsense4 ,certainly1 when disease or malformation is present 7as it is now in the majority of cases71 maternity is nothing less than a torment2 but in such circumstances1 disease or malformation should be pleaded1 and not maternity or matrimony1 as the cause of the trouble4 ,a man coupled to a wife who moans and groans over maternity1 should realize that he has been guilty of a fundamental mistake in taste1 that he has chosen an inferior woman1 and should blame himself1 his upbringing1 and his general notions about life1 for the trouble maternity brings into his household4 ,but he should not let himself be persuaded that because his inferior woman suffers over a perfectly normal function1 that therefore all maternity is 8self-sacrifice0 and 8unselfishness40 ,there could not be a grosser misunderstanding4 ,only the sick or badly-formed woman has any honest right to complain of motherhood2 but she has no right to motherhood at all4 ,motherhood is only 8unselfish10 therefore1 when it is unpleasant 7i4e4 when abnormal conditions prevail72 and those ,english philosophers who derive altruism from the maternal instinct are guilty of taking the abnormal as the norm for the basis of their values4 ,healthy1 honest women will confess that they thoroughly enjoy every moment of motherhood2 but inasmuch as to-day it is the fashion to speak of self-sacrifice in regard to these functions1 they will only admit in secret1 and with the feeling that they are making a guilty admission1 that they have enjoyed them4 ,it has become the custom in modern ,europe1 and particularly in ,england1 to represent women as performing some mysterious personal 8sacrifice0 in marriage4 ,in all modern novels and plays this view of women is taken for granted4 ,but it is only another of the sentimental myths created by modern ,western women for their own ends4 ,where it is true1 it ought to be a subject of shame1 as showing marked physiological inferiority2 and where it is not true1 it is never anything more than a hoax for exercising moral power over a foolish husband4 ,for thousands of men nowadays are convinced that whether a woman be healthy or unhealthy1 well or badly formed1 there is something sweetly and edifyingly 8unselfish0 about motherhood4 ,western ,civilization has not produced a greater lie1 or a more pernicious lie than this2 for it makes abnormality a virtue1 and physiological inferiority a claim upon our admiration6 ,unfortunately the number of women to-day who really do suffer from maternity shows such a large annual increase1 and men's taste in women is so much vitiated by ignorance and false values1 that the morbid association of 8self-sacrifice0 with motherhood is now regarded as almost inevitable1 and doctors who thrive on it are the first to proclaim it as a necessary and even natural association4 ,,footnotes3 #bc ,i feel ,i must offer some explanation here in regard to the precise relationship of the social instinct to order4 ,some will object1 and quite rightly1 that all order is not social order1 and that all rhythm is not gregarious rhythm4 ,there is the natural rhythm 7and therefore the natural order7 of birds' songs1 of insects' buzzing1 of horses' and most animals' movements1 of fish in water1 of corn waving in the wind4 ,whatever be the strength or weakness of our social tendencies1 therefore1 we must1 as animals1 feel instinctively and deeply akin to the phenomenon of rhythm and its charm4 ,this affinity will reside deep down in our natures1 and will hark back to an age far more remote than that in which the first human society was formed4 ,all this is perfectly true4 ,but this very phenomenon of natural rhythm1 extended into the general notion of order1 is the only origin to which we can possibly trace the power of rhythmic or orderly arrangement in the creative human being4 ,extended into the notion of order and applied creatively by a superior human being to ,nature1 whereby chaos becomes arrangement1 and confusion is unravelled1 this rhythm constitutes the birth not only of all human society1 but of each separate civilization that has ever existed4 ,in this way ,i conceive of the social instinct having1 as a product of natural rhythm and order1 engulfed and absorbed the source of its existence1 in the human kind1 and established itself in humanity as the developed and highly extended form of that source4 #bd #a ,corinthians vii4 #a4 #be ,ibid41 vii4 #g4 #bf ,ibid41 vii4 #h4 #bg ,ibid41 vii4 #i4 8,but if they cannot contain1 let them marry2 for it is better to marry than to burn40 #bh ,for the connexion between man's social instinct and the ,arts1 see my ,introduction to ,the ,letters of a ,post-,impressionist 7,constable ,co41 #aiab74 #bi ,i know of only one woman who has recognized this and given man full credit for his self-mastery in regard to the consequences of his sexual lust4 ,see ,arabella ,kenealy 7,op4 cit41 pp4 #agh-i74 ,the passages are too long to be quoted1 but they should be read by all those who may be tempted to conclude that my views1 as expressed above1 have been prompted by masculine bias alone4 #cj ,see ,sir ,almroth ,e4 ,wright1 ,m4,d41 ,f4,r4,s41 ,the ,unexpurgated ,case against ,woman ,suffrage1 p4 #gd1 where the author hints at how much under civilization has been done for women by man4 #ca ,see also pp4 #g1 #ij-id4 #cb ,the part played by his self-preservative instinct in all this will be disclosed in another chapter4 ,see chapter ,v1 pp4 #hi-ij4 #cc ,cf4 ,weininger1 ,op4 cit41 p4 #bbg3 ,where the author disagreeing with me says3 8,great men have always preferred women of the prostitute type40 ,it is true that eighteen pages farther on he contradicts himself by saying of the prostitute3 8,she is the mate of the worst sort of men02 but this single example1 taken from among the many equally amazing contradictions in this book1 only tends to show its extraordinary futility4 #cd ,and yet most of the modern books on sex questions1 particularly those written by women1 take this false analogy for granted4 ,,chapter ,v ,virgin ,love in the ,positive ,man and the ,positive ,girl ,the moment when a healthy young man stands for the first time before a beautiful positive girl1 with a full consciousness of what that girl can and may mean to him1 is one of the most trying and most disconcerting in his whole life4 ,in plain ,english1 he is standing before ,life itself4 ,life itself is taking stock of him4 ,let us be in no doubt here4 ,his eyes may wander1 dazed1 over the bewildering spectacle before him2 his eyelids may quiver2 he may not understand what his feelings are1 or why he feels so numb and speechless1 and breathes so deeply2 but he is well aware that an iron ,fate has suddenly seized him like a vice1 and is holding him spellbound before an examiner1 who is far more relentless than any he has hitherto encountered at school or college4 ,and now turn your eyes on ,life itself6 ,look at the girl6 ,provided that he is not watching her too closely1 her eyes are scanning every inch of his body1 with a penetration1 an attention1 a fierce criticism1 that is allowing no detail to escape1 no indication of virile potency to go unnoticed4 ,her hands may be cold1 even moist with emotion2 but ,life in her is neither cold nor moist3 it is at white heat1 working its hardest1 and deciding for her whether it shall be ,aye or ,nay6 ,the very speed with which this decision is often made proves how concentrated1 how unrelaxing the scrutiny must be2 and however hard the work that has to be done1 it is all over and frequently quite brilliantly dispatched in a few seconds--a minute at the most6 ,aye or ,nay6 ,no wonder the youth feels embarrassed6 ,such an examination by ,life itself is hard to bear4 ,the verdict1 too1 if it be favourable1 is gratifying4 ,the approval of a positive1 healthy1 well-built girl is a certificate of potency2 because it is not only ,life's approval of one of its own products2 it is healthy ,life acquiescing in one of its essential means to multiplication4 ,to feel pleased in such circumstances is perfectly justifiable2 to feel satisfied here is nothing but becoming4 ,but there is another side to the picture1 and ,i state it now1 while we are discussing this particular situation4 ,there is nothing more harrowing1 more pathetic1 more heartrending than to witness poor1 patient and enduring ,life1 in the form of a beautiful maiden1 being forced by circumstances 7by the fact perhaps that this is the girl's only chance7 to choose the next best1 the second best1 the third best6 ,oh1 how she stifles her highest feelings6 ,how she chafes beneath the yoke6 ,and how ruthlessly ,life re-registers upon her eyes all the defects of her future mate1 as fast as she in her positiveness wipes them away with the impatient sponge of her desire6 ,that 8,yea10 given reluctantly1 shamefully1 almost guiltily 7because women feel that they are betraying a trust in such circumstances71 in the presence of a poor specimen of manhood1#ce simply because it is better to be positive to ,life1 even on a minor scale1 than not to be positive at all6--there is nothing more excruciatingly painful to witness6 ,how often this tragic farce is enacted in our part of the world1 only women know1 only brave women know--they who prefer anything rather than not to remain positive to ,life4 ,unfortunately1 it is not unusual nowadays for the positive healthy girl1 particularly of the wealthier classes1 to be spoilt by foolish modern prejudices that misguide her in this first important criticism of the men with whom she is confronted4 ,from the very atmosphere she has breathed ever since her infancy1 she has imbibed certain wholly fictitious standards regarding so-called 8manliness0 which1 at this vital moment in her life1 frequently cause her to make the most grievous mistakes4 ,she has had dinned into her innumerable conventional desiderata relating to manners1 sporting capacities1 cheerfulness1 levity1 boyishness and bodily build1 which now cause her to select consciously the very kind of man who is least likely to constitute an understanding and adequate mate4 ,he must possess a certain kind of mind--supple1 ready for light laughter1 humorous1 not too broody1 not too masterful1 not too self-centred1 and above all1 painstakingly chivalrous4 ,he must have had his spirit1 if not broken1 at least curbed by the public-school system2 his self-esteem severely shaken by excessive contact with mediocrities who have insisted on his being like one of themselves1 and he must have the body and face of a young athlete4 ,he must be capable of being trusted alone with her on rambles in the country1 at games1 on short excursions4 ,he must not take himself or his claims or his thoughts too seriously1 and the sine qua non is that he must be capable of idealizing ,woman1 of 8looking up0 to her1 of feeling a lump in his throat at the thought of her purity1 her devotion1 her 8heroism0 as a mother1 her condescension as a possible mate to himself1 and her ladyhood4 ,all these attributes the spoilt positive girl of our wealthier classes has been taught to seek and select among the young men that are paraded before her2 and in insisting on these attributes1 she consistently1 almost without exception1 succeeds in taking a man who is ideally equipped with every possible characteristic for making her thoroughly and exasperatingly miserable the whole of her life4 ,for very few indeed of these attributes have any connexion whatsoever with true1 desirable manliness in a mate1 and the young man who has been tamed into making a trustworthy companion to a single positive girl in her games and her walks1 is more often a torture machine than a delight as her husband in later years4 ,but let us see what unspoilt ,life1 through the positive unspoilt girl1 is actually trying to discover in the positive young man before her4 ,is she concerned with probing his soul8 ,does she meditate about his chances of going to ,heaven when he dies8 ,is she wondering whether he has a load of sin that weighs him down8--,she is very far from giving a thought to these matters4 ,her primary consideration is undoubtedly3 ,is he a fully equipped male8 ,is he a normally equipped male8 ,has he1 above all1 that exuberance which at one and the same time is beauty1 sexual potency1 and tense passion8 ,is he savoury8--that is to say1 is he devoid of everything capable of ultimately inspiring disgust8 ,classical features are by no means a vital consideration4 ,exuberance and savouriness are much more important4 ,is there fire in his eyes8--voluptuousness and fullness in his mouth8 ,is there eagerness and enthusiasm in the dilatation of his nostrils8 ,is there energy lurking in the vibrations of his voice8 ,is his mouth clean and his breath pure8--,is there all this1 and yet a remoteness from the brute1 from the mere animal into the bargain8 ,these facts are ascertained in the first few seconds1 and all this time ,life alone has been active in criticism4 ,a satisfactory reply to all these questions makes the young man at once an object of the keenest interest to the girl1 and her eyes now begin1 in a more collected and less rapid manner1 to survey the accessory man--his hands1 his feet1 his taste as revealed by his clothes1 his intelligence as revealed by his remarks1 his degree of mastery as revealed by his manner of approaching her4 ,all these things are important1 because they represent not merely the 8quality0 but also the 8surviving power0 of the tree to which the female butterfly is going to entrust her eggs4 ,a sleek1 flourishing youth has a tremendous advantage here2 because it is not ,woman's self-preservative instinct that demands the evidence of a sound worldly position in a man1 but again her reproductive instinct thinking of the security of the coming brood4 ,all this1 of course1 is more or less unconscious1 but it is satisfactorily accomplished by the instinct4 ,a brilliant exuberant youth1 who is shabby and poor1 is naturally and very rightly less attractive to the positive girl than the youth who1 though less brilliant1 but quite as exuberant1 flings on an opulent fur coat after a champagne supper1 and gracefully hands her and her chaperon into his #dj-;horse-power ,rolls-,royce4 ,this youth is simply irresistible6 ,this must be so4 ,because1 although the more brilliant youth may be an artist1 a fascinating poet1 or a gifted musician--all these things belong to the sphere of the social instinct1 which ,woman can scarcely appreciate critically1 while the flourishing circumstances of the fur-coated youth belong to the sphere of the reproductive instinct1 since they are one of the necessary conditions of the tree to which the eggs are going to be entrusted4 ,great spiritual gifts1 per se1 never really attract the healthy1 positive girl2 the only reason why she so frequently falls in love with men of great spiritual gifts is because extraordinarily high sexual exuberance is so often correlated with great spiritual gifts and powerful creative genius in a young man4 ,in later life1 of course1 the relationship changes2 because you cannot burn a candle at both ends1 and the man of great spiritual gifts who has cultivated that side of himself alone1 generally suffers a proportionate loss of sexual exuberance as he advances in years4 ,but in any case1 as far as young men are concerned1 the rule holds good that high sexual exuberance is frequently accompanied by very superior spiritual gifts4 ,incidentally1 this association always constitutes the most dangerous and often most disastrous characteristic of the artist's life4 ,it is a choice of roads--and frequently the favour he finds with women leads the young artist inevitably along the road of least resistance and greatest voluptuousness4 ,recalling our positive couple1 we will suppose that the youth1 in addition to responding favourably to all the girl's searching scrutiny1 is also a person of sound material position4 ,then1 when the chorus of bodily messages to the girl's brain are unanimous in praising him1 consciousness comes forward with the conclusion3 8,that man attracts me or fascinates me60 or 8,i like that man60 or 8,that man is a dream60 or 8,he's my ideal60 etc4 etc4 ,it is from this moment that the relationship of virgin love may be said to begin1 and if there is a response from the young man besides--if1 that is to say1 he also comments favourably on the girl1 then the two may be said to be each other's destiny2 and1 if they are both very positive1 and therefore impatient1 the sooner they marry the better4 ,many girls are1 however1 so overwhelmed by spiritual gifts1 nowadays1 that the position of the man1 his material wealth1 is often foolishly overlooked4 ,on the whole this is not quite the fault of the modern girl4 ,this ,age1 for some reason or other1 sets enormous store by spiritual gifts4 ,girls are brought up in an atmosphere steeped in the worship of intellect4 8,clever0--this is the most coveted adjective4 ,is he clever8 ,is she clever8 ,very often the most unhappy marriages are consummated precisely owing to the absurdly exaggerated value that is attached to cleverness4 ,i do not lose sight of the fact that great spiritual gifts are frequently accompanied by great sexual exuberance in a man1 and ,i make allowances for that and for the temptation such a man may certainly prove to the positive girl2 but his spiritual gifts ought not to be allowed to weigh against his poverty if he be poor1 or his inferiority as an animal1 if he have bad teeth1 an undersized and weak frame1 a delicate constitution1 or foul breath4 ,only girls1 of course1 whose minds have been perverted in this matter1 make the mistake of taking a poor clever man1 or an unappetizing clever man1 in preference to a duller though wealthier or more appetizing suitor2 for the instinct of the female when unperverted is to find not only a secure support for her offspring1 but also a mate whom it will at least not disgust her to embrace4 ,and1 after all1 what does this spiritual fascination amount to for women1 apart from its occasional correlation with high sexual exuberance8 ,if you ask yourself what it is you tire of first in life2 if you inquire to which kind of phenomenon you can relevantly apply the expression 8hackneyed0 when you have seen or heard it once too often--what is your inevitable reply8 ,the word 8hackneyed0 can be used relevantly only in regard to products of the spirit4 ,a song1 however beautiful1 repeated too often becomes a bore4 ,a picture seen too often begins to pall4 7,it is only because we scarcely ever notice with deep attention the pictures on our walls1 that we can endure them4 ,in time1 they form part of the general scheme of decoration47 ,the finest poem read too frequently becomes insufferably wearisome2 and who can read even the best novel more than three times8 ,i confess ,i have read ,wuthering ,heights three times2 but ,i doubt whether ,i could perform the feat a fourth time4 ,all these things1 however1 are of the spirit1 products of spiritual gifts4 ,it would not sound strange or irrelevant to apply the epithet 8hackneyed0 to any one of them1 provided that their charms had been impressed upon us once too often4 ,this fact alone should make us suspicious of the spirit as a phenomenon possessing lasting powers of attraction4 ,there are1 however1 other things to which the expression 8hackneyed0 could not be relevantly applied4 ,what should we think or say1 for instance1 of a visitor1 who rising suddenly in the middle of one of our tea-parties1 exclaimed quite gravely that she refused to take another piece of bread-and-butter for the rest of her life1 because bread-and-butter was 8hackneyed40 ,we should all be astonished1 not to say alarmed4 ,we should suspect her of something a little more serious than mere eccentricity4 ,but1 as a matter of fact1 nobody in his senses1 however professedly devoted to the spirit he might be1 would ever dream of saying 8bread-and-butter is hackneyed40 ,it is a thing of the body1 and provided the body remains healthy and exuberant1 the pleasures it provides are never hackneyed4 ,given a fair appetite and a healthy digestion1 and bread-and-butter will remain a joy for ever4 ,unlike the spirit1 therefore1 which however exuberant and however healthy1 wearies and fatigues if it be called upon to appreciate the same spirit1 or the same product of another spirit too often1 the body can enjoy 8bread-and-butter0 for threescore years and ten without ever feeling that it is hackneyed4 ,this alone ought to make all admirers of 8brains0 in men pause before they allow themselves to be so completely dazzled by mere spiritual brilliance1 as to forget other things4--,what other things8--,material position1 and that quality which all eminently desirable men have in common with good bread-and-butter--,i refer to savouriness4 ,i know of one very sad case that happened in my own circle4 ,a well-educated but misguided ,swedish girl who while being no fool herself had the modern exaggerated love for 8brains10 happened to meet a man in ,ireland who1 though brilliant to the point of genius1 was as unappetizing1 as unsavoury as the form of man can possibly be4 ,i confess to having sat in that man's company frequently myself1 and having revelled in the easy and fluent flow of his exuberant wit4 ,there was virtuosity not only in his speech but also in the thoughts behind his speech4 ,when he met the girl in question she too came under the spell of his extraordinary intelligence2 and1 forgetting the rule about the spirit1 and forgetting the quality of good bread-and-butter--for he was so unsavoury that one could not approach him without becoming aware of the fact with one's nostrils1 not to speak of one's eyes--she worshipped and married him4 ,it was1 of course1 a cruel mistake1 because marriage from the woman's standpoint is a tragedy if she has to smother any loathing in the embrace4 ,still1 she admired 8brains0 and she certainly obtained what she admired4 ,but at what cost6 ,in time1 of course1 she explored all the territory of his spirit1 and tasted all the delights of his skilful conceits2 and had1 no doubt1 by a kindly effort of will1 prolonged her enjoyment of these things very far beyond the point at which anyone else would have tired of them2 and then--what was left8--,only boredom where spiritual intercourse was concerned1 and ever-increasing disgust of all physical intercourse1 because of her unfortunate husband's eminently unsavoury person4 ,no truly positive woman1 however--particularly if she has remained uninfected by modern brain-worship--ever takes any notice of a man's spiritual gifts1 provided that he be savoury1 exuberant1 and in a sound material position2 and the very fact that she does not do so is a sign of the wise and penetrating vision of ,life behind her4 ,men have to take spiritual gifts into consideration in their dealings with one another2 it is essential that they should4 ,they may be pardoned1 therefore1 if they all too frequently extend this habit to their relations with the other sex4 ,but the woman who takes a man for his brains is a ninny1 or else a poor deluded victim of the madness of the ,age4 ,all she wants1 ,i repeat1 is exuberance with savouriness and a sound position2 and if brains enter into the bargain as well1 they are usually accepted quite unsuspectingly by the really positive and sane woman as one of those incidental details concerning her husband which1 like his number in gloves or his taste in ties1 she bears in mind simply as part of his general identity4 ,truth to tell1 however1 most women are saved from the mistake of marrying brains alone1 owing to the readiness which most of them show to impute brains to the dullest male1 provided he pleases them4 ,this explains why so many wives of gifted men have loved and eloped with males infinitely inferior to their husbands where brains were concerned2 it also explains why so many wives of gifted men1 who have been faithful1 have been bitterly unhappy in their fidelity4 ,where the artist is concerned perhaps we might make an exception1 because the artist's peculiar gifts are so frequently allied with an exceptionally exuberant sexuality4 ,one ,german writer has suggested that the creative power itself is the outcome of an excess of absorbed semen in the blood4 ,but even the artist's mental gifts1 though correlated with a quality that is frequently irresistible to women1 are an unsound reason for a girl's mating with him4 ,all women should remember that artists cannot marry them without committing adultery4 ,for1 if ,woman is wed to ,life before she marries1 the artist is certainly wed to his particular muse4 ,all this the positive girl knows more or less instinctively1 because ,life in her knows every word of it4 ,it is only when she has become infected with the stupid modern worship of brains that her conscious bias sometimes overrides her better bodily feelings4 ,but to return to our positive couple--the condition of mutual attraction in which they now find themselves is one of tremendous fascination1 because it constitutes an enhancement of the feeling of power1 and a deepening of the feeling of surrender4 ,so intense is this feeling of power and of slavery at the same time1 so exquisite is the scale of emotions that run from the bottom note of absolute subjection to a human being to the top note of supreme sovereignty over a human being--so that the girl bids and her bidding is done1 and the man bids and his bidding is done--that it is probably the richest experience1 as spiritual sensations go1 that anyone can have4 ,while it is being undergone the self-preservative instinct of both parties is entirely suspended4 ,the male's must be in any case1 because no male throughout the animal kingdom can approach sex without making a substantial sacrifice in self-preservation4 ,he cannot join the stream of ,life without paying it tribute1 and this to begin with is hostile to his self-preservative instinct inasmuch as it reduces his surviving power for the time being4 ,but there is this fact in addition3 his social instinct cannot face the responsibilities of a wife and her offspring unless his self-preservative instinct is prepared to make a good many reluctant concessions4 ,the woman1 too1 readily sacrifices all her self-preservative instinct to her first-husband ,life1 and to her second husband1 her lover4 ,in fact1 to speak with levity1 but with some profound truth as well1 in every respectable love-marriage1 the legal husband is the dupe or breadwinning agent who keeps the girl while she does her first mate--,life's business4 ,child-birth is not always successful even in the most healthy communities1 and a woman's reproductive instinct often has to clap its hand on the mouth of her self-preservative instinct before she can consent to having a second child4 ,with the self-preservative instincts both of the man and the girl in abeyance1 then1 we have what is always a dramatic situation4 ,we have a situation in which neither the man nor the girl cares what happens provided that each can get the other4 ,pain1 hardship1 parental hostility1 parental injustice1 privation1 dangers of all kinds1 fire1 water1 exile--all these things1 even to ,death itself1 will be faced with determination by the positive couple who are waiting only to be united1 if only they help a step forward1 or put an end for ever to all doubt and misgivings4 ,how often in the history of our race have not a chaste and positive couple1 kept apart by unfavourable circumstances and in the midst of appalling difficulties1 whispered to each other passionately3 8,one long embrace from you and ,i should be content to die60 ,this shows that the self-preservative instinct is as good as dead in such cases4 ,dead in the woman1 because when her reproductive instinct is 8meaning business10 nothing else can live beside it2 and dead in the man1 because 7#a7 he knows that love and his girl expect him to be determined and unrelenting in his worship and his desire1 and 7#b7 because his very positiveness itself makes him set the multiplication of ,life higher than his own existence for the time being4 ,moreover1 when the girl and the man insist upon an attitude of complete and unreserved 8unselfishness0 in each other1 they are simply betraying the fact that they expect the self-preservative instinct in each other to be for the time being in a state of suspended animation4 ,this is a proof of what they understand by love4 ,as a matter of fact1 it is a proof only of the circumstance that the reproductive instinct is expected for the moment to become all-powerful or to suppress every other feeling4 ,when this state is reached1 if the girl has no vigilant protector or guardian1 and the man is not strongly endowed with social instinct1 the result is usually and inevitably seduction1 particularly if the man shows some mastery in sex1 and some understanding of it too4 ,and1 indeed1 when one considers the forces that are active here2 when1 moreover1 one considers the temptations that are elevated here to the nth power1 the wonder is not that seduction occasionally occurs among positive couples1 but that it does not always occur1 that it is not the rule4 ,only man's social instinct can prevent it4 ,only man's social instinct remains1 and is strong enough to prevent it4 ,do not1 however1 let us confound the social instinct of the positive man1 which is strong enough to stand up to his reproductive instinct1 to control it1 and to make it wait and consider responsibilities1 with the so-called 8self-control0 of the negative young man1 who could love his negative girl for half a century without ever desiring more than to squeeze her pale thin hand1 while she feels exactly the same about him4#cf ,of course1 in countries like ,france1 where positiveness on both sides is at such a high pitch of intensity that it actually fills the atmosphere of every room and makes every mixed company electric1 and also where the social instinct of men is declining more and more every year1 the only possible check on wholesale seductions is a vigilant and inexorable protector or guardian1 who watches over the jeune fille de famille1 until she is married1 and does so with such unabating zeal that it can truly be said that a respectable ,french girl is always being watched4 ,as a matter of fact1 if the same custom of vigilant supervision of the young girl does not prevail in ,england1 it is a bad rather than a good sign4 ,it is a bad sign for the following reasons3 7#a7 ,it is waived either because it is a generally recognized thing that the ,englishman's social instinct is of a higher order than the ,frenchman's 7which is not the case72 or 7#b71 because it is a generally recognized fact that the ,englishman is safer1 i4e4 less inflammable1 i4e4 less exuberant sexually1 i4e4 less positive than the ,frenchman 7which is the case74 ,i think it would be hard to prove that the social instinct of the ,englishman is of a higher kind than that of the ,frenchman4 ,there is nothing to show that there is more order in ,england than in ,france1 more social harmony1 more mastery of social problems4 ,there are absolutely no grounds whatever for assuming that there is less social misery in ,england than in ,france1 less social muddle1 less social strife4 ,nor if we go to the next highest products of the social instinct1 which are represented by the sense of order manifesting itself in artistic productions1 can we say that there is more ,art1 or a higher kind of ,art1 in ,england than in ,france4 ,in fact1 if we draw these comparisons at all1 we must in fairness conclude that if there is any difference1 that difference is undoubtedly to the advantage of the ,frenchman4 ,but for the sake of this discussion it is sufficient for me to assume that the social instincts of the ,frenchman and ,englishman respectively are about equal4 ,well1 then1 if this is so1 it must be some other circumstance that accounts for the enormous freedom allowed in this country to the girl turned sixteen1 in her intercourse with men of her own generation and older4 ,there can be no doubt that1 in the first place1 the ,english girl is generally a little less positive to ,life and therefore to man than the ,french girl2 this accounts for a good deal4 ,there can be no doubt either that there is a very much larger sprinkling of negative girls in ,england than in ,france--girls1 that is to say1 who are happy and content as spinsters1 or whose passions are so tepid as to enable them to endure platonic relations with men1 and to resist men quite successfully for interminable periods4 ,a few facts alone1 apart from the evidence that can be gathered first hand by all those who know ,france and ,england well1 will be sufficient to prove this4 ,in #aiaj1 although ,france had for many years admitted women to the hospitals1 to the ,bar and to the chemist's dispensary1 there were out of a total of #ac1jjj ,french doctors only eighty-three women#cg2 there were only two women barristers--one in ,paris and one at ,toulouse1 and there were only three women chemists--one in ,paris and two at ,montpelier4 ,to take the profession of the ,bar alone1 think how very many more women-barristers we should have in ,england in the space of five years if the ,bar had been opened to women6 ,to point to economic pressure here1 and to say that the ,english girl is more hard pressed than the ,french girl1 would be entirely false4 ,it is much more difficult1 as a matter of fact1 for a ,french girl than for an ,english girl to find a husband4 ,the truth of the matter is that the ,french girl is very much more positive to ,life and therefore to man1 than the ,english girl4 ,the latter can frequently not only be happy without man2 but she will boast of the fact--applaud1 that is to say1 her negativeness1 her nothingness6 ,i do not say this in any spirit of hostility to the ,english girl1 because ,i have travelled ,england and ,scotland1 and am aware that very large numbers of ,british girls are positive and extremely positive to ,life and to man2 it is1 however1 unfortunately true that negativeness is on the increase--hence the almost amazing liberty that is granted1 and every year more readily granted1 to the ,english girl in her intercourse with young men4 ,were things otherwise1 such liberty would only lead to the most disastrous results2 because there is absolutely no reason whatever to suppose that the ,englishman's social instinct--which is the only adequate check to an overpowering reproductive instinct--is superior to that of the ,frenchman4 ,there is1 however1 another side to the question1 and a far more serious and alarming side4 ,i refer to the almost universal and increasing negativeness of the ,english youth and young man4 ,the negativeness among females in ,england is as nothing compared with the negativeness to be found among males--and it is here really and truly that the safety of the young positive girl lies4 ,often to her intense annoyance and sorrow she finds she is dealing with wood and not with vital tissue at all4 ,it is simply humbug to speak of self-control in such cases4 ,for the negative young man is nothing more or less than a wet squib--and who believes in the self-control of a wet squib when it refuses to respond to the lighted match4#ch ,the ravages that ,puritanism perpetrated in the human kind--and ,i have dwelt sufficiently upon these ravages in another work#ci--;affected the men of ,england far more deeply than the women2 and were in a sense bound to do so4 ,men are not ,life itself1 they are an amputation from ,life4 ,as ,i have shown1 the reproductive instinct is less powerful1 less wilful1 more fitful and less persistent in them than in women2 how1 then1 could they fail to be more disastrously affected by the cruel repressing and detoning methods of ,puritanism than women are8 ,they had fewer forces to meet and resist the attack2 sex held their bodies with too much laxity to make them survive it completely1 and the consequence is that in ,england and all countries like ,england1 sexual exuberance in males--save in the working classes 7which are always the last to be affected by anything7--is not only lower than elsewhere1 rarer than elsewhere1 and more heartily suspected than elsewhere2 but it is also decreasing more and more every year4 ,so much so1 indeed1 that for many generations now1 long chaste engagements have not only been possible1 but more or less common2 so much so that positive girls who marry are able to declare quite honestly that marriage is a disappointment and an empty delusion2 so much so1 that in nine cases out of ten we could without a qualm and without a scruple allow our unmarried daughter to travel round the world with her so-called lover and feel quite certain that they would both remain perfectly chaste4 ,this may seem most convenient and even desirable from the standpoint of the squeamish matron2 but would it not be ever so much better from the point of view of ,life if it were impossible1 and if we were forced to exercise a vigilance at least equal if not greater than that of the ,french chaperon over the young couple8 ,to mention self-control in connexion with such safety in the association of young people is to use a euphemism for a very much less acceptable word4 ,it would be unfair and wrong to postulate the possession of a higher degree of social instinct by the ,englishman than by the ,frenchman2 therefore it must be some other factor that is active in this unnatural continence where there are no safeguards2 and that factor1 as every one must know1 as every doctor knows1 and as most women know1 is a low degree of sexual exuberance1 a strong and in many cases a pronounced form of negativism4#dj ,many readers will probably cry out3 8,but surely this is excellent6 ,what could be better6 ,our girls are safer2 we do not require to be suspicious2 we can trust the young men--and everybody is happy60 ,but everybody is not happy6 ,the men are not happy2 because this negativism in sex1 this lack of exuberance in sex1 gives them no mastery over it1 and leaves them all their lives with a guilty conscience about it4 7,for1 as pointed out earlier in the book1 certain fusions are only made possible through fire4 ,fire purifies all things47 ,and the women are certainly not happy1 particularly if they are positive2 because they meet with no response1 they meet with no leadership1 they yield to no overwhelming impetuosity where sex is concerned--an impetuosity that carries everything before it1 and which leaves them with no ungratified desire or longing1 with not one of those aching1 secret longings that thousands of women are too tasteful and too proud to reveal and often even too modest to entertain4 ,of course the negative ideal in sex was excellent from the ,puritan point of view2 because1 as ,i have shown elsewhere1#da the ,puritans were concerned with rearing a race of office hermits1 clerks1 commercial and industrial slaves of all kinds2 and to these1 sexual exuberance would naturally be a most irksome1 dangerous and undesirable possession4 ,but ,life is not an office or a factory1 or1 for that matter1 a large draper's store2 and what may be eminently desirable for these horrible institutions1 is simply ugly1 repulsive1 and nauseating out in the open1 amid fields1 sucking lambs and beneath a shining sun4 ,there are few things more pathetic1 more tragic1 than a positive young ,english girl going to her coming-out dance4 ,what could be more beautiful than to see her1 figuratively speaking1 extend her eager open hand to ,life1 with a confidence1 a fullness of hope and trust1 a profuseness of delicious expectations1 and a bravery and singleness of purpose that is never again equalled in her life8 ,and who can help hiding his eyes when he sees the same girl take back her hand again and again1 either holding nothing at all1 or filled with the merest husks1 the merest scrapings of ,life8 ,oh1 the youths that go to dances6--these sacred functions where the positive girl takes her first step towards her sacred calling6 ,one can watch with equanimity the negative young ,miss of narrow hips1 still narrower chest1 and even still narrower outlook1 succeeding in captivating her negative affinity4 ,such dramas leave one unmoved4 ,but to witness exuberant ,life itself1 obliged to be content with creatures who are mere mementoes of ,life1 mere echoes of ,life2 to see exuberant ,life itself unnoticed1 unselected1 feared1 shunned1 and shelved6--to anyone who has any feelings at all1 such an experience must be too painful ever to be forgotten4 ,for in ,england1 not only are there barely sufficient men to go all round2 but there are not nearly sufficient positive men for the preponderating number of positive girls4 ,and since innocent girls are absolutely unconscious of the causes of their misery when they meet and marry the negative man1 you find in ,england and all countries like it1 hundreds and hundreds of positive women who will affirm--nay1 who are ready to prove--that marriage is the most unexciting thing in existence1 and that ,life itself is the most unexciting phenomenon in the universe6 ,and the tragedy of it all is that1 as far as their own unfortunate experiences go1 they are right1 and they convince because they are not only right but miserable4 ,thus ,life gets suspected1 slandered1 unjustly weighed and valued1 and the legion of negative women about seize hold of these facts with the avidity of famishing jealousy1 and prove that ,life and its legitimate joys are suspicious1 rightly maligned1 and valueless6 ,although this is a book on ,woman1 it is necessary to speak about one aspect of the question of virgin love which strictly belongs to this chapter1 but which is concerned only with men2 ,i refer to the love felt for a girl by a man1 and of the forces that direct him in feeling this love4 ,when the positive man faces the positive girl1 he really has but one inquiry3 8,does the girl provoke desire80 ,because desire is essential to his share in the sexual act4 ,he does not actually say3 8,does she provoke desire80 but he implies as much4 ,he insists upon her being what he calls 8pretty0 or 8attractive40 ,but from that point onwards it depends entirely upon his upbringing1 the values and current opinions of his ,age1 the prejudices of his religion1 his class1 or his own particular taste1 whether he makes a wise or a foolish choice from the standpoint of ,life4 ,i have shown that ,man is much more conscious of the limitations and the extent of the joys that sexual life is going to bring him than ,woman is or can be4 ,he is not only more conscious as regards the sexual life alone1 but also as regards its consequences1 its responsibilities4 ,notwithstanding all this1 however1 or rather precisely on account of all this1 he is much more susceptible to the traditional values1 opinions1 or prejudices of his time1 his country or his class1 than ,woman is1 in the making of his choice4 ,woman is in the grip of ,life4 ,life constantly speaks through her4 ,unless she is actually unhealthy or spoilt1 ,life speaks through her in a way that is profitable to ,life4 ,the positive1 unspoilt girl1 then1 although she acts unconsciously1 rarely makes a mistake in her choice of a man as a sexual being1 provided that she be not reluctantly compelled to do so by social stress1 by the feeling that her choice is a last shift to be positive somehow1 or by any other non-vital consideration4 ,man1 however1 is rather differently situated4 ,being conscious1 he is much weaker in the stand he takes4 ,for conscious opinions1 conscious views1 can be modified by persuasion1 by precept1 by example1 by a consensus of contemporary opinion4 ,when the man faces the girl1 therefore1 he is often and almost universally swayed by the prejudices in regard to what constitutes an attractive girl that are current in his ,age1 country or class4 ,and thus we arrive at this important conclusion3 ,that provided his ,age1 his country and class entertain positive views and values in regard to ,life1 his choice will be correct and perfectly desirable as far as the highest purposes of ,life are concerned2 but that provided his ,age1 his country and class entertain the wrong or negative views or values in regard to ,life1 his choice will be incorrect and entirely undesirable as far as the highest purposes of ,life are concerned1 and this despite the fact that he himself may be a healthy1 exuberant and positive specimen of humanity4 ,if1 for instance1 the ethereal1 languishing1 angelic and slightly delicate type of female beauty be the type exalted by the current values of his environment1 he runs considerable danger of regarding her as the attractive type2 and in selecting her he will deliberately overlook her narrow frame1 her lack of fire1 her lack of exuberance1 her lack of positiveness4#db ,where ,puritan values prevail1 the sexually exuberant female with the ardent and fierce brow and eye will be regarded even as distinctly ugly4 ,it will not surprise some people to hear1 therefore1 that in ,france the angelic1 passive1 and meek expression of most ,englishmen's wives is regarded as strangely incompatible with the frequently robust1 self-assertive1 exuberant appearance of the ,englishmen themselves4 ,purity is indeed exhaled by such women3 but not the purity that all positive people understand as purity4 ,to them the only purity worth having is that which is the outcome of fire4 ,everything else is impure4 ,a tepid passion1 a non-exuberant passion1 is impure3 it can wait1 it can temporize1 it can play with ,life2 it can even thwart the highest purposes of ,life3 therefore it is impure4 ,how often in our own small circle have we not seen a youth that we admired--a positive1 robust and savoury fellow1 full of trust and energy--condescend to take the most fragile1 shadowy reminiscence of ,life for a mate and the mother of his children6 ,i say 8condescend to take02 but ,i mean in his sense of course1 8aspire to taking02 for it was obvious that he regarded her as the highest example of womanhood that could possibly be discovered2 to this extent was he prevailed upon by the ,puritanical prejudices of his ,age6 ,but it is within the experience of most people that the negative values of an environment will drive some men even farther4 ,there are a few who will not even stop at deformities1 sickness1 disease4 ,i know of two such cases3 one man who fell in love with a consumptive girl1 knowing her to be consumptive2 and another who loved and married a girl with hip disease4 ,both of these men were acting in a manner utterly hostile to the highest purposes of ,life2 their love actually denied1 baulked and frustrated the highest purposes of ,life2 they were1 in my sense1 therefore1 utterly impure1 immoral1 criminal4 ,but from the point of view of their ,age1 their class1 their religion and their country1 what was there1 in sooth1 to show them that they were wrong8 ,had they not heard from their earliest childhood onwards1 that the soul was everything and that the body did not matter8 ,had they not had it dinned into them at every turn along their life's path1 that a pure soul can make up for any physical defect1 even foul breath8 ,had they not learnt to regard brains as better than brawn8 ,and who had ever told them when they were children and when they were quite ready to despise sickness1 deformity1 or botchedness generally1 that their instincts in this respect were quite right and proper8 ,who had explained to them that things that are unclean 7as the good1 honest ,old ,testament has it7 should be avoided8#dc ,there is no science of physiognomy and of human selection to-day4 ,it will be objected1 of course1 that no possible elaboration of such a science could ever induce young people to 8fall in love0 with the proper mates4 ,my reply to that is3 ,let it be tried4 ,when our young folk tell us that they have fallen in love at first sight1 we know that they must have followed some principles of physiognomy and selection4 ,however adventitiously these may have been acquired1 they constitute the only guide obtainable4 ,but are these principles any the better for having been acquired by chance1 and very often from false and unreliable sources8 ,they must have acquired their principles from some source4 ,is it better that they should have picked them up1 as it were1 on life's way1 than that they should have been taught them8 ,it is not a difficult matter to educate the taste of children on certain broad lines4 ,the fact is not that these guiding lines are lacking to-day--on the contrary1 they abound--but that they are based on no understanding of essentials and are as a rule not regulated by a deep concern for health and high vitality4 ,and since you can teach mankind the points of a good horse or a good dog1 it is surely a little bold to deny that you can teach it the points of a desirable mate4#dd ,at least you can lay down certain very distinct principles regarding the mate to be avoided4 ,but not even that is attempted nowadays4#de ,the danger at present is that a young man1 despite his proper instincts in this matter1 may be wrongly influenced by the values and prejudices of his ,age1 his country and his class1 so that willy-nilly he goes astray1 and inclines in a negative direction when all the time his instincts are positive4 ,in regard to sex and the choice of the positive woman1 the ,englishman particularly1 therefore 7more especially of the wealthier middle classes71 wants re-educating1 re-instructing in the values of positive ,life4 ,and it is to him1 more than to ,woman 7for1 after all1 he is the chooser71 that the chapters of this book are addressed4 ,,footnotes3 #ce ,always from the standpoint of sexual potency be it remembered4 #cf ,see also pp4 #g1 #gj and #id4 #cg ,in #aiaa there were #dgg women doctors in ,england1 #chb of whom were unmarried4 #ch ,see also pp4 #g1 #gj1 and #ia4 #ci ,see ,a ,defence of ,aristocracy1 chapter ,v4 #dj ,it will occur to some that ,i ought perhaps to have referred to the fact that ,english ,law is more severe against illicit relations than is the ,law of ,france4 ,this is true2 but1 after all1 ,english ,law applies only to girls under a certain age1 and is by no means repressive of illicit relations after that age4 #da ,a ,defence of ,aristocracy1 chapter ,v4 #db ,speaking of the prevalence of this type of girl at present1 ,arabella ,kenealy says 7op4 cit41 p4 #hd73 8,so devitalized and neurasthenic are many of our pretty young girls that their flowerlike faces1 topping over-tall and undeveloped bodies1 suggest delicate blossoms crowning long attenuated1 sapless stems4 ,neither faces nor bodies are vitalized and athrill with powers rooted in healthful organs1 vivified by healthful functions1 and instinct with warm1 iron-rich1 magnetic blood4 ,they show that making for beauty which is inherent in the ,woman-traits1 but which1 in latter-day girls1 owing to defective constitutional vigour or to educational1 social or industrial exhaustion1 has been able to realize itself only in sickly and weed-like development40 #dc ,even the fiction they read did not help them to the correct attitude in this4 ,does ,lord ,lytton ever express any horror at his hero and heroine1 who were both consumptive1 falling in love with each other in ,pilgrims on the ,rhine8 ,and how many other cases could be quoted6 #dd ,the teaching that is most steadily opposed to this view is that of ,christianity2 for1 if once you admit that the physical points of a human being are important1 you underrate the supreme importance of the so-called 8soul10 which takes precedence of everything4 ,that is why ,christianity has always strongly deprecated any doctrine of physiognomy or human selection4 #de ,for instance1 most of the stigmata of degeneration and disease are well known4 ,why are they not generally taught to the young8 ,this would constitute at least a start in the right direction4 ,the ancient ,hindus were in this respect1 as in many others1 very much more civilized than ourselves4 ,in the ,laws of ,manu1 ,book ,,iii1 definite hints are given to the young man regarding the kind of girl he should choose4 ,in verse seven we read3 8,let him avoid that family 7in selecting a wife7 which neglects the sacred rites1 one in which no male children 7are born71 one in which the ,veda is not studied1 one 7the members of7 which have thick hair on the body1 those which are subject to hemorrhoids1 phthisis1 weakness of digestion1 epilepsy1 or white or black leprosy40 ,verse eight3 8,let him not marry a maiden 7with7 reddish 7hair71 nor one who has a redundant member1 nor one who is sickly1 nor one either with no hair 7on the body7 or too much2 nor one who is garrulous or has red 7eyes740 ,verse ten3 8,let him wed a female free from bodily defects who has an agreeable name1 the 7graceful7 gait of a ,hamsa or an elephant1 a moderate 7quantity of7 hair on the body and on the head1 small teeth1 and soft limbs40 ,,chapter ,,vi ,the ,positive ,english ,girl ,nothing is more instructive than to proceed from a general to a particular case2 and nothing1 at all events1 could possibly be more instructive where women are concerned1 than to select the positive ,english girl as the particular case2 because it is in her heart that the conflict between the sound promptings of the body1 and the unsound external promptings of the modern world rages most fiercely and most dramatically4 ,it is in her heart that the issue of the conflict has its most momentous and far-reaching consequences4 ,to a heart overflowing with human sympathy1 there is something infinitely wistful and pathetic in the appearance of this apparently careless and blooming maiden4 ,for1 has not every circumstance of her education and upbringing conspired to make her believe that all those things which to-morrow will be the meaning and explanation of her existence1 are the very things that yesterday were most concealed1 most 8tabooed10 most anxiously hushed up8 ,the transition from indifference1 here1 to keen disconcerting interest1 is an effort of the first magnitude--however willing and eager the body may be to assist in the change of standpoint4 ,her soul is very self-contemptuous1 self-condemnatory1 pessimistic4 ,and the more positive she is1 the more this will be so2 because the greater will be her feeling of conflict with it4 ,she feels she must be wrong1 and her soul and the world right4 ,she is on the verge of morbid self-dislike1 self-rejection4 ,but how can it be otherwise8 ,her body is a scandalous and exuberant old ,pagan1 and every minute of the day is whispering all kinds of shameless 8indecencies0 to her modern high-school soul4 ,and she has been taught to value her modern high-school soul more than anything on earth4 ,how can she help despising herself from the standpoint of a first-class high-school upbringing1 when the latter constantly snorts prudishly at everything her other self--her body1 dares to hint to her reluctantly attentive ear8 ,who is there to tell her that her high-school soul is entirely wrong in making her despise herself8 ,but it is her pessimism that is so terrible and so virulent4 ,all ill-adapted creatures are prone to be pessimistic1 and she is horribly ill-adapted4 ,beneath all her tennis-playing1 her hockey-playing1 her bright and cheerful manner1 that always utterly deceives her parents and the superficial adults about her1 this pessimism clings to her like a limpet4 ,but how could she help feeling ill-adapted and pessimistic1 in the face of the terrible alternative that now confronts her--the alternative consisting of either doing violence to the healthy dictates of her body1 or of rejecting all the deepest beliefs of her childhood and adolescence8 ,and that is why an everlasting curse must surely hang over every creature1 woman or man1 who can be so unscrupulous as to exploit this temporary pessimism of healthy ,english female adolescence1 and to turn it to negative account4 ,for all those who1 in the nefarious traffic of political or religious propaganda1 avail themselves of it in order to turn a girl against ,life finally and irrevocably1 no punishment that can be imagined is sufficiently severe4 ,let them draw the unhealthy1 negative girl over to their side2 for it is better for all concerned if she and her like are converted to ,life-,heresy2 but let them leave the healthy positive girl alone1 to fight her own battle with her high-school soul4 ,but the healthy ,english 8,flapper0 is courageous and infinitely enduring4 ,and this is the secret of her constant success against her high-school soul4 ,for1 what is it that really matters in her apparently uneven conflict between soul and body--a conflict1 remember1 in which all the weight of her environment and education is on the side of the soul8 ,what matters is her body4 ,now her body knows quite well that everything is all right1 and it has its tongue in its cheek the whole time1 more particularly when the girl herself dallies with thoughts of the convent or of suicide4 ,besides1 even her high-school soul has elements that can be persuaded and lured over to the other party4 ,she is attractive1 and is beginning to receive attention4 ,the vanity in her soul1 therefore1 soon forms a league with the instincts of her body4 ,her soul also wants power1 and this power her body guarantees to give her1 if only she will snub the importunate high-school portions of herself1 and neither balk nor overlook its designs4 ,above all1 her soul is aching with curiosity concerning the secret of life1 and the happiness of life2 and as her body's irrepressible lust of life is always at hand to lend support to any intellectual inquisitiveness1 a combination of forces is effected that is as formidable as it is usually triumphant4 ,where is the party on earth that could survive all these defections from its ranks8 ,that is why1 if left alone1 the negative side of her1 her high-school1 puritanical soul1 is bound to be defeated2 that is why she ultimately rises superior to her shame1 her apprehension and her pessimism4 ,but it would be a mistake to underrate her struggle1 to minimize her qualms1 or to scoff at her cryptic religiosity2 her conviction that she is tremendously deep--all people are deep who have a fight raging in them--and that she stands on the brink of an even deeper abyss6 ,even the haughty manner in which she holds her inexperienced nose high in the air is instructive4 ,she is trying her hardest to appear as if she were already above the struggle that is not yet over4 ,besides1 all people who are in pain1 not only feel deep and proud1 but are deeper and prouder than those who do not suffer4 ,pain not only delves1 it also distinguishes4 ,her confusion and the conflict raging inside her1 are inclined to make her ill at ease with all men except the youth of seventeen2 for1 since she feels years his senior1 he cannot disturb her4 ,she will readily kill time with him1 and with his assistance play an empty game while she is waiting for the forces in her body to readjust themselves to the new facts4 ,then she will not even look at him4 ,then it is business4 ,lads of seventeen will strike her as raw1 ridiculous6 ,even full-grown men will interest her only to the extent to which they mean business4 ,they will evoke her blessing only to the extent to which they realize that she too is in earnest about life1 and takes it perfectly seriously4 ,then woe to her if one who attracts her heedlessly passes on6 ,but woe to him1 above all1 who while promising business1 and undertaking it legally and conscientiously with all the sanction of society and the ,church1 yet undeceives her1 and disappoints her when it comes to the point1 and drives her back to the pessimism of her youth1 and the doubts and shame she had so valiantly overcome4 ,for the duty of the positive man is to give woman a perfectly clean conscience in regard to sex and its pleasures4 ,as the ,church of ,england ,prayer ,book nobly and rightly puts it3 8,the husband 444 is the ,saviour of the body40 ,he who does not realize the profundity of this passage in the ,church of ,england ,prayer ,book had better put the present work aside2 for he will never be able to sympathize with anything in it4 ,no man who is not the 8,saviour of the body0 of his wife can help being anything else than a thing of torment and torture to her2 while her love and her devotion to him are increased a thousandfold1 and her fidelity to him probably secured for life1 if only he knows how to confirm and consolidate the triumph her body once achieved1 single-handed1 over her high-school soul during the trying period of her adolescence4 99 99 99 99 99 ,let no young lady who has read the above passage with indignation suppose that it was an attempt to describe her particular type4 ,the very fact that she has felt indignant about it sufficiently proves that it does not refer to her in the least2 so she can set her mind at rest and absolve me of any intention of slighting or offending her4 ,if1 however1 she has read the words with a feeling of passionate anger--anger at the thought that all ,i have said truly applies to her1 though no longer now1 alas6--no longer at her present stage in life2--if1 therefore1 her emotion is the righteous anger of one who is filled with regret and sorrow for the things that she now recognizes as having once been hers1 though they are hers no longer2--things she is still young enough to possess1 though they have been filched from her by her environment and her unsound mode of life--,i1 as the mere analyst in this affair1 applaud her feeling1 and am glad that she has not yet reached that stage of listless resignation when youth1 positiveness and ardour have ceased from moving her or from exciting her longing4 ,if once she has been the girl ,i have just described1 and she has deteriorated or grown negative1 either 7#a7 through a too prolonged and too exhausting wait1 and a period too protracted of absolute abstinence2 or 7#b7 through unwholesome living1 or--which is worst of all--7#c7 through marrying a man who has not proved the 8,saviour of her body02 then ,i1 too1 join my anger to hers1 and am perhaps even more angry than she2 because all those who have a keen appreciation of quality1 must loathe to see it squandered1 destroyed or so badly mismanaged as to be made a thing of naught4 ,the three causes of deterioration and deflection to negativeness will now be examined separately1 and in the order of the numbers given above4 7#a7 ,maybe that at seventeen1 or perhaps eighteen1 the positive ,english girl was fully equipped1 and felt herself fully equipped4 ,maybe ,nature itself at that age had concentrated all its most subtle art on the one task of making her as attractive and as irresistible as possible4 ,her top wave came with her nineteenth1 twentieth and twenty-first years--all years of bewilderingly beautiful ripeness1 when every fibre in her body was agog1 on the qui vive1 harking for the approach of the mate that would justify all this sumptuous and generous preparation2 harking timidly1 though eagerly1 for him who would consummate her expectant womanhood1 give the only genuine value that they could claim to all her wondrous charms1 and reveal herself to herself in all her wealth of ancestral virtues1 gifts and skill4 ,she had received her pearl necklace2 she had received her golden bracelets2 she wore on her right hand a ring that had belonged to her grandmother2 but now she wanted the crowning jewel of all1 the hall-mark of her genuine womanhood--the little band of gold that was the emblem of matrimony4 ,her twenty-second year went by1 and nothing happened4 ,her twenty-third and twenty-fourth vanished also1 and still her insignia were incomplete4 ,but there was time yet1 and anxiety1 though present1 was by no means acute4 ,she was prepared for another year1 or two1 or even three1 of patient waiting4 ,since1 however1 it is impossible even for ,nature herself to stand for ever on the tiptoe of anticipation2 since it is too much to expect of anything or anybody1 that weariness will not ultimately supervene if a wait is prolonged unduly1 or if nothing--aye1 nothing6--ever comes to repay an all too lavish outlay of beauty and its promise of joys untasted2 it is1 alas1 a not uncommon occurrence--however ready the girl herself may be to continue waiting and watching--for ,nature itself to feel so bitterly snubbed that it withdraws1 as it were1 from its position of proud and unstinting impresario1 and wanders off elsewhere to spread its ornaments and charms over another and perhaps more fortunate subject4 ,this stage in the positive ,english girl's career is not apparent to the outsider1 nor is it immediately apparent to the girl herself4 ,all she knows is that she does not feel quite as well as she used to feel4 ,she does not sleep so well1 eat so well1 or resist fatigue so well4 ,she is not conscious1 yet1 that her looks are no longer so startlingly attractive as they were three or four years ago2 but there is a shade of difference of which even she herself is aware on certain days4 ,her face is beginning to acquire definition4 ,her features do not melt into one another with the same indefinite sweep of downy cuticle2 while the tone has also begun to decline in her bigger organs1 and they are losing the braced1 tense1 healthy readiness they possessed at the beginning of the wait4 ,she may have all kinds of disorders now which she did not have at the moment of her top wave1 while a concomitant depression of spirit makes her feel less keen about life1 less eager about its mysteries4 ,there is even a threat of anmia--the result of occasional costiveness1 its frequent correlative leucorrha1 and a general lack of tone in her whole system4 ,a neglected organ avenges itself1 a neglected body avenges itself2 her whole spirit wishes to avenge itself2 for1 like a flower1 she needed the sun--in her case the sun of love--and she is visibly withering without it4#df ,with the third and final stage1 all the symptoms become acute1 before dying away completely only to leave the body a mere husk of unrealised and now undesired possibilities4 ,discontent1 unconscious or conscious1 together with all kinds of troublesome1 though not dangerous1 disorders1 gradually reduce her body and her spirit1 and thus undermine her positiveness4 ,her temper is irascible2 her periods irregular1 unreliable and sometimes very painful--the sign that the body is really indignant6 ,costiveness and leucorrha set in chronically4 ,nobody understands either2 nobody cares4 ,the first principles of negativeness begin to creep stealthily into her once positive mind4 ,her features1 hands and arms have lost all their bloom and roundness4 ,with genuine alarm1 one day1 she suddenly recognizes that she is but a travesty1 a caricature1 of what she once was2 and that ,life itself is only a caricature of what it used to be4 ,now she no longer feels any real physical horror at the thought of spinsterhood1 because she is not what she was when spinsterhood would certainly have filled her with horror4 ,if she dislikes the idea of spinsterhood now1 it is chiefly owing to her vanity1 not to her bodily appetites4 ,she feels that her prestige would be enhanced by the 8,mrs40--that is all6 ,but her body has no share in this vain sentiment4 ,if she has once been the positive girl ,i describe1 however1 she is now filled with an indescribable feeling of burning1 aching1 consuming detestation of the world she once loved4 ,hope1 trust1 yea-saying have all gone4 ,her thwarted instincts manifest themselves in an obverse character1 and she becomes misanthropic1 purely negative to ,man and to ,life1 and desiring only to end her existence in an act of revenge on man1 society and her more fortunate sisters4 ,only the very positive girl makes a hateful spinster1 because only she has lost anything precious1 only she knows what a cruel snub her sumptuous preparations once received6 ,to have had all these preparations wasted2 to have had to look on while1 one by one1 her charms grew so faint as no longer even to lure the guest for whom such a rich banquet had once been laid2 to have been a magnet and to have watched one's magnetism gradually vanish without having been effective--these experiences are cruel in any case2 but their cruelty increases in proportion to the magnitude1 wealth and beauty of the original welcome that ,nature had organized4 ,the negative girl1 to whom an atonic state of the body1 irregular and painful periods1 have been an ever-present and familiar condition since her earliest puberty1 or the negative girl who1 while suffering from none of these disorders1 is yet insufficiently vigorous or sound in organic equipment to render the thwarting of her reproductive instinct a state of suffering and bitter disillusionment1 may make a perfectly cheerful1 engaging1 companionable and even thoroughly good-natured old maid4#dg ,it is an interesting fact that in ,france1 where positiveness among girls is ever so much more general than in ,england1 the old maid is universally unbearable1 and is proverbially known to be so4 99 99 99 99 99 7#b7 ,but there are other agencies at work in modern society for reducing the positive ,english girl to negativeness1 besides the unfortunate and often inevitable circumstances of an all-too-long wait4 ,for1 in ,england1 there is extraordinarily little care taken of the female body4 ,it should never be forgotten in this regard1 that although we1 as a nation1 are lovers of both sport and open-air exercise1 we are culpably neglectful of that hygiene which is concerned with the fundamentals of life4 ,genuine and gentle reverence for the body1 particularly for the young female body1 is startlingly rare in ,england4 ,fundamentals are not faced2 they are1 if possible1 avoided2 and frequently owing to a deliberate refusal to recognize the needs and fragility of an equipment that is vital1 elaborate and easily disordered1 girls are as much as possible handled and treated like boys of their own age4 ,positive girls1 particularly1 who are well built and vigorous1 whose correlation of bodily parts is as near perfect as it is possible for the organs of modern people to be1 have very few difficulties in early puberty4 ,they are regular1 they feel little or no inconvenience from the attending phenomena of puberty2 but owing to this very freedom from morbid symptoms they are often allowed1 thanks to the prevailing lack of reverence for the body1 to engage in pastimes and sports--even during their moments of indisposition--which must1 and undoubtedly do1 ultimately induce a morbid condition if the habit is persisted in4 ,let me explain3-- ,to begin with1 the very fact that anxious and almost fearful silence and secrecy are made to hang over all the manifestations of puberty in girls1 is in itself an inducement for the young female to desire to behave during her moments of indisposition as much as possible like her schoolmates who are not indisposed4 ,when1 therefore1 in addition to this desire1 she feels and is known to feel no very marked discomfort at such moments1 there is apparently nothing to prevent her from going a long walk or joining in a game of tennis1 net-ball or even hockey with the rest of her friends1 at a moment when violent exercise of all kinds ought to be most carefully avoided4 ,in girls' high schools and later on at college1 such breaches of reverence towards the body are not only of constant occurrence1 they may be said to be the rule where the positive girl is concerned1 unless1 of course1 her parents have been wise enough to insist specially upon the proper precautions being observed4 ,in the end1 however1 long as the period of successful resistance may be1 the body must suffer from this violence1 and the toll paid is then both severe and heavy4 ,another very dangerous custom is that of having recreation and games directly after a meal4 ,there is nothing objectionable in sports for girls1 provided they are not too violent4#dh--,on the contrary1 games keep them out in the open air and exercise their bodies4 ,but it is a risky thing1 in view of the subsequent cost to the whole body and spirit1 to give the alimentary canal in girls the slightest possible excuse for getting out of order2 and exercise after a meal1 particularly when such exercise is violent1 is a potent factor in bringing about indigestion1 costiveness and all their concomitant disorders4 ,this notwithstanding1 it is not uncommon1 in fact it is an almost regular practice for girls in high schools and at college--often with the consent of their parents if these happen to know--to rush out directly after lunch to a game of hockey or tennis1 or what not1 and to engage in the most violent exercise and movements in the course of their play4 ,this is the most unscrupulous vandalism2 for1 even if they are not indisposed at the time1 the evil effects of such excessive activity directly after a meal are notorious4 ,in the end costiveness must occur1 not as a temporary affection1 but alas6 as a chronic habit2 and the custom of correcting this tendency by means of constant purgation only aggravates the trouble4#di ,now constipation is in itself a bad thing4 ,it lowers spirit1 it gives rise to nervous trouble1 causes auto-intoxication that saps energy and interferes with sound sleep2 it also acts as a poison on the red corpuscles of the blood and reduces their number1 and thus fosters the development of anmia4 ,but this is not all2 for with constipation there is always serious infection of the lower colon1 and a general loss of tone in that organ4 ,the gravity of this condition in women cannot1 however1 be overrated1 because the surrounding and adjacent parts are so vital and so important1 that no risk that can possibly imperil their health and vigour ought ever to be run1 much less therefore courted and chosen4 ,how long it takes for an infected and atonic colon to affect the neighbouring organs1 it is impossible to say2 but that the atonic condition can and does spread from the original seat of the trouble to other parts is unquestioned1 particularly when anmia has reduced their resisting power2 and the results are always of the worst possible nature4 ,very quickly1 if it is not already present1 that worst and most insidious of maladies1 leucorrha1 makes its first appearance1 and then a vicious circle is formed which it is extremely difficult to break4 ,this does not pretend to be a medical work2 but the consequences and symptoms of this disease1 leucorrha1 are so far reaching and generally so much ignored1 that it seems imperative to speak out quite openly on the subject4 ,all through this book1 the relations of the spirit to the body is considered as being so close1 so intimate1 and the relation of the attitudes of the positiveness and negativeness to the state of the body is recognized as so inevitable and deep-seated1 that ,i should be guilty of a flaw in my argument1 of a grave omission in the frank array of my facts1 if1 particularly at this stage1 ,i were to scout a subject which1 however disagreeable and delicate1 formed a necessary link in the chain of my reasoning4 ,to begin with1 then1 let it be said most emphatically1 for all those whom it may concern1 that leucorrha--this most regrettable and most neglected of the hidden scourges that harass the women of ,england--is a much more serious and much more distressing ailment than the ordinary general practitioner1 or even specialist gyncologist1 is ready to admit4 ,the fact that ,albutt in his ,twentieth ,century ,practice allots only one paragraph of about fifteen lines to the subject of leucorrha in girls1 shows at once with what a frivolous shrug of the shoulders the orthodox medical school cavalierly disposes of this all-important question4 ,leucorrha is not only a catarrh in a most vital part1 it is also the symptom of a loss of tone in a most vital part--a loss of tone and therefore of vitality4 ,it is important to remember1 in regard to this disease1 that scarcely a case of the kind has ever been known in which colon bacilli were not present in the mucous discharge4 ,the intimate connexion between leucorrha and the state of the colon is therefore indisputable1 and shows with what reverent care the body of the young positive girl should be tended and watched4 ,the body of the negative girl does not matter nearly as much4 ,when it is remembered that persistent and obstinate leucorrha is the cause not only of more than three-quarters of the irregularity and pain of girls' periodic indispositions1 not only of a depression and degeneration of sexual keenness that may make sexual union quite unenjoyable1 not to say unpleasant1 but also that it is a reducing1 an exhausting1 and a sterilizing ailment 7sterility where it is not the result of actual malformation is almost always the result of leucorrha71 it cannot be too urgently or too deeply impressed upon the parent and the guardian of the positive ,english girl1 that reverence for her body1 and not alone for her pure soul 7which1 as we have seen1 can well be left to look after itself71 is their most solemn and most sacred duty4 ,unfortunately1 and incredible as it may appear1 ,i have1 after the most careful inquiry1 discovered that even where leucorrha has been diagnosed and proved beyond any doubt to be present1 it has been impossible to prescribe the only effective remedies and the only salutary hygiene1 owing to the fact that they are frequently of such a nature that no ,english parent would dream of tolerating their application for an instant6 ,the price we pay for our ,puritanism is occasionally very heavy indeed4 ,when in addition to chronic costiveness and leucorrha1 anmia ultimately sets in to stamp its powerful blight upon the face and body of our fair and positive ,english girl1 the amount of positiveness that has been left within her1 the extent of her original self that still remains1 may easily be computed4 ,i need hardly say that this is not much1 and yet1 though she is spoiled for every other purpose1 she probably stands as a tennis1 a hockey1 and often a classical champion1 as the glory of her whole family1 class and nation4 ,and1 mark you1 she has been spoiled for every other purpose1 not by necessity1 not by fate or accident1 but by a manner of life the mistakes of which could have been avoided1 eliminated and corrected1 if only those to whom she was related had felt that reverence for her body1 which all beautiful things deserve and demand1 and without which they surely perish4 ,where the positive girl of the poorer classes is concerned the evil is just as great and just as widespread2 but at least in her case1 there is the excuse of necessity1 of compulsion1 of economic pressure4 ,she does not1 it is true1 rush out to a game of hockey1 tennis or net-ball immediately after her meals1 neither1 as a rule1 does she have to take a long pleasure-walk2 but she has certainly to rush off either to the local underground railway or to an omnibus in order to get to her work1 or else she has to hurry along a considerable distance on foot to get there4 ,she does not play at hockey or tennis when she is indisposed2 but if she works at a factory she has to go there all the same2 if she works in a shop she has to stand about there all the same2 and if she is a laundress she has to stand at a board or a machine all the same4 ,in both classes1 then1 rich and poor1 ,puritanism in different ways--on the one hand by its doctrine of indifference to the body1 and on the other by its creations1 modern industry and commerce--has succeeded in suppressing all reverence for the positive girl's beautiful body1 and the spiritual as well as the physical cost to the nation of this stupid and iniquitous attitude is as appalling as it is incalculable4 99 99 99 99 99 7#c7 ,even if she marry early--as all positive girls should--she may still be converted to negativeness2 and in this last instance1 not by discontent1 a too long wait1 or an unhealthy mode of life during youth1 but actually by her young husband himself4 ,although1 strictly speaking1 this question should come in the chapter on ,marriage1 its discussion here1 in view of what has gone before1 seems so opportune and necessary1 that ,i have decided to include it here1 and thus leave myself all the more room for other considerations in ,chapter ,,vii4 ,i have mentioned before that the deterioration of men from the standpoint of ,life--i4e4 their gradual approximation to a purely1 or relatively1 negative type--has been a process that1 in ,england at least1 has been going on for almost #bgj years4 ,in this time a good deal can be accomplished in the matter of altering a type1 and there can be no doubt that a good deal has indeed been accomplished4 ,fortunately1 however1 apart from the actual deterioration through bad food and unhealthy living and work 7which1 as ,i have shown elsewhere1 are the indirect results of ,puritanical values71 ,puritanism has not done much to affect the positiveness of the poorest classes in ,england4 ,where it has proved most formidable is in 7#a7 the plutocracy1 7#b7 the middle classes1 and 7#c7 the lower middle classes4 ,in these the ravages of ,puritanical tradition on the constitutions and outlook of the men is everywhere noticeable2 and that which makes the incidence of this evil all the harder to bear is the fact that the women of all these classes have not suffered nearly to the same extent from this tradition4 ,whereas1 therefore1 it is a more or less common experience to find a positive girl in all these classes1 the appearance of a truly positive man is excessively rare4 ,i may have occasion to refer to this state of affairs again in ,part ,,ii2 but1 for the present1 let us examine its immediate effects on the positive girl who has just married4 ,the positive girl extends her hand confidently1 bravely and hopefully to ,life4 ,she does not expect to draw it back empty2 she does not desire to draw it back full of bliss4 ,she is brave enough1 rational enough1 and above all exuberant enough1 to expect to draw it back with its full quantum of pleasure and pain4 ,she wants ,life1 and what though ,life means some pain1 willy-nilly she will have it notwithstanding1 and her heart whispers 8damn the consequences40 ,but there is something she does expect1 something she has a right to expect2 and that is that her husband himself should be her guide1 her mentor and initiator4 ,from time immemorial it is his sex that has been prehensile4 ,throughout the higher animal kingdom1 prehension in the sex act is the exclusive attribute of the male4 ,he often has the organs for it1 and he almost always has the superior strength for it--even when his strength is not required for other purposes4 ,but just think what prehension means6 ,it involves initiation2 it means taking the first steps2 it is certainly tantamount to setting the tone1 the manner1 the order of an encounter4 ,traditionally1 then1 for millions of years the male has had his particular rle1 the rle of prehension1 with all its correlative virtues and qualities4 ,before self-consciousness dawned in the human being1 he was prehensile in the sexual act--and his rle therein involved1 as ,i think it necessary to repeat1 powers of initiation1 the ability to take the first steps1 the necessary mastery over sex1 to set the tone1 the manner and the order of the sexual encounter4 ,what does all this imply8 ,it is obvious6 ,it implies that for an equal number of millions of years the female of the species has expected this prehension and all its correlative qualities in the male4 ,it means that now1 to this very day1 her deepest feelings tell her that it is only right1 only proper1 and only becoming1 that he should possess and display a certain mastery1 a certain free virtuosity--that virtuosity of a flame in a roaring fire--in the matter of sex1 and that his very ardour1 his very virtuosity1 his very ease in mastery1 should finally seal the coffin of all that guilty feeling towards sex which she had almost killed in her youth1 and which she now expects to be buried once and for all4 ,this1 positive ,woman understands4 ,this is what she has a right to expect2 this is what makes her serene1 content1 free in conscience and in gait1 confident that life is worth living and that her positive impulses have been correct all along4 ,but what is it that happens so frequently that often a sense of shame regarding sex actually begins in a positive woman on the very day of her marriage--never again to be completely dissipated8 --,the unfortunate modern man whom our positive girl marries1 is often as remote from any mastery over sex1 or from any ease or free virtuosity where it is concerned1 as a marble statue4 ,thanks to the prudish nature of his upbringing1 his environment and his outlook1 and also to the general lack of sexual exuberance in his constitution1 he is frequently as terrified of the subject as is his spinster aunt1 and he knows no more about taking the initiative properly1 artistically1 capably1 than a child of three4 ,as for that impetuosity that carries everything before it1 even the girl's natural modesty1 and releases the pent-up demons of roguery so long stifled in her breast6--poor man6 far from releasing them he would prefer a thousand times to slip another bolt across the door that imprisons them6 ,hesitation1 shame1 disgust1 a sense of guilt and of discomfort1 often followed by incredibly long periods of post-conjugal virginity and chastity1 are frequently the result1 and with general consequences that are most deeply to be deplored4 ,prehension6--,he has not even comprehension where sex is concerned6 ,and since in this matter1 which is rightly so delicate and therefore so dependent upon consummate art1 the ,woman is utterly dependent upon him1 a miserable1 uncomfortable and clammy atmosphere is straightway generated in a new home1 in which everything could otherwise be so bright1 so clean1 so full of mutual confidence and good spirits4 ,and in all this1 mark you1 no reference is made to the need of child-bearing for the woman1 which here is left indefinitely ungratified and unconsidered4 ,how many women ever survive this first great shock to their positiveness it is impossible to say2 but that a very large number undoubtedly do grow negative from the effects of it1 ,i myself have been able to ascertain and to record1 even in my own small but fairly representative circle4 ,,footnotes3 #df ,hundreds of people1 doctors included1 will declare that this is wrong2 that an all-too-long wait does not necessarily impair health or beauty4 ,as if not being used1 not being made to function1 could possibly be a good thing1 or at least a thing that does no harm6 ,make a child sit still for years1 and see how its health will be affected6 ,it is absurd to argue that when an equipment is normal and healthy1 it does not do it and the body containing it considerable damage not to use it6 ,but in this matter1 ,i do not ask you to believe me6 ,ask the positive girls themselves6 ,ask them 7if they remained virgins7 whether they felt the same at twenty-five as they did at nineteen6 ,ask them whether they have not learnt from sad experience that an elaborate mechanism when it is not used gets out of order6 ,get them into your confidence1 and you will hear the truth for once on this matter4 #dg ,paradoxical as it may seem at first sight1 it is however only too true that the worst kind of spinster is precisely this 8perfectly cheerful1 engaging1 companionable and even thoroughly good-natured old maid10 because1 like the cheerful cripple or the happy invalid1 she is a living mockery of ,life1 passion and instinct thwarted4 ,her very adaptedness to her unnatural lot seems to the unwary an argument in favour of an unnatural lot1 or at least not an argument against it4 ,see chapter ,,ix4 #dh ,by violent sports ,i mean any form of jumping1 hockey1 football1 lawn tennis1 golf and lacrosse4 ,in all these games the movements of the body are too jerky and too jarring1 and muscular effort is too long sustained4 ,even for men football is very bad1 for women it is barbarous4 ,in young girls ,nature makes an effort to compensate the excessive demands made by violent sports on the muscles and bony structure of the legs and pelvis1 by proceeding to a premature stiffening of the fleshy1 and a premature ossification of the bony parts--both of which processes not only arrest full subsequent development1 but also make for unnecessary rigidity in the pelvic and upper femoral regions--effects which are heavily paid for later on unless the girls remain unmarried4 ,the fact that even among males1 sailors show smaller hip measurements than soldiers--the former being habituated from earliest youth to much more violent bodily exertions than soldiers--shows what a difference this natural compensation for early muscular strain makes in a sex in which pelvic development is neither as vital nor as characteristic as it is among girls4 ,another danger arising from violent sports for young women1 which is not mentioned in the text1 consists in the jerking and jarring of the spine1 small and imperceptible sprains of which1 particularly near the ilium1 often lead to very obscure but severe nervous disorders in later life4 ,the fact that young girls enjoy violent sports is often adduced as an argument in favour of their adoption at school and elsewhere4 ,but surely young people1 as ,i have shown1 are so catholic in their positiveness1 that their mere liking for an occupation or amusement should not constitute in itself1 and without further inquiry1 a sufficient ground for allowing them to pursue it4 ,neither should parents allow themselves to be influenced by the fact that a conclave of women doctors has recently decided in favour of violent sports for girls4 ,the decisions come to by middle-aged matrons or middle-aged spinsters concerning the care and discipline of young girls1 should never be trusted4 ,it is always difficult to be quite certain about the motives1 whether conscious or unconscious1 that have animated women of this age in their dealings with young girls4 ,on the whole1 unless it be her mother1 the advice of any middle-aged woman concerning a young girl ought to be treated with suspicion4 ,see p4 #bdf 7footnote74 #di ,with regard to the effects of diet on constipation1 ,i give some useful hints in chapter ,v of ,a ,defence of ,aristocracy4 ,part ,,ii ,,inferences ,,from ,,part ,i ,,chapter ,,vii ,the ,marriage of the ,positive ,girl and the ,positive ,man ,the multiplication of life in human society involves certain burdens and responsibilities4 ,a normal1 positive young man could easily fertilize a hundred women a year1 without departing even for one instant from his usual habits of industry and useful productivity4 ,could he1 however1 undertake to provide for1 protect1 and rear a hundred children in the ensuing year8 ,he might if he were a millionaire2 but all men are not millionaires4 ,although1 therefore1 the mere carnal union of two young positive people is the normal and natural consummation of their desire1 it is bound to be interfered with by the ,state1 or by the community1 in order that the burdens and responsibilities resulting from ,life's multiplication may be delimited1 defined1 fairly apportioned and allotted as far as possible to those who ought properly to bear them4 ,and since a man cannot procreate a hundred children a year without in the vast majority of cases imposing grave burdens and responsibilities upon his fellows1 the ,state or the community officially refuses to recognize1 or to offer legal status1 to any offspring that are the outcome of multiplication that takes place outside the monogamic union4 ,thus although marriage and its forms and limitations--particularly the monogamic limitation--may frequently have a religious ceremonial1 it is society1 or the community1 that ultimately favours it1 because society as a whole cannot undertake to pay for the promiscuous indulgence of every man's lust4 ,hence1 despite the fact that the carnal union of our positive couple is all that the multiplication of ,life requires1 and all that the conscious or unconscious desire of the two young people demands1 the ,state interposes its jurisdiction and declares that the multiplication of life that will follow the union1 in fact the union itself1 will only be legally recognized provided that it take place along certain specified lines4 ,thus marriage is not a natural state1 nor is it even the logical outcome of the 8love0 of a positive couple2 it is an artificially imposed condition devised for the purpose of safeguarding the community4 ,and1 being unnatural and gratuitously imposed upon the simple relationship that ,nature requires1 it complicates that relationship1 and necessarily possesses all the disadvantages that any unnatural#ej solution of a natural problem must involve4 ,it might be thought that if it is so very unnatural the positive couple would instinctively rebel against it8--,not so6 ,how many of them are aware even that it is not a natural law8 ,custom deceives the young positive couple in the same way as it deceives us all4 ,we are accustomed to innumerable constraints which to a man unfamiliar with them would be intolerably irksome4 ,when1 therefore1 the young positive couple stand at the altar and hear the priest say to the man3 8,wilt thou love her1 comfort her1 and keep her in sickness and in health1 and forsaking all other1 keep thee only unto her1 so long as ye both shall live80 and the young positive man answers innocently 8,i will10 neither of them suspects the cloven hoof of social fear or social constraint behind the words4 ,they imagine not only that the question is a perfectly normal one1 implying a normal condition1 but they also imagine that this implied condition itself--that of lifelong love--is a possible and generally acceptable proposition4 ,they are not even led to suppose that it is an ideal difficult to realize1 otherwise the man would not be invited to take such an enormously difficult vow with so little preparation and warning4 ,to answer the priest's question honestly--that is to say1 with a full knowledge of the terms of the vow and with a perfect conviction that he is ready to fulfil them--a young positive man would require to be in possession of knowledge regarding himself and the future which he can hardly be expected to possess4 ,for a man to say on ,march #bj1 #aibb1 that1 if he live so long1 he will entertain the same sthetic or moral or political sentiments on ,march #bj1 #aieb1 as those he holds on the day he makes the vow1 would be daring--or to say the least1 presumptuous--as implying a claim to a gift of prophecy4 ,but for a man to say of a sentiment in which passion enters as an important factor1 that he will hold it thirty years hence1 he must either be quite ignorant of what he is being asked to declare1 or a prophet capable of accurately reading the future2 or else he must be the most unprincipled blackguard that ever lived1 and prepared to take any vow in order to obtain his immediate needs4 ,now1 since it would be unfair to assume that the majority of the young men who answer 8,i will0 to that question are blackguards2 since1 moreover1 it would be unscientific to suppose that any of them are gifted with the superhuman power of prophecy1 we can only conclude that they are completely ignorant of what it means4 ,they are completely ignorant of the whole significance of the marriage rite1 and it is their ignorance1 coupled with the fact of the force of custom1 that enables them to accept the unnatural imposition of the ,state-ordered marriage as if it were a natural condition4 ,besides1 the young positive couple are1 as a rule1 not very analytical4 ,the only thing they insist upon with all the impatience of what is called 8love10 is union2 and since their elders and society seem to offer them the chance of union without black looks and moral indignation1 only in legalized 8marriage10 they seize society's offer without thinking much about the question of natural or unnatural solutions of natural problems4 ,thousands1 it is true1 do not wait for the unnatural solution4#ea ,they simply unite and consummate their desire without taking any public vow4 ,then1 however1 they find the social machinery for discouraging such simple behaviour so formidable and unrelenting that they are frequently unable to face it1 and resort to crime in order to attempt to wipe out the consequences of their action4 ,unmarried motherhood1 with all the moral indignation it provokes2 prosecutions for affiliation1 and the weekly payments in which they result--are some of the unpleasant menaces that face those who refuse to wait for the ,state's conditions before consummating their desire2 and1 in the end1 the great majority1 preferring the more peaceable and more generally accepted course1 resolve on marriage the moment they feel they must consummate their desire4 ,the desire that makes the two young positive people wish to unite is called 8love40 ,it is mutual attraction culminating in a condition of mutual irresistibility4 ,it is the power which1 in the course of evolution1 each has acquired to draw the other into that condition which best serves the purpose of ,life and its multiplication4 ,now1 as we have already pointed out1 this power of attraction serves its purpose--multiplication--whether they unite legitimately or illegitimately4 ,since1 however1 the purposes of society are best served by their uniting according to certain rules1 and since these rules are chiefly designed to secure each party to the union against the evil consequences 7to society7 of promiscuous mating1 it is expedient that the two should be bound together for life2 and the marriage tie is made a permanent tie3 8,till death us do part10--that is the ideal aimed at4 ,but in this way a lie is tacitly smuggled by society into the marriage of two young people4 ,since society's purposes are best served by a permanent match between the young positive couple1 they are led to believe that the desire which the moment before union has drawn them together1 and which is called 8love10 is also permanent2 in fact that it is really the best reason for making the match permanent6 ,having once been perpetrated by the social organism1 this lie is repeated in all the moral prejudices and saws1 all the fairy-tales1 the popular novels1 the poetry and the songs1 of a whole nation--of a whole continent--and soon acquires the sanctity of truth2 and he who dares to nail it to the counter as a piece of counterfeit psychology or physiology1 is dubbed a cynic1 an anarchist1 and a misogynist4 ,we call the emotion 8love0 which convinces two young people that they had better1 on grounds of expediency1 accept the ,state regulations concerning their prospective union1 but we have no business to imply by actual words or by suggestion that the desirable permanence of that union1 from society's point of view1 will find one of its principal causes in the persistence of the emotion that led to its being consummated4 ,unfortunately1 the advantage to society and to the family of a permanent legal contract1 has led to so complete a distortion of the truth1 that the majority of young people are led to believe1 quite blindly1 that it is the enduring power of the emotion itself which justifies the nature of the contract4 ,and everything is done to confirm them in this belief4 ,it is only when they are married that they find how utterly untrue it is4 ,it is readily admitted that in every generation of human beings there is a percentage1 an ever-dwindling percentage in degenerate days1 of men and women who are capable of deep and lasting emotions4 ,these rare creatures of profound and enduring passion1 to whom change of any sort is distasteful1 and who cling faithfully and stubbornly to their hobbies1 their pursuits1 their ancestral faiths1 and their particular taste in literature1 music1 the graphic arts and food1 may and do sometimes evince a steadiness and a stability in their love which makes their monogamic unions exceptionally harmonious and affectionate to the last4 ,but for the average modern couple to claim that they belong to this very small percentage of human beings1 is the most contemptible impudence4 ,even positive couples cannot all be said to belong to this class1 and as for the negative couples1 whose unions are chiefly an idle pursuit of sensation or else a gratification of vanity1 they are as different from these slow-moving1 deeply passionate people as if they belonged to a race utterly strange to them4 ,it is therefore essential that1 for the vast majority of people1 a more sensible1 less dramatic1 and more realistic colour should be lent to their unions1 so that they may enter them with a clearer understanding of the enormous difficulties with which permanent marriage is beset1 and with other considerations to support and fortify them1 than a trust in a possibility so utterly fantastic as the endurance of their emotions4 ,when once they are married1 it is perfectly true that expediency1 economic considerations1 and the presence of children frequently convince them that it is better that their union should be permanent2 but to call by the name of 8love0 the reasons which cause them to arrive at this conclusion1 is a colossal hoax1 the prodigiousness of which would be amusing did it not lead to such untold misery4 ,but1 it may be objected1 even if we admit that the legal union1 marriage1 is as a rule incompatible with lasting 8love10 where is the harm1 provided that the two objects of the contract1 the obtaining of a union between two positive people and the propagation of children on regular and well-ordered lines1 be secured8 ,is it not after all the best solution of the sex problem8 ,the question whether it is the best solution of the sex problem we must leave undecided for a moment4 ,but to the first part of the question we may now answer definitely that there is harm in any contract based upon a lie1 when that lie is one which1 connected as it is with the psychological and physiological conditions of a certain common human relationship1 is bound to be discovered as a lie by the parties to that relationship4 ,to allow1 however tacitly or implicitly1 that society's unnatural solution of the sex problem is even favourable to the endurance of the emotion which first led the couple to desire union1 is harmful in the first place3-- 7#a7 ,because it makes the idea and pursuit of marriage too hedonistic4 ,young people know that the state of mutual desire in which they find themselves before the union1 is one of exquisite pleasure4 ,as we have pointed out in ,chapter ,v1 it is probably the richest experience1 as spirito-physiological sensations go1 that anyone can have4 ,they also know that the happy and masterly consummation of this desire is a source of enormous spiritual and physical well-being and delight4 ,the parties to be united1 therefore1 can easily be persuaded1 both immediately before consummation and for a brief period afterwards1 that this exquisite pleasure and delight will be secured them permanently by a permanent contract1 and marriage is pursued as a source of happiness4 ,people are even in the habit of asking of a married couple1 not 8,are they successful80 not1 8,are they breasting their difficulties satisfactorily802 but always1 8,are they happy80--as if for all the world one were necessarily happy in fulfilling a difficult and vastly complicated contract4 ,it is necessary for the positive young girl to find her physical adaptation4 ,only the negative girl can be content without it4 ,it is also necessary for the positive young man to find his4 ,but surely it is not necessary to lead either of them to suppose that in doing this by means of legal marriage they will find anything more in the long run than the most moderate well-being1 disturbed by the most tremendous responsibilities and difficulties4 ,the way in which girls and young men are led to look forward to the married state as if it were a kind of fairy transformation1 summed up in the formula 8and they were happy ever afterwards10 vitiates the whole value of the contract2 for while it lays all emphasis on the contentment that naturally comes with proper physical adaptation1 it passes over the enormous difficulties which any such permanent contract between sensitive and intelligent beings must entail4 7#b7 ,it is harmful1 secondly1 because by leading both young people to expect too much from marriage1 it expedites the period of disillusionment1 which is bound ultimately to supervene in the great majority of such unions4 ,if the ,state solution of the sex problem1 known as monogamic marriage1 be really a good institution1 then surely everything should be done to make it tolerable for as long as possible to those who are parties to it4 ,since disillusionment must come1 it is obviously the duty of teachers and elders to endeavour to postpone it as long as possible4 ,and the way to do this is certainly not by emphasizing the 8happiness0 of marriage to the exclusion of all thought about its enormous and almost insuperable difficulties4 ,a salutary reform in this respect would consist in leading young people to accept the ,state's solution of the sex problem in a more sober mood1 with a more grave concern about the future1 with a greater insight into the utility of marriage1 and with less precipitancy than is shown at present4 ,they would realize that while union was what they desired1 legal marriage was the least unsatisfactory way for all concerned of meeting that desire for union2 but that it was only a clumsy way of securing their sexual adaptation1 and held no necessary promise of any greater happiness than they could expect from any other system of constraints4 ,it might be objected that1 in this case1 young people would not marry4 ,the reply to this objection is that they would if their desire for normal adult adaptation were strong enough1 but that they would be likely to fulfil the contract all the more satisfactorily by realizing from the start its utility1 its limitations1 its very doubtful promise1 and its artificial nature4 7#c7 ,it is harmful1 thirdly1 because1 by confusing marriage with the pursuit of happiness1 grave considerations are likely to be overlooked4 ,let me give a concrete instance3-- ,it may be in the best interests of a farmer's son1 who intends to adopt his parent's calling1 to marry a rural maiden1 accustomed to the problems of a farm1 and familiar with all the valuable traditions of the countryside4 ,in fact1 from the standpoint of the ,state also1 it may be best for him to select his bride from among the female population of his village or locality2 for by so doing1 in addition to acquiring a useful mate1 his children will inherit rural virtues from both sides1 and are more likely to become good and efficient farmers in their turn4 ,but if1 by a false association of happiness with marriage1 he fancies that he will have what is known as a 8better time0 with an urban typist of smart appearance1 with small bird's-claw hands and expensive tastes1 he is likely to overlook the gravity of the purpose of marriage in order to gratify his hedonistic lust4 ,this accounts also for the destruction of many of our aristocratic houses by msalliances with chorus-girls and ,american and ,jewish heiresses4 ,if the utterly hedonistic bias were only removed from marriage1 such stupid and wanton outrages against good blood might be prevented4 ,for since the alleged 8happiness0 of a permanent association like legal marriage is in nine cases out of ten pure illusion1 it should not be allowed to override a man's duty to himself and to his children4 ,one of the principal rewards of the legal marriage is the means it gives a man of preserving his family virtues and tradition1 and since this is best achieved by choosing a girl from his own kind and set1 the supposed pursuit of happiness can only act as a disturbing element1 which could be condoned only if it were not so entirely illusory4 ,of course the msalliance as a social evil has a ,puritanical root as well1 which ought perhaps to be mentioned here4 ,the ,puritans were not so utterly and incurably stupid as to deny the existence of bodily pleasure4 ,they knew perfectly well that the joys of sex were very real joys4 ,by insisting1 however1 upon these joys being sought only in fast wedlock1 they threw a burden upon marriage which it was hardly designed to bear4 ,they converted it by one stroke into a source of joy--that is to say1 into the unique source for a certain kind of joy1 into a symbol of pleasure and happiness of a certain kind4 ,by so doing1 however1 a false association grew up in the minds of men regarding marriage1 which has resulted in the scions of some of our best houses seeking happiness and pleasure in matrimony by marrying women whose blood necessarily diluted or destroyed their stock qualities4 ,had the stupid ,puritan prejudice not existed1 they might have found pleasure with these inferior females without marrying them1 and thereby saved their family line with some one who1 though perhaps less garish and less vulgarly amusing1 was at least capable of giving them children true to their traditional stock quality4 ,the advantages of the legal monogamic match are chiefly social4 ,they have very little to do with happiness1 and most of them redound to the benefit of law and order4 ,they are3-- 7a7 ,the creation of a compact unit known and recognized as the family1 in which responsibility for the fruits of the union fall on the two parents1 and in which the financial responsibility in the great majority of families falls upon the more free 7physically7 of the two parents--the male4 ,the ,state is by this means secured against the obligation of having to rear the innumerable host of children that would result from promiscuous parenthood where the father could not be traced4 7b7 ,the creation of a unit with which it is easy for the law to deal1 because in it human duties are simplified down to the three relations1 spouse1 parent1 child1 each of which has its status in the law1 all converging towards the head of the unit1 who can be made answerable to the law for his unit4 7c7 ,the creation of a definite and stable environment for the early and tenderest years of the nation's youngest inhabitants1 where1 in the majority of cases at least1 they may be assured the care and the supervision and the schooling of those who are by nature best equipped for discharging the duties of protectors and tutors with love and tenderness1 with natural pride in their work1 and above all without demanding payment for their services4 7d7 ,the creation of a natural centre of interest for the female and the male1 but particularly for the former1 after the first bloom of youth and attractiveness has fled1 so that each may claim1 as by right1 a place in a home1 in which their presence is earnestly desired1 at least by the majority--the children4 7e7 ,the creation of a microcosm--a part and counterpart of the nation as a whole1 reduced to its smallest compass1 in which the traditional character of a people becomes imparted to its children1 in which the virtues and aspirations of a nation are inculcated by precept and example upon its youngest members1 and in which these form the first strong attachments which1 increasing with age1 ultimately identify them1 and act as the first moral check upon their conduct4 7f7 ,the creation of a centre in which the child has a chance to develop family or stock qualities quietly1 slowly1 and unhindered2 because it is sheltered1 or partly so1 from the influence of antagonistic or competing mob or universal characteristics4 7g7 ,the creation of relationships--that of spouse to spouse1 parent to child1 child to child1 and child to parent1 in which the growth of many virtues useful to society are fostered and cultivated3 a sense of responsibility1 self-respect1 fidelity1 early associations of devotion and gratitude1 the sense of traditional continuity which gives rise to the feeling of dignity1 honour1 obligation1 and individual rights1 claims and duties4 7h7 ,the creation of a community on the smallest scale1 in which the children may1 by constant association with their parents1 acquire their stock of general and specialized knowledge1 learn the business by which they may ultimately earn their living1 and cultivate efficiency in it quietly and gradually from infancy upwards4 7,this is an advantage which1 except in rare cases1 has hardly survived in family life in ,england47 ,now1 attractive as these advantages may appear to the legislator1 or legislators of a people1 and cogent as they may make the argument for monogamic marriage1 it will be seen1 that they contain little that will necessarily secure the conjugal 8happiness0 of the two young people whose actions and movements they are designed to limit and to constrain4 ,they consist chiefly of duties which1 while not necessarily unpleasant1 give rise to no small amount of anxiety and misgiving1 and certainly lend a graver accent to matrimony than is usually imparted to it by that promise of light-hearted enjoyment upon which most stress is laid by the traditional literature1 poetry and public sentiment of all ,anglo-,saxon people4 ,on the other hand1 it would be idle to deny that if the aspects of monogamous marriage that they represent were more frequently emphasized and brought to the attention of both young and old1 the number of 8happy0 marriages might certainly be very much increased4 ,for as ,i have shown1 it is the hedonistic view of marriage1 or that picture of it that dwells immoderately upon its supposed unfailing gift of happiness1 that has done most in modern civilised societies to undermine its value as a working and workable institution4 ,its plain utility is smothered under too much sentiment and false doctrine4 ,this result has been brought about largely by ,christianity1 which has persistently endeavoured to teach the high-falutin' nonsense of matrimony as principally 8a union of souls0#eb2 but added to ,christian influence in ,anglo-,saxon countries1 at least1 there has also been the detrimental overlay of romantic obsessions1#ec which has made a realistic view of primitive and natural needs almost impossible4 ,the general tendency in ,puritanical and ,anglo-,saxon countries1 at least1 is to keep as far as possible in the background the subject of offspring and the fruits of marriage when discussing it or arranging for it in the presence of any two young people who have stated their desire to be joined together4 ,it is not considered decent to refer to this1 its most important side4 ,as we have seen1 the advantages of the legal monogamic marriage chiefly concern the children that may result from the match4 ,scarcely any other advantage exists4 ,it is folly1 therefore1 not to make the subject of offspring one of the most important in all deliberations relating to matrimony4 ,it is true that in the ,book of ,common ,prayer the first reason given for the joining of a man and woman together in holy matrimony1 is 8for the procreation of children02 but there are many people who dislike this passage in the marriage service1 and all those who have attended marriage ceremonies often will be able to testify to the frequency with which it is rapidly slurred over in order to give the least possible offence4 ,now this is the most pernicious nonsense that could ever have been devised for destroying the value of the legal monogamic marriage4 ,for if proper stress were laid upon the consequences of the union1 the children1 it would not only check the hedonistic attitude towards marriage as an institution1 but would also make young people more serious in the matter of choosing their mates and more critical of themselves in regard to their readiness for marriage4 8,am ,i one who can grant myself the privilege of contributing fresh people to the world8 ,am ,i sufficiently desirable8 ,is it at all desirable that ,i should reproduce myself in a second1 third or fourth edition80 ,but how can these questions be asked in an atmosphere where the offspring of a marriage is the last consideration to be thought of8 ,how can they be expected to be asked in an atmosphere where 8,luvv0 is supposed to justify any match1 however horrible8 ,in regard to the mate1 too--who nowadays selects her with that serious criticism which gazes through the optics of the next generation and envisages their best interests8 ,how can the average man assume this attitude1 when all the stress in matrimony is laid upon the love match1 upon the union of two souls8 ,as far as possible1 everyone tries to forget the other matter in contemplating a girl and her betrothed4 ,people shrug their shoulders and say1 8,if children come1 they come--and there's an end of it40 ,they prefer to regard the couple from that standpoint4 ,christianity has so far succeeded in establishing a false atmosphere of a union of souls around this most fundamental of all relationships 7that of the betrothed couple7 that it is possible now to meet people who entertain the most solemn determination to marry1 and yet who have hardly one single feature in their minds or bodies that would render their repetition or recurrence on earth in any way desirable4 ,the whole attitude of ,christianity towards the joining of male and female together1 however1 is so unrealistic on the one hand1 and so base on the other1 that it is not astonishing that after #b1jjj years of ,christian teaching we have wellnigh reached matrimonial chaos in ,europe1 and all countries like ,europe4 ,marriage should be regarded as the sacred garden of the next generation4 ,all the exalted emotions that possess an artist at his work1 all the solemn misgivings that beset a responsible man when he feels he is determining the future of ,man1 ought to surge in the breast of him who contemplates matrimony4 ,to feel that emotion which the modern world calls 8love0 may excuse a man for forming an illicit union1 but1 alone1 it does not justify him in concluding so grave a contract as marriage4 ,the disadvantages of the monogamic marriage are chiefly confined to its effects upon the individual1 and are of a nature that the ,state can1 as a rule1 afford to ignore and to waive4 ,i shall only point to one disadvantage that deeply concerns the ,state 7see objection ,h71 and that is so serious that it should be examined and removed instantly4 ,the disadvantages are the following3-- 7,a7 ,monogamic marriage presupposes a possibility which is the very reverse of natural and human1 one in fact which1 through the optics of life1 does not even amount to a probability--and that is that two people of different sexes can be united for life without needing or craving for that same variety and respite which in all other departments of their lives they regard as the most essential factor of well-being4 ,this is the great lie underlying the ,state's tacit assurance that its solution of the sex problem is for the benefit of the individual4 ,every child suspects1 every adult knows1 how difficult friendship is1 how hard it becomes to keep up that enthusiasm and eager interest in the relationship of friends1 which alone makes companionship a refreshment and a pleasure4 ,and everyone feels that there is a natural prudence in sound friendship which1 founded on good taste1 points distinctly to a moderate frequentation of a friend at all times when that enthusiasm and eager interest show signs of declining too seriously4 ,so that it might truthfully be said in a paradox1 that friendship can be maintained only by judicious separations1 and that the duration of these separations is determined by the barometric level1 so to speak1 of the friendship felt at certain periods4 ,no one who has attained to adult years can fail to have realized the value of change to the body4 ,variations in diet1 occupation and environment act as a stimulus not only to the senses but also to the tissues2 they brace and invigorate the system4 ,life1 like beauty1 has even been defined as 8repetition with a certain modicum of variation40#ed ,moreover1 every human being1 child1 adult1 savage or sage knows the fatal consequences of complete and exhaustive exploration3 how it cloys1 how it surfeits1 how it nauseates6 ,the very constitution of man as a sentient being necessitates such consequences4 ,the repetition of a stimulus reduces the force of its appeal owing to the very tendency to habituation to which all of us as adaptable creatures are prone4 ,we react eagerly and quickly at first2 the thousandth time we hardly lift an eyelid4 ,now1 in the face of all these facts of common and everyday experience1 it would seem both absurd and indefensible to claim that any two people1 whether of the same or of different sexes1 could hope to spend many years together--not to mention a lifetime--without ultimately falling the prey to indifference1 if not dislike2 and where the circumstances of their first coming together have been attended by any excessive warmth of feeling1 the ultimate revulsion of that feeling1 by constituting at once a disillusionment and1 among unwise people1 a surprise1 must lead to an indifference proportionately more acute4 ,unlike the mere association of friends1 in which two people may work together1 share the same interests1 enjoy the same games1 or suffer the same hardships1 pleasures and difficulties1 the married couple are united chiefly by a physical bond which has its basis in an act of passion1 an act of desire1 an act of power4 ,but passion is largely a matter of surplus strength1 violent stimulation and the lust of possession1 all of which are steadily worn down by 7a7 a steady drain on surplus strength1 7b7 the supervention of gradual callousness through the repetition of similar stimuli1 and 7c7 the consciousness of holding definitely1 or rather indefinitely1 the object originally coveted4 ,desire also1 by being gratified1 is stilled4 ,the best cure1 in fact1 for desire is precisely gratification4 ,but a cure is hardly what is anticipated by the usual love-match4#ee ,with regard to the act of power1 which1 despite civilization1 still accounts for more than half the savour of the sexual relationship1 that is surely seriously impaired by the law itself which enjoins cohabitation as a duty upon the parties to a marriage contract4 ,thus the indefinite continuance of the emotion which first led a couple to unite1 and the protraction sine die of the delights of the early consummation of their desire1 are bound1 as it were1 with mathematical certainty to become impossible4 ,but this makes the relationship exceedingly difficult1 and one which1 far from constituting a promise of happiness1 is very much more likely to develop into an absolute guarantee of incessant and most tiresome differences4 ,to reply to these objections that there is a 8love0 that transcends all these difficulties1 may sound pleasant and charming and good-natured1 but it is hardly candid4 ,for as ,i have pointed out above1 the possibility of the existence of this rare kind of love does not justify us in making marriage a lie for the bulk of mankind4 7,b7 ,furthermore1 monogamic marriage makes no allowance for the fact that human courtship and the subsequent union of the sexes to which it leads1 partakes essentially of the nature of an adventure4 ,in fact1 to a large number of people in these dull and ordered days it is the only adventure of their lives4 ,in many of its aspects it is reminiscent of the qualities of the chase1 and it would be unscientific not to allow for this smack of venery in the preliminaries which precede venery4 ,that mutual attraction which ultimately leads to mutual capitulation is full of the excitement1 the doubt1 the anxiety and the final triumph of the huntsman4 ,when the quarry is a positive virgin and her pursuer a positive man1 even the fascination of fear is added--fear of the intensity of the passion awakened--to complete the similitude of the experience to the circumstances of the chase4 ,beside this1 however1 the steady hum-drum routine of married life can at best only be a flat parody--particularly married life in modern civilization1 witnessed1 as it is1 by innumerable stuffy relatives1 marred by imperfect health1 supported by tired and irascible nerves1 and depressed by the consciousness that it must last a lifetime4 ,nor can it be said that the divine gifts of imagination and artistic creativeness tend to mitigate the solemn boredom and exasperation that overtake the parties to such a legal union2 on the contrary1 they but enhance its horrors3 behold the unhappy married lives of most men of genius1 ,dickens1 ,carlyle1 ,byron1 and the philosophic ,socrates6 7,c7 ,the monogamic marriage based on the modern idea of 8love0 7which should1 by the by1 be spelt 8,luvv0 to differentiate it from the nobler idea called by the same name71 in addition to leading to bitter disillusionment1 has in its very first condition--this sentiment 8,luvv0--the seeds of its most potent corrosive4 ,for it is impossible nowadays to conceive of love without contempt4 ,indeed1 an innuendo of contempt is essential before love can be possible4 ,this is easily seen if we reflect upon what love is4 ,it is1 in its present acceptation1 a very wild1 a very torrential sentiment4 ,from the man who says he loves her1 the girl exacts little less than single-minded adoration4 ,she expects him to say she is the best girl in the world for him1 and she insists on his believing it4 ,she might1 at a pinch1 forgive his not regarding her as the best girl in the whole world1 in the sense of supreme above all other girls in fact4 ,but to him1 relative to his taste alone1 she expects to be that4 ,and he expects the same4 ,but what does this mean8 ,what can it not help meaning8 ,both parties in a courtship are fully aware of what sorry figures they cut before the critical and fully informed eye of their own inner consciousness4 ,each knows his shortcomings1 his pitiful and helpless foibles1 his ugly traits1 his despicable features1 his nauseating1 revolting side6 ,and what8 ,some one has been found who calls this the best8 who raves about it8 who is visibly frantic about it8 ,deep down in her heart1 therefore1 where the girl secretes her contempt for herself1 she now begins secreting the first drops of contempt for the one who can appear so wildly enthusiastic over something she knows to be so defective4 ,her man feels exactly the same1 and though he may be exalted1 for a while1 by the girl's having mistaken him for a hero1 he would not be human if he did not feel a little contempt for one who could appear so enthralled by such humble attainments as he knows his to be4 ,when once1 however1 the first blush of passion has died away1 this seed of contempt has to be reckoned with1 and then1 watered by disillusionment and nourished by indifference1 it soon germinates and grows into the fungus which helps to blight the last green leaves that may still be left on the spare frail tree of conjugal affection4 ,because1 the moment it shows its true colour and nature1 it is recognized by either party in the other1 and interpreted as a flat and wilful recantation of their former protestations1 and consequently as an insulting and heartless volte-face which cannot be forgiven4 7,d7 ,in addition to the element of contempt in all love of the ordinary sort1 there is another factor which1 when once the moment of disenchantment comes in monogamic marriage1 adds seriously to its force and hastens the end2 and that is the unpardonable arrogance which is implicit in all these 8love0 matches4 ,when a young man ,a so far misunderstands his condition as to say he loves a young girl ,b with undying affection1 although the psychologist may smile1 he does not necessarily expostulate2 for1 after all1 the attitude1 though ridiculous1 is not necessarily provokingly impudent4 ,it is true that it is assuming that he is capable of an enduring passion1 and therefore1 that he is arrogating to himself a depth and a permanence which nine hundred and ninety-nine people out of a thousand do not possess2 nevertheless1 it is allowed to pass1 because a certain modicum of exaggeration is allowed to lovers4 ,when1 however1 the young girl ,b believes ,a's declaration of undying love1 and accepts it as a fact1 the psychologist is naturally annoyed2 for here a degree of self-deception comes into play which cannot possibly arise out of anything else than the most stupendous arrogance4 ,in order that ,b may believe ,a1 she must first have convinced herself of the following3-- 77 ,that she is capable of inspiring an undying passion4 77 ,that she is capable of keeping it alive when once it has been kindled4 77 ,that there is nothing at all unlikely or preposterous in her being the object of such a passion4 ,but to convince herself of any one of these propositions she must possess the most prodigious conceit1 the most unbounded impudence4 ,and the same applies to ,a1 to whom ,b has declared her undying love4 ,in addition to contempt1 therefore1 there is in every love-match in which the parties propose to adopt a permanent monogamic union as their destiny1 a degree of arrogance and self-esteem on either side which is wholly and unspeakably distasteful both to the sane psychologist and to the man of balanced mind4 ,but let that pass6 ,what does it matter that the psychologist should be offended when he hears that ,a has declared his undying love to ,b and that ,b has believed him8 ,yes1 but unfortunately the arrogance that ,b shows in listening with patience and even credulity to such a declaration as ,a's1 does not end merely in giving offence to the psychologist4 ,it ultimately recoils upon herself in the cruellest possible manner2 just as ,a's arrogant acceptance of ,b's declaration recoils upon him4 ,when the moment of disillusionment and indifference supervenes1 as it must in all ordinary 8love0 matches1 ,a finds it somewhat difficult to forgive ,b for having ever dreamt1 even in her wildest nightmare1 that she could keep their love alive all through their married life1 and ,b finds it equally difficult to forgive ,a for having fancied1 even in the wildest flights of his imagination1 that he could ever provoke a life passion4 ,and thus1 in addition to the contempt that has already been analysed in the preceding section1 there now arises a rankling feeling of indignation of each towards the other for ever having been guilty of such stupendous arrogance4 ,and we must confess that in the majority of cases this indignation is well deserved4 ,the only excuse that may be pleaded in mitigation of ,a's and ,b's lack of modesty is that probably no one had ever told them1 nor had they ever read1 that to accept a declaration of undying love necessitates a degree of self-esteem that is positively indecent4 7,e7 ,there are many modern people who will protest that ,i have not considered the monogamic marriage on its 8higher0 or more 8spiritual0 aspect as companionship1 and that unless its possibilities in this respect be viewed fairly and impartially1 its general desirability cannot possibly be estimated4 ,but before we assume too hastily that this is one of the brighter aspects of the monogamic marriage1 let us make quite certain that we are not confronted by yet another of its grave disadvantages4 ,companionship is a matter of the spirit4 ,the pleasure of it might be likened to the refreshment that a parched body obtains from a fresh drink4 ,it is the bliss peculiar to friendship4 ,the friend refreshes one by his companionship4 ,provided we have not spent too many of our years with him1 he opens before us a new aspect of things4 ,provided that we have not frequented him too much1 his mind1 however simple it may be1 always offers us some sentiment or point of view which we have not yet thoroughly explored4 ,and this communion with the friend is a joy1 because it is a recreation4 ,it makes the old world seem new again4 ,even familiar landscapes1 viewed again with a friend whom one has seen at discreet intervals1 acquire a freshness they did not possess before4 ,the very essence of companionship1 therefore1 if it is to be a joy1 consists in the freshness1 the novelty1 the change that it introduces into our life4 ,but where is the freshness1 where1 therefore1 the joy of companionship with some one whose mind one has thoroughly explored1 whose every word1 comment1 or exclamation one anticipates five or six seconds ahead8 ,where is the exquisite quality of the companion in one whom one knows as well as oneself1 whom one has had endless days1 weeks1 months and years to study1 to listen to and to understand8 ,the most gifted brain can be circumnavigated if it be lived with daily4 ,the richest storehouse of spirituality can hardly hold out against daily depredation4 ,companionship1 however1 offers something else that is priceless in the mortal monotony of our lives4 ,it draws us away from excessive communion with ourselves1 from the surfeit of self4 ,thus the friend comes as a welcome disturber of the interminable meditation that proceeds at all hours of the day between a man and himself4 ,but the mate who is always with you is so much a part of yourself1 so intimately known to you1 that nothing she can say is sufficiently arresting to disturb any meditation2 and unless she actually overturns the lamp1 or accidentally chops one of her fingers off1 or falls downstairs1 she is hardly noticed4 ,and what is true of the husband here is equally true of the wife4 ,she gets to know her husband's every word1 every mood1 every gesture by heart4 ,to call his presence companionship1 or the boon that comes with friendship1 would be to cast a slur on all companionship and friendship for ever4 ,companionship between husband and wife is therefore impossible4 ,it is impossible because the very source of the chief quality of companionship--refreshment--is cut off at the root by too much association1 too much and too incessant exploration of each other's minds1 by the two spouses4 7,f7 ,the monogamic marriage is as a rule more satisfying to the female than to the male2 but only1 as we shall see in the chapter on ,divorce1 if children are born regularly1 and the circumstances of their birth and their infancy run a normal course4 ,the reason of this is that since the positive healthy woman finds her complete sexual experience only by means of the coitus1 plus the period of gestation1 plus parturition1 and plus the months of lactation1 she finds1 as a rule1 in the course of a married life in which she brings forth children regularly and in normal circumstances1 all that her body can possibly expect from an adapted sexual life4#ef ,the act of fertilization1 which1 as we have already seen in a former chapter1 is only the sparking-plug that starts the huge cycle that culminates in the weaning1 is such a trifling incident in her sexual experience that very soon her husband begins to assume in her eyes the importance which1 as a matter of fact1 he enjoys relative to the huge cycle itself4 ,and if she happens no longer to feel that enthusiasm for him which she felt as a fiance1 she can endure the disillusionment with equanimity and sweetness because she is now aware that1 after all said and done1 he does not really matter to her nearly as much as she once rather foolishly imagined4 ,promoting and expediting the drop in a woman's affection for her husband must also be reckoned not only the natural surfeit and indifference that comes with excessive familiarity1 but also the presence of the children themselves4 ,for while they act as a consolation to the woman for the declining affection of the pair1 they also operate as a powerful reducer of that affection in herself4 ,the unconscious longing for fertilization that has long been drawing her to her husband and forcing her to transfigure his very common and ordinary personality into something exceptional1 naturally abates as fast as children are born1 because1 as an unconscious longing1 it gets gratified and therefore stifled4 ,and thus children1 far from being the alleged bonds uniting couples1 may become the most potent wedges driving them asunder4 ,the extraordinary number of loving childless couples in which the woman's devotion remains unabated may be accounted for in this way4#eg ,policy1 as a rule1 bids her treat him with consideration and the outward signs of devotion as the breadwinner1 as the father of her children1 and as a person who1 since he is destined to be her constant companion1 it is merely ordinary good sense to humour and to please2 but provided that she have children from him at regular intervals1 she is not much troubled by the pronounced drop in her affection and regard for him4 ,to the man1 on the other hand1 to whom1 as we have seen1 the sparking-plug incident constitutes a complete sexual experience1 and whose sexual life therefore begins and ends with this spasmodic desire for woman and the brief relation with her to which it leads1 this falling off in affection and desire is a matter of very grave concern1 because he has no bodily consolation4 ,he may love his children1 he may delight in their company1 and he may be wholly interested in his home2 but the bearing and nursing of his children constitutes no bodily experience to him2 and in life it is the demands of the body that are most important and most importunate when they are not obeyed4 ,for his body to enjoy its necessary1 satisfactory experience1 slight and brief as it is1 it is essential that some desire1 some passion1 in fact some of the feeling he felt for his wife as a fiance1 should remain4 ,it is necessary that he should still look upon the act as one of passion1 desire and power4 ,but as we have seen1 the act has been deprived of most of its passion1 desire and power by the inevitable consequences of the ,state monogamic marriage4 ,its beauties have literally been worn away4 ,it has lost its savour and its strength by having been systematized1 time-tabled1 protected1 ordered1 and above all1 repeated too often1 without that 8certain modicum of variety0 which is the essential element in all life4 ,generally speaking1 then1 it may be argued with justice that1 where conditions are normal and children are born regularly1 monogamic marriage can be tolerated quite well by women1 but not by men4 ,for when once the elements constituting the joy of cohabitation have been robbed from the man's share--as in nine hundred and ninety-nine marriages out of a thousand they must--the relationship1 though still endurable to the positive healthy female1 to whom the act of fertilization1 and raison de plus her husband1 is of such minor importance1 becomes intolerable to the healthy positive male2 and unless he is prepared to face a life in which every week is a long-drawn-out torture to his body1 he cannot remain faithful to his spouse4 ,in its general attitude towards and understanding of monogamic marriage1 therefore1 this ,age1 in addition to smuggling the lie of happiness into the contract1 also completely distorts the true relation to the union of the woman on the one hand1 and the man on the other4 ,by a false and entirely gratuitous analogy1 it supposes that the man's position can be and is as tolerable as that of the child-bearing female4 ,it is useless to object that thousands of married men to-day remain faithful to their wives1 and yet cannot be said to be among those rare geniuses in love for whom alone the monogamic marriage is suitable4 ,in the first place it may be asked1 how many of those thousands are really healthy positive men1 sexually exuberant and virile8 ,it is simple enough to be a ,puritan if one is below par4 ,but how many faithful husbands are truly normal1 in the sense of their body's insisting upon leading a satisfactory sexual life8 7,g7 ,it would be unfair to omit to mention among these objections to the modern monogamic marriage1 those that arise more particularly from the woman's standpoint in a match with a man who is both positive and healthy4 ,at the risk of repeating statements already made1 the reader must be reminded here that when either party to a matrimonial match is negative or unhealthy1 the union ceases from being one to which mere objections can be raised2 it then becomes actually impossible4 ,and by positiveness and health in the woman1 ,i mean that condition in which the bearing of children is accompanied throughout by an easy pleasure-giving functioning of the body4 ,because ,i am not attempting to discuss all the sordid complications of the sort of match in which either one or both of the parties are unhealthy or negative1 it does not follow that ,i fail to recognize the enormous percentage of unhappy marriages1 to which such unions lead4 ,but this is not a book on the pathological aspects of sex4 ,i take only the best possible conditions--the mating of a healthy and positive woman with a man of the same stamp1 and show the objections that may be raised to their monogamic match4 ,naturally1 if the unfavourable circumstances with which the start is made be increased1 the objections to the match necessarily increase proportionately4 ,now1 despite the best initial circumstances1 there are objections to monogamy from the woman's standpoint which will be seen to be both serious and insuperable4 ,but these objections1 let it be well understood1 only arise in thoroughly modern conditions4 ,i have hinted at one of them in a former chapter 7see ,chapter ,,vi1 section #c74 7,g#a7 ,a woman may marry a man who is wholly positive1 healthy1 and therefore quite savoury 7such men get ever more rare1 but they are still to be found74 ,very early in her married life1 however1 she discovers that1 through some cause which she of course cannot fathom1 her husband is a person utterly unfit to make her his wife in the only way in which her instincts and senses easily accept the rle--that is to say1 as the yielding partner to an impetuous1 masterful1 and at the same time skilful initiator4 ,although he is not negative by nature1 he has been brought up negatively4 ,he fears and shuns what he should be most eager to experience4 ,his timidity and awkwardness are infectious4 ,he proves himself not only unmasterly2 he convinces her that he is a bungler--often a bungler more terrified than she is herself4 ,a relationship which should have been but a means of raising their courting happiness to ecstasy becomes instead either frigid and frightened post-marital virginity for weeks after marriage1#eh which proves disastrous to their love and ruinous to their nerves2 or else1 a consummation which is so hopelessly clumsy1 hurried and nervous1 and so distasteful to either party1 that it is repeated as seldom as possible1 and is always followed by the most bewildering disenchantment4 ,i have previously explained that to the decent girl the act of consummation seems acceptable and right only if purified by fire4 ,she does not need to be in the least influenced by ,puritanical prejudices in order to hold this attitude4 ,it is the natural outcome of her instincts1 as they have been formed throughout the ages4 ,the bulk of the ancestors in her line1 for millions of years1 on the female side1 having encountered the proper impetuosity and fire in the male1 which carries all before it--that prehensile and initiatory masterfulness that belongs by nature to the male's share in the act of consummation--this is what her racial memory leads her to expect1 this alone is what gives her that clean joy in sex1 that light-hearted innocence in sex1 without which her married life is but a torment4 ,yet now she finds herself with a creature who far from showing any mastery or abandon1 actually increases1 if you please1 her own natural timidity about the whole affair1 and even carries it one stage further until it is brought perilously near to disgust and moral indignation4 ,beginnings tell most poignantly1 particularly when they consist of first experiences in fundamental matters4 ,and this kind of beginning1 if it is not quickly corrected1 is almost always fatal4 ,it destroys that trust1 that confidence1 that humble and willing subservience1 which are at once a young woman's instinct and her joy4 ,it poisons the first hours of her maturity1 of her self-realization1 of her taste of life's deeper waters2 but1 above all1 it revives in her precisely those emotions and prejudices which ought to have been stifled for ever--her high-school doubts and qualms regarding the general desirability of her ,maker's scheme for mammalian fertilization4 ,she may forgive this first tragic disenchantment4 ,it is doubtful whether she ever forgets it4 ,and if her husband1 as is often the case1 continues inept1 clumsy and uneasy about the whole relationship1 it matters not even if they have children1 that disillusionment which1 in any case1 is bound to come1 is unduly expedited1 and the union gets prematurely blighted4 ,if there are no children--then there is either open revolt or infidelity1 or both4 ,in this way very many eminently desirable women suffer untold hardships through monogamy#ei2 and though they are frequently too proud and too dignified to reveal to anyone the smallest hint of their suffering1 this may be read in a hundred signs about their homes and their persons4 ,the bitter contempt that many women display towards their husbands1 their tendency to contradict1 offend and insult them before strangers1 and their aptitude to appeal to outsiders rather than to their husbands for advice and help1 are all probably the outcome of experiences that have occurred quite early in their married life1 all of which were disenchanting1 unpleasant1 and destructive of confidence4 ,for the healthy1 positive young man1 in this case1 all that can be pleaded is that it is not entirely his fault4 ,in ,england1 as a rule1 he is bred in an atmosphere so perfectly sex-tight1 that no intelligent or enlightening word ever reaches him on the subject4 ,on the contrary1 all is clammy1 frightened1 guilty silence4 ,on reaching maturity1 if he be sensitive1 the ordinary means of acquiring practical experience in the matter will probably strike him as too sordid1 too commercial1 too completely lifted out of the atmosphere of romance and adventure in which his mind has always pictured ideal sexual experiences2 and the consequence is that frequently he not only practises abstinence for too long1 but also develops inhibitions and fantasies which hardly conduce1 when the time comes1 to a happy consummation of his first love-match4 ,and yet the world has grown so stupid in regard to all these matters1 and foolish romantic women's voices have become so clamorous1 that there is an ever-increasing body of idiots who insist on the desirability of men being virgins when they marry6 7,g#b7 ,another deep objection1 from the standpoint of woman1 to the monogamic marriage1 arises out of what is known as 8maleness0 in women4 ,according to ,weininger this varies in degree with each individual1 and modern authorities on psychology have more or less confirmed ,weininger's view4 ,for the reader unacquainted with the present knowledge on this point1 perhaps it would be as well to state plainly what results have been obtained4 ,in the first place it has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of most people that no one male or female is wholly masculine or feminine4 ,the stage of hermaphroditism through which all human beings are supposed to pass in their early ftal development1 is never apparently quite overcome1 and the fully developed ftus1 as also the perfectly developed child1 retains in its constitution vestiges of a sex to which its outward and primary sexual characteristics do not belong4 ,these vestiges of the other sex which survive are both physical and mental1 and according to their proportion in the individual body1 determine the character of their host4 ,thus a child who is to all outward appearance a boy may yet possess elements according to which he is actually #be or #cj or only #aj per cent female4 ,a female child may likewise possess vestiges of the other sex which constitute her #aj1 #bj1 #cj or even #dj per cent male4 ,although1 therefore1 all men have a preponderancy of male elements1 and all women a preponderancy of female elements1 each may possess a more or less heavy percentage of the elements of the other4 ,in extreme cases these elements of the opposite sex cause trouble by leading those who possess them to form desires and to lead lives so conspicuously out of keeping with their primary sexual characteristics as to make them obnoxious to society2 but it should be remembered that this degree of morbidity is rare1 and that as a general rule the modicum of maleness in the female and femaleness in the male has no such disturbing results if the other elements proper to the sex of the primary reproductive organs in each individual find their normal adaptation4 ,thus the maleness in the female has a tendency to manifest itself1 more especially when her sexuality is not fully developed or not actively engaged4 ,little girls1 for instance1 are notoriously sadistic--sadism being a derivative of the male reproductive instinct--as are also many spinsters and some old women4 ,femaleness in the male1 on the other hand1 tends to manifest itself particularly in cases where the male reproductive instinct has been stifled1 or unhinged1 or when his spirit has been ruthlessly broken4 ,now it may be as well for the reader to know that the attitude of the modern world is to fall down in a state of acquiescence before this important fact of sex1 without attempting to inquire whether the importance with which it looms on the horizon of our lives is not precisely due to the attitude of prostrate acceptance with which it is met4 ,particularly in ,england is the phenomenon of mixed elements noticeable--so much so that foreigners call attention to it as something exceptional4#fj ,but it is only noticeable in this marked degree in ,england because1 like all other manifestations of sex in this country1 it is ill-adapted4 ,a well-adapted sexual proclivity does not cry aloud and call attention to itself in this way4 ,humbly as they may acquiesce in it1 however1 it is customary for people in this country to speak disparagingly of the 8male woman10 of her who flaunts manly attire1 affects a walking-stick1 hunts like a man1 and is always the last to be drawn away from a drain or other refuge in which some unfortunate fox or other hunted animal has run for safety4 ,i know of a case where such a woman constantly waits until long after dark in order to catch or kill the fox that has thus hoped to save its life4 7,unconscious ,sadism47 ,now it is all very well to inveigh against the existence of such viragos1 and to describe as morbid their manifestation of male sexual characteristics1 but1 as a matter of fact1 there is as a rule nothing really morbid in their constitutions4 ,and in any case1 an attitude of humble acquiescence before them1 as if they were an imposition from ,providence1 which must be suffered willy-nilly1 is hardly the best way of modifying either the disagreeable character of their proclivities or tastes1 or the evil to which these proclivities and tastes undoubtedly lead4 ,i realize that in making this statement ,i am at variance with practically every authority on the subject2 but it is because in no authority on the subject have ,i found a suggestion of what ,i am about to say1 that ,i venture to trust my own judgment1 and provisionally to adhere to it until such time as the authority who opposes it makes allowances for all ,i am going to advance in defence of these so-called 8male0 women4 ,in the first place1 then1 it may be pointed out that it would be absurd to complain that a race is breeding women with manly traits in their character1 if the desideratum of that race is avowedly to breed people of highly virile propensities4 ,the mating of highly virile males with women devoid of all trace of virility would surely only lead to a depreciation of the stock4 ,for the males1 by having their seed diluted by elements utterly unlike them1 could not hope to be the fathers of boys in any way worthy of them4 ,the rearing of women with strong male characteristics is1 in fact1 always an advantage to a race that wishes to produce a fine virile manhood2#fa for the dangerous diluent 8effeminine0--to coin a new word for a new notion--is thus reduced to a minimum4 ,among the ancients ,celts1 ,teutons and ,slavs1 than which few races have been more virile1 women1 when necessary1 used to fight side by side with their men4 ,it is said of the virile ,similkameen ,indians1 that 8the women were nearly as good hunters as the men40#fb ,the whole race survived only by means of hunting4 ,it was therefore an advantage for the females to approximate to the men in their skill4 ,by this means a double strain of hunting virtues descended to the offspring1 thus leading to ever greater and greater refinement and specialization of instinct and judgment4 ,from the reading of the biographies of great men also we are in a position to determine to what extent the quality which to-day is opprobriously referred to as female 8masculinity0 was present in their mothers4 ,think of ,schopenhauer1 ,byron1 and1 above all1 of ,king ,alfred the ,great1 to whose mother history declares the monarch owed everything6 ,she could hardly have reared so manly a king1 had she not herself possessed some innate knowledge of manliness and masculine virtue4 ,this manliness of women1 therefore1 far from being a disaster1 is rather a desirable trait1 if a particularly virile race of men is required4 ,and since the existence of women with pronounced male characteristics cannot possibly be a novelty in this world1 it is far more likely that the outcry against them1 which is modern1 is due to modern conditions1 than that they are truly and intrinsically undesirable4 8,but10 argue the man and woman of taste1 8the masculine woman in our society is surely disagreeable60 ,i agree4 ,but while ,i shall now endeavour to explain why she is1 or has become1 disagreeable1 ,i should like to repeat that she is by no means the only example of a disagreeable sex-phenomenon in our midst2 that there are other phenomena just as obnoxious1 and that all take their root not necessarily in abnormality of an incurable kind1 but in the condition of ill-adaptation into which sex has fallen in this country--a condition that sex-psychologists do not sufficiently reckon with when they regard as pathological the unfortunate modern female who is either sadistic1 hostile to man1 unnatural in her love and pursuit of women1 or blatantly and ostentatiously masculine in her tastes1 her kit and her interests4 ,the maleness of women1 considered from the standpoint of marriage--which is the only standpoint relevant to this chapter#fc--;can be deprecated only when it renders impossible1 or more than usually difficult1 the cohesion of that valuable unit in society known as the family4 ,as this is not a work on the pathology of sex1 ,i cannot deal with cases of genuine physical and mental aberration in which a woman is so intensely masculine that motherhood is quite out of the question4 ,i can only deal with those cases where male elements are present in sufficient quantities in the female to avert serious dilution of virile qualities in a stock4 ,now in such cases marriage is not only possible1 but can be quite successful--or at least as successful as any marriage can be from the standpoint of the individual--provided that the female elements in the woman find complete and happy adaptation1 and the male elements in her are prevented from guiding her conduct and her judgment at the cost of the female elements4 ,if the male elements in her are not prevented from guiding her conduct and her judgment1 the evil result will be twofold3 7#a7 she will develop her masculine proclivities at the cost of her female or maternal side2 and 7#b7 she will come into early and bitter conflict with her husband4 ,either one of these evil results is sufficient to upset the balance of the unit known as the family4 ,what kind of man1 then1 is likely to be the best mate of the woman with pronounced masculine elements in her constitution8 ,the problem is to make her masculine elements recessive in favour of her female elements4 ,it amounts to this1 then--in what circumstances is a woman likely to abandon her masculine elements as a weapon in the struggle of life8 ,in what circumstances is she likely to realize their uselessness to her8 --,only1 it may be said1 when she has found them utterly useless2 only when she has learned to despise them4 ,but when does this occur8--,it always occurs where the masculine elements belonging to the woman have in a sharp conflict1 or by gradual experience covering innumerable small incidents1 discovered superior1 overwhelmingly superior1 masculine elements in the mate4 ,it may never come to a conflict4 ,the superiority of the male elements in the husband may become impressed upon her by repeated lessons1 by small daily occurrences1 that teach her in spite of herself to trust his masculinity more than hers4 ,when this point is achieved1 her masculine elements rapidly become recessive1 and thenceforward give no further trouble--nay1 they may cease to manifest themselves altogether4 ,for this end to be attained1 however1 the male--the husband--must be a creature of overwhelming masculinity1 against whom no masculine elements belonging to any female could possibly measure themselves without the certainty of absolute rout4#fd ,in the same way it might be pointed out that the womanly man finds his happiest and best adaptation with the female--the wife--of overwhelming femininity2 for then his female elements finding it impossible to measure themselves against those of his spouse1 quickly become recessive and cease to give any further trouble4 ,but what actually happens to-day8 ,our great past as a virile race has certainly left us an inheritance of thousands of virile women1 some of whom excel anything that any other ,european country can produce2 but alas6 owing to the degeneracy of man1 caused by his bad health1 his ,puritanism1 his bemeaning occupations1 and his absurd obsessions about chivalry1 there are not the males to hand with whom to mate these women4 ,when one of these women marries nowadays she must perforce unite with a man who is utterly incapable of making her male elements recessive2 who1 on the contrary1 is himself so exiguously endowed with masculinity that his wife not only has every temptation1 but also every opportunity1 to express1 assert1 and impose her masculine elements upon the family and himself4 ,but the continuous expression and assertion of male elements in a woman1 and of female elements in a man1 at the cost of those elements proper to their primary sexual organs1 far from leading to happiness1 result in nothing but misery both mental and physical1 while the ultimate effect on the nerves is always disastrous4 ,if1 however1 there is nothing in her immediate environment to make her despise her male elements1 or to convince her that they can safely lie quiescent1 a woman's very self-preservative instinct will not allow her to abandon them to the process of recession1 and the consequence is that in thousands of marriages at the present day the wives are utterly and deeply miserable on this account alone4 ,masculine men are lacking4 ,the great past of the race has produced generation after generation of fine1 stout-hearted women with a large percentage of virile elements4 ,but the mates for these remaining memorials of our whilom greatness are no more1 and thus these unfortunate women either wander the world unmated1 or if mated1 suffer an ill-adaptation that is sometimes even more cruel than spinsterhood itself4 ,to point to these wretched1 unadapted virile women--whether married or unmarried--as the legitimate butts for our scorn or our contempt1 however1 is the acme of ignorance and stupidity4 ,it is the degeneration of man1 the low ebb of his former greatness1 that has left them standing high and dry in conspicuous isolation2 and if ,england's 8trousered women0 now strike the foreigner as one of the regrettable features of our civilization1 it is regrettable only in the sense that it proves positively that this country once enjoyed a racial greatness of which she can no longer boast1 and of which these women are the belated reminder4 7,h7 ,but the chief and most serious objection to the monogamic marriage1 apart from all the pain that it brings to individuals1 male and female1 consists in the injury which1 particularly at the present day1 it does to the offspring of each generation4 ,from the standpoint of posterity1 indeed1 the gravity of this charge can hardly be exaggerated4 ,it may seem a far cry to speak of the increase of indigestion and of bad or defective teeth in connexion with the monogamic marriage1 but in practice this connexion is not so remote as it would appear4 ,the ideal condition for a child that is to be well-constituted and flourishing in body and mind1 is1 in the first place1 that its mother should be left in peace during gestation1 and certainly that she should be left scrupulously alone during the period of suckling4 ,from the standpoint of the race it is of such supreme importance that a child should be reared on mother's milk1 that everything should be done1 no stone should be left unturned1 to secure if possible the certainty of this condition4 ,with regard to cohabitation during gestation it is only fair to say that opinions are sadly divided1 some doctors maintaining one thing1 and others the reverse4 ,if we require a standard1 however1 we have only to study the lower animals1 among which the female is not even accessible during pregnancy4 ,whereas some doctors will declare1 however1 that any cohabitation whatsoever during gestation is most pernicious1 all are unanimous in pronouncing against normal indulgence at such times4 ,but apart from everything that changeable and uncertain science may periodically proclaim regarding this question1 it would seem obvious that cohabitation at a time when fertilization is impossible cannot in any case have been ,nature's design2 and if1 therefore1 there remain the smallest doubt about the matter--as the division of opinion among medical men reveals--surely the benefit of the doubt ought1 in all humanity1 to be given to the expected offspring6 ,with regard to cohabitation after the confinement and during the seven to nine months of suckling that should follow1 there can1 however1 be no doubt whatsoever4 ,this must be bad2 for1 seeing that it is of primary importance that the child during these months should be able to obtain mother's milk1 no risks should be run which can in any way jeopardize the happy fulfilment of this condition4 ,at such times the mother should be left severely alone4 ,she is happy1 exquisitely happy4#fe ,her nervous system is concentrated on the one important and essential object--that of providing for her infant child4 ,any action or diversion that tends to disturb the attention of the nervous system1 or to shake this precious concentration upon the mamm1 cannot therefore be too strongly deprecated4 ,what is the alternative8 ,the mamm find the nervous energy of the body divided4 ,the woman's system is no longer that of a mother alone2 it has been recalled to its rle as a wife4 ,there may be conception or there may not--at any rate1 the frequent occurrence of children only a year or thirteen months older than a brother or sister1 shows how often conception does take place in such circumstances--and the consequence is that the suckling has to be removed from the breast1 in order to become the experimental victim of every kind of abomination in the form of substitutes for mother's milk4 ,to the ignorance of the young mother concerning artificial foods are now added the ignorance of neighbours1 the audacious and criminal lies of commercial baby-food manufacturers1 and frequently the ineptitude of the local doctor4 ,against such a conspiracy of error--irrespective of the fact that no substitute1 however good1 can possibly compensate for the loss of mother's milk--it is not surprising that the infant's body should rebel2 and the result is a child who cannot by any conceivable chance be saved from digestive trouble1 whom nothing can cure of digestive trouble1 and who1 by having alimentary disorders started so early in life1 reaches maturity not only with a strong bias in favour of gastric and intestinal vices1 but also--if indeed his teeth survive so long--with every imaginable kind of dental disease1 from caries to pyorrha4 ,from mothers congenitally and constitutionally unfit either to have babies or to nurse them1 there will surely always come a sufficiently vast contribution of unhealthy and undesirable babies to each generation2 but these1 at least1 no ordinary precaution can save1 and if their early upbringing only tends to promote a condition of degeneracy already inherent in them1 so that they find it difficult to survive1 we can only applaud this confirmation of a thoroughly moribund tendency4 ,but in the case of healthy1 positive women1 admirably fitted to fulfil all the functions of motherhood efficiently and pleasurably1 anything that interferes with this healthy functioning amounts to a national and racial calamity1 and it is to these ,i refer when ,i emphasize the immense danger of cohabitation during the nursing period4 ,now the monogamic marriage makes this sort of plague almost a natural necessity1 a sort of ineluctable scourge4 ,it is impossible to ask a normal1 positive1 healthy man to exercise sexual abstinence for sixteen or eighteen months--that is to say1 the nine months of his wife's pregnancy and the seven or nine months of lactation4 ,only ,manicheans1 ,puritans1 or people thoroughly below par and quite devoid of virility1 could possibly think of recommending such a course4 ,psycho-analysis has at last shown what all decent and clean-minded people knew about prolonged sexual abstinence--that it is both wrongful and harmful4 ,it can only be thought of and practised by people who have either used religious and alcoholic methods of sublimating their passions1 or else by people who are utterly and conspicuously undesirable2 but in the case of the latter it should be remembered that it is not abstinence or so-called 8self-control10 but semi-impotence4 ,where it is attempted by exuberant1 positive young men1 who are neither geniuses in art1 philosophy or religion1 it can only mean disease--possibly physical1 but certainly nervous4 ,the husband1 therefore1 in a monogamic marriage consisting of the union of two positive1 healthy people1 finds himself on the horns of a dilemma4 ,if he be sound and normal he cannot dream of abstaining for the number of months that would be necessary for his child's welfare 7for even if he indulges in cohabitation during gestation1 he still has to face the seven or nine months of suckling1 during which he must at all costs leave his wife in peace72 and yet society 7modern society7 and convention generally bid him rather ruin his child than practise even the most innocuous form of virtual polygamy4 ,of course the intelligent1 thoughtful and good-natured man in such circumstances turns to some sort of modern substitute for polygamy4 ,but the curse of modern civilization1 its great blot and disfigurement1 lies in the fact that at this stage in his wise resolve1 he must perforce resort to secrecy1 to deception1 to concealment1 to a hole-and-corner liaison1 which may and frequently does expose him to every conceivable danger and expense--danger from disease if he be a fool and unwary1 danger from blackmail if he fall into the hands of knaves1 danger from ruin if he happen to have lighted upon unscrupulous associates1 and danger from a criminal prosecution into the bargain4 ,but in any case1 however fortunate he may be in forming his liaison1 he is certain1 if found out1 to incur the moral indignation of all the snivelling1 worthless1 ignorant and 8respectable0 people of his circle1 among whom the loudest in their outcry will be the spinsters and the ,puritans1 of whom not one--no not one--can have or ever has had the faintest beginnings of an understanding of any aspect of the sex question4 ,this is how our society is organized4 ,its whole basis1 its whole prepossession1 is directed stubbornly towards degeneration4 ,nothing that points1 however meekly1 the other way1 is any longer listened to1 much less observed6 ,can it be wondered at1 in the circumstances1 that the average unresourceful and timid man1 prefers to remain strictly faithful to his monogamic vows8 ,can it be wondered at that he prefers to ruin his child's constitution and temper8 ,this is the gravest charge that can be brought from the standpoint of the race against the monogamic marriage1 and it embodies the outline of an explanation of perhaps half the physical and mental degeneracy of modern times4 ,it seems necessary to remind the reader here1 that all these strictures against monogamy only apply to the healthy1 normal1 positive man and woman4 ,they do not1 therefore1 apply to half the existing population4 ,for in order that a woman may be thoroughly happy bearing and nursing children1 she must be healthy1 well-constituted and positive1 and in order that a man may find it impossible to practise what the modern ,age arrogantly calls 8self-control10 he must be positive1 healthy and exuberantly virile4 ,to half the modern world this alleged 8self-control0 is merely a euphemistic cover for the ease with which they can forget the weak1 barely audible call of their bodies2 and to an ever-increasing number of modern women there is precious little enjoyment associated with any stage in the sexual cycle1 whether it be actual fertilization1 gestation1 parturition or lactation4 ,in discussing the value of monogamic marriage1 therefore1 and the possible reforms that might be instituted to render it suitable for the positive man and woman1 it is hoped that none of the remarks ,i shall make will be thought to apply to the vast crowds to-day who are able to find in monogamic marriage a satisfactory1 though perhaps tiresome1 adaptation4 ,but1 in the first place1 it may be objected that1 since ,i find so many serious difficulties in modern monogamic marriage1 why do ,i not straightway recommend its total abolition1 and advocate polygamy1 or promiscuity1 or polyandry1 or total sexual anarchy8 ,i might certainly be tempted to advocate frank and open polygamy were ,i not too deeply conscious of the very many serious and far-reaching advantages that the ideal of the family1 as at present held in modern ,europe1 enjoys over every other kind of social unit designed to solve the problem of the sexes4 ,as ,i have already stated these advantages1 from the standpoint of society1 earlier in the chapter1 there is no need to repeat them here4 ,nevertheless1 before proceeding1 it might be as well for the reader to glance at them again1 so that he may the more easily follow the modifications ,i am about to recommend4 ,the problem before us1 therefore1 is how to maintain the monogamic marriage and give it fresh life1 while modifying it in such a way as to meet the gravest of the objections that can be advanced against it4 ,but before ,i proceed it may be as well to utter some words of warning to those romanticists and sentimentalists who have doubtless been offended by the strictures ,i have already pronounced against monogamic marriage4 ,let me tell them1 therefore1 that however much they may be persuaded of the contrary1 it is not ,i1 with my clear and merciless criticism of modern marriage1 who am the bitterest enemy of that institution1 but they themselves1 with their wilful concealment of all that ,i have brought to light4 ,modern marriage is now on the rocks4 ,if it has drifted into this perilous position it is1 however1 not because the question of its advantages and disadvantages has been properly ventilated and discussed1 and the disadvantages corrected2 but because it has been persistently and almost maliciously overlaid with false sentiment and bogus psychology1 by these very romanticists and sentimentalists themselves4 ,if1 therefore1 it is to be saved1 as it should be saved1 this end can be achieved only by a blank refusal to shut one's eyes to its drawbacks1 so that the latter may be rectified wherever possible2 and by a full and earnest advocacy of its advantages1 however unromantic and unsentimental these may appear to feverish modern sensationalists4 ,before proceeding to the review of the specific objections outlined above1 the general criticism of modern monogamic marriage with which the chapter opened must first be dealt with4 ,method of ,meeting ,general ,criticisms4 #a4 ,stress should be removed from the alleged permanence of love and the happiness of the marriage state1 as far as possible1 and laid on the utilitarian aspect of matrimony4 #b4 ,the young people should be taught realistically that since some sort of physical adaptation in sex is indispensable to the healthy adult1 monogamic marriage was designed as a means of meeting that need4 #c4 ,its difficulties should be emphasized1 and a happy issue shown to be as difficult an accomplishment as the complexities of the contract would lead them to expect4 ,they should be told that in their search for a mate they should show more concern about minimizing these difficulties than about desiring to have 8a good time40 #d4 ,the responsibilities of a family should be understood1 and the wife regarded in her utilitarian aspect as a keeper of the home1 as a mother1 and as a guardian of the home comforts2 marriage itself1 as the sacred garden of the future of mankind1 in which each party to the contract has the privilege of contributing to that future4 #e4 ,differences of temperament and tradition between mates should be avoided4 ,since ill-health forbids our marrying into our own families 7the ideal match71 the young must not forget that in going beyond their families for a mate in order to contradict certain hereditary taints--such as gout1 or consumption1 or cancer1 or any other constitutional vice--they need not therefore contradict the virtues and abilities that their particular family line has cultivated2 for this leads to decline1 and to the procreation of children who have no character and no ability4 ,they should seek1 as far as possible1 their like in a strange family4#ff ,the policy of avoiding family taints in too near relations should not be extended into a policy of seeking opposites4 #f4 ,if by chance the expected disenchantment does not supervene in a form intolerably acute1 when marriage has been taught on these lines1 and the two young people discover that they do not necessarily become surfeited of each other with years1 then at least the surprise would be pleasant1 and not as it always is to-day1 the sudden unpleasant realization of complete disillusionment4 ,method of ,meeting ,specific ,objections4#fg 7,a#a7 ,people should be taught quite early how changeable they are4 ,they should be persuaded of the frangibility of their resolutions1 vows1 and promises1 and they should learn how deeply they are wedded to variety before ever they celebrate their final and most fateful wedding4 7#b7 ,they should be taught that it is only the exceptions among mankind that have that genius for love which can endure for a lifetime1 and they should be shown the hollowness of the popular assumption that every one is capable of une grande passion2 therefore1 that to arrange their lives as if they were one of these geniuses in love is not only the grossest form of megalomania1 but dangerous into the bargain4 7,b7 ,the problem here is one belonging to the art of life4 ,those who can practise this art1 and contrive to make themselves always the desired object of the spouse1 have overcome one of the principal difficulties of monogamic marriage4 ,the ,french are perhaps the most successful ,european people at practising this art--hence the high percentage of happy marriages in ,france4 7,c7 ,if the approval of each party to the match is understood merely to mean the recognition by each of the necessity of an adequate physical adaptation1 and the unconscious desire for this physical adaptation in each is discounted from the enthusiasm felt for the other as mate1 then it will be seen that the residue1 which will be a pretty tepid feeling1 is by no means the outcome of an overvaluation of the individual1 and the contempt need not arise4 ,in other words1 teach the girl to subtract the need and the desire for physical adaptation from her love of the man1 and teach the man to do the same in regard to the girl1 and what remains will quickly be seen to consist only of a strong personal regard1 which can hardly lead to the contempt that would otherwise result if the enthusiasm on both sides were supposed to arise from the unaided charms of either party to the match4 7,d7 ,the remedy here is the same as for 7,c74 ,if a man realizes that when a girl protests her undying love for him the bulk of the ardour she feels is provoked merely by him as her physical adaptation--by him qua male--and that his individual traits play only a minor part1 he will be less likely to believe that he is capable of provoking a life-long passion because a girl approved of him as her mate4 ,it is a simple idea to grasp4 ,both the girl and the man should always reflect how much nature is helping them towards their success4 ,when the declaration of life-long love came1 it could then be estimated at its proper worth1 without either party fancying that any exceptional fascination in themselves had been the principal power at work4 7,e7 ,it should be inculcated upon all1 young and old alike1 that companionship is not to be sought with people whom1 in view of peculiar circumstances1 one is bound to see every day and every hour of the day4 ,the sooner we free our minds from these foolish notions the better4 ,a man and a woman should seek companions of the same sex as themselves1 and outside their families4 ,then an hour with the mate--with the lawful spouse--may come as a rest1 as a respite1 as a welcome spell of peace when we need not say or do anything4 ,but this moment of repose1 of speechless serenity1 with the sound of someone breathing not three feet away1 should not be confused with companionship4 7,f7 ,as society is organized at present it is difficult to meet this objection4 ,wherever possible the man should1 of course1 have a concubine of some sort4 ,provided that the wife continues child-bearing1 at regular intervals1 as she should1 she cannot weary of the relationship as hopelessly as he will4 ,women should be taught to realize that the division of labour is so unfair1 that they get so much more entertainment out of sex than men do1 that some compensating feature ought to be introduced into the lives of the latter4 ,the importance of the act of fertilization alone to the man's reproductive instinct cannot be exaggerated4 ,to woman1 its importance is only equal to the proportion it bears to the rest of the sexual cycle4 ,to preserve his peace of mind and health of body and nerves1 therefore1 the man must be in a position to perform his one function with healthy desire4 ,the children he had from his concubine1 if any there were1 would not necessarily rank in law with the children of his first wife4 7,g#a7 ,in order to meet this objection it is imperative that we should institute some sort of tasteful method of initiation into sex for young men4 ,let the girls be initiated by their proper and natural initiators--their husbands2 anything else is simply modern nonsense2 but men should be properly and carefully initiated before marriage1 away from the dangers of commercial prostitution4 ,this school of initiation1 however formed1 would also serve1 as it did with the ,greeks1 as a means of preventing the evils of total sexual abstinence among the young men who have to wait a long time for marriage4 ,the general ideal in modern ,england is that the eligible young man should be what is called 8clean-minded40 ,it cannot be disputed that 8clean-mindedness0 is a very desirable and very rare quality4 ,but the way to set about securing it is the very reverse of that which the bulk of modern ,english people would recommend4 ,they would say1 let the young man practise rigorous sexual abstinence before marriage1 let him go in for sport and exercise 8self-control40 ,only thus can he remain clean-minded4 ,but the very last means by which a healthy positive young man may hope to attain to a clean mind is precisely the means advocated under the general head of sexual abstinence4 ,the non-indulgence of the sex-impulses in the vigorous young male is the means par excellence of destroying clean-mindedness4 ,sexual abstinence1 even when accompanied by energetic exercise and indulgence in sports1 by chaining in the desires and wishes arising from the young man's reproductive instincts1 causes them to become ramping demons4 ,it causes the imagination to become filled with wish fantasies1 often of a morbid kind4 ,it fills the mind with obsessions1 always obscene and frequently revolting1 and if not quickly relieved must undermine the whole of a young man's healthy mental and physical attitude towards a normal sexual life4 ,no mind residing in a healthy young male body1 practising sexual abstinence1 can remain clean every minute of the day1 and even in the night it is disturbed by occasional bodily protests in the form of dreams4 ,the dangers of not being clean-minded1 however1 are so great and so far-reaching1 and the risks run by the healthy total sexual abstainer are so enormous1 that it is high time that the truth about this matter were more widely understood4 ,to clean the mind1 the deep wishes of the body1 which refuse to be flouted1 must be satisfied4 ,to forget sex1 in fact1 the sex instinct must be indulged4 ,freedom here1 as in the case of any other appetite1 can only be attained by gratification4 ,it is true that permanent sublimation is also a possible alternative4 ,but unless a young man is destined for the ,holy ,catholic ,church1 who would wish to sublimate his sex8 ,it necessarily follows from this1 that clean-mindedness in abstinent young men1 as it is generally understood1 is a pure myth1 a complete misunderstanding2 and that if it is desirable that eligible young men should be clean-minded 7and ,i am of opinion that it is most desirable71 then the road thereto does not lie through the dark spook-haunted swamps of sexual abstinence1 but through the open sunny highways of healthy sex gratification1 secured from the dangers of commercial prostitution4 7,g#b7 ,this objection can only be met by the ,herculean undertaking of rearing a type of manhood richer in masculine traits of mind and character1 and possessed of more exuberant virility--a type1 that is to say1 by the side of which virile women would immediately feel the inadequacy of their male elements and would not be tempted to use them as weapons4 ,by this means alone can the male elements in the finest women be made recessive4 ,at present the idea of the 8manly0 man is foolishly limited to one who loves sports of all kinds1 who believes in open-air life1 and who1 while having a sense of humour1 also wears about him an air of breezy modesty4 ,by this modesty is meant a disinclination to make any special claims for himself4 ,but all women quickly discover the ease with which they become mistress of the fate of such a man1 and it is curious that1 in spite of the thousands of cases of such subjection on the part of this type of man in ,english marriages1 he still continues to pass as the 8manly0 man4 ,the man of will1 the man of character1 the man who wishes to administer his own life and the lives of those dependent upon him1 because he is conscious of being fit for the responsibility1 and repeatedly proves this fitness1#fh is being born in ever smaller numbers every year4 ,it is the system of education in ,england that is at fault4 ,it produces a womanly will-less creature1 with heavier muscles than the average woman1 but with less grit and less bite in him1 with less pride and less jealous love of responsible action and mastery than the average girl has who is his partner at golf4 ,if this seems like calumny or exaggeration1 let the reader watch the career of any one of these alleged 8manly0 men of ,england1 from his school years to his tenth or eleventh year of marriage1 and if in every case they do not behold a creature who has long abandoned all self-direction1 not to speak of direction of dependents1 ,i invite him to close this book at this point as the most unspeakable nonsense4 ,with such a man1 woman's male elements cannot possibly be made recessive4 ,but it should not be imagined that she is any happier on that account4 ,on the contrary1 both wisdom and compassion would seem to unite in advocating the return in ever larger numbers of exuberantly virile men1 if only for the sake of securing happier and fuller lives to the bulk of modern women4 7,h7 ,regarding1 as ,i do1 this objection as so serious as to constitute the chief and most fundamental objection to monogamic marriage1 ,i can see no possibility of making the institution sound unless something be done to meet it4 ,we cannot hope that things will right themselves with an evil like this at the root of our national life4 ,suppressing the sale of commercial products fraudulently declared to be equal to mother's milk is not enough4 ,self-control is the counsel for wax-figures4 ,to be offended by a frankly polygamic solution and yet to feel that no stigma attaches to women unable to suckle their babies1#fi and to be conscious of no indignation at the horrors of the present state of monogamy with prostitution1 is wanton and brutal hypocrisy4 ,those who are guilty of this hypocrisy have wished to run the world too long4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i have now examined the monogamic marriage of the positive man and the positive woman in all its more important aspects4 ,wisdom would seem1 at all costs1 to advocate the salvage of monogamic marriage from the wreckage of modern society4 ,but before marriage can be saved and handed on as a valuable institution to the ,new ,age1 it must be reformed and established on a sounder basis4 ,to continue along our present lines1 without correcting our attitude towards marriage and some of the most rigorous customs that govern it1 is simply to steer our course headlong back into sexual promiscuity1 anarchy and chaos4 ,no reform of modern marriage1 or of the ideas that cluster about it1 can possibly achieve any good1 however1 which does not satisfactorily meet every one of the objections ,i have advanced against it4 ,to proceed1 as we are now proceeding1 by making the dissolution of marriage easier1 is only one step farther in the direction of barbaric promiscuity4 ,no readjustment can avail that does not go to the root of the problems involved2 and although it may certainly be legitimate to inquire whether1 at this late hour in our torrential degeneration1 it is worth while making any reforms in anything1 it does not alter the fact that if marriage is to be saved1 all the objections to it that have been raised in this chapter will require to be fairly and seriously faced4 ,since1 however1 the sex question is so fundamental as to be almost of primary importance2 since the building of the social unit1 the ideal family1 constitutes the first elementary task in all sound social organization1 it is not impossible1 fantastic though it may seem1 that wise and thorough reform in this department of life may alone prove the best means of rescuing ,western ,civilization itself4 ,,footnotes3 #ej ,when ,i use the word 8unnatural0 here1 ,i should like it to be understood as meaning 8unnatural to human beings10 for1 as we know1 8nearly all rapacious animals1 even the stupid vultures1 are monogamous10 certain monkeys are so too2 but no anthropologist would argue that monogamic marriage was natural to man4 #ea ,the proportion of those who do not wait1 to those who do1 may be judged to some extent from the following figures3-- ,legitimate and illegitimate births in ,england and ,wales during the nine years #aiaa-ai4 ,legitimate4 ,illegitimate4 #aiaa4 #hdc1eje #cg1fcc #aiab4 #hce1bji #cg1ebh #aiac4 #hdc1iha #cg1iji #aiad4 #hda1gfg #cg1cbi #aiae4 #ggh1cfi #cf1bde #aiaf4 #gdg1cha #cg1fhi #aiag4 #fca1ahi #cg1aeg #aiah4 #fba1bji #da1deb #aiai4 #fej1efb #da1hgf #eb ,see ,ch4 ,letourneau1 ,the ,evolution of ,marriage 7,london1 #ahia73 8,christianity1 which taught that the earthly country was of no account1 and taxed with impurity all that related to sexual union1 made marriage a sacrament1 and consequently an institution quite apart from humble considerations of social utility4444 ,we shall see how hurtful the influence of ,christianity has been on marriage1 and we shall come to the conclusion that in order to manage earthly affairs well1 it is not good to keep our looks constantly raised to the skies0 7pp4 #bje-f74 ,see also p4 #bde3 8,abandoning the modest reality1 it ,christianity lost anchor from the first and was drowned in a sea of dreams4 ,marriage1 instead of being simply the union of a man and woman in order to produce children1 became mystic40 #ec ,as we shall point out later1 these romantic obsessions in regard to matrimony are chiefly ,woman's work4 #ed ,see the interesting treatise entitled ,the ,grammar of ,life by my friend ,dr4 ,g4 ,t4 ,wrench 7,heinemann1 #aijh71 p4 #bah4 #ee ,that is why the world's greatest love stories--those of ,dante and ,beatrice1 ,romeo and ,juliet1 and ,heathcliff and the elder ,catherine 7in ,wuthering ,heights7--are all stories of a love that was never consummated4 ,in poetry and fiction1 as in life1 it is felt that for a great love romance to remain at its lofty level of passion and desire1 the couple enacting it must never have an opportunity of living together as man and wife4 #ef ,naturally these remarks do not apply to the large and ever-increasing number of women nowadays to whom every stage in the process of child-bearing1 from the preliminaries to the weaning1 is a torment and a source of disgust4 ,but such women are too abnormal1 whatsoever their numbers may be1 and too sick and below par to be called positive healthy women1 or to be reckoned with in any discussion regarding what is characteristic of happy and successful functioning4 ,they are the kind of women who can truly regard matrimony and maternity as states of self-sacrifice4 #eg ,of course this can only happen where the woman is inclined to pronounced negativeness1 otherwise the longing for children drives her away from a husband who cannot or does not give them to her4 #eh ,the writer has known one case in which it lasted for years4 ,sometimes1 in extreme cases1 where the girl is too decent to be sacrificed for a lifetime1 there is a nullity suit1 and the man produces doctors who declare that he is perfectly normal4 ,of course he is perfectly normal6 ,what is wrong about him is the whole of his upbringing and the effects of absurdly ,puritanical notions about sex1 acting upon a peculiarly sensitive nature4 ,for such men are usually extremely desirable and acutely sensitive4 ,they cannot1 however1 overcome the ridiculous prejudices that prevailed regarding sex in the atmosphere in which they have been reared4 #ei ,it should be noted that this does not apply to working-class women4 ,the men of the working classes may be coarser and more brutal than the men of the wealthier classes1 but they are also very much more normal1 easy1 natural1 and gifted in the matter of sex1 and from this point of view generally make excellent husbands4 ,they may sometimes strike their wives1 but they also know how to love them4 ,the nullity suits and the bad lovers are to be found in the so-called 8upper0 classes4 #fj ,august ,strindberg1 in a letter written in the autumn of #ahhh1 refers to ,england as 8a nation of bigots that has delivered itself up into the hands of its women10 and later on speaks of 8,england's trousered women40 #fa ,i mean here1 by 8male characteristics10 only such traits as can be safely emulated and acquired by the female without the sacrifice or impairment of her reproductive functions1 or of the instincts and virtues that derive from them 7see chapter ,x74 #fb ,see ,journal ,anthropological ,institute1 ,feb41 #ahib1 p4 #cjg4 ,see also ,bancroft1 quoting ,heame 7,native ,races71 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #aag1 where a ,north ,american ,indian ,chief of some nomadic tribe1 speaking of the women said3 8,there is no such thing as travelling any considerable distance in this country without their assistance40 ,evidently here too it was an advantage to the race for the women to be as nearly masculine in their characters as possible4 ,australian women1 like ,cuban women1 used to fight beside their men and were very formidable4 ,the former1 when on the march1 are said to have hardly troubled to halt for so slight a performance as child-birth4 ,the newly-born infant was wrapped in skins1 and the mother marched on with the rest4 #fc ,i shall deal with other standpoints in the chapter on the ,old ,maid4 #fd ,this solution of the problem of the manly woman1 who is not undesirable1 will thus be seen to be the very reverse1 the flat contradiction1 of that advanced by the decadent ,weininger4 ,he argues that the male woman does and ought to marry the female man1 and the modern1 decadent world1 more or less agrees with him4 ,but this means an accentuation of her maleness1 a triumph of her maleness1 at the cost of her femaleness--obviously an undesirable result1 both from the standpoint of the race and the family1 the only two standpoints from which the monogamic marriage has any meaning or can find any justification4 #fe ,i remind the reader that ,i refer here to the healthy1 positive woman1 all of whose bodily functions are a joy to her4 #ff ,see my more detailed discussion of this question in chapter ,,vii of my ,defence of ,aristocracy4 #fg ,the letters correspond to those heading each objection in the body of the chapter4 #fh ,such a man can be1 and usually is1 just as fond of open-air exercise and sports as the merely 8manly0 man4 #fi ,the fact that at present no stigma attaches to loss of function or failure to function in the human body1 is one of the most conclusive proofs of the degeneration in taste and instinct that ,christianity has brought about4 ,it is interesting1 however1 to be told by a woman emphatically that 8the incapacity of a mother to nourish the babe she has borne should be known for a mark of degeneracy--sign1 too1 that she was unfitted to have borne a child0 7see ,arabella ,kenealy1 ,op4 cit41 p4 #bad74 ,,chapter ,,viii ,breaches of the ,marriage ,contract and ,divorce 7#a7 ,,analysis ,,of ,,the ,,married ,,life ,,of ,,positive ,,people ,in the chapter on ,marriage we saw that the married state is a difficult one for both parties1 but that monogamy is more tolerable to the woman than to the man1 provided always that children are born regularly4 ,it was there seen that woman must not be falsely likened to man in the claims she makes on monogamy for a perfect sexual life4 ,the coitus is relatively so unimportant to her1 that the man himself1 her husband1 holds only a secondary or tertiary place in her life4 ,that which chiefly matters to the healthy positive woman is that1 at stated intervals1 her body should be allowed to experience the whole female cycle of sex1 from the coitus to the weaning of the child4 ,indeed1 woman's unconscious demand for the experience of this whole cycle is so persistent and clamorous that they may be excused who1 like ,schopenhauer1 perceive in it the importunate voice of the ,will of the ,species 7,wille der ,gattung7 resolutely demanding ,life1 and ever more and more guarantees of its survival4#gj ,it is owing to the secondary1 tertiary1 or1 at any rate1 minor position of importance that her husband occupies in the life of a woman who is bearing him children at regular intervals1 that his individual characteristics do not really require to be very striking in order to prove satisfactory to her4 ,it is for this reason that he must be a brute indeed1 or a drunken sot1 or a maniac1 if he is to provoke her active hatred while child-bearing continues4 ,finding1 as she does1 her principal pleasure in the experiences of motherhood--provided that he behaves with average decency and earns a comfortable living--she asks but little more4#ga ,short of impossible conduct on his part1 therefore1 it may be taken for granted that it never occurs to the positive healthy married woman1 who bears children at regular intervals1 to make any effort to seek another love affair1 and even if the opportunity for such a love affair should come her way1 and be set before her with all the persuasiveness that deep desire in the other party can lend it1 she will1 as a rule1 resist it and let it pass by without very much of a struggle4 ,she is finding the consummation of her being in the life she is leading1 and let her husband be ever so besotted1 ignorant1 boring and uncompanionable1 it will never occur to her to go in search of another love4 ,this conclusion is1 ,i think1 borne out by the statistics of divorce in ,england and ,wales1 where separations between people who do not attempt to limit the family1 is extremely rare4 ,it is usually said with reference to such cases that it is the children who 8strengthen the union40 ,this is the popular and even the learned opinion4#gb ,the prevalence of this opinion1 and the high authority behind it1 however1 should not lead us to misunderstand the true nature of the actual forces at work4 ,it is to some extent true that the presence of children does induce parents1 who might be tempted to separate1 to think twice about it4 ,the father pauses before he decides to deprive his offspring of their mother1 and vice vers4 ,but these wholly impersonal considerations binding a couple together are as nothing compared with the vital forces that are actually at work4 ,the impersonal considerations may weigh1 but only if supported by the far more potent promptings of healthy and normal conditions4 ,nor should it be concluded too hastily from the low figures of divorce among people who have large families1 that the presence of children operates in causing the parents to feel a deeper 8love0 for each other4 ,it is possible for a fruitful couple to be almost entirely indifferent to each other1 as many thousands are1 and yet to remain together1 partly because of the impersonal considerations already referred to1 partly from pure conservatism1 and also from fear of publicity1 or scandal1 or a feeling of shyness1 or a certain cynicism which leads them to prefer the devil they know before the devil they know not4 ,we must not allow ourselves to be blinded by sentimental tears1 therefore1 to the extent of supposing that offspring invariably increase conjugal affection4 ,a long observation of our fellow-creatures convinces us1 on the contrary1 that the presence of children operates in precisely the opposite direction1 and that if we are going in search of 8romantic0 love1 lasting long after the first years of marriage1 we are much more likely to find it among infertile than among fertile couples4 ,children1 far from cementing the affection existing between their parents1 are rather inclined to supply its most potent and infallible corrosive4 ,the alacrity with which a young mother becomes absorbed in her young ones1 the lightning speed with which all her activities1 mental and physical1 concentrate upon her brood1 their wants and their development1 is hardly calculated to effect that 8cementing0 which is believed to take place in marital relations from the moment children begin to appear4 ,very soon after the birth of the first children there occurs in all decent positive women a certain definition of the maternal side of their nature1 which tends to convert them ever more and more into the nun1 miser1 or prophet type--that is to say1 self-centred1 impatient of distracting forces1 and fanatical4 ,they listen to matters foreign to the nursery and their children1 as if they had been wakened out of a dream or roused from some thrilling meditation4 ,a certain vagueness comes over them in regard to all matters not strictly domestic1 which1 while it may please the wise and understanding husband1 as furnishing a conclusive proof of their perfect femininity1 nevertheless can hardly fail to inform him that his rank in the household has suffered noticeable degradation4#gc ,when he speaks concerning topics which interest him1 he is no longer listened to with the same attention--not to mention eagerness4 ,indeed1 he soon finds that strangers outside his home are very much more inclined to vouchsafe him an attentive hearing than the spouse of his heart1 and more ready to give serious consideration to his more thoughtful expressions of opinion4 ,now1 it requires all the philosophy and understanding in the world--particularly to the man who may cherish certain ideals about marriage as companionship--to accept this secondary position in the home of his own creating1 without a feeling of resentment or mortification4 ,how1 then1 can the full realization of the position be said to 8cement0 or 8strengthen0 the affection between the couple8 ,it is true that the normal father acquires a deep fondness for his children1 and that this attaches him to the home in which he has suffered his degradation of rank4#gd ,it is also true that1 as the children grow older and realize him as their father1 he may enjoy a fresh access of the very importance of which their arrival deprived him4 ,but1 while all these facts are readily admitted1 they can hardly be used to prove that the presence of children 8strengthens0 the union between the parents as lovers4 ,that has been shaken once and for all beyond any hope of recovery4 ,economic reasons1 the attitude of each parent to the children1 reasons of policy1 etc41 may now attach each parent individually to the home2 but that does not mean that the other parent is the lasting attracting force4 ,later on1 when the children grow old enough to discriminate or to draw comparisons1 and the original dependence1 which makes filial affection so fanatical1 is beginning to wane1 certain members of the growing brood may1 and frequently do1 exhibit preferences for one parent or the other--preferences which nine times out of ten are reciprocated4 ,the more passionate the attachment between the parents and the children has been in infancy and childhood1 the more likely is this to occur4 ,but distinctions of this sort drawn by children in favour of one parent only tend to increase the cleavage already existing2 and wherever in such circumstances an occasion for any divergence of opinion happens to arise between the parents and sides are taken1 as they must be taken where preferences have already been mutually proclaimed1 the declaration of allegiance by becoming overt amounts to little less than a frankly acknowledged feud with the other side4 ,quite apart1 however1 from the possibility of particular children appealing more to one parent than the other1 and the cleavage which such factions confirm or start in the home1 children and their multifarious wants are1 in themselves1 an inexhaustible source of contention4 ,their particular foibles1 their wilfulness1 their education1 are matters which1 while they are constantly to the fore among the problems of the home1 as constantly give rise to friction1 or1 to say the least1 to differences of opinion between their parents4 ,when once1 therefore1 one of the parents--the father--has naturally and inevitably suffered so marked a degradation in rank that his word1 his opinion1 his judgment1 is no longer attended to with the respect and eagerness which he encountered in his wife in their early childless days1 it is not surprising that discussions or arguments1 from being merely amicable exchanges of opinion1 should degenerate into acrimonious and heated quarrels--the husband resenting every minute more and more the cavalier manner in which his views are rejected as worthless by the 8spouse of his heart10 the wife resenting every moment more and more the presumption with which the mere means to an end1 this sparking-plug and breadwinner1 is daring to assume supreme authority over her brood1 her babes1 the fruit of her womb4 ,now1 in view of all this1 can it any longer be maintained that this element in the home--the children--actually contributes to the affection between the parents8 ,in the happiest cases the ardent love of the father for one child1 and the ardent love of the mother for another1 may attach each parent individually to the common hearth2 but to argue as the two judges1 above quoted1 argued before the ,divorce ,commission of #aiab1ge that this proves that children 8strengthen the union10 or 8keep it together10 without explaining more narrowly how they effect this end1 is to deliver the whole question over into the hands of the romanticists and sentimentalists1 who will not scruple to arrive at the foolish conclusion that children perforce increase the affection existing between parents4 ,i have stated the extreme case in order to make the nature of the cleavage1 in so far as it arises from the presence of the children1 as plain as possible4 ,in all families it does not become acute1 because there is too much at stake2 and much is therefore suffered in silence1 swallowed down or repressed1 for the sake of the home4 ,the only point it is necessary to make clear is1 that when it is also argued here that the presence of children in the home does contribute to a very great extent to the stability of that home1 something very different is meant from what sentimentalists and other muddlers are likely to infer4 ,i most emphatically do not mean that the presence of the children increases the mutual love of the parents--nay1 ,i would go farther and say that it leads to exactly the opposite result4 ,what1 then1 is the precise influence of children8 ,my reply is1 that in all homes where the wife is a positive1 healthy and desirable woman1 the repeated birth of a child at regular intervals thoroughly adapts the woman by giving her a full physiological and spiritual life1 and thus reconciles the principal member of the household 7as far as stability is concerned7 to the monogamic state and to the home4 ,she can afford to control her temper when she is enjoying the perfect serenity of mind and body that complete adaptation brings4 ,she can afford to pretend devotion1 for economic and other reasons1 to a creature who has long ceased from holding even that space in her heart1 which is occupied by her first baby's smallest toe4 ,she can afford to put up with years1 not to mention hours1 of a boring companion1 seeing that he secures her this perfect serenity1 and1 by his daily labours1 guarantees her own and her precious children's survival4 ,if she is clever1 she realizes how much is at stake1 and she makes allowances for his peculiarities4 ,if she is shrewd enough to appreciate the true nature of her happiness1 she does her utmost1 in order that her bliss may be uninterrupted1 to delude him into thinking that he is not merely the fifth wheel of the family coach4 ,and while all the world points the moral that it is the children who have 8cemented0 the affection between herself and her husband1 she knows perfectly well that this affection has long ago been transmuted into a curious compound of which the principal ingredients are3 a desire to play a safe game1 a deep attachment to her children impelling her to secure by fair means or foul someone who will supply them with all they need1 and a patient toleration of a creature whom she does her best to regard as something more precious than a necessary evil4 ,the fact that this curious compound appears to the outside world in the false light of connubial affection does not disturb her1 because1 as a rule1 she is constitutionally and congenitally predisposed herself to a romantic interpretation of phenomena1 and eagerly seizes the tinselly cloak the world gives her1 in order to conceal the sordid truth4 ,in such circumstances the union might last for ever4 ,the only event that can bring it to an end is the demise of one of the parties to it4 ,the husband1 actuated by habit1 timidity1 a sense of duty and propriety1 attached to his home by his deep affection for one or more of his many children1 and deluded both by the voice of the world and by the repeated asseverations of his wife into believing that there is a deep affection uniting them1 endeavours to act up to the part1 and as a rule succeeds extraordinarily well4 ,but is that all8 ,there must1 of course1 be something else4 ,just as the woman is induced to accept the situation1 because it provides her with the only prize that is really worth securing in life--complete physical adaptation#gf--so the man must also be deriving some deeper satisfaction from the position than the mere pleasure of conforming to a social ideal4 ,it is otherwise inconceivable that he should persist in 8playing up0 to his spouse with the histrionic zeal of a paid actor4 ,truth to tell1 the father of a large family is attracted to the position he holds by very deep and very powerful appeals to his most primitive instincts4 ,but again1 it requires emphasizing that these deep and powerful appeals are as a rule quite independent of his attitude towards his wife1 and provided that she do not actively conspire to displease or to harass him1 they will continue to bind him to his home long after all genuine affection for her has entirely subsided4 ,these appeals are3 ,the sense of power he derives from the visible extension of his own identity in his offspring1 and3 ,the silent tribute that the presence of offspring makes daily and hourly to the deepest source of his self-esteem--virile potency4#gg ,both of these appeals act secretly1 and chiefly through the least conscious functions of his mind1 so that he may never be perfectly aware of them4 ,nevertheless1 they give rise to a constant feeling of self-assurance and self-confidence which is pleasant and fortifying1 and which1 being interpreted roughly by the conscious mind1 appears to his intelligent perception in the form of a very profound attachment to his home and family4 ,this pleasant feeling1 like the complete physical adaptation of his wife1 also fills him with a certain calmness and serenity which enable him to suffer kindly any exasperating peculiarity in his spouse1 to endure with patience her ill-concealed indifference to him as being little more important than a sparking-plug or breadwinner1 and to meet in a conciliating spirit any opposition with which she may encounter his plans for their children1 or for any other feature of their joint lives4 ,it should not be forgotten either that this feeling helps him to resign himself also to the conscious depreciation in his own affection towards her4 ,the world speaks of him as 8unselfish10 8devoted10 8self-sacrificing10 8good-natured10 etc41 and his children are reared1 sometimes by their mother1 but always by strangers1 in the belief that he is entitled to all these epithets1 because there are so many men who have not acted as he has4 ,he himself1 however1 accepts these epithets with a mild pretence of modest deprecation1 for in his heart of hearts he realizes that somehow they ring strangely by the side of his intimate knowledge of the deep satisfaction he has derived from the whole business4 ,now statistics and legal authorities tell us that this kind of marriage is the best1 the most lasting1 and the happiest kind of marriage4 ,the judges say that it is because 8children strengthen the union0 or 8keep the home together40 ,we have seen in what way a growing family effects this end4 ,we have seen that it has very little to do with the attitude of the parents towards each other4 ,now we have to discover how it is that1 according to statistics1 divorces are more frequent where there are only one1 two1 or three children1 and where child-birth may be said to have stopped4 7#b7 ,,unhappiness ,,in ,,the ,,home ,,of ,,the ,,positive ,,couple ,in another chapter the positive woman has been called 8the custodian of ,life02 we have already seen that ,schopenhauer has graphically described her unconscious insistence on experiencing the whole physical cycle from the coitus to the weaning of the child as the ,will of the ,species 7,wille der ,gattung7 demanding more ,life and thus achieving human survival4 ,we have also spoken of the voice of nature in her1 clamouring not only for ,life1 but also for ,life's multiplication4 ,these are only different more or less successful attempts at describing that instinct which in the positive woman is paramount--the instinct to employ her elaborate reproductive equipment effectively4 ,the fact that when this equipment remains idle the existence of the species is imperilled1 evidently led ,schopenhauer to discern the unconscious will of the species in the positive woman's restlessness in awaiting fertilization4 ,but we should always be careful in using these descriptions of woman1 to remember that in her the end1 which is the multiplication of life1 is quite unrealized by her conscious mind4 ,she acts in a way that brings about the multiplication of life2 her instincts impel her to achieve that end2 but she is not intelligently concerned with anything so remote as the will of the species or its preservation4#gh ,she is much more concerned with her own personal wishes1 her own personal notion of pleasure1 and her own sensations4 ,when once these are gratified1 the fact that the demands of the species are also satisfied is1 as far as woman is concerned1 merely a happy coincidence1 in which she can have but an academic interest4 ,nevertheless1 in judging of her conduct1 and in drawing moral conclusions from it1 we must be careful to allow her the full benefit of the view that1 in acting as she does1 she is securing the survival of the species in ultimate fact4 ,more than nine-tenths of the abuse to which women have been subjected throughout the ages has been due precisely to man's omission to allow her the full benefit of this view4 ,the gratification of woman's passions serves her own end1 inasmuch as it affords her pleasure--,yes6--but it also serves the purpose of the race4 ,that is the fundamental fact to remember4 ,in another chapter ,i have described how ,life itself is woman's hardest taskmaster1 and that her first impulse in all circumstances is to be faithful to this taskmaster1 even at the cost of infidelity to human pledges4 7a7 ,adultery of the positive spouse through absence of the mate4 ,long absences of husbands1 therefore1 during wars1 transoceanic voyages1 explorations1 etc41 should always be viewed in the light of a rebuff to woman's hardest taskmaster4 ,the prolonged absence of the male imposes idleness on the female's reproductive organs1 and1 since the best women are primarily faithful to ,life itself1 and only secondarily so to their mates1 it must follow that in all cases in which husbands are absent for long periods1 that the call of ,life in positive women becomes too imperious to be ignored--hence the thousands of wives who were unfaithful to their husbands during the last war1 both in ,england and on the ,continent4#gi ,ignorant1 pious people1 and even experienced ,divorce-,court judges expressed their horror at the thought that while their men were nobly risking their lives in defence of 8,king and ,country10 these women in their thousands calmly sought fertilization elsewhere4 ,but a woman's character as a woman would be almost forfeited if she did not act in this way6#hj ,where else would you have her transfer her allegiance8 ,would you invite her to break the whole valuable tradition of her sex which has been consistently devoted to the multiplication of life1 in order to show allegiance--say to an oath1 or to an ideal1 or to a moral precept8 ,but even ,schopenhauer himself1 with all his detestation of women1 would defend them here1 and say1 8,surely the species is more important than your trumpery moral codes1 your ephemeral oaths1 and your pretentious ideals60 ,the ,english world is almost comic in the light of its most cherished illusions4 ,it does not base its outlook upon the unalterable laws of life1 consequently it is constantly receiving the rudest shocks and the most unpleasant surprises4 ,the fact that so many thousands of women in ,england and ,wales were unfaithful to their husbands during the war came as a shock to the dear ,puritanical and ignorant old ladies1 chiefly unmarried1 that rule public opinion in ,england4 ,had they ever dreamt1 or had they ever been told1 that the best women1 the most desirable women1 must be unfaithful to their husbands when1 through what cause soever1 the latter are forcing them to be unfaithful to ,life itself1 they might have shown less righteous indignation and more understanding when the women of the country in their legions turned adulteresses in war-time4 ,as it was1 the phenomenon was quite unexpected1 and proved a most terrible blow to the national conscience4 ,for it was realized only too shrewdly that if thousands of these women were ultimately found out1 many more thousands must have escaped the discovery2 and thus the character of the nation seemed to have suffered very severe deterioration4 ,truth to tell1 the parties to blame were not the women at all1 but the hopelessly vain men who were the co-respondents in the actions1 and who understood so little of female psychology that they interpreted these adulteresses' fidelity to ,life and its multiplication1 as a preference1 if you please1 for themselves before their legal spouses4 ,not knowing of the positive woman's inveterate fidelity to ,life1 they arrogantly imagined that their personal and irresistible attractions were the cause of these adulteresses' infidelity to their husbands4 ,they--these men--were the people against whom the world ought to have inveighed2 for the man who is capable of so misunderstanding the human female as to flatter himself that it is his personal attractions that are seducing her1 when all the time it is the ,will of the ,species1 neglected by her absent husband1 that is impelling her to go in search of fertilization elsewhere1 is not worth the rope with which he ought to be hanged4 ,the mistake1 as a mistake1 is all the more monstrous1 seeing that it is the outcome of maniacal vanity4 ,for no man who was not too much elated by a woman's attention to retain calm reflection1 could ever be such a fool as to imagine that his triumph over her husband was due to his own personal charm4 ,there is no need1 however1 to labour the question any longer1 if once the true nature of woman be properly grasped2 for then it is seen immediately that1 in the best and most vital women1 fidelity to ,life must take precedence of fidelity to the mate1 to a pledge1 to an oath1 to a vow1 to a custom1 or to anything else4#ha ,would the reader perhaps have it otherwise8 ,would he have a race of women reared 7we are unfortunately not so very far from the attainment of this ideal to-day7 to whom the claims of ,life are secondary--women1 that is to say1 who are so constituted that they could hesitate between ,life's call and some trumpery human convention8 ,would he have women so constituted that their self-preservative instinct is more powerful than their reproductive8 ,because that is what it amounts to4 ,a woman who1 when confronted by ,life's call1 can calmly discriminate between that and her own safety1 her own future1 her own smug ease1 and can proceed to select the latter in preference to the former1 is not a desirable woman in the best sense1 for she cannot be trusted to do the right thing for the species in all circumstances4 ,the spark of vitality in her does not glow with sufficient ardour to compel her to serve ,life's interests before her own4 ,she is the kind of woman that is rapidly coming into power in all classes above the working class1 but hers is a bad character1 not a good character1 for a woman to possess4 ,no1 we want to keep the best women as they are4 ,we do not want to tame the life out of them4 ,but since we cannot have it both ways1 if we insist on women remaining desirable--that is to say1 faithful primarily to ,life itself1 we must breed a race of men who understand them1 and who in the absence of their fellows on wars or expeditions can see what is happening when young wives 8make eyes at them40 ,any man who in such circumstances imagines he is irresistible and falls in with the woman's designs through sheer vanity1 deserves a punishment very much more severe than being mulcted in damages2 he has qualified himself for some disciplinary correction which ought at least to include a term of hard labour4 ,for it is not his understanding of woman alone that is at fault--although this in a full-grown man would be unpardonable enough--but his estimate of himself1 which leads him to the gross presumption of imagining himself capable of conquering another man's wife single-handed without the assistance of ,life itself1 pushing her violently into his arms the whole time4#hb ,why1 he might just as well flatter himself that a flea has bitten him1 not because it was too hungry to wait1 but because there was something exceptionally delicate or precious in the composition of his vile blood6 ,thus adultery1 when the wife is the defaulter1 is always a case of a man betraying another man1 and never that of a woman betraying her man4 ,woman1 if she is the right sort1 remains throughout faithful to ,life4 ,only if she betrays ,life does she cease to be desirable4 ,continuing our consideration of the positive couple1 we must now examine the forces which operate in causing a woman to be unfaithful to her husband while yet living and cohabiting with him in apparent peace and happiness4 7b7 ,adultery of the positive spouse through impotence of the male or through childlessness4 ,if the positive female cannot tolerate long absences on the part of the male without endeavouring to seek fertilization elsewhere 7because her equipment for ,life's multiplication is otherwise reduced to inaction7 it is obvious that1 since male impotence is tantamount to a complete absence of the male 7from the standpoint of reproduction71 she can hardly be expected to tolerate it any more gladly4 ,truth to tell1 ,i have known cases of male impotence where the natural modesty and fear of publicity in the wife prevented an action for nullity and also all adulterous liaisons2 both parties to the match having advanced quite peaceably and resignedly to middle1 and ultimately to old age1 without anyone1 except the couple themselves and their immediate relatives1 knowing the truth2#hc and it is probable that in many cases of childless marriages1 in modern ,england1 impotence on the part of the male may be suspected as the cause1 although the wife may have been too timid or too shamefast to drag the misery of their married life before the courts4 ,but in almost all marriages where this occurs without adultery on the part of the wife1 it is safe to infer that the female of the match is herself partly or wholly negative1 or that she has become so in process of time1 otherwise it is inconceivable that her timidity or shame should thus override the deepest force within her1 which1 as we have seen1 is the ,will of the ,species for ,life and its multiplication4 ,in the case of most positive and desirable women it is safe to argue that1 where the husband is impotent1 either adultery or a suit for nullity will be the inevitable result4#hd ,among the positive couples where1 although the male may be potent1 childlessness is secured by some contraceptive method1 for reasons of economy1 or because it is thought that three1 four1 or even five years of connubial bliss without children will allow both parties to have what is known as a 8good time10 it is obvious that the toleration of the positive female may last longer than in cases where the male is impotent2 but since the orgasm does not supply the female with her complete sexual experience1 it is equally clear that the state of childlessness cannot last an unlimited time without causing trouble4 ,as1 however1 in these peculiar circumstances1 the psychological processes in the female1 which lead her to adultery1 are more subtle than in the event of male impotence1 ,i shall be obliged to enter into them with more detail4 ,when the male is impotent the positive woman knows that this is so1 and she consciously realizes the need of seeking fertilization elsewhere1 lest she remain childless for the rest of her life4 ,this alternative is presented plainly to her consciousness and there is no doubt about it4 ,in the case of the couple using contraceptives while cohabiting affectionately together1 however1 the female is not conscious of a desire to seek fertilization elsewhere4 ,not realizing clearly that1 in fact1 her life is equivalent 7but for the repeated orgasms7 to that of the married woman whose male is impotent1 she has no conscious motive or warrant for seeking fertilization outside her home4 ,very few women indeed know that the orgasm forms such an insignificant part of their sexual experience as to leave their bodies completely unsatisfied and disappointed4#he ,it follows1 therefore1 that if her love for her husband be very deep and guileless1 she may continue living with him for years without taking any notice of other men4 ,if her positiveness persist1 however1 despite the deleterious influence of the contraceptive habit1 and she and her husband still continue to pursue their policy of childlessness1 she will eventually find that other men do begin to interest her a good deal1 although this interest at first will appear to herself as entirely involuntary and innocent4 ,it will begin to show itself by a certain childish eagerness to see her husband's friends1 to meet them at bridge1 at golf1 or at tennis4 ,she may suggest dancing lessons1 or regular attendances at public and private entertainments1 where she can meet and talk with other men4#hf ,all this time her affection for her husband will continue as strong as ever1 and she will not be conscious of his having declined in her esteem by one iota4 ,if the men she meets at this period in her married life happen to be men of the world1 they will note the eager interest with which she looks at them1 laughs at their clumsiest sallies1 and applauds their most trifling manifestations of intellect1 and they will be on their guard and remain punctiliously formal4 ,if1 on the other hand1 they belong to the modern herd of arrogant1 overdressed townsmen1 whose only mainspring is vanity1 and who find in the favour of a poor starved female body the highest flattery that their stupid1 fatuous lives can offer them1 they will fancy that this young wife's eager attention when they speak1 and her delirious laughter when they attempt to be witty1 constitute a tribute to their intellect and wit4 ,they will flatter themselves that the little woman has been captivated by them4 ,and from that time onward the little woman in question will be in great danger4 ,now let us try to ascertain precisely what has occurred in the body of the young wife in question1 in order that we may follow and understand her conduct4 ,we will suppose she has been married three or four years1 and all this time has been living in perfect concord with her husband4 ,occasional differences there have been1 of course2 but they have been unimportant4 ,they have all turned1 as is customary in ,english houses1 upon the ridiculous words 8selfish0 and 8unselfish40 ,when the young wife has wanted her way against her man she has endeavoured to make him yield by giving him a guilty conscience over the matter1 and calling his opposition 8selfish02 and when at last he has yielded1 she has declared both to his face and to the world1 that he was the most 8unselfish0 of husbands4#hg ,likewise the man1 when he has wanted to exert some leverage upon his wife's mind1 has warned her that resistance on her part would be 8selfish10 and upon her yielding has admitted that she was 8unselfish40 ,but apart from these foolish verbal quibbles around the utterly fantastic antithesis 8selfish0 and 8unselfish10 they have had no quarrels4 ,meanwhile1 however1 although the husband's sexual experience has been complete1 his wife's has been of the most fragmentary order4 ,her reproductive organs and functions1 though repeatedly stimulated as if their important business were about to begin1 have been robbed each time of the natural sequel to that stimulation4 ,despite hundreds of alarms and starts1 the complete cycle has never been experienced4 ,as a result1 this large reproductive equipment has not only remained idle1 but in this very idleness has also been cheated again and again of its legitimate expectations1 when those expectations seemed most certain of being fulfilled4 ,these repeated rebuffs1 together with the continued inactivity of this important mechanism1 has not been suffered with impunity4 ,gradually1 as the idleness came to be felt more and more acutely1 and the sense of physiological disappointment became insistent1 vague messages were sent up through the young wife's subconsciousness to her brain4 ,these messages we can decipher without any serious inaccuracy as follows3--8,we are still idle2 we are still inactive4 ,when are we going to function8 ,we ache to function40 ,it must not be supposed1 however1 that these messages are deciphered as accurately as this by the woman's conscious mind4 ,she is vaguely conscious of the importunate calls from her dissatisfied reproductive equipment2 but she is aware of them only as dissatisfaction4 ,whence they hail1 what they mean1 she has not the slightest idea4 ,if you told her that they amounted to protests from her inactive reproductive equipment1 she would probably feel so utterly outraged that she would never speak to you or see you again4 ,she would need to be a psychologist herself to interpret them accurately4 ,now it is when this vague feeling of dissatisfaction first becomes insistent in her conscious mind that she proceeds to act upon it in the manner already described 7see p4 #aif74 ,quite unsuspecting1 her husband falls in eagerly with her plans4 ,truth to tell1 any such marked change in a young married woman is a very serious sign2 but the husband knowing nothing of these matters1 and concluding after a review of the last three years that he has perhaps invited his wife to lead too dull a life1 acquiesces with alacrity in her schemes4 ,now if we suppose that the new rgime1 with its constant round of gaiety and variety1 has lasted a further six months or a year1 and still nothing has happened--that is to say1 the young wife's reproductive equipment is still inactive--a second and more dangerous phase very rapidly sets in4 ,the young woman suddenly finds one morning or evening that she is unaccountably exasperated by the way her husband fingers his tie while he talks to her or to a friend1 or by his habit of knocking his pipe out against the iron of the grate1 or by his manner of clearing his throat1 or by any other peculiarity which1 twenty-four hours previously1 she was not even aware of having noticed particularly4 ,at first she is a little alarmed and suppresses her feeling of irritation4 ,she feels that it is unfriendly1 and that he does not deserve a rebuke for something so ridiculously trifling4 ,very soon1 however1 after she has continued to note the exasperating peculiarity for four or five days1 her irritation begins to choke her1 and she feels she must express it4 ,the next time she observes him doing the fatal thing1 therefore1 she snaps sharply at him with a 8,don't1 ,harry1 you fidget me with that constant noise60 or 8,don't1 ,harry1 you always finger your tie in that ridiculous manner when you are talking--why do you do it80 etc4 ,she has not the faintest suspicion that this irritation and exasperation over a trifling aspect of her husband's behaviour is only a surface ripple of a very much deeper and more bitter exasperation1 down somewhere in her body2 and the young husband1 who is even less conscious of the matter than she is1 turns to her in a manner utterly dumbfounded1 and wonders what on earth can have happened4 ,he sees that she is serious4 ,he has noted the strain of bitterness in her rebuke and its threatening note of anger1 and1 if he is a man of spirit1 he points out to her that if she is out of sorts she had better go to bed1 but that it is absurd for her to start now1 after four years of marriage1 rebuking him for something he has done regularly every day of their married life4 ,this discussion may end in a serious quarrel--the first serious quarrel in which words very much more stinging than 8selfish0 and 8unselfish0 are used freely for the first time2 and both may retire to bed utterly bewildered by what has happened4 ,it is about this time that the young wife shows the eagerness described above in her attitude towards other men4 ,these men may be1 and usually are1 a hundred times plainer1 prosier and less potent than her husband2 but this does not disturb her4 ,she looks into their faces as if in their countenances alone she expected to find a spark of intelligence or manliness4 ,her husband's superior witticisms fall flat1 while at the grossest pun from his friends she contorts herself with laughter4 ,she organizes games1 picnics1 excursions1 and even summer holidays1 in which some of her husband's friends always contribute their share to the entertainment4 ,quiet lanes in ,devonshire alone with her husband are no longer her ideal4 ,she wants to organize a 8jolly0 party for the holidays1 and learn to dive and swim with the other girls and young men of the party4 ,it is usually at this juncture that some prize fool of a man comes forward1 who1 in his superlative vanity and his crass ignorance of the true state of affairs1 sets all the young woman's restless eagerness1 and particularly her attentiveness to himself1 down to the credit of his own irresistible charm4 ,this sums up the psychology of all co-respondents4 ,they are fatuously vain1 they are criminally ignorant of female psychology1 and they eagerly place to the credit account of their wit1 their good looks1 their intelligence1 and their virility1 a so-called conquest in which the part they have played is no more than that of an old horse's leg that is taken into a stagnant pond to catch hungry leeches with4 ,at all events1 if such a dangerous fool happens to be in the neighbourhood at such a juncture1 and the young wife is thrown much into his company1 the chances are that1 encouraged by his eager acceptation of a situation in which his personal characteristics count for nothing1 she is likely to imagine herself both 8loved0 and 8in love02 and then nothing can save her from matrimonial ruin4 ,her blind manuvres will have achieved what her reproductive equipment most ardently desired2 they will have removed her from a male who abused without satisfying this equipment1 and will have thrown her into the arms of a man who1 though possibly inferior to her husband in every respect 7as she herself would have realized had her reproductive organs been content71 or at any rate not so very much superior to him to justify all this fuss1 was at least holding out to her reproductive equipment a fresh promise of fertilization4#hh ,and since fertilization is what the will of the species insists upon1 and woman is that will1 she must be forgiven if1 in the circumstances1 she goes over to the vain ass who imagines he has captivated her affections4 ,at any rate1 she herself is in no way to blame4 ,she has been true to the power to which she owes all her fidelity4 ,the blame1 if any1 lies1 in the first place1 with her husband for having deprived a positive and desirable woman of her full sexual experience for a number of years1 and for not having realized that this was her trouble when she first became restless2 and secondly1 with the co-respondent for having mistaken an exasperated woman's longing for fertilization--not for 8companionship10 for 8understanding0 or for a 8kindred soul0 as she has declared--for a triumph attributable to his irresistible attractions4 ,the illicit lover in this case1 besides being a vain fool1 betrays his own sex in the man whose wife he robs4 ,in such cases a little knowledge of sex psychology will1 as a rule1 save the situation4 ,but so long as the world continues to be thronged with jackasses who are ready to go hot all over with pride at every woman's smile1 the ridiculous spectacle of a co-respondent in every way the inferior1 or at least no more than the equal1 of the wronged husband1 will continue to be common in our midst4 ,the strange part of the whole affair is that the young wife's notion of promised bliss with the co-respondent is based entirely upon her unconscious or bodily hope that fertilization is now sure to follow4 ,unless it do follow1 therefore1 she finds herself a twofold dupe2 for she has exchanged a man to whom she is at least legally attached for a man who in nine cases out of ten is either no more than her husband's equal1 or his inferior2 and she is no better off2 because1 the moment the novelty of the situation will have died down1 the same dissatisfaction that takes its root in her rebuffed reproductive organs will make itself felt again4 ,now the above analysis of the workings of a positive married woman's mind in all cases of adultery resulting from physiological disappointment1 is typical1 and may stand as the unalterable frame or pattern which all similar cases may be made to fit4 ,for it matters not whether the marriage is a childless one1 or whether it be one in which1 from motives of economy1 child-birth has been stopped after the birth of one1 two1 or three children2 the phases which mark the approach to adultery are always the same4 ,and it may be said with perfect accuracy that1 where positiveness persists in the woman1 and child-birth is stopped while she is still too young for her reproductive equipment to tolerate idleness gladly1 some kind of unhappiness is bound to enter the home1 and as a rule this unhappiness will lead to adultery4 ,when we note in the statistics of divorce the comparatively high figures shown for marriages in which there have been one or two children only1 therefore1 we may take it that unhappiness began to enter the home in the third1 fourth1 or fifth year after the birth of the last child--that is to say1 at a period when the idleness of her reproductive organs was beginning to prove a source of intolerable exasperation to the young female4 ,and in these cases1 as in the classical instance detailed above1 the same phases occur4 ,there is the same sudden interest in matters outside the home--either golf1 tennis1 acting1 bridge1 dancing1 a new religion1 a new philosophy1 or a ,cause4 ,this brings the young wife into touch with a number of strange men1 and as her interest in these increases1 she begins to be aware of a vague feeling of irritation concerning certain aspects of her husband's person or behaviour1 of which theretofore she had not been conscious4 ,finally1 she becomes infatuated with one of the strange men1 and her feelings for her husband suffer a corresponding change for the worse4 ,then only cowardice1 caution1 or extreme devotion to her small family1 can possibly prevent her from compromising herself4 ,this is now the time and the place to consider whether there are not perhaps other physiological and psychical conditions resulting from deliberate childlessness1 or from the deliberate limitation of the family1 besides those discussed above1 which hasten the rupture between the positive couple4 ,there are certainly many such physiological and psychical conditions1 and the foremost of these is the deleterious effect which the constant use of contraceptives has upon the happy sexual relations of the young couple4 ,that there should be no known contraceptive which does not in some way mar the complete happiness of marital intercourse1 will perhaps be regarded by some as a very wise dispensation of ,providence2--for certainly the best brains of all nations for many thousands of years have concerned themselves with the problem1 and it seems astonishing that1 so far1 nothing really perfect should have been discovered2--but at all events this fact goes a considerable way towards making the marriage-bed of people who deliberately limit the family at least a breeding-place of very serious trouble4 ,secondly1 the very fact that childlessness as an end is incessantly present to the minds of the young couple--whether they have had no children at all1 or only one1 two1 or three--during the cohabitation1 constitutes in itself an influence which in time is certain to destroy the savour of their relations at a pace commensurate with their positiveness4 ,the reduction of any human function to the plane of sensationalism alone has this strange result that1 in the end1 the very sensations it provides tend to decline in intensity4 ,it is as if sensation alone were an insufficient psychical foundation to support the whole arch of any permanent human interest or effort1 and that where it is not correlated with the feelings of power or purposefulness1 it tends to crumble and to perish4 ,the woman in such cases suffers even more quickly than the man1 because in her the physiological disappointment sings in chorus with the psychical disillusionment4 ,but in the man too ultimate ansthesia is inevitable2 for1 sooner or later1 the fact that the natural consequences of his act 7offspring7 are not forthcoming1 will begin to tell on his self-esteem and his sense of power1 with which elements more than half the savour of sexual relations must certainly have been associated by his ancestors4#hi ,a further psychological factor must be reckoned with1 which has its share in bringing about matrimonial difficulties in the state of deliberate childlessness1 or of the limitation of the family1 and that is the feeling of aimlessness that ultimately supervenes1 when any two people associate together without any further object in life than that of eating1 drinking1 or making merry4 ,this is not due to the fact that eating1 drinking1 and making merry are in themselves bad1 as the ,puritans would have us believe2 but that they are at least monotonous if unrelieved by any other interests4 ,life1 as we have seen1 is repetition with a modicum of variation1 and so is happiness4 ,nothing that can introduce variety into the home of the young couple1 therefore1 ought to be eschewed1 for fear lest that lack of variety should be realized which causes life to lose its interest and its savour4 ,now children are obviously a constant source of variety in the home4 ,each child1 in its turn1 gives the home a different aspect1 a different outlook1 a different responsibility4 ,children1 moreover1 give the family unit a superior aim and purpose1 which increases in importance with the number of the offspring4 ,in this sense alone1 therefore1 a state of childlessness or of family limitation 7when the number of children is small71 in an ordinary home1 where there are no compensating features such as ardent artistic1 scientific or religious preoccupations1 constitutes a dangerous state from the standpoint of connubial stability4 ,before concluding this discussion of the positive couple in relation to divorce1 which we propose to do with an examination of the statistics1 it will now be necessary to consider the circumstances under which the positive man himself becomes unfaithful4#ij ,from the statistics it would appear that more women than men go wrong in a childless marriage4 ,this is only what1 from our argument1 we should have expected2 because since the coitus represents a complete physiological experience to the man1 he is less likely to become vaguely dissatisfied with childlessness than the woman4 ,nevertheless1 should the childless state be continued too long--that is to say1 for five1 six1 or more years--there are sure to arise certain indistinct feelings of dissatisfaction in the man1 which will cause him to become restless and interested in other women4 ,these feelings will be the result of the total lack of those 8appeals0 to his primitive instincts1 which the regular procreation of children provides for almost all men without exception4 ,he will miss the sense of power which he would derive from the material and visible extension of his own identity in his offspring1 and he will also feel the need of that silent tribute which children would make to the deepest source of his self-esteem--virile potency4 ,it should also be borne in mind that1 where there are no children1 the man is more likely1 owing to the absence of heavy responsibilities1 to indulge that inclination to varied sexual experiences1 to which every positive man is subject after some years of marriage4 ,we have seen how entirely man's sexual experience depends for its savour upon desire--the desire he feels for the object of his sexual passion4 ,when1 therefore1 through years of regular intimacy with his wife1 this desire tends to decline1 there naturally follows a corresponding decline in the savour of his sexual experience4 ,to correct this he is tempted to go in search of change1 of novelty4 ,now1 when this inclination arises in monogamic marriages1 it is frequently checked out of consideration for the children1 and more especially by the secret satisfaction derived from their presence4 ,where there are no children1 it is much more likely to be given free rein4 ,another factor which ought to be given due weight in the sexual psychology of man1 is his love of protecting and patronizing4 ,the wife who gives him a number of children not only makes a strong appeal to this love in her own person but also in the persons of her offspring4 ,he becomes1 figuratively1 a huge buttress supporting the dependent members of his family1 and this gratifies the self-esteem of the average simple-minded man1 and in innumerable cases induces him not only to accept the burden1 but also to love it deeply and passionately for giving him such a delightful and constant sense of real importance4 ,finally1 in the conduct of the man of high ethical development1 there will enter the factor of moral ideals4 ,when once he feels his family about him1 he will be conscious of certain duties1 certain obligations1 which will preclude all idea1 all velleity1 of not abiding by his original pledges4 ,this man will be able to live till the end of his days with a woman1 however much his feelings may have changed towards her1 and still give the world the impression of being a most dutiful and most devoted husband4 ,temptation1 sexual passion1 the desire for variety1 will simply not enter within his purview4 ,the moment an irregular thought occurs to his mind1 it will be1 as it were1 8switched off40 ,it should1 however1 be remembered that when such men are positive by nature1 they will usually be found to practise in their leisure hours some kind of sport 7hard walking1 cycling1 golf1 riding7 or industry 7carpentry--true of thousands of ,englishmen to-day2 wood-cutting1 e4g4 ,gladstone and the ex-,emperor of ,germany2 stamp-collecting and numismatics--true of thousands of modern ,englishmen7 or religious activity 7,christian1 ,spiritualistic or other propaganda7 in which much of their sex becomes absorbed4 ,in ,chart ,i1 ,i have given figures covering a period of twenty-one years--from #ahii to #aiai inclusive1 for ,england and ,wales2 and the most important conclusions to be drawn from them at a glance are the following3-- 7a7 ,the preponderance of divorces which occur as the result of husbands' petitions over those which occur as the result of wives' petitions4 ,bearing in mind the more insistent impulse to variety in sexual experience which harasses the male throughout life1 this preponderance of husbands' petitions only tends to show the extreme difficulty with which women can tolerate either the premature cessation of child-birth or no child-birth at all4 ,for although it may be argued that in order to obtain a divorce the woman must charge her husband with something more than the mere indulgence of his craving for variety1 and therefore that proportions are misleading from this point of view1 it should also be remembered that1 where there has been a transference of affection with adultery on the male's part1 desertion would necessarily follow1 and therefore supply the minimum grounds for the woman's petition4 ,,chart ,i4 ,,number ,,of ,,children ,,at ,,time ,,of ,,filing ,,petition ,,of ,,divorce4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------- #ahii4 #aijj4 #aija4 #aijb4 #aijc4 ,number of ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ,children ,h4 ,w4#ia ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ,no children #age #adg #afg #aefahh #affbcj #aheahc #agj #a child #ig #hc #hj #hdabi #iaadj #aaeaje #acc #b children #eh #eg #ei #ec #ic #eg #ih #fb #gf #ge #c to #f children #ff #fi #fh #fc #hf #fgaca #feabh #gj ,above #f children #d #ad #f #i #aj #aa #i #ae #aa #aa ,number unknown #a #a ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------- #aijd4 #aije4 #aijf4 #aijg4 #aijh4 #aiji4 ,number of ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---- ,children ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---- ,no children #agh #adgahj #afgbja #afaafi #ahbaih #bcebac #aig #a child #aaj #aafaad #acgabj #abg #ia #abhaai #acfajd #acg #b children #gh #hb #gc #hf #gc #hj #hd #hb #hf #fg #ge #hi #c to #f children #ig #ff #hc #fi #fb #gh #hd #gj #hb #ga #hj #gi ,above #f children #f #g #c #e #i #ab #f #g #c #aa #c #f ,number unknown #b #a #b ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---- #aiaj4 #aiaa4 #aiab4 #aiac4 #aiad4 #aiae4 ,number of ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---- ,children ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---- ,total successful petitions #dab #cdcdff #cicejf #dadedh #dejfjg #dfhfhb #dfa ,no children #dabib #djh #ddd #dic #dif #dia #a child #bbb #bha #cdg #cgb #cff #cgi #b children #adf #bja #aic #aid #bda #bdh #c to #f children #aai #agj #afj #aib #bbh #bca ,above #f children #i #ab #aj #ab #ag #ag ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---- #aiaf4 #aiag4 #aiah4 #aiai4 ,number of ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,children ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ,h4 ,w4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,total successful petitions #gha #chba1jdd #cgia1hjg #eafd1jgf #a1jji ,no children #efc #ffj #a1jdc #b1cch #a child #chb #dcc #gjg #a1fbg #b children #bca #cjg #dhh #icj #c to #f children #bjj #bhe #dbc #hca ,above #f children #af #ai #bg #cf ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,chart ,,ii4 ,,duration ,,of ,,marriage ,,up ,,to ,,time ,,of ,,filing ,,petition ,,of ,,divorce4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ------------------------ #aiaj4aiaa4aiab4aiac4aiad4aiae4aiaf4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ------------------------ ,less than #a year #ad #ag #bi #bb #ah #ce #a and over to #b #bi #bf #be #dd #ag #dj #eh #b and over to #e #aaj #adc #ade #acf #aej #acj #aib #e and over to #aj #bhd #cec #cgh #dbg #cid #cga #chc #aj and over to #bj #cfi #dah #ddj #dha #ehc #fah #egg ,above #bj #aaf #aai #aee #adf #ahb #aid #afe ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ------------------------ ---------------------------------------- ------------------------ #aiag4aiah4aiai4 ---------------------------------------- ------------------------ ,less than #a year #bg #cf #ge #a and over to #b #gh #hf #aef #b and over to #e #bgd #eaf #a1aga #e and over to #aj #dhb #heh #a1idg #aj and over to #bj #ffg #icj #b1jjh ,above #bj #agg #bfb #dje ---------------------------------------- ------------------------ ,the high figures for faithless wives revealed in these statistics1 therefore1 point to the extreme refractoriness of women under the conditions imposed by modern economic pressure1 which makes the limitation of families an ineluctable rule in most homes4 ,this is furthermore confirmed by a comparison of the high figures given for childless marriages1 or marriages of only one1 two1 or three children1 with those given for marriages which have more than three children4 ,on the other hand1 the proportion of husbands' petitions to wives' in those marriages in which there are more than six children1 leaves no doubt that in most of these cases not the wife but the husband was at fault1 which is exactly what we should expect4 7b7 ,it is interesting to note the steady rise in husbands' petitions during the years #aiae-aiai--;all years of war3 the figure #d1jgf as against #a1jji in #aiai constituting the most convincing evidence we have of the difficulty with which women tolerate the lack of children or the cessation of child-birth1 even when it is due to the absence of their husbands on what was believed to be a 8,crusade40 ,it seems probable that the bulk of these women must have been young1 for the total number of divorces for that year1 in cases where there was only one child or none1 amounts to #c1ife4 ,of course1 from my point of view1 the value of these figures is lessened by the fact that it is impossible to differentiate between marriages of positive and negative couples2 but perhaps the steadiness with which certain characteristic proportions are revealed in them compensates to some extent for this defect4 ,when we add to this ,lord ,salvesen's evidence before the ,royal ,commission on ,divorce 7#aiab71 in which he declared that in ,scotland the proportion of divorces among childless couples was 8immensely larger0 than that among fertile couples1 it can leave little doubt in our minds that1 in order to be so constant and universal1 this rule must be based on unalterable laws taking their root in deep physiological and psychological conditions1 and that the sentimental and emotional factors can be but surface phenomena accompanying rather than affecting the operation of these laws4 ,for1 if we have been right in arguing that the presence of children does not operate as a strengthener of the union by cementing the love of married couples1 but by meeting certain instinctive needs in their physical and mental constitution1 it is clear that the sentimental elements in the union are the most insignificant--hence their inability to tide large numbers of positive couples over the periods of physiological and psychical stress which childlessness or the limitation of the family imposes4 7c7 ,when we turn to ,chart ,,ii and examine the figures given for the duration of the marriage up to the time when the petition was filed 7for the years #aiaj-aiai71 we also note a fact that does not surprise us1 and that is the immeasurably higher figures given for the four years lying between the fifth and the tenth years of marriage1 than for all other periods4 ,it is precisely during these four years that those two disturbing forces which do most to mar modern marriages are most likely to begin to operate1 viz3-- 7a7 ,the irascibility of the wife as the result of the cessation of child-birth2 this irascibility showing itself in a decreasing satisfaction with her home and her husband1 and an increasing interest in outside amusements and occupations1 and in other men4 7b7 ,the loss of desire for his wife1 in the husband1 which causes him to seek other sexual experiences4 ,with regard to 7a7 it is obvious that during the sixth1 seventh1 eighth and ninth years of marriage1 most couples who are attempting to limit their families will have ceased from procreating4 ,they will have had from one to three children1 and will have decided to have no more4 ,the wife will therefore tend to become increasingly impatient with her lot1 and ultimately make a confidant of some idiot of a man1 who will interpret her marked attentions as a proof of his irresistible charm1 and the two will end in what the world is pleased to call 8falling in love40 ,with regard to 7b71 six1 seven1 eight or nine years is a long period over which to extend the average man's desire for fresh sexual experience1 and in the event of a cessation of child-birth 7which means the use of contraceptives--always unfavourable to happy marital relations7 it is during these last years of his first decade of married life that he is most likely to feel the ardent desire for a change4 ,the two factors 7a7 and 7b7 conspiring together soon force the couple asunder1 if they are positive1 brave1 and intolerant of conventions and rules--hence1 ,i believe1 the high figures for the period in question4 ,,chart ,,iii4 ,,divorces ,,according ,,to ,,professions4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ,agriculture4,mining4,manufactures4,navi gation ,inland and ,transport4 ,fishing4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- #aijh #bf #ag #afh #ad #db #aiji #ai #ba #agb #be #bi #aiaj #bb #aa #aah #ah #ch #aiaa #ba #i #aid #bd #cj #aiab #bd #ag #baa #ch #ba #aiaeic #cg #bf #cfb #ca #hd #aiaf #bh #bd #caj #dc #fj #aiag #dd #dh #dai #cc #gi #aiah #fa #ie #gdd #fc #bjd #aiai #acc #aib #a1eha #gh #dfh ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------- ,trade4,domestic,professionally,unspecif ied ,service4 ,employed4 ,occupations4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------- #aijh #cde #ac #bih #hg #aiji #bec #aj #bdd #aaj #aiaj #cdd #ab #bfg #gh #aiaa #cff #ab #cbj #ig #aiab #cdg #bd #chi #hg #aiaeic #cha #aa #cfa #gi #aiaf #cig #bg #ddd #a #aiag #ddf #ah #ede #gc #aiah #eia #cd #hbf #gi #aiai #a1agd #fd #a1ijc #afi ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------- ,in ,chart ,,iii we have the statistics for divorce1 tabulated according to the occupations of the husbands4 ,now1 according to the #aiaa census1 the figures given for the total number of males engaged in three out of the nine categories is as follows3-- ,professional callings #cfg1eghid ,agriculture #a1adj1eae ,mining #a1jci1jhc ,if we compare these total figures#ie with the corresponding figures given for the divorces in each category1 we see the enormously high percentage of divorces that occur in the professional classes1 as compared with both the mining and agricultural industry1 and although in accounting for this conspicuous difference we have to bear in mind the facilities1 chiefly financial1 for procuring divorce in the professional classes1 we are nevertheless confronted by a disparity which requires some explanation4 ,when1 however1 we consider the greater prevalence of birth-control among the professionals1 with the inevitable unconscious disaffection that it introduces among the wives of that class2 when1 also1 we reflect upon the more artificial circumstances in which this class lives1 and the higher and less natural demands that its spouses make upon each other2 when1 moreover1 we remember the greater irascibility and nervousness1 together with the usually lower passion1 of all people engaged in the more intellectual pursuits of life1 which make them more prone to chafe under the many vexations to which married life gives rise1 and less likely to attain that physiological serenity which is the pre-requisite of all solid contentment1 these statistics seem to confirm the conclusions at which we have arrived1 and1 on the whole1 to support the analysis we have made both of the marriage tie itself1 and of the factors that conspire to loosen it4 99 99 99 99 99 ,having dealt with divorce in so far as it concerns positive couples1 ,i have now to deal with it in its relation to the negative man and woman4 ,my present task is1 therefore1 by far the more difficult of the two1 seeing that the moment we leave the uniformity of natural law and the regularity of indomitable forces1 we find ourselves in a maze of possibilities1 which1 while they defy enumeration owing to their extreme multiplicity1 also elude all effort at classification because of the infinite combinations and permutations that low health and eccentricity are capable of producing4 ,it must be clear that the moment the driving force of healthy1 normal passion ceases to be the motive actuating male and female1 the vagaries of human conduct are no longer calculable4 ,one knows what in certain circumstances a healthy passionate animal will do4 ,it is impossible to foretell what an unhealthy or unpassionate one will do4#if ,to describe all the possible complications that will ultimately lead a negative couple into the ,divorce ,court1 or cause them to seek a judicial separation1 or induce them to conclude that they would be happier living apart1 is therefore beyond the powers of any human being4 ,the negative man and woman1 like the invalid or the eccentric1 must remain an enigma1 because natural laws and forces no longer operate normally or calculably in them4 ,nevertheless1 it is possible1 in a rough way1 to outline certain features which are more or less common even to sub-normal people1 and from which1 therefore1 certain general rules of conduct may be inferred4 ,for instance1 we may say of negative men and women that3-- 7a7 ,the physiological promptings of an instinctive and organic kind are never likely 7as with their healthier brethren7 to weigh very heavily with them4 7,the ethereal lovers who believe that marriage is a union of souls47 7b7 ,the sentimental and intellectual aspects of a sexual situation are more likely to determine their conduct than its vital or reproductive aspects4 7,the lovers in most modern novels1 in which 8,luvv0 is supposed never to have bodily union as its aim1 but only companionship1 or sweet words1 or pure affection1 or a life of 8unselfish0 mutual service1 or some other high-falutin' nonsense47 7c7 ,the force of passion being no longer the ruling determinant in them1 such factors as vanity1 caution1 cowardice1 and even indolence1 may dominate the sex impulses and direct conduct to their own ends4 7,the bulk of hasty marriages made during the war were of this nature1 vanity both in the man and the woman giving rise in each individual to such elated feelings that these were mistaken for depth of passion47 7d7 ,the intellectual attitude towards love1 and the passions which it tends to assume1 may cause negative people to imitate without feeling the behaviour of their more passionate fellows and their love affairs1 thus producing a false but fairly accurate image of true passion4 7,the actors in modern society1 all of which are by no means professional histrions47 ,dealing with 7a7 first1 it must be fairly obvious that where physiological promptings are feeble1 deep bodily disappointments1 and particularly rebuffs to the reproductive system of the women1 can be tolerated very much more placidly than where physiological promptings are imperious4 ,thus all negative women are likely to endure for a very much longer period a childless marriage1 or a marriage in which child-birth has ceased in the first four to six years1 than are their positive sisters4 ,in all 8happy0 marriages of this kind1 therefore1 which have only terminated with the demise of one of the parties1 negativeness may certainly be suspected in the woman1 and1 since like tends to attract like1 also in the man4 ,when1 therefore1 unhappiness supervenes in such a home1 other causes must be sought than the secret and unconscious revolt of the woman's reproductive equipment1 or the man's fiery need for sexual variety4 ,negativeness being the outcome of an atonic condition of the body1 or1 at least1 of the genital organs1 and negative women being less likely to function properly than their more positive sisters1 there will naturally arise a tendency1 in all such matches 7owing to the small amount of pleasure and gratification that is derived from the whole of the physical side of marriage and motherhood71 to discount the physiological side1 and to exalt only states of the soul and the mind4 ,these people will have the old maids of all ,puritanical communities with them when they cast scorn upon the pleasures of the body2 and as their number is increasing daily1 the chorus of body-despisers grows steadily louder and louder in all the countries enjoying ,western ,civilization4 ,the women in these matches are likely to confound motherhood with self-sacrifice and martyrdom1 and their husbands to confound the birth of a child with the threat of financial ruin4 ,science1 costly and inefficient science1 helps them at every step1 and when finally child-birth stops1 which is never too soon 7for the women in any case71 and nurses and perambulators take their leave1 science remains to the last to try to repair or neutralize the debility that unwelcome fertility has left behind4 ,in their most private moments the women of such matches speak of the 8horrible sensuality0 of men1 and of the havoc this sensuality has made of their lives2 and in thought and in action they incline to everything that emphasizes the soulful or spiritual side of life4 ,they cultivate a taste for extremely soulful literature or poetry 7,maeterlinck's ,serres ,chaudes1 for instance7 and tend to gravitate towards those forms of ,christianity that are most quintessential4 ,divorce1 if it is ever resorted to by such couples1 is usually the fault of the husbands4 ,they may at length manifest a desire to have a breath of air untainted by sickness or debility1 and in that case usually become entangled with a woman quite as negative as their wife4 ,the women hardly ever go further than to cultivate an apparently ardent but platonic attachment to some poet1 musician1 or other artist1 to whom they write long soulful letters1 full of hints about a non-physical kind of bliss in love1 which they have longed all their lives to experience4 ,but in a large majority of cases1 negative couples of precisely this kind tend to finish their days more or less tiresomely together1 each bewailing the fact that such a white elephant as the body ever became associated with the more 8exalted0 spiritual side of man4 ,in regard to 7b7 it can only be said that the type is so very prevalent that it is becoming almost the norm of modern civilization4 ,its principal characteristic is that both the male and the female tend to choose each other for reasons which are as remote as possible from the body4 ,the men of this type choose 8clever10 8artistic10 sylph-like1 narrow-hipped 8sweet0 women1 with thin slender hands1 spiritual interests1 and probably a history of some intestinal irregularity in their past4 ,the women1 while aspiring to a high ideal of health and manliness in their mates1 have not the instinct to pick out the passionate man1 but usually select one1 who though he may be big of body and limb1 intellectual and 8breezy10 is quite fireless1 unpassionate and dull4 ,the couples belonging to this type can also endure childlessness or a cessation of child-birth with almost perfect equanimity2 the man being very much more concerned about the figure he is cutting as a chivalrous1 sporting mate1 who observes the rules of 8cricket0 with his spouse1 than about any other aspect of their married life4 ,he studies with asinine perplexity the so-called inscrutable complexities of his wife's mind1 and is always making 8allowances0 and preaching the doctrine of give and take4 ,his great charm1 according to modern values1 is the fact that he regards women as utterly incomprehensible4 ,women are so powerful nowadays in determining opinion1 and have so often and so emphatically called the men who show some insight into women's nature 8prigs10 that at the present day both women and men unanimously call any man who voices penetrating views about woman1 an out-and-out prig4 ,in fact1 in order to be a prig it is necessary to have shown some ability in analysing the true nature of woman4#ig ,the women in such unions very frequently outstrip their male companions in mental nimbleness1 and this disturbance of the proper balance frequently leads them1 in their vague discontent1 to become prominent exponents and defenders of all those claims of sex-equality and sex-levelling1 which have agitated the home life of northern ,european countries 7where most negative people are to be found7 for the last hundred years4 ,the spectacle of their lady-like and unobtrusive male1 there can be no doubt1 is usually the first incentive towards these kinds of activities1 and1 seeing that they have the constant substantiation of their claims in the tame animal with whom they cohabit1 it is not surprising that they frequently enter into 8,woman's ,cause0 with a conviction and a fervour very much more intense than the more academic enthusiasm of the old maid who is usually their associate in the movement4 ,indeed1 it not infrequently happens that the 8male0 of these militant women is himself an active collaborator in his wife's public work1 and so complete is their intellectual and sentimental agreement on the question1 that he will echo her words with the docility of a parrot4 ,the type 7c7 is also common enough and is growing more plentiful in all classes of society4 ,it is the negative type which approximates most to the passionate1 tragic type of real life and fiction2 because1 while it possesses no deep passions1 its extreme vanity makes it capable of the wildest excesses4 ,in all the possible situations of married life1 this type never consults any other arbiter than vanity1 and it is only when its caution1 cowardice or indolence can overpower its vanity that the latter does not decide the issue4 ,having no real deep passion to direct them1 the men and women of this type are actually drawn into marriage in the first place solely from motives of vanity1 because the state of being betrothed is a state of 7#a7 supreme importance1 7#b7 conspicuousness1 7#c7 intense and unscrupulous mutual worship1 and 7#d7 romantic glamour4 ,their marriage is likely to be the least stable of all marriages among negative people1 however1 for the moment their vanity ceases to be fed1 or humoured1 they are likely to weary of an association that affords them ever less and less of the joys of their engaged days4 ,lacking the sound physiological promptings which make a fully-adapted life sufficient for their happiness and serenity1 they become restless the moment 7#a7 adulation declines from the quarter of the spouse1 7#b7 the attention of their world ceases from being concentrated upon them1 and 7#c7 that feeling of exaltation which filled their breast during courtship--and particularly on their wedding day--shows signs of waning4 ,the woman in this kind of match finds out soon after marriage that while she has become the mistress of her own home1 she is living in an atmosphere which1 compared with that she had grown accustomed to in the days when her matchmaking mother directed her life1 and during the months or years of her courtship1 is depressingly deficient in appeals to her vanity4 ,her husband is securely bound to her by law4 ,his first raptures are over1 and the two seem to be settling down to a hum-drum existence1 in which those deep thrills of yore seem entirely to have gone from her life4 ,but precisely those thrills were the breath of her nostrils4 ,all the joys of marital intimacy with the man she 8loves0 do not make up for the loss of that4 ,her body is not tonic or vital enough to provide any comfort for the exaltation her vanity once afforded her4 ,she therefore contrives so to modify her hum-drum existence as to restore to it some of the atmosphere of her late adolescence and the days of her courtship4 ,she goes in search of company2 she insists on men coming to the house4 ,she sings1 or acts1 or goes in for sports--all with a view to restoring that atmosphere in which she became engaged4 ,in the end1 she easily finds some idiot of a man who will be ignorant and vain enough to court her1 and when this happens she will at last breathe deeply again4 ,these courtships which the vain negative woman contrives to bring about1 in order to feed her vanity1 may or may not lead to adultery4 ,frequently they do1 because1 although she is certainly not actuated by passion in contriving them1 she may by chance light upon a paramour who is passionate1 and then1 in order to prolong the farce1 she finds she must yield to his importunacies4 ,indeed1 unless she do yield1 the whole of the realistic nature of the love affair1 which she has done her best to impart to the experience1 will be destroyed4 ,thus1 despite her lack of real passion1 this kind of vain adulteress frequently finds herself in the ,divorce ,court1 with the most damning evidence against her1 when all the time she has never desired the illicit consummation4 ,what was necessary--nay1 essential--to her1 was the breath of adulation1 not the final embrace of the procreator4 ,she wanted a life that was a long courtship1 because courtship is the time when vanity receives its strongest appeals4 ,as1 however1 she could hardly simulate une grande passion without actually appearing desirous of the consummation1 her first marriage is ruined4 ,very frequently indeed these women do not allow the consummating step to be taken4 ,not being at all disposed to it physically1 their caution1 their cowardice1 and their indolence easily get the upper hand1 and they ultimately disappoint their expectant lover2 but as a rule this happens only when they have squeezed him dry of every possible flattering epithet and attention4 ,but1 the reader will object1 as far as behaviour and results are concerned1 where is the difference here between the negative woman acting on the impulse of vanity1 and the positive woman acting on the impulse of passion8 ,to judge from the evidence heard in the ,divorce ,court1 the difference is admittedly slight4 ,there is the same dissatisfaction with the home and the mate1 leading to the same longing for amusements and activities of all kinds which promise a chance of variety4 ,in actual practice1 however1 the differences are marked4 ,the positive woman goes about the business with more solemn1 even sullen determination4 ,she does not smile1 laugh1 and frivol about it as the negative woman does4 ,the latter betrays her immediate aim1 which is the satisfaction of vanity1 by her extreme enjoyment of every step along her irregular path4 ,she enjoys the mere means to an end1 which supply the gratification that her vanity needs4 ,the former1 having only the end in view1 accepts the means as a necessary preliminary1 but these means obviously leave her much more unmoved than they do her negative sister4 ,thus negative women are notoriously what the ,french call grimacires4 ,they proclaim their true nature by the perpetual grin that distorts their features throughout the whole period in which they receive attentions from their worshipper4 ,deep passion does not grin in this way4 ,it is either too deeply stirred1 or it is too shy1 to make an open exhibition of its feelings4 ,besides1 it is greatly agitated and anxious about the issue4 ,the vain1 negative woman1 moreover1 is always conscious of an observing public when she is in the company of her admirer1 and her triumphant glances at onlookers in such circumstances are a sort of challenge to them to contemplate her in the full intensity of her joy4 ,part of the gratification of her vanity consists in drawing the envious looks of other women upon her4 ,hence1 too1 her perpetual grin1 a good deal of which is meant for public notice4 ,the positive woman1 on the other hand1 is too deeply interested1 too seriously concerned1 to be able to give a thought to the onlookers4 ,she may even shun the crowd4 ,in her1 everything is subordinated to the principal end she has in view4 ,the vain1 negative woman1 moreover1 because she does not really desire the man who happens to be worshipping her1 will brook no breach of manners1 of chivalry1 of steady worship from him4 ,she is constantly on the alert and vigilant4 ,she keeps him up to the mark1 and will quickly rap his knuckles if the incense he is burning at the altar of her self-esteem is the least bit stale1 or burns with only a moderate fury1 or is swung with any sign of diminished zeal4 ,the passionate woman1 on the other hand1 will bear anything from the man she really desires1 except--absence4 ,the vain woman's hatred is roused1 not by a refusal to cohabit with her1 but by a noticeable lameness in her worshipper's flattering fluency4 ,she hates those who wound her vanity1 not those who cheat her will to ,life and its multiplication4 ,she will become homicidal only if she is made to look small or ridiculous1 not if she is left sterile4 ,she loathes situations in which she cannot make a display of her bliss4 ,the positive woman1 on the other hand1 longs for privacy and secrecy1 and forgives nothing less easily than a lack of virile ardour in her male pursuer4 ,he may be silent to the point of dumbness1 inarticulate to the point of being unable to apologise when he spills his soup over her dress at table2--all these things she overlooks if he has the first pre-requisite of ,life1 which is virile ardour rising to impatient and restless importunacy4 ,on the other hand1 the worshipper who spills his soup over his negative mistress's dress in a restaurant or any public assembly1 would thenceforward be loathed on that account alone4 ,because it is mortifying to one's vanity to be made ridiculous in public4 ,the negative man of this class is of the cold ,don ,juan type1 who gratifies his vanity more than his sexual appetite by repeated conquests4 ,he too soon tires of his wife and of his home4 ,he does this all the more readily1 seeing that his marriage itself has usually been quite an unintended consummation on his part of one of the many flirtations his vanity led him into in early manhood1 and that he has been chafing ever since it was finally settled at the thought of the many conquests he might have made before taking the final step4 ,his nostrils1 too1 yearn for the hot breath of adulation4 ,he is a tormentor of positive women1 because he can so readily hold himself aloof at the last station before the terminus4 ,if this man becomes unfaithful1 it will be because his enormous vanity has overcome his caution4 ,in order to extract the last and most enthralling confession from a young woman's heart--which will cause him to reach his highest pinnacle of exaltation--one day he will go too far1 either in his protestations or in his caresses1#ih and then1 if he is dealing with the kind of girl or woman who knows of no facile retreat from such avowals1 and who is really in earnest1 he will find himself impelled in a direction and to an end which he can truthfully swear he never had in contemplation at the outset4 ,the fact that the law of ,england deals too lightly with this kind of dandified scoundrel 7for such men almost always dress well7 is due not merely to the fact that1 generally speaking1 it is grotesquely lenient to correspondents as a class1 but also to its inability to distinguish between the adultery of the negative man and woman1 whose misdemeanour is the outcome of vanity alone1 and whose ruin of another's home is1 therefore1 wanton and unnecessary1 and the adultery which is the outcome of genuine passion1 and which1 therefore1 partakes far more of that quality of human action which is elemental and inevitable4 ,this man only becomes tragic under a snub4 ,he finds no infinite resource in a deep knowledge of his own value1 and is1 therefore1 incapable of self-consolation when shown the cold-shoulder4 ,hence the woman who does not fall in with his scheme of mutual worship1 incurs his homicidal loathing4 ,she destroys his joie de vivre1 his very primum mobile1 the source of his will to live4 ,his career is a series of escapes from female fires he has deliberately kindled2 but he is always more ready to forgive a burn than the fuel that refuses to flare up under the power of his bellows4 ,before concluding section 7c7 perhaps it would be advisable and also helpful to give a brief analysis of the psychological forces which impel the negative1 vain man and woman along their career of vanity-gratification at all costs4 ,for1 while to understand them will be in a measure to exonerate them1 it will also serve as a means of recognizing their type when we see it4 ,now the fundamental truth to be grasped about vanity is that it is always found in conjunction with modesty4 ,it is the intense modesty of the vain person that forces him to gratify his vanity at every turn4 ,what1 then1 is modesty8 ,in ultimate practice it amounts to an inability to set a value on oneself1 an inability to place oneself according to one's worth in the graduated hierarchy of human beings4 ,the modest man waits to be given his place1 to be told where he stands1 to be priced and valued by his fellow-men4 ,compliments mean a good deal to him1 because1 since he has no settled opinion of himself1 they promote his self-esteem4 ,in short1 his self-esteem fluctuates according to his receipts in compliments and abuse4 ,and since his good spirits depend largely upon his self-esteem1 his spirits may also be said to fluctuate according to these receipts4 ,unlike his proud brother1 he does not hold a good or poor opinion of himself because of an inner conviction of his worth1 which is settled2 he holds it because he has been modest enough to wait for the world to give it to him4 ,but this makes him entirely dependent upon his fellow-men for his knowledge of his worth1 and consequently for the condition of his spirits4 ,by throwing him always upon the judgment of his fellows for his opinion of himself and his good spirits1 his modesty therefore tends to lead the modest man into the constant practice of trying to seduce his fellow-men to such an opinion of himself as will not cause his spirits to suffer4 ,he covets good opinions1 because on them alone can his self-esteem1 and therefore his good spirits1 thrive4 ,in order to enjoy that comfortable feeling of satisfaction which promoted self-esteem affords1 he is constantly tempted to persuade his fellow-men into giving it to him4 ,this makes him amenable1 and what the modern world calls 8lovable10 because he glows under compliments1 and becomes pliable and susceptible to influence1 and by the side of him his proud inflexible brother appears to the modern world as cold and inaccessible4#ii ,the vain man asks3 8,what did ,so-and-so say of me80 or 8,what did ,so-and-so think of me80 ,and according to the answer he receives he is either happy or depressed4 ,the proud man does not care what ,so-and-so thinks of him4 ,he is not concerned with public opinion4 ,he knows his own good and bad points1 and no views about himself1 entertained by his fellows1 can modify that knowledge one way or the other4 ,consequently he is not always busy trying to seduce his circle of relatives1 friends1 and acquaintances into a good opinion of him4 ,this makes him stiff1 independent1 unamenable1 and dignified--in fact1 everything that the modern world is least able to tolerate with patience4 ,the modest man lives in his neighbour's views of himself4 ,he depends on them for his self-esteem1 and therefore for his joie de vivre4 ,on these views he measures his worth4 ,it is only human1 therefore1 that he should be anxious to make them as favourable as possible4 ,now it is this constant effort to make these views as favourable as possible1 and the pleasure he feels over the success of his efforts1 that constitute the characteristic known as 8vanity10 for which the modest man is notorious4 ,it is obvious that when no other deeper motives interfere--as in the case of all those people whom ,i call negative1 and whose physiological or bodily promptings are hardly audible--vanity very soon becomes the only mainspring of action4 ,it constitutes the only tribunal before which life's alternatives are drawn for examination2 and1 according to whether vanity promises to be gratified or not by a certain course1 that course is adopted or rejected4 ,when ,i say1 therefore1 that these vain1 modest and negative people approximate nearest to the passionate1 tragic type1 it will readily be seen why this must be so4 ,for to snub or to withhold your good opinion from the vain man or woman1 is not only an offence in itself1 it also deprives that man or woman of self-esteem for the time being4 ,they depend on your good opinion of them for their good opinion of themselves4 ,not to give them your good opinion is1 therefore1 tantamount to destroying their joie de vivre for the time being2 it amounts to depriving them of their mainspring1 which is gratified vanity4 ,but this is as good as killing them4 ,until they can find someone1 or think of someone1 who can cancel out your poor opinion of them1 by a more exalted opinion1 they are1 therefore1 desperate4 ,they hate with a homicidal hatred 7vain people never forgive anyone who has mortified their vanity71 and this makes them tragic4 ,tragedy among vain negative people is always to be traced to wounded vanity1 and never to passion4 ,the constant mistake made by the modern world is to confound the passionate crime with the crime that arises from vanity4#ajj ,but the passionate crime is of a different order of rank altogether4 ,it is always a crime arising out of an affront against ,life itself1 whereas the crime that springs from vanity is always the result of the much more insignificant fact that somebody's good opinion of himself has been assailed4#aja ,in class 7d7 we also have a very large and growing section of the population1 particularly among the middle classes4 ,it consists of people1 not unlike the former1 but who know exactly what real passion does1 and how it does it1 and who proceed to ape it in every momentous incident of their lives4 ,they are negative and therefore have no genuine promptings from passion2 but they read and observe a good deal1 and they emulate their passionate fellows with a pertinacity worthy of a better purpose4 ,they will fall in love1 marry1 commit adultery1 divorce1 and even commit murder1 provided that they can convince themselves that each successive step has been taken in the grand style4 ,and1 as they proceed through their various metamorphoses1 they watch themselves with the double interest of participators and spectators of a great drama4 99 99 99 99 99 ,of the whole negative class it may be said that they are radically unstable in marriage1 because they are not actuated by any natural passion or impulse1 and therefore do not become wedded to any environment where their instincts find perfect adaptation4 ,on the other hand1 however1 they are frequently able1 owing to this very lack of natural passion1 to endure for a lifetime matrimonial unions which would be intolerable to the positive type for a month1 and this accounts for the fact that1 in ,england particularly1 there are so many peaceful lifelong unions of couples who are childless and doomed to childlessness4 ,the most constant characteristic of all negative people1 however1 is this1 that they are always prepared1 and able1 to silence the natural passions 7because in them these forces are so feeble7 and to direct their conduct according to any conceivable rule other than that of these natural passions4 ,thus opportunism1 vanity1 an eye to the main chance1 love of display1 histrionic tastes1 indolence1 caution1 cowardice--each one of these factors may at different moments direct their lives2 but true passion certainly never will1 and the very fact that it cannot1 they will dress in every form of high-falutin' euphemism4 ,they will call their lack of passion1 self-control1 or strength of will2 they will describe it as ordinary common decency2 they will even have the impudence to call it simply 8good breeding10 and sometimes they will have the duplicity and arrogance to call it purity4 ,,footnotes3 #gj ,see ,chapter #dd of the ,ergnzung zum vierten ,buch of the ,welt als ,wille und ,vorstellung4 ,in ,la ,femme ,criminelle et la ,prostitue1 by ,c4 ,lombroso and ,g4 ,ferrero 7,paris1 ,felix ,alcan1 #ahif7 the authors1 wishing to emphasize the same fact1 say very plainly3 8,c'est le besoin de l'espce1 le besoin maternel1 qui pousse la femme vers l'homme1 l'amour fminin tant une fonction subordonne la maternit0 7p4 #ajg74 #ga ,see ante1 p4 #adh4 ,see also ,lombroso and ,ferrero1 ,op4 cit4 7p4 #aab73 8,psychiquement1 l'amour de la mre se greffe toujours et l'emporte sur le besoin du sexe40 #gb ,see ,sir ,bargrave ,deane's evidence before the ,royal ,commission on ,divorce and ,matrimonial ,causes1 #aiab1 para4 #aafc3 8,my impression is that it is a very serious question--this absence of children--to the married life1 and ,i believe you will find 7,i am certain it is so from my experience this term7 that if there are children it keeps the home together1 and they both work together40 ,lord ,salvesen 7,judge of ,court of ,sessions1 ,scotland71 speaking before the same ,commission1 and discussing the statistics as to childless and fruitful marriages1 said3 8,i draw this inference1 that ,i think they show where there are children the union is strengthened1 and parties are more unwilling to have it dissolved0 7para4 #fbad of the ,report74 #gc ,in addition to the engrossing character of the rle of mother1 and the tendency it has to invade every controlling centre in a positive woman's nature1 we should also remember that1 inasmuch as man is only important to woman as a means to an end1 his importance must diminish pro rata as the end tends to be achieved and visibly materialized in the form of the growing family4 #gd ,the modern man's chief safeguard against becoming a complete nonentity in the home is1 of course1 his hold on the purse-strings4 ,this procures him a sort of perfunctory regard4 #ge ,see footnote1 pp4 #agi1 #ahj4 #gf ,buffon in his ,discours sur la nature des ,animaux makes the following profound remark which ,english people as a whole would do well to take to heart3 8,amour1 pourquoi fais-tu l'tat heureux de tous les tres1 et le malheur de l'homme8 ,c'est qu'il n'y a que le physique de cette passion qui soit bon2 c'est que1 malgr ce que peuvent dire les gens pris1 le moral n'en vaut rien0 7see ,oeuvres ,compltes1 ,tome #cme1 ,paris1 #ahcg1 pp4 #ba-bb74 #gg ,as a proof of this1 behold the aggressive exultation of the ordinary man over every fresh addition to his family4 #gh ,so far from being conscious of the will to the multiplication of life1 it frequently happens that women do all that is required in order to achieve fertilization1 and yet protest that they do not wish to have children1 or that they do not care for children4 #gi ,the ancient ,hindus1 from whose great wisdom nothing was hidden1 not only openly recognized this fact1 but made special provision for it4 ,in the ,book of ,manu there were special periods of absence allowed for husbands1 beyond which their wives were no longer forbidden from seeking fertilization elsewhere 7see ,book ,,ix1 verse #gf74 ,it should be borne in mind1 however1 that a very large proportion of the women who committed adultery during the war did so out of vanity rather than out of passion4 ,the preponderance of negative women in ,england makes the passionate crime a much rarer occurrence than is generally supposed4 ,see explanation of the rle of vanity in adultery in the second half of this chapter4 #hj ,even in regard to the legendary ,penelope we have to remember that tradition relates certain facts about her that cast some reflection upon her normality4 ,why1 for instance1 was she thrown into the sea by her parents8 ,both of her parents came from ,sparta1 and the ,spartans did not scruple to destroy abnormal children4 ,in fact1 they regarded it as a religious duty to do so4 ,at the very beginning of her life1 therefore1 some suspicion is cast which entitles us to question whether she can have been as desirable as the numbers of her suitors leads us to believe4 ,further1 we may quite pertinently inquire what it was that ever induced ,odysseus to spend twenty years of his life away from his wife1 unless there were some secret and profound reason4 ,it is true that his adventures are presented to us in the narrative as being forced upon him4 ,but who has ever known an adventurer whose adventures were not inevitable8 #ha ,the realism and methodical certainty with which adultery was expected in the wife by the absent husband both in antiquity and the ,middle ,ages is shown 7#a7 by the general attitude of wonder and admiration maintained towards ,penelope1 and 7#b7 by the famous ceintures de chastet in which the aid of the locksmith was enlisted in order to safeguard an absent husband's honour4 #hb ,the fact that during the war numbers of married women were thus served by men very much older than themselves1 only shows how1 as his years increase1 a foolish man's vanity sets ever greater store by a female's favours4 ,it is too easily forgotten that when a man is a born fool1 old age does but increase his foolishness2 it does not1 as most people suppose1 turn bad wine into good4 #hc ,in one case this occurred1 despite the fact that all the woman's relatives and friends constantly urged her to rid herself of her useless mate by fair means or foul4 #hd ,the ,laws of ,manu make special provision for a woman who is childless owing to her husband's fault4 #he ,a good deal of the pseudo-scientific literature of their day even tells them that the orgasm is just as important to them as to the male1 and lays such stress upon it that they may be forgiven for misunderstanding its real value to their lives4 #hf ,women of a slightly more intellectual mould of mind generally become interested in some public movement or ,cause1 or begin to take up a new religion or philosophy1 or express the desire to go in for acting at this stage4 ,but the same forces are at work in them as in the woman described above--that is to say1 their old environment having failed to procure them the whole physiological cycle which they need1 their instincts urge them blindly to seek a fresh environment4 #hg ,women are particularly prone to endeavour to rule in the home by means of this trick of giving their spouse a guilty conscience1 and they do not mind much what words they use or abuse to achieve that end4 ,the word 8selfish10 however1 is a very convenient word for this purpose1 particularly if they happen to be dealing with a man who believes1 as they do1 that it has a meaning and that this meaning is offensive4 #hh ,all this time she may have been protesting consciously that she does not want children and that she is quite happy without them4 ,it is her blind instinct and the impelling force of her dissatisfied reproductive organs that have been driving her 7despite her conscious disinclination or indifference to motherhood7 into situations in which she can be fertilized4 #hi ,to this anthropologists may object3 ,what about the ,australian ,bushmen who did not associate the coitus with reproduction8 ,true2 but they knew that children came with marriage1 although they did not know that the coitus had anything to do with their appearance4 ,and the fact of being a married man would thus become inextricably mingled with the condition of paternity4 #ij ,among the reasons given for the wife's unfaithfulness there are of course a few that apply also to the husband4 ,these the reader will readily pick out1 and they do not require to be re-stated here4 ,to give one example of these common reasons1 however1 ,i would remind the reader of the effect of the continued use of contraceptives on happy sexual relations4 #ia 8,h0 signifies husband's petition3 8,w0 signifies wife's4 #ib ,unfortunately these figures were unobtainable1 as for the previous years1 distinct for husband and wife4 #ic ,figures for the years #aiac and #aiad unobtainable4 #id ,priests of the ,holy ,catholic ,church not included4 #ie ,as they include unmarried men1 they are somewhat in excess of the correct figures for families1 but the proportions between them would not be so very much affected by the omission of the unmarried4 #if ,it is this omission to draw a sharp distinction between the proclivities of flourishing health and those of lack of health or of sub-normal health1 that vitiates the arguments and conclusions in such books as ,otto ,weininger's ,sex and ,character1 and essays like ,schopenhauer's on ,woman and ,the ,metaphysics of ,love4 ,this omission is more particularly fatal to-day when negative people are becoming very much more numerous than positive people4 #ig ,the reason why women live in such dread of the man who can see through them1 and endeavour to heap every kind of ignominy upon him1 is that in their alleged 8mystery0 lies their power over the average man1 and that their sentiments and insistence on a sentimental view of their sex1 all help to furnish their arsenal with the weapons they can wield most effectively against man in general4 ,the wonder is that they have been able to impose their view of the penetrating man upon the mass of ,british mankind4 #ih ,the same lack of caution probably led to his marriage2 for1 in view of the negative character of his constitution he is not likely to marry in order to meet the deep bodily need ,st4 ,paul speaks of4 #ii ,truth to tell1 the proud man is disliked nowadays4 ,there is no place for him4 ,the whole of the modern world is run and organized on such lines1 that only the vain man and woman are regarded as desirable4 ,the bulk of modern men are of the modest-vain type1 who purr contentedly when their fellows smile upon them2 hence the enormous increase in futile and meaningless orders and badges of honour in recent years1 and the stampede there is to obtain them4 #ajj ,in his ,house of the ,dead1 ,dostoiewsky lays some stress on the frequent occurrence of vanity in criminals4 ,see particularly ,chapter ,i4 #aja ,it is this fact that makes the judgments of vain people so unreliable and worthless2 because a vain person always judges all people1 not according to their true worth1 but according to the satisfaction his vanity has derived from them4 ,thus a genius who mortifies a vain man's vanity 7or a vain woman's vanity7 is called a 8fool10 a 8detestable fraud10 a 8stuck-up1 pretentious prig10 etc41 etc4 ,on the other hand1 the fool who knows how to flatter is regarded as intelligent1 understanding1 perspicacious1 knowledgeable1 etc41 etc41 by the vain person4 ,the whole of modern opinion1 based as it largely is upon vain impulses1 thus becomes quite worthless4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,the ,old ,maid and ,her ,relation to ,society ,one of the first facts to be remembered about the spinster1 whether she be a positive or a negative woman1 is that she is an abnormal being--just as the celibate priest is abnormal1 and just as any non-reproductive adult animal is abnormal--and therefore that her impulses must inevitably find their adaptation in an abnormal manner4 ,this may be an unpleasant fact1 and it may seem a hard thing to say2 but we are not concerned here with what is pleasant1 kind-hearted1 or courteous4 ,our concern is much more to approach as nearly as we can to the truth on this matter2 and since the phenomenon of spinsterhood is well known1 to deal with it in a manner that will be useful to all those who wish to arrive at a better understanding of it4 ,modern people have grown so emotional and sentimental as to truth in general1 that it is becoming more and more difficult to deal in a straightforward way with subjects having unpleasant associations1 or likely to lead to unpleasant conclusions1 without incurring all kinds of imputations that are utterly irrelevant to an honest spirit of inquiry4 ,the moment they leave the investigation of such obviously harmless subjects as chess or bridge1 and turn their attention to human nature1 modern people feel that the pursuit of truth must or ought to be directed more by a constant regard for good feeling1 politeness and pleasantness1 than by any rigorous endeavour to arrive at facts4 ,for instance1 when the ordinary middle-class person of the present day hears it said that spinsters are abnormal1 cannot help acting abnormally1 and must therefore constitute an abnormal influence in society1 he finds it difficult to resist the temptation to object indignantly3 8,oh1 but it isn't their fault if they are spinsters--why say such hard things about them80 ,it never occurs to such a person that the business of discovering the facts about a certain phenomenon is not an undertaking that can be trammelled by considerations either of gallantry or drawing-room etiquette1 nor is it embarked upon with the object of apportioning praise or blame4 ,the contention that it is not the spinster's fault that she is a spinster1 therefore1 is no more relevant to an inquiry into spinsterhood1 and ought no more to influence us in the conclusions at which we arrive concerning spinsterhood1 than the fact that the germ of tuberculosis is not responsible for being the germ of tuberculosis ought to influence us in our inquiry into its relation to pulmonary phthisis4 ,i am quite prepared to admit without further ado that there are hundreds1 possibly thousands1 of noble and eminently desirable women in ,england to-day who have remained spinsters from deliberate choice4 ,i have no doubt that if ,i had been a woman and had entertained anything approximately like my present opinion of modern men1 ,i too would have remained a spinster1 maybe from sheer nausea4#ajb ,the majority of modern men are so very much below even a modest idea of what man should be1 they have been so much besotted and debilitated through generations of unmanly labours and occupations1 that it is not merely conceivable that many women should prefer not to condescend1 it is almost inconceivable that any woman can be found who imagines she has found her match4 ,let us clearly define1 however1 what we have set ourselves out to investigate4 ,we have not undertaken in this chapter to show the multifarious reasons why a woman may elect spinsterhood as her rle in life4 ,we have undertaken the more important task of discovering her relation to society when once the rle of spinster has been assumed4 ,whether she has remained a spinster from deliberate choice1 therefore1 or whether she is a spinster owing to the loss of her fianc at sea or in a railway accident1 matters but little4 ,the fact is that1 as the result of circumstances which may or may not have been beyond her control1 she has remained unmarried4 ,as a spinster she will inevitably develop characteristics more or less true to type4 ,these characteristics will exercise some influence on her own life and that of others4 ,it is this influence that we propose to consider1 irrespective of the causes which brought the spinster herself into being4 ,from the outset1 therefore1 it is as well for everybody to bear this in mind in regard to spinsterhood in general1 namely1 that since the spinsters of any country represent a body of human beings who are not leading natural lives1 and whose fundamental instincts are able to find no normal expression or satisfaction1 it follows1 on a priori grounds alone1 apart from any question of evidence1 which we may ultimately find for or against1 that the influence of this body of spinsters on the life of the nation to which they belong1 must be abnormal1 and therefore contrary to the normal needs and the natural development of that nation4 ,moreover1 since the abnormal1 when it is not supernormal1 tends constantly to gravitate into the morbid1 it is not inconsistent with this principle1 but rather a necessary conclusion from it1 to say that the presence of a body of unadapted spinsters in any nation must exercise a morbid influence upon the life of that nation4 ,the attitude of the average thinker to this conclusion is1 as a rule1 to shrug his shoulders and to exclaim3 8,what would you do with them1 poor things8 ,they must live60 ,certainly4 ,and it is precisely because they must live that they cannot help exercising a baneful influence on the life of the community4 ,the fact that modern society can offer no satisfactory solution of the surplus-woman question does not justify us in overlooking the evils which are the outcome of surplus women in our midst4 ,the fact that we can devise no adaptation for them1 does not relieve us of the duty of investigating the nature of the evils to which their non-adaptedness gives rise4 ,to concentrate upon the economic aspect of the question1 and to say as many do1 that provided these surplus women can support themselves1 the problem of their lives1 and the difficulty of their evil influence upon their nation1 is entirely solved1 is simply to draw a red herring across the path of our inquiry4 ,for self-support is not even the consummation of the life of man4 ,how then could it be the consummation of the life of woman1 in whom a very much more elaborate equipment than man's for a definite calling1 demands a far more complicated range of bodily activities than any to which an occupation providing merely self-support can possibly lead8 ,self-support is never more than a means to an end4 ,the needs of a full and complete life1 therefore1 cannot be met by self-support and the industry by which it is achieved4 ,neither is it any satisfactory reply to the question1 ,how can we correct or eliminate the evils of spinsterhood8 to point to the number of spinsters who are doing what is called 8useful work40 ,in the first place1 it is always wise when such a plea is advanced1 to inquire into the 8useful0 work in question1 in order to discover 7a7 how much of it has been rendered necessary by the very existence of spinsters in large numbers1 7b7 how much of it is the creation of the spinsters themselves in their resolute insistence on acquiring some importance1 7c7 how much of it is actually harmful1 7d7 how much of it is not essentially woman's work at all4 ,finally1 when these questions have been gone into with sufficient care1 we find ourselves back at the old objection that1 however useful the employment may be at which spinsters may be working1 since it cannot thoroughly adapt them 7except in the event of its conforming to two additional conditions which shall be discussed later71#ajc it must leave them still abnormal members of the community1 and therefore a morbid influence4 ,i propose to discuss the whole question of spinsterhood from the age when1 in healthy girls1 the condition begins to prove noticeably deleterious to health and spirits1 to the time when1 if marriage has not taken place1 no fertilization can occur4 ,i therefore have for my subject the general question of spinsterhood1 from the time when a virgin reaches the age of twenty-five1 to the time when she is fifty or more4 ,and very naturally ,i propose to concern myself not with spinsters in the legal sense1 but only with spinsters who are entitled to the epithet intacta4 ,proceeding along the accustomed lines1 spinsters shall accordingly be classified as follows3-- 7#a7 ,positive virgins4 7#b7 ,negative virgins4 --that is to say1 7#a7 those whose bodies and instincts say 8,yea0 emphatically to life1 and who will brook no negative compromise2 and 7#b7 those whose bodies and instincts are not sufficiently vital or sanguine insistently to demand the fulfilment of their destiny4 ,it is necessary to make this sharp distinction again1 because it is the only way to be clear regarding the diversity of characteristics which are to be found among spinsters of all nations and climes4 ,in ,chapter ,,iii1 ,i dealt with the question of the origin of instinctive desire1 or bodily impulse or wish4 ,i showed how it arose from two possible sources3-- 7a7 ,an ancestral habit1 leading to a predisposition to perform certain actions in a certain manner1 or to function in a traditional way in complete conformity with the lines laid down by previous generations within a species4 7b7 ,a certain correlation of bodily parts or organs1 the possession of which in itself is sufficient to suggest and to enforce a particular course of conduct in its owner4 ,i showed that the blind will to function in a certain way1 and the impulse to seek the means of functioning in a certain way1 must arise1 provided that these two conditions are present in an individual1 and that his body is in a sufficiently tonic state for these conditions to operate normally4 ,now in a woman the blind will to function as a mother finds its source in3-- 7a7 ,the long line of female ancestors who must have been mothers1 and who therefore have established an ancestral maternal habit on the female side1 which reaches the individual female with a considerable amount of accumulated momentum through the generations that have preceded her4 7b7 ,a certain correlation of bodily parts--the large amount of space taken up in the female body by the organs connected directly or indirectly with procreation1 the importance of these organs1 and the elaborate nervous organization contrived to bring these organs into effective and harmonious action when once the proper start has been given4 7#a7 ,in the unmarried woman1 therefore1 whose body is sufficiently healthy and tonic to act normally1 there are two forces incessantly impelling her to the employment of her important reproductive organs1 of both of which forces she may be and usually is1 childishly unconscious3 they are 7a7 her ancestral bias or habit1 and 7b7 the correlation of her bodily parts4 ,the more perfectly formed she is and the more healthy she is1 the more importunate will these forces be1 and the less inclined will they show themselves to be put off without a struggle4 ,this woman or girl ,i shall call the positive spinster--that is to say1 the type of unmarried female who says 8,yea0 emphatically to life1 and whose tendency will always be to favour those opportunities1 circumstances1 and directions in her life which promise to lead her to motherhood and the normal functioning of her body4 7#b7 ,in the unmarried woman1 however1 whose body is not sufficiently healthy or tonic to act normally1 there are the same forces present1 driving her to employ her reproductive organs2 but the insistence of these forces not being very great1 the drive is hardly felt1 or not felt at all4 ,the ancestral habit1 although the same of course1 speaks with a fainter voice1 and the correlation of organs which are less tonic and less healthy perforce generates a less impetuous impulse4 ,this woman or girl ,i shall call the negative spinster--that is to say1 she is the type of unmarried female who either says 8,nay0 emphatically to life1 and who will not hasten to seize opportunities that promise to lead to motherhood1 or else she will be listless and apathetic about the whole matter1 unconsciously so1 and therefore consciously uninterested1 unmoved by any of its aspects4 ,these two types of spinsters will now be examined separately4 7#a7 ,,the ,,positive ,,spinster ,she is usually a great conscious sufferer1 sometimes both mentally and physically2 for1 while she possesses the physical equipment for marriage in a highly tonic condition1 with all the potential virtues of the mother1 this equipment and these virtues never have the opportunity of deploying their power4 ,she may1 at the cost of great pains1 develop other virtues and other adaptations2 but the fact to be remembered about her is1 that the functions for which she is best fitted and the virtues which are most essentially hers1 cannot be used in her life4 ,whatever else she may become--that is always her second calling4 ,her true vocation will have been missed4 ,what perfection soever she may attain in her second calling1 will always be inferior to that which she would certainly have shown in the calling for which she was primarily and chiefly endowed4 ,in addition1 however1 to the extra fatigue1 worry1 pains and distaste always connected with pursuing a vocation not primarily one's own1 she herself will always feel and reveal the disillusionment and bitter regret of one who is conscious of having been designed for something different4 ,the mood of the artist whom circumstances have compelled to adopt accountancy for a livelihood1 will be her constant mood4 ,in addition to being a person pursuing a wrong vocation1 in this sense1 however1 she will feel something more than the artist who is doomed to accountancy4 ,she will feel 8out of it10 as the popular expression has it--outside that which is most thrilling1 most enthralling1 and most universally interesting1 outside the main ,stream of ,life itself4 ,all of us1 as we look around and behold our big cities1 our municipal authorities and their offices1 our streets1 our traffic on those streets1 our railways1 our ,parliament1 our system of ,judicature1 our industries1 our commerce1 and finally the land beyond with all its agricultural and mining activities2 all of us who can with one sweeping glance comprehend the immensely vast and intricate activities which go to make a modern nation1 have sometimes a lucid moment when we can abstract from the wild and confusing tangle of our environment the idea of the purpose for which it is all there1 the idea of the force for which it is organized--in short the underlying fact which gives the city1 the country beyond1 and all the activities we see1 a sense1 a genuine meaning4 ,this purpose1 this force1 this fact1 is the ,stream of ,life that runs through our organized ,state1 and to which all these activities1 all these complex conditions1 do but minister4 ,the factory is thus beheld1 not as an end in itself1 but like art1 like railways1 like the bus service and the ,government1 it is only an instrument serving the most important thing of all1 the ,stream of ,life1 ,human ,life4 ,now it is precisely from this most important thing of all that the spinster feels herself most radically and hopelessly severed4 ,she may minister to it indirectly1 through the factory1 the municipal or ,government offices1 the studio1 the nursery or the scientific professions2 but her importance will be commensurate with the relation she bears to it4 ,she is one step removed from the main stream1 she does not directly flow with it2 before the most important thing on earth1 the thing that gives everything else its sense1 she is and can only be a spectator4 ,this is the additional anguish she must feel as a creature cheated of her proper calling4 ,the artist with whom we have compared her1 who suffers the mortifying experience of pursuing a vocation 7accountancy7 not his own1 may after all be flowing with the ,stream of ,life1 and form part of it4 ,the additional anguish of being 8out of it10 in this sense1 he need not necessarily feel4 ,he experiences only half the spinster's spiritual distress4 ,nor will it necessarily console her1 or reconcile her to her relatively unimportant fate as spectator1 to point to the pain1 the passion1 the disappointment1 the hardships1 the disease and the poverty that lash the main ,stream of ,life like a flail4 ,if she is honest1 she will tell you just what everybody else feels--that she would risk all these things to be in it4 ,but there is yet something more she endures1 which the artist doomed to accountancy is spared4 ,provided he be wise and observes the essential rules of hygiene and sound diet1 there is no reason1 despite his abandoned mission1 why his body should suffer very severely4 ,while he may deplore his wasted capacity for art1 he may nevertheless live a healthy sexual life and become a happy father4 ,the positive spinster1 on the other hand1 cannot well escape the physical penalty of her total sexual abstinence4 ,the rebuff offered to her reproductive system by the long1 endless wait is neither passed over by ,nature nor forgiven4 ,such elaborate preparations as have been made in her body for a specific consummation cannot end in nothing1 without certain very definite reactions1 which it is neither fanciful nor fantastic1 but rather helpful1 to describe collectively as a profound physiological disappointment4 ,the fact that this physiological disappointment does not enter consciousness as a disappointment has nothing whatever to do with its reality4 ,the energy that has been waiting and waiting to be used endeavours to discharge itself4 ,since it cannot find the customary and normal channels of discharge1 it disperses itself erratically along any channel that it can find--usually the nerves--and it does this angrily because of the impetus it has acquired through being checked4 ,the thwarted instincts show their revolt in internal conflict with the other instincts of life1 and may be so powerful as to convert a girl hitherto consistently yea-saying into a radical nay-sayer1 or a suicide4#ajd ,hence the strong tendency to suicide in very positive girls between the ages of fifteen and twenty1 when the passions are most impetuous1 and waiting leads to the maximum amount of conflict4#aje ,the fact that the number of suicides among women increases where their occupations bring them in contact with men1 and that the same association with men also increases their tendency to lunacy and criminality1#ajf supports the view that the physiological expectancy1 by being increased owing to the presence of a strong sexual stimulus1 leads to a greater conflict when it is disappointed4 ,the discharge of the sexual energy along nervous channels may lead to every variety of neuropathic symptoms4 ,the woman may become the victim of phobias1 obsessions1 melancholia1 morbid self-contempt1 or morbid self-esteem 7narcissism71 facial tics1 other spasms1 insomnia1 vicious secret habits1 and hallucinations4 ,owing to the fact that other parts of her body1 away from her sexual organs 7the throat1 sophagus1 or bowel1 etc471 may attempt to find compensation for the inexperienced sexual sensations1 she may find a morbid pleasure in consuming highly condimented foods1 or foods which she can swallow in a bulky bolus#ajg--;bananas1 new bread1 pastry1 insufficiently masticated hard foods1 such as bread-crusts1 apples1 and even raw vegetables4 ,this propensity1 while quickly inducing indigestion1 may1 by giving a false appetite1 cause her to be taken for a glutton4 ,a case has been known of a girl who1 addicted to this method of pseudo-sexual satisfaction1 used to employ artificial means of vomiting up her food1 like the more dissipated ,romans of old1 in order to be able to enjoy a fresh bout of swallowing4#ajh ,the effects of this kind of abuse upon the alimentary canal may well be imagined1 and even where it is not carried to extremes1 must in the long run lead to all the most distressing forms of chronic dyspepsia4 ,furthermore1 the instinctive effort which every woman will make1 in cases of vague physiological distress1 to conceal her bodily misery from her friends and relatives1 frequently leads to consistent affectation4 ,it is not necessary that the nature of the bodily misery should have reached consciousness in order that affectation1 as a means of concealment1 should be indulged in4 ,it is sufficient that the physiological distress should have been communicated vaguely as distress to the brain4 ,from the moment this has occurred there will be a tendency in all brave women1 who incline to show a bold and happy face to the world1 to practise every kind of affectation4 ,their speech1 their voice and even their laugh will strike their friends as over-strained or peculiar4 ,some will habitually make strange grimaces1 others will smile in a set1 exaggerated way1 or over-emphasize their horror at objects disliked and their pleasure at objects approved4 ,the affectation may even affect their gait1 so that they will walk with a bold manly stride in which an unconscious attempt will be made to demonstrate to the outside world excessive self-assurance and happy adaptation1 in order to conceal the reverse of these feelings which are agitating their spirits4 ,as time goes on these affectations will become fixed habits that no training and no changes in environment can remove4 ,there may be attempts at sterile compensation1 taking the form of an excessive fondness for children1 or a desire to fondle or to have power over them4 ,this is particularly obnoxious1 and entirely justifies psychologists like ,dr4 ,e4 ,jones in strongly deprecating the too exclusive teaching of children by unmarried teachers4#aji ,it may look very sweet to behold the spinster of from twenty-five to forty manifesting her affection for a child and kissing1 nursing or instructing it4 ,but when it is remembered that the spinster in question is not merely giving herself very well-defined pleasure by the immediate touch of the soft downy skin of the child1 or by the sense of power over it1 but may also be rousing in the child itself certain pleasurable feelings1 or certain notions1 that do not fail to become registered on its memory1 and may induce either regrettable sexual precocity or a distorted view of life1#aaj the behaviour of the spinster appears in a less innocuous light4 ,nevertheless1 it must be admitted that such attempts at sterile compensation by unmarried women are hard to prevent2 for the spinster's action at such times is quite unconscious1 and she is usually so far from realizing what she is doing1 that if you were to enlighten her upon her conduct she would be both indignant and disgusted4 ,there can be little doubt1 however1 that the spinster's strong predilection in favour of the teacher's calling is largely due to this blind pursuit of some kind of power over the young4 ,there may also be attempts at compensation with members of the same sex--not necessarily in the form of vicious unnatural relations1 but in the nature of patronizing friendship with younger girls4 ,spinsters in the wealthy classes who organize and direct girls' clubs are usually seeking compensation of this kind1 and receive a tremendous amount of credit for humanitarian motives1 of which they are entirely innocent4 ,nevertheless1 the misinterpretation of the crowd1 which takes their action to be humanitarian1 is eagerly seized and adopted by them1 because it helps them to give a definite description to the merely compensatory character of their interest in the club1 which even they themselves do not1 of course1 understand4 ,among the more wealthy spinsters1 there may also be attempts at compensation through frankly humanitarian propaganda1 through the endowment or enriching of humanitarian institutions1 or through humanitarian labours4 ,this is usually expressed by a very deep concern about the welfare of animals1 or the poor1 or the babes of the poor1 or anything over which the assumption of power constitutes an easy and uncompromising matter4 ,we should remember that the relationship of mother to child derives more than half its exquisite pleasure for the female from the fact that it is a relationship of almost absolute power4 ,this instinct to wield power1 therefore1 which forms an essential factor in female psychology in its relation to the helpless1 and which explains the regret most mothers feel when their children are first able to run about and become independent1 has to be reckoned with in the psychology of the spinster4 ,if it cannot in her find its normal expression1 it will seek compensation in every possible way1 and since humanitarian interests offer an uncompromising outlet for its exercise1 humanitarian interests are naturally in very great favour among the spinsters of all classes4 ,intimately connected with humanitarian pursuits1 particularly when they are adopted with frenzied resolution1 is however another and less inviting psychological factor4 ,the theory that males and females contain in their constitution certain elements1 more or less accentuated1 of the other sex1 is now so widely accepted that it has become a commonplace in all speculations upon the sex question4 ,now among the characteristics which most frequently manifest themselves in women of marked male tendencies is a proneness to sadistic expressions of the sex instinct4 ,the habit of teasing among hysterical girls1 and even among female children not yet pubescent1 is a sign of this4#aaa ,in the normal life of the married female these sadistic impulses become sublimated either by the action of the stronger male upon her psyche and physique 7which draws the masochistic elements in her to the fore7 or by the natural expression of her power over her baby or babies4 ,in the unmarried female1 or the female without offspring1 these sadistic impulses have to be repressed or curbed4 ,the peaceful and orderly expression of them in modern society is hardly possible4 ,but we are told by psychologists that an overpowered instinct asserts itself in an obverse character4#aab ,in spinsters1 therefore1 we should expect the sadistic elements in the happiest circumstances to become inverted into intense humanitarianism4#aac ,this explains why we so frequently encounter middle-aged spinsters whose hard metallic faces and cruel cold eyes seem so utterly out of keeping with their ardent participation in humanitarian movements of all kinds4 ,i remember one occasion when ,i happened to call on a lady of this kind4 ,i was appalled by the terrifying hardness of her features1 and yet1 ,i must say1 ,i was not in the least surprised when1 in the course of the conversation1 she asked me 7,i ought to mention the district where she lived was a very hilly one7 whether ,i did not suffer at the sight of the poor horses in the neighbourhood4 ,these women1 who frequently have hearts of stone1 nevertheless find compensation for the repression of their sadistic impulses in the exercise of the most ungovernable and most obsessional humanitarianism and sentimentality1 but while their neighbours and the local clergy applaud their lives to the echo1 no one has the smallest inkling of the true nature of the phenomenon4 ,a child would tell at a glance that these humanitarian and sentimental ladies were not radically kind by nature1 and those who live with them every day would probably confirm the child's first impression2 but such is the distrust in ,england of what the eye can read1 and so great and instantaneous is the respect for humanitarian zeal1 particularly when it is backed by a heavy banking account1 that these women frequently die leaving a big reputation for warm-heartedness behind them4 ,the fact that this feverish humanitarianism and sentimentality are frequently most mischievous in their effects and create a number of national abuses1 besides involving the expenditure of large sums of money on what are frequently the least desirable and least promising elements in the nation1 is concealed beneath the dramatic munificence of the wealthy spinster's life4#aad ,in the wealthy classes1 as the result of their superior cultivation1 the compensation frequently takes an active intellectual form1 and when1 owing to the vague consciousness of enduring a great grievance 7common to most positive spinsters who have not successfully sublimated their reproductive instincts71 misanthropy supervenes1 there may arise a very pronounced sex-antagonism1 leading the spinsters who have developed it to engage in pursuits1 or in intellectual pastimes1 where they feel they can clash with men1 or where they know they can resist or impede men in the natural business of their lives4 ,spinsters seeking this kind of compensation frequently derive great satisfaction from misogamist meditations4 ,they will display a morbid interest in arguments against marriage1 in the statistics of insanity or disease among married women1 and in the evidence of excessive parturition 7leading to debility7 among the wives of the poor4 ,they will exercise their influence to convert young girls to misanthropy1 to misogamy1 or at least to an indifference to men2 and if they can achieve this end1 under a religious cloak 7which is not difficult with passionate young girls of eighteen1 whose 8vague voluminous and powerful feelings1 if afforded means to do so1 settle down and concentrate on a single object10#aae71 they justify themselves on the score that they have led such young girls into paths of purity and devotion4#aaf ,it would be impracticable here to deal with all the possible manifestations of sex-repression in the female celibate4 ,they have been discussed very fully by other authors1 and in detail they would serve no purpose in this book4 ,i have contented myself with hinting broadly at those morbid results of sex-repression in the positive virgin which1 while not leading to definite lunacy or insanity1 are yet common enough to demand consideration in a discussion upon the spinster's relation to society2 but let not any reader imagine that in the outline given above there has been any desire to dwell upon the black side of a picture which from whatever angle it be viewed cannot at best be a pleasant one4 ,there is a good deal of strong feeling among the majority of people to-day against the belief that sex-repression need necessarily have bad results4 ,these people say that the school of psycho-analysts have grossly exaggerated the facts about the phenomena1 and have drawn an unnecessarily lurid description of them4 ,but surely the question is one concerning which it would be suicidal in a scientist to exaggerate or overstate his case4 ,is it not after all common sense8 ,years ago--or to be precise in the year #ahdj--;de ,quincey1 comparing the mental diseases that arise from excessive expression with those that come from insufficient expression1 or the non-expression1 of deep sensibilities1 wrote as follows concerning this matter3 8,amongst the ,quakers 7who may be regarded as a monastic people7 anomalous forms of nervous derangement are developed1 the secret principle of which turns 444 upon feelings too much repelled and driven in4 ,morbid suppression of deep sensibilities must lead to states of disease equally terrific1 and possibly even less tractable2 not so sudden and critical it may be1 but more settled and gloomy40#aag ,this anticipates most of what modern psychology has discovered about repression1 and can be applied just as legitimately to repression in the physical as in the psychical sphere4 ,but a very much earlier record of the same common-sense view about repression1 or non-expression of natural appetites and sensibilities1 is to be found in ,aristotle's ,poetics1 where the doctrine of catharsis constitutes the kernel of all that modern psychologists would claim in regard to this particular aspect of civilized humanity4 ,as the life of the individual female is prolonged1 and the tone of her reproductive organs depreciates through the deleterious influence of long idle waiting1 there occurs an abatement of the unconscious influences impelling the positive spinster to seek a fuller life4 ,a sort of passive adaptation to abnormality takes place in which a balance is attained1 and the restless and more afflicting symptoms become accordingly less acute4 ,but1 with the decline in sexual vigour and alertness1 there is a corresponding falling off of good spirits1 hopefulness1 and the love of life1 and frequently there supervenes a pronounced distaste for human concerns or a general depression1 which makes the spinster the proverbially embittered female of popular tradition4 ,the more positive she was at the outset1 the more likely is this revulsion of feeling to appear in an intolerable form--hence the common occurrence of embittered spinsters on the ,continent1 where women are1 as a rule1 more positive than in ,england4 ,indeed1 it can usually be taken for granted that where ,nature has been thwarted without any dire results1 ,nature was not originally very strong1 or not assertive enough to offer very severe resistance4 ,the presence of thousands of very cheerful and completely adapted spinsters in ,england1 therefore1 far from being a good sign1 is in reality a very deplorable one2 for it argues that in them ,nature was not powerful enough to offer any determined fight before allowing herself to be completely conquered4 ,there are but two possible exceptions to this rule1 and they occur where the reproductive instinct has been subjected to the process known to psychologists as sublimation4 ,this innocuous transmutation of the sex appetite and emotions may be effected either by means of ,christianity 7religious fervour7#aah or ,alcohol 7dypsomania74 ,when either of these potent sublimators of the sex impulse has come into operation1 it is no longer safe to argue from the spectacle of a cheerful and happy spinster of middle age1 that in her ,nature was not very strong from the start4 ,but1 again1 the fact should be emphasized that with the spread of enlightenment on the one hand1 and the general decline in vigorous health on the other1 these hitherto unfailing means of sex-sublimation are becoming ever less and less accessible to the women of the nation4 ,a generation has arisen on whom the fundamental tenets of the old faith have lost their hold1 and in whom1 therefore1 it is becoming ever more and more difficult for ,christianity to become a burning substitutive passion2 while this same generation can no longer undertake the alcoholic cure1 owing to the fact that human health is no longer what it was4#aai ,before proceeding to a discussion of the negative spinster1 ,i now propose to consider one aspect only of the positive unmarried girl of the poorer or working classes4 ,there can be little doubt that in her case1 very much more frequently than in the case of the well-to-do spinster1 compensation is sought in some kind of illicit relation to the males either of her own class or of the class above4 ,the statistics of prostitution alone show what an enormous contribution the women of the poorer or working classes make to the ranks of the courtesans in ,europe2 and seeing what the alternative usually is--that is to say1 a life of drudgery unrelieved by any brighter element and aggravated by all the evils of unsuccessful repression--it is not surprising that among the more positive girls of the poorer classes1 particularly in towns1 there are many who go to swell the army of fast women4 ,but at this point it will be necessary for me to digress a little in order to make quite clear my own standpoint in regard to this very vexed question of prostitution4 ,for it is only an evil in modern ,western ,civilization because people insist on making it so4 ,our civilization stands or falls as a whole4 ,the intricate adjustments which constitute its fabric1 and the minute ramifications that wander in all directions from every centre in its complicated organization to every other centre1 and sometimes to every other civilization1 lend to its various parts a character so interdependent and mutually subservient1 that it is no longer possible to lay hold of any important portion of it1 with a view to condemnation1 without thereby condemning the whole4 ,the comfortable and short-sighted people who1 from the security of their smug homes1 point a finger of censure at prostitution1 therefore1 have not as a rule the imaginations or the knowledge to realize that in so doing they are bringing an indictment against the whole order of society1 including their own pathetic fastnesses of bourgeois luxury and morality4 ,if prostitution exists on a large scale in modern ,europe1 and prostitution is wrong1 then the civilizations of modern ,europe are wrong1 and it is fatuous to point to the most obvious sore1 when the whole pig is diseased4 ,nobody nowadays denies1 perhaps1 that the whole pig is diseased8 ,then it is absurd to moan over this one sore4 ,but why is so much fuss made precisely about prostitution on its sexual side8 ,there is the prostitution of healthy rosy-fingered youth in hundreds of other walks of life1 and nobody1 or scarcely anybody1 stirs to point it out4 ,the young girls who to-day are sent by their parents at the age of sixteen to twenty to bow their heads for forty-three hours a week before a typewriter1 or a ledger1 or a stamping1 cutting or folding machine1 get ill just as quickly1 lose their beauty just as surely1 and grow depressed and spiritless just as rapidly1 as the sexual prostitute1 and they get only a sixteenth or less of the prostitute's entertainment out of life into the bargain4 ,watch the career of the girl who sells herself to the modern taskmaster of commerce or industry6 ,could anything be more tragic8 ,could any satyr bring about grosser degradation of health and spirits8 ,what sympathy or horror or righteous indignation can you rouse in the moral toads1 who inveigh against prostitution1 by pointing to the rounded shoulders1 the loveless life1 the listless eyes1 the bloodless cheeks and hands of the typewriter or other machine drudge8 ,none6 ,they reply that the typist's worn-out looks1 her lost beauty1 her faded youth1 her hopeless expression and outlook1 are not the result of a life of immorality1 therefore she is honourable1 therefore she need not be rescued1 therefore everything is all right1 therefore nothing need be done4 ,but enough6 ,the wide-awake will see at once that there is cant in the very frown that is vouchsafed to sexual prostitution--cant1 the inevitable ingredient of every movement and every counter-movement in these islands4#abj ,the evils of prostitution are no greater and no more tragic than those of any other form of exploitation of the individual4 ,that which unnecessarily aggravates the horrors of the public courtesan's life in ,england is not necessarily the natural consequences of the life itself1 but the whole attitude of the community and of the legislature to the question of prostitution in general4#aba ,society in ,england seems resolutely determined not to face and answer the question3 ,is prostitution necessary or unnecessary8 ,if it is necessary to the kind of civilization we have evolved1 then the only honourable1 the only humane1 the only magnanimous course to take1 is to face it bravely and honestly1 and do all we can for those women who are contributing their lives to a public service1 just as we do all we can for soldiers and sailors in war-time1 and for all public workers who perform useful and dangerous duties for the public weal4 ,if it is unnecessary1 then steps should be taken to find out why it continues to exist1 what flaw in our social system accounts for its survival1 despite the fact that it is superfluous2 and how that flaw can be best removed4 ,the general consensus of opinion among ,european legislators and the ,european public must be to the effect that prostitution is necessary4 ,it is inconceivable that it should be allowed to survive as flourishingly as it does in ,england and on the ,continent1 if public opinion and the legislators in each country could find no excuse for it4 ,what is still more inconceivable1 however1 is the diabolical hypocrisy of a public1 which at the same time tacitly assents to it as a social need1 and yet covers with shame and contempt those who devote their lives to making it possible4 ,truth to tell1 there are many grave reasons why prostitution#abb still constitutes a necessary adjunct to our topsy-turvy1 hare-brained social system1 and as long as it remains as topsy-turvy and hare-brained as it is1 the prostitute will continue to be indispensable4 ,in view of this fact1 it is but rational1 not to mention humane1 to regard with more solicitude and charity those who from what motive1 or through what circumstances soever1 supply the means for its existence4 ,i will touch but lightly on two aspects of society which seem to contribute chiefly to the causes making prostitution a public necessity4 ,i refer to 7a7 the virgin ideal in marriage1 or parthenogamy1 and 7b7 the economic system which compels thousands among the men of the struggling classes to marry at a date very much later than their physiological development would indicate as reasonable4#abc 7a7 ,in order to preserve the custom of parthenogamy in conjunction with 7b7 it is obvious that there must be some safety-valve1 some outlet for the expression of virile passions1 which while being normal is capable of safeguarding a certain large body of virgins annually1 and of preserving them from pre-connubial amours4 ,the fact that1 at present1 this safety-valve or outlet1 though countenanced by society1 is entirely neglected1 despised and concealed by the public1 and is thus allowed to breed many evils which are not necessary to prostitution per se1 is not so much a reflection on the prostitute as upon the administration which leaves this department of social life utterly uncared for and unorganized4 7b7 ,apart altogether from the fact that late marriages resulting from economic pressure necessitate the existence of some relief measure which will preclude the deleterious alternative of repression1 or unnatural vice1 in young men2 for the adolescent1 as we have seen in the ,chapter on ,marriage1 it is highly desirable that there should be some school1 some opportunity for experience in sexual relations1 as there was in ancient ,greece1 for instance1 in which the young male1 in addition to finding the means of healthily delaying marriage1 may also acquire that mastery in the mysteries of life without which his future marriage may very seriously suffer4 ,it is one of the most scandalous features of modern society that1 while this relief measure and this school are allowed to exist1 nothing is done to protect either the women who supply its personnel1 or the young men who resort to it1 from all the worst consequences of promiscuity and vice4 ,the old moralists or moralizers of the nineteenth century1 now thank goodness rapidly becoming extinct1 used to justify this scandal by arguing that the dangers attending the recourse to the prostitute served a good purpose in two respects3 7#a7 ,they offered a strong inducement to sexual abstinence among young men1 and 7#b7 they cast the well-merited stigma of shame and disease upon those women who ministered to these young men's ungovernable passions4 ,it is now no longer possible either medically or psychologically to support 7#a71 consequently the cold-blooded moral inference in 7#b7 falls to the ground4 ,the evils of abstinence among men are certainly in this country more serious than those of indulgence1 while the evils resulting from a total absence of experience in sexual matters among young men are perhaps the worst of all4 ,the present obvious duty of civilization1 therefore1 short of so revolutionizing society as to make parthenogamy a thing of the past1 and late marriages unnecessary1 is to see that the sexual relief measure and school that the modern world provides for its young men are placed upon a sounder1 a purer and a more humane basis1 free from the ignorant bias of puritanical busy-bodies1 and secured from the dangers that now attend them4 ,it only remains now to say a word on the position of the prostitute herself4 ,from the psychological and physical point of view the sadness of her plight does not reside1 as the ,puritans of ,england suppose1 in the moral turpitude of her lot1 or in her loathing of it--for that is simply high-falutin' nonsense4#abd ,it resides in the fact that her very taste for her calling1 or the very desire that drew her into it--that she herself in fact--is a physiological misunderstanding4 ,her calling1 like that of the childless married woman1 presupposes that she will have to cry 8,halt60 to a physiological process in her being1 which only finds its first step in the coitus4 ,by a false analogy with man's sexual life the orgasm1 which to woman is only the beginning of a long cycle of sex-experiences which end with the weaning of the child1 is the only part of the female cycle which is vouchsafed her4 ,like the barren woman1 she is denied the whole of the subsequent stages of the cycle1 so rich in delightful experiences to her1 and continues like a man to confine herself to orgasms--orgasms ad infinitum4#abe ,it is this that constitutes the sad side of the prostitute's life4 ,if she have a tragedy1 this is her tragedy4 ,but for fear lest1 prompted by vague moral prejudices1 we feel tempted to make too much even of this aspect of her life--generally overlooked1 by the by1 in all dissertations ,i have read about her--we should remember that she shares this sad experience not only with thousands of spinsters1 but also with thousands of married women who1 from some cause or other1 frequently economic pressure1 are compelled to remain childless4#abf ,from the national point of view1 the feature about modern prostitution 7apart from the evils incidental to it which are preventable7 which is most strongly to be deprecated1 is the fact that1 since it is from working-class girls that its ranks are largely recruited1 the danger is that it is upon the most temperamental and most positive of these girls--upon the most desirable of these girls1 therefore--that the temptation to illicit relations with men is likely to exercise the most potent influence4 7#b7 ,,the ,,negative ,,spinster ,i now come to the consideration of the negative spinster1 and when once ,i shall have dealt with her1 a few remarks about the characteristics common both to the positive and negative spinster will conclude the chapter4 ,the negative spinster1 unlike her positive sister1 is not a great conscious sufferer from her condition4 ,she may ail as the result of constitutional debility incidental to the inferior vitality which causes her to be negative2 but1 from the absence of that element in her life which consummates a woman's destiny1 she will not be conscious of suffering very severely4 ,the physical equipment for marriage1 and the traditional impetus derived from the ancestral habits of her sex1 are both present in her1 but their urge is faint1 the inner voice1 far from being loud and insistent1 is barely audible1 and she is harassed by little of that importunacy on the part of her reproductive organs which compels her sister either to adapt herself normally to life1 or else to seek compensations and to develop acute nervous symptoms in so doing4 ,her own and her friends' failure to recognize the true nature of her condition1 however1 frequently1 if not invariably1 leads to misinterpretations of her precise value as an individual which are as gross as they are dangerous--gross because they apply moral values to a condition that is primarily physical1 dangerous because they lead the rest of the world into a misunderstanding concerning the importance of a normal sexual life to the individual1 and the worth of life generally4 ,these misinterpretations1 particularly in ,england and ,america1 usually take one or all of the following forms3 7#a7 ,miss ,a1 the negative spinster in question1 may regard herself1 and be regarded by others1 as above the ordinary impulses of her positive sister1 so that she and others may draw a moral from her condition1 and argue that1 by means of exercising sufficient self-control1 and preoccupying the mind sufficiently with 8elevated0 thoughts1 the sex-impulse is easily overcome without any dire results whatsoever4 7#b7 ,miss ,a may regard herself1 and be regarded by others1 as too 8pure0 for sexual impulses1 so that1 far from needing to repress or suppress the fleshy 8demons0 within her1 she soars to an altitude too lofty to be reached by them4 7#c7 ,miss ,a may regard herself1 and be regarded by others1 as indifferent to men1 so that she is able to assume an attitude of philosophical detachment towards the main stream of ,life1 which she contemplates from a distance as a mildly amused and sometimes scoffing spectator4 7#d7 ,miss ,a may convince herself1 and convince others1 that sex-impulses1 because they do not happen to be noticeable in her1 are a pure--or rather1 an impure illusion4 ,she may argue1 and induce others to argue with her1 that the power of these impulses is absurdly exaggerated by modern psychology1 and that she herself is the best proof of this absurd exaggeration4 ,as ,i have pointed out1 these misinterpretations are gross1 and they are also dangerous4 ,they are gross1 in the first place1 because they take no cognizance of the fact that ,miss ,a is a different creature from her positive sister1 an inferior and a less tonic creature1 and secondly because they give what is really a lamentable condition a falsely enviable character by concealing its true nature beneath a number of high-falutin' euphemisms4 ,this procedure is dangerous for the following reasons3 7a7 ,the ,miss ,a's of this world1 particularly of this ,english world1 are increasing at such an alarming rate that very soon ,miss ,a will be the normal woman1 and by being held up as the normal woman and the normal ideal1 will mislead the ignorant regarding the most valuable type of woman4 7b7 ,to regard a person as above a normal human passion1 when she is constitutionally and congenitally beneath it1 is to lend a power and an influence to degenerates which must contaminate the national outlook on all that is desirable in life4 7c7 ,to be deceived into imagining that ,miss ,a has achieved by self-control what her inferior physique has made inevitable is again to grant her a quality which1 by becoming associated with her type1 loses all its instructional worth1 besides attributing to her a spurious value4 7d7 ,to accept ,miss ,a's alleged 8purity0 as a fact is to remove from purity all its positive1 potent value4 ,the pure virgin is she whose pride and self-mastery together have protected her from condescending except to the man who has thoroughly captivated her heart1 her imagination1 her sense of the ideal1 and her body4 ,but ,miss ,a is not pure in this sense at all4 ,she is simply virgo intacta because no deep instinct1 no deep impulse1 no wild desire1 has ever driven her forth to seek her normal adaptation4 7e7 ,to accept ,miss ,a's mild amusement at life as that of a creature who1 having tasted and tested all life's joys1 concludes that they are worthless1 is to run the danger of scorning life without the advantage of ,miss ,a's inferior physique to help one--an experiment which1 if one is positive1 can only lead to disastrous results4 ,the fact that ,miss ,a's influence on young girls may lead many to try the experiment is one of the most perilous consequences of the negative spinster's existence in our midst4 ,she1 in her own person1 constitutes a lure to the negation of life's joys1 to the contempt of the body and its demands1 and to the disdain of the other sex1 which is next door to sex-antagonism4 ,her mind is merely an instrument seeking intellectual justifications for her body's inferiority4 ,so much for the misunderstandings of the negative spinster's true nature1 and their corresponding dangers4 ,we may now examine her outlook a little more narrowly1 in order that we may recognize her when we meet her1 and measure her various boasts at their proper worth4 ,she will usually gravitate almost automatically to the ,christian ,church1 and become an eager exponent of its principles and an ardent supporter of its work4 ,she will do this1 not because1 like her positive sister1 she will require to sublimate impetuous reproductive instincts1 that will find expression1 but because the negative character of the ,church's teaching will naturally appeal to her1 and strike her as offering to people like herself a philosophy which might have been 8cut to measure40 8,love not the world1 neither the things that are in the world4 ,if any man love the world1 the love of the ,father is not in him4 ,for all that is in the world1 the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes1 and the pride of life1 is not of the ,father1 but is of the world40#abg 8,flesh is death1 ,spirit is life and peace4 ,the body is dead because of sin1 but the ,spirit is life because of righteousness4 ,if ye live after the flesh1 ye shall die1 but if ye through the ,spirit do mortify the deeds of the body1 ye shall live40#abh 8,for to be carnally minded is death1 but to be spiritually minded is life and peace4 ,because the carnal mind is enmity against ,god4444 ,so then they that are in the flesh cannot please ,god40#abi--;,and so on ad infinitum4 ,these texts will appeal to her4 ,they will help her to a conviction1 to which she is already predisposed--that she is more godly than her positive sister1 and superior to the rest of the fleshy world4 ,she will notice that 8body0 in the text from ,romans is spelt with a small b1 whereas ,spirit appears in the pompous parade dress of a capital letter4 ,she will understand this perfectly4 ,she instinctively thinks of her body with a small b1 and of her great1 lofty spirit with a capital ,s4 ,what effort is it for her to mortify the flesh1 seeing that her own flesh came to her half mortified by nature8 7,see ,gal4 v4 #bd47 ,like the positive spinster1 she is conscious of her own unimportance1 of being cut off from the main stream of ,life1 consequently she exerts every effort--even at the risk of making herself a perfect nuisance--to prove herself most important4 ,she will try to be foremost in the work of the ,church1 in the work of the parish1 or in the work of the ,borough ,council4 ,if she be wealthy she will endow special missions1 and back missionaries with more zeal1 but with a far more disastrous result1 than that with which most people back horses4 ,what does she know about the virtues1 the good order1 the content1 the peace of ,indian women1 ,chinese women1 or the females of the ,mohammedan harem8 ,she lives in a country1 ,england1 where there is more misery1 more disorder1 more sickness and more misunderstanding in connexion with sex than in any country on earth2 and yet by means of her wealth she is determined to guarantee that this same misery1 chaos1 sickness and misunderstanding shall be spread by her minions1 the missionaries1 to every quarter of the globe4#acj ,she will interfere with anything and everything1 quite irrespective of her qualifications1 provided she can leave no doubt in anybody's mind as to her extreme importance4 ,unlike her positive sister1 who is generally too busy mastering or sublimating her sex-impulses to think of much else1 she will watch the world of the flesh with perfectly unconscious but bitter envy4 ,she will think1 as ,st4 ,paul did1 that it were good for them if they could 8abide even as ,i10 and all her activities1 all her influences1 all her money1 will be directed towards favouring her type and its multiplication4 ,she will tend to spend her time with the people over whom it is easiest to exercise power--the sick1 the crippled1 the blind1 the very poor1 the inmates of prisons1 and the very aged or the very young4 ,she will profess that she loves the poor1 never dreaming that it is the power that is so easily exercised over them that is sweet to her4 ,she is of course hopeless at self-analysis1 and even when these facts are pointed out to her1 she is intellectually too dishonest to acknowledge their truth4 ,while professing a love of all humanity1 she will secretly cherish a loathing for men1 for1 where all sex-impulses are absent1 the natural and radical hostility of the sexes 7as seen in healthy little boys and girls1 and in animals7 finds its full expression4 ,she will always suspect men of grossness and brutality1 and never realize the staggering brutality of her own thoughts about them1 and her own secret wishes regarding them4 ,whatever their politics or patriotism may be1 the hearts of all decent positive females are so tortured by war and the death of men that war involves1 that during a long tragedy like the last ,war all warm-hearted women longed only for one thing1 and that was the conclusion of hostilities at the earliest possible moment4 ,not so the negative spinster4 ,she perceived in the war a means of expressing her loathing of men under the noble mantle of patriotism1 and she did not scruple to go so far as to agitate for its prolongation as long as possible4#aca ,these women could be seen during the war eating their breakfasts with gusto1 while their newspaper1 folded to present the ,roll of ,honour to their view1 was propped up against the milk jug4 ,but where the negative spinster most thoroughly deceives the world is in her cheerfulness and general absence of any signs of faulty or unhappy adaptation4 ,people behold her and are wont to exclaim1 8,see1 here is a woman who has had none of those experiences which psychologists assure us are so essential to the happiness of the female1 and yet she is the embodiment of good cheer and general contentedness60 ,true6 ,but such people do not know how to distinguish the negative from the positive spinster1 and by confounding the two assume too readily that it is possible1 when sex-impulses have been impetuous and insistent1 to have ignored and flouted them without any more serious result than a pleasant1 contented1 and thoroughly peaceful smile4 ,the distressing fact is that the number of these women who in ,england cheerfully survive a life in which their most important organs and instincts have been wholly neglected and spurned1 is increasing at such a rate that there is hardly a circle in ,england that cannot boast of one or two of them4 ,and seeing that their existence is only possible where reproductive impulses are low1 atonic1 and seriously below standard1 their increase is one of the surest indications we possess of the declining vitality of our race4#acb ,although1 in the negative spinster1 the sex-impulses are hardly audible to her consciousness1 she reveals in her actions many of the motivations of her positive sister4 ,on a lower key1 for instance1 she may seek compensations of all kinds for the absence of sex-expression2 the only feature that will distinguish her behaviour along this line from that of her positive sister will be the inferior zeal or fanaticism with which she enters into the particular compensatory occupation or activity adopted4 ,she may show the same fondness for children1 but in an attenuated form2 she may reveal the same delight in acquiring power over them1 both bodily and spiritually2 she may manifest the usual sadistic tendencies1 with their inverted correlatives1 humanitarianism1 extreme sentimentality1 and hyper-sensitiveness1 and she may show the same general misanthropy1 overlapping her sex-antagonism4 ,in the negative spinster1 however1 all these symptoms are likely to be very much more faint than in her positive sister2 nevertheless1 she is just as likely as the latter to die honoured and respected by her ,church and the community1 for the 8unselfish0 humanitarianism of her life1 and the warm-heartedness she showed to everything that was feeble1 degenerate1 botched1 sick1 very young1 very aged1 dumb1 blind1 poor or utterly helpless4 7#c7 ,,the ,,positive ,,and ,,negative ,,spinsters ,,as ,,bread-,,winners ,,and ,,independent ,,fund-,,holders ,the thousands of spinsters of all classes who are now achieving 8independence10 both in commerce and industry--not to mention the professions#acc--naturally only increase the acuteness of the economic difficulties which make their self-support a necessity2 for1 by competing with male labour they only aggravate the severity of the struggle1 and increase ever further and further the age at which men can safely undertake matrimony4 ,in this sense alone the influence of the spinster on our economic life is a very serious one4 ,if1 in heightening the fury of the economic war1 she achieved her own adaptation and contentedness2 if in complicating the economic difficulties of large societies1 she achieved any specific result1 valuable to the community and unobtainable without her1 her presence would be as much a boon as is that of the mother1 or any other active contributor to the main stream of ,life4 ,but1 seeing that she neither succeeds in securing her own happiness1 nor in promoting the happiness of the society in which she finds herself--for1 apart from nursing1 domestic service and certain trades connected with drapery and women's and children's apparel1 it is difficult to point to any extra-domestic occupation that is typically women's work--it is doubtful whether she may not be regarded as a burden on the community and an aggravation of its already enormous problems4 ,it should not be forgotten that industry1 commerce1 the professions and the ,civil ,service are but institutions organized for the purposes of ,life4 ,the main stream of ,life certainly runs through them1 and derives its security1 its relative permanence and its fluency from their harmonious functions1 but they exist for ,life1 and not ,life for them4 ,it is ,life that is important1 the channels through which it flows are only significant1 as auxiliary to the main purpose4 ,now the spinster1 by being wholly divorced from any direct connexion with the main stream of ,life1 for which society and the ,empire exist1 is severed from the most important phenomenon on earth that can justify existence4 ,the next best course is to obtain an indispensable foothold in the machinery that makes the stream of ,life1 as we have said1 more secure1 more permanent and more fluent4 ,the moment1 therefore1 it can be shown that the spinster can lay no valid claim to this one remaining indispensable foothold1 but rather that she only clogs1 impedes and retards the machinery that assists ,life1 her last justification for existence vanishes2 and whatever the work may be that she is doing1 however 8useful0 it is1 we fail to make out her claim to toleration the moment it can be shown 7#a7 that the work would be done as well or better by a man or a married woman1 7#b7 that she is not assisting but only retarding the machinery that makes the main stream of ,life possible4 ,in short1 it amounts to this3 ,society does not exist for the spinster4 ,life does not flourish when it is cultivated too luxuriously in its cul-de-sac ramifications4 ,the main stream is too important4 ,but there is another and even sadder aspect to the entrance of women into the arena of commercial1 industrial and financial occupations4 ,one of the greatest tragedies of life for modern women is precisely the havoc that these occupations have made of modern men4 ,the ,alcibiades type of man1 the complete man1 the man who1 while he can wield a sword as well as anyone1 can also sob over a sonnet1 direct a difficult transaction with shrewdness and sound judgment1 be an ardent lover1 a dutiful father1 and also a being capable of wisely directing and ordering his womenfolk at every juncture of their lives1 is now extinct4 ,the versatility of gifts and catholicity of tastes which once characterized the normal man1 has been destroyed by two hundred years of occupations that are not only emasculating and besotting1 but alas6 also specializing4 ,all men nowadays are specialists1 and frequently specialists in the most dehumanizing form of labour4 ,the ,leviathan of ,commerce and ,industry1 ,trade and ,finance1 by compelling them to eschew other interests and other activities1 has reduced the gamut of their capabilities and their tastes to the limits necessary for making them contented workers in one of the many narrow and monotonous ruts of modern life1 and pari passu with this metamorphosis there has also occurred a corresponding decline in physical and particularly in sexual vigour4 ,but until recently women had escaped this influence4 ,the very dullness and specialization of men1 which frequently makes women despair of meeting the male of their dreams 7who still continues to be the 8complete man071 had until quite recently not infected the female4 ,the reader will object that because the bulk of women in the past were engaged in more domestic duties1 it does not follow that these duties were not besotting or dehumanizing4 ,this is not really true4 ,the women who advance this view are generally lazy and frivolous1 and prefer to pay even the price of their own besotment1 in order to get out every day and meet clammy-fingered clerks in stuffy offices4 ,the work of the home differs in many ways from the work of the factory or the office1 and always to the advantage of domestic pursuits4 ,in the first place it is work done for the personal ends of the worker herself1 and not for some one1 or some company of people1 with whom she has not the smallest personal concern4 ,secondly1 it is done in her own time and in her own way4 ,thirdly1 an enormous amount of it is of such a nature that it is both soothing and wholesome1 while it also allows of meditation1 thought and that most precious of lost pastimes1 communion with self4 ,fourthly1 when done efficiently and with a good heart it is so soon dispatched that it allows of a good deal of leisure1 and1 ,fifthly1 it is never of that nerve-racking nature which1 while demanding unremitting attention1 also destroys attention owing to its lack of interest and all personal value4#acd ,now1 however1 that women have become active competitors with men in those very occupations to which modern men owe the principal features of their degeneration1 it cannot be expected that the female of the species is going to escape any more happily than her male has done the worst consequences of besotting and specializing labour2 and it is therefore inevitable that in a few generations we shall witness the evanescence in woman of that catholicity of tastes and interests and that versatility of gifts which has until lately differentiated her from her male companion4 ,we shall also witness in her that same bodily degeneration that has come over man1 and yet it is difficult to see how or when the movement that now leads women to engage in these pursuits can be arrested4 ,the fact that this movement was largely initiated and supported by that body of unattached females roughly grouped under the heading 8,surplus ,women10 cannot well be denied2 but it does not follow from this that it is a permanent evil in our midst4 ,for1 if the problem of the surplus woman1 and of those who are misled by her1 be attacked along lines which have as their ultimate aim the marriage of all women1 it does not seem impossible that something may be done to arrest a tendency which1 from the standpoint of woman's future1 must be bad1 and which1 from the standpoint of the future of the race1 is nothing less than alarming4 ,the surprising feature about this movement which during the last fifty years has led the bulk of girls and young women into the very occupations to which modern man himself owes his besotment and miserable limitations1 is that those who become the victims of it--that is to say the vast majority of women workers in ,commerce1 ,industry1 the ,civil ,service and the ,professions1 enter joyously1 and almost with a whoop of triumph into the various callings with which they achieve what they claim to be economic independence4 ,not only that1 but those who contemplate the procession of them marching into these callings1 stand and applaud and congratulate each other on the spectacle4 ,it is true that millions of these women in later life have the intelligence to realize the mistake they have made1 and to measure with some approach to accuracy the deterioration it has effected both in their minds and in their bodies in one generation4 ,it would be too much1 perhaps1 to expect young girls to anticipate these results1 when they first leave their homes to earn their own livelihood2 but what leaves one marvelling is the fact that the older elements in the population do not seem to understand the doom which will inevitably overtake this female army and its descendants1 and that far from making any attempt at driving it back1 they shout vociferously and applaud it as a desirable and excellent phenomenon of modern life4 ,the cynic may reply 8,all the better6 ,you say that #bjj years of commercial1 industrial and office occupations have deteriorated man1 so that modern woman has very naturally learnt to despise him4 ,very well1 then1 if women now suffer a similar amount of deterioration1 the balance will once more be restored1 and all will be well40 ,all those who can derive some comfort from this reflection1 in the face of modern tendencies1 are welcome to it4 ,but to those who1 like myself1 realize that hitherto the rapidity of our degeneration has been to some extent checked by the comparative aloofness of one sex from the worst influences of modern civilization1 and that henceforth1 instead of one stream of degeneration we shall have two which will become confluent at marriage1 the future does not seem to be a very bright one1 nor does it hold out any promise of producing1 from the human elements it will contain1 the individuals capable of initiating a counter movement sufficiently powerful to arrest the tide of degeneracy that threatens to sweep everything of value away4 ,with regard to the fund-holding wealthy spinster1 it may be taken as a general rule that she cannot fail to be anything else than a burden to the community to which she belongs4 ,she is not only a cul-de-sac1 or a blind-alley of the stream of ,life1 where the forces that have produced her come to a dead stop1 but she is also the means of damming up a portion of the community's wealth in produce and labour in that cul-de-sac4 ,she herself1 her household expenditure1 her retinue1 and her disbursements for humanitarian and religious objects1 exact a toll on the community1 very little of which is substantially helpful to the fluency or security of the stream of ,life4 ,he who has travelled much over ,england does not require to be reminded of the countless villages and towns where the most imposing and well-appointed private residence or residences are the homes of precisely this kind of spinster4 ,i could name half a dozen villages myself off-hand where by far the most commodious and luxurious house is the property of one1 two1 or three spinster ladies4 ,about them in smaller and conspicuously meaner houses are the other inhabitants of the village--small families with parents struggling to make both ends meet1 with children frequently underfed and underclothed1 but all of them belonging to the main stream of ,life1 and constituting the only justification there is for the existence of the very town and village itself1 the ,church1 and all the machinery of social life4 ,the spinster ladies from their wealthy fastness1 with its carriage drive1 its troop of servants1 its rich solid furniture1 and its overfed animals1 look down upon the busy scene about them4 ,they are not part of it1 but merely spectators drawing their profit1 their life's blood from it4 ,their untutored minds1 guided by local clerical influence1 actively study every means by which they can throw a cloak over the glaring superfluousness and nothingness of their lives4 ,deeply conscious1 as the best of them are1 of being cut off from the main stream of ,life1 and perhaps a trifle piqued by the thought that1 besides being severed from it1 their presence there1 in the best house for miles around1 is really only a means of impeding the machinery facilitating the flow of the stream1 a means of causing friction in its movements1 they make frantic and resolute efforts to demonstrate their 8importance0 to those around4 ,what their self-esteem1 their very self-respect imposes as a duty upon them1 is to make a dramatic and incessant exhibition of being important1 to make a very deceptive pretence of belonging to the main stream of ,life itself4 ,hence the untiring energy with which they enter into all the village or town festivities which have a public charity for their object2 hence the zeal which they show at all ,church festivals1 and the regularity with which they contribute to religious and charitable institutions both local and distant4 ,for all this they are looked upon1 even by the ignorant villagers themselves1 as delightful and exceedingly valuable members of the community4 ,nobody seems to peep beneath the elaborate manuvres by which they contrive to 8cut a prominent figure40 ,nobody seems to see in their concern about other people's business and welfare the conclusive proof that they are straining every nerve to justify an existence which1 on final analysis1 they know in their heart of hearts to be utterly and criminally unjustifiable4 ,george ,meredith is one of the few thoughtful and non-socialistic writers who have had the courage to say what they felt about this class of parasites on the community4 ,in ,chapter ,,xxiii of ,one of our ,conquerors he speaks of these 8comfortable annuitants under clerical shepherding1 close upon outnumbering the labourers they paralyse at home and stultify abroad40#ace ,but since his references to them occur in a work of fiction they are hardly elaborate enough to be telling1 or frequent enough to have aroused comment or to have formed the basis of a doctrine4 ,certainly one does not require to be infected with socialistic or communistic views to feel that the vast number of these spinsters' mansions all over the country is a bane rather than a boon4 ,from no political point of view1 whether monarchic1 aristocratic1 oligarchic1 democratic or socialistic1 is it possible to justify them1 and since the very energy which they devote to their humanitarian form of sex-compensation is frequently as misguided as it is only a partial remedy for the harm they themselves are doing1 they constitute a portion of the community that must be honestly and utterly condemned by every far-seeing thinker on the subject4 ,to reply to this by a shrug of the shoulders and the question1 8,what would you do with them80 is simply foolish4 ,the first great reform consists in getting them to be regarded no longer as a harmless or beneficent section of the community1 but as a dangerous and intolerable bane4 ,once this transmutation of public opinion has been achieved1 it is not a difficult matter to decide what should be done with them4 ,i invite any reader to take a walking tour through this country of ,england1 and to count the number of such parasitic females he can find in a month's tour4 ,i invite him to note the grandeur of their establishments compared with the meanness and poverty of those about them who really belong to ,life's main stream1 or are directly assisting it2 and if that experience does not convince him of the dangerous futility of the class as a whole1 he must be possessed of very singular views concerning the proper organization of social life4 ,even on their death-beds these creatures do not cease to scourge the community to which they belong2 for in the very agony of death they bequeath their wealth and dispose of their other property in a manner which1 while it is usually thoroughly ill-advised1 constitutes but one last fierce effort to stamp the belief in their importance for ever on the minds of those who survive them4 ,you are entitled to pity these women for their virgin lives1 for the serious unadaptedness of their condition1 and for their lifelong and secret conviction that they are useless2 but to defend their existence as if it were not a burden1 as if it were not a dangerous scourge in our midst1 would be to refuse to recognize the truth about the matter1 and this truth1 however unpleasant and disturbing1 can be dealt with only if it is honestly recognized and faced4 ,the less wealthy among them1 right down the scale to the level of those who have only #cjj a year of their own1 are certainly less baneful and onerous1 seeing that they dam up less of this world's goods in their particular cul-de-sac2 but the ultimate cumulative effect of their combined existences constitutes an imposition not much more tolerable than that of their wealthier sisters4 ,nor should it be forgotten that a not inconsiderable portion of the harm resulting from this peculiarly ,british scourge consists in the amount of false opinion1 perniciously erroneous judgments on all things1 and distorted spiritual influences1 which annually emanate from these spinsters' homes1 and which1 backed as they frequently are by the power of wealth1 are spread abroad with all the prestige and pomp that opulence can impart4 ,the ,english outlook1 and ,english opinion generally1 are to a great extent contaminated by this spinster influence4 ,our politics are no longer immune from it2 our policy both at home and abroad is largely infected by our atmosphere surcharged both with the breath and the ideas of spinsters4 ,our literature is to no small extent governed by their taste1#acf our newspapers are obviously designed to offer no affront to their morbid sensibilities1 and our stage is entirely governed by their criticism4 ,feminism1 with all its worst consequences1 is largely their creation--the child of their idleness and their superfluous wealth2 and if ,feminism has spread so far1 and become a creed so universally and almost unconsciously accepted1 it is due largely to this large class of powerful1 misguided and idle unattached females4 ,they constitute a malignant power1 because they are a body bound by no responsibilities2 they pursue an erratic course directed entirely by their abnormal emotions and crazy outlook on life1 because in the first place they are abnormal1 secondly because they are unguided except by those whose advantage it is to mislead them1 thirdly because they are limited by no close family ties in the expenditure of their wealth during life or in its disposal after death2 and finally they are a wasteful and squandering body because in their frantic efforts to coerce their contemporaries into believing they are important1 they shrink from no extremes and no excesses in order to take up as conspicuous and prominent a place as possible in their small world4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,conclusion ,if we have correctly stated the peculiar mental attitude and physical condition of the unmarried woman in our midst1 and from this statement have drawn the correct inferences concerning her influence upon the community1 we can hardly avoid the conclusion that permanently unmarried females are on the whole an element in society which cannot be regarded as very desirable4 ,for it is above all important to remember this--that even if we have been wrong in our enumeration of the occupations that spinsters can properly and usefully fill1 and even if the list we have given may be materially increased1 the fact that the spinster is usefully occupied does not remove the principal feature of her condition which exerts an abnormal influence on society1 that is to say1 her radical and inevitable abnormality both of mind and body4 ,even if we have been wrong in our deductions concerning the heightening of the economic struggle through the presence of spinsters in excessive numbers in the professions1 commerce1 industry and trade1 this principal objection still stands1 and it leaves us no alternative but to consider means and ways of mitigating it4 ,the fact that in ,great ,britain the number of surplus females--that is to say1 of women who1 all things being equal1 cannot possibly marry--amounts to #b1jjj1jjj or about #e per cent4 of the population1 makes the problem of the old maid so acute1 for this nation at least1 that it is impossible not to regard it as perhaps the gravest with which legislators have to deal4 ,for1 on this basis alone1 that it is the business of every government to secure the maximum amount of successful adaptation to the governed1 the question appears to be one which legislators can hardly shelve with impunity4 ,of these #b1jjj1jjj surplus women1 it may be only just--humiliating as the argument may be to our national pride--to argue that possibly half are negative2 that is to say1 that #a1jjj1jjj are so constituted as to be undisturbed by their semi-moribund sex-instincts1 and that a sexless life is not merely tolerable but actually necessary to them4 ,these may possibly achieve contentedness by means of suitable work combined with strong ,christian influence4 ,it is conceivable that they may even succeed in wholly sublimating their reproductive instincts4 ,there still remain1 however1 the #a1jjj1jjj spinsters1 or #b per cent4 of the population1 whose resistance to sublimating influences is likely to be stubborn1 and whose misery is likely to be proportionately greater--not to mention the unhappiness they must inevitably bring1 directly upon those about them1 and indirectly upon the nation at large4 ,the ,holy ,catholic ,church in the ,middle ,ages wisely offered asylums to this section of the population1 and even more wisely organized these asylums on lines which enabled the spinsters taking refuge in them to find a natural vent for their surging desire for sex-compensation1 in all kinds of sentimental and humanitarian work among the sick1 the aged1 the poor1 etc41 in which they were able to exercise power over precisely that kind of person over whom sway is most easily obtained4 ,but what was peculiarly beneficial in the ,catholic system was that by this means it acquired a hold upon these women4 ,it was able to direct both their energies and their opinions1 and thus act as a lightning conductor protecting society from the fury of their sex-compensatory efforts1 both in their activities and in the expression and imposition of their views4 ,in cases where it took charge of their money1 this wealth became an instrument in the hands of a powerful and wise organization1 instead of being simply a weapon for a spinster's whim4 ,but what has modern society to offer of a similar kind8 ,the hospitals can absorb only a small fraction of the #b1jjj1jjj surplus women1 and domestic service can do little more4 ,for1 even if we take these two classes of occupation as accounting for #a1cce1cfh unmarried women#acg in ,england and ,wales alone1 we must remember that a very large proportion of these do not remain in the work permanently1 but leave it for marriage at a comparatively early age4 ,in either case we could not affirm that either nursing or domestic service offers any special chances for sex-sublimation4 ,there is certainly a greater chance of sublimation in hospital nursing1 but the profession is overcrowded as it is1 and no attempt has been made to bring it wholly under the wing of the ,church4 ,the truth is that modern life1 while it certainly offers occupations in abundance to women and girls1 makes no provision1 or very little1 for those women whose work ought at once to keep them busy1 and give them a full life--that is1 effectually transmute their sex-instincts4 ,what course should we recommend in order that the nation's life might absorb greater numbers of these unmarried women with the view of properly adapting them8 ,in the first place it seems eminently desirable to emphasize more than we have emphasized in the past the ideal of matrimony for every woman up to a certain age1 and to bring home to parents that marriage is what they must seek for their daughters and what they must train them for4#ach ,this would have the beneficial effect of introducing a more resolute effort towards marriage as an end1 both in the activity of parents and their children1 which would lead to more restless endeavours being made1 than are made at present1 to find suitable mates for eligible daughters#aci--;endeavours that should be prompted by sufficient energy not to halt even at the shores of the native land4#adj ,these endeavours1 assisted by a ,government service and the consular system1 would allow of an incessant flow of girls of fair fame to our colonies and dependencies1 and might be coupled with legislative measures for the prevention of too heavy a flow of foreign virgins into this country4 ,the ,government ought to keep as keen an eye on the marriage as upon the labour market1 and just as it now protects the native workman from unfair competition resulting from excessive immigration1 so it ought to protect the unmarried females4 ,the higher the percentage of females in the country1 the more stringent should the regulations become forbidding young female immigrants of what class soever4 ,secondly1 all work1 such as teaching1 the practice of medicine and law1 etc41 in which1 according to the most reliable psychologists of the day1 the presence of unmarried women1 far from being helpful 7as offering a new and essential contribution to the knowledge on the question71 only complicates the existing difficulties1 and1 as in the case of teaching1 is directly harmful to the children taught1 should be exclusively reserved for men1 poor married women1 or middle-aged widows1 as might also with advantage many occupations both in industry1 commerce and the ,civil ,service4 ,this would have the effect of relieving economic pressure1 and of facilitating early marriages4 ,thirdly1 the ,government should be carefully advised concerning those callings which are best calculated to offer unmarried women complete adaptation--that is to say1 occupation and sublimation of the sex instinct--and the legislature should do all in their power to encourage women1 particularly of a special type1 to enter these callings4 ,fourthly1 when once public opinion had become convinced 7which it is very far from being to-day7 that the 8annuitant0 spinster is at all events1 and in any circumstances1 a bane1 legislation might be introduced to limit her powers and discourage her excesses1 which would go an appreciable way towards mitigating the harm she does4 ,fifthly and finally1 everything should be done to revive the medival system of respectable and honourable sequestration for old maids1 in institutions whose functions would be at once religious and of a kind to provide an outlet for the sex-compensatory impulses of the positive and negative spinster4 ,by this means they might be not only thoroughly adapted1 but also in a position to have their activities1 their opinions1 and 7in cases of wealthy people7 their wealth1 wisely controlled by a broad policy beneficent to the nation as a whole4 ,it is1 however1 very doubtful indeed whether anything whatsoever will be done to relieve the nation of what1 in the mildest language1 can be regarded as little less than a spiritual and material scourge4 ,modern society is so thoroughly and deeply saturated with feminist prejudices and ideas1 and the sentiments which most promote feminine power and feminine tastes are so universally popular both in the ,press and in modern literature generally1 that anyone who speaks on the sex question with an honest regard for reality1 and with a non-romantic understanding of its fundamental features1 is not only foredoomed to a cold and even hostile reception1 but every year finds it more and more difficult to obtain a fair and exhaustive hearing4 ,for1 as we have already said1 the growth of ,feminism has been so steady and insidious1 that thousands of men and women to-day are ,feminists without knowing it1 without ever having questioned it4 ,a cold feverless appreciation of the radical principles underlying the relations and the nature of the sexes1 whether in fiction or in a textbook1 is now practically certain to be decried1 and to be regarded as a literary faux pas1 and while in ,byron's days it brought a man into evil odour1 at present1 after one hundred years of ,progress1 it completely discredits him4#ada ,it is not probable1 therefore1 that anything contained in this chapter is likely to be read with sympathy or with comprehension by the modern world2 but if it conveys to a few isolated and lonely spirits the message that they have been waiting for1 and makes them feel perhaps that1 although they may not be on the eve of a deep national antifeminist 7not anti-feminine7 movement1 they are at least not entirely alone1 it will have accomplished all that its author can possibly expect4 ,,footnotes3 #ajb ,in the ,laws of ,manu 7,bk4 ,,ix1 #hi7 there is a passage which seems to show that spinsterhood of this kind is specially recommended by the religious ,founder of ,brahmanism4 ,in ,bk4 ,,ix1 verse #hi1 we read3 8,but the maiden1 though marriageable1 should rather stop in her father's house until death1 than that he should ever give her to a man destitute of good qualities40 #ajc ,see p4 #bdh4 #ajd ,see ,arabella ,kenealy 7,op4 cit41 p4 #aje71 where1 referring to the vital impulses of woman1 she says3 8,when these are not expended1 as is normal1 in the creation of and ministration to living and beloved things1 they generate warped1 erratic and chaotic aberrations40 #aje 8,with reference to the marked predominance of female suicides in ,england over male suicides in the #ae-bj age period1 ,ogle remarks that this is also #8the only period in which the general death rates1 as shown in the ,registrar-,general's returns1 is higher in the female sex1 and also is marked1 as the census returns for #ahha show1 by an exceptionally higher rate of lunacy 7exclusive of idiocy or imbecility7 for females than for males4'444 ,in ,france1 the chief age at which men commit suicide is from #dj to #ej1 while for women it is between #ae to #bj40 7,havelock ,ellis1 ,man and ,woman1 pp4 #chb-chc47 ,the census of #aiaa also gives higher figures for female than for male lunacy--a difference of #aj1jjj1 and these are chiefly unmarried women4 ,the unmarried numbered #ed1bbc1 the married #ba1bii1 widowed #i1bbi4 #ajf ,h4 ,ellis1 ,op4 cit41 p4 #chh3 8,there are some who believe 7,dr4 ,h4 ,campbell amongst them7 that although the number of women of all ages who commit suicide is less than the number of men1 many more women than men contemplate suicide habitually1 i4e4 many more women than men are suicidal1 although they may not always carry it into practice40 #ajg ,the facts collected by the psycho-analysts1 ,freud and ,dr4 ,e4 ,jones1 on this phenomenon were not new to me4 ,i had already observed them in numerous cases1 and my observations on the point were but confirmed by the psycho-analysts' theory of the transference of orgastic sensations from the genitalia to other parts of the body4 #ajh ,see ,martial1 ,,iii1 #hb1 #i2 also ,senecae ,dialogorum ,liber ,,xii1 #aj1 #c4 ,while ,hugo ,blmner in his ,rmischen ,privataltertmer 7#aibb71 p4 #cii1 gives a brief description of this practice4 #aji ,see ,papers on ,psycho-,analysis 7,london1 #aiah71 p4 #eii4 ,in regard to this question parents are also entitled to ask what influence the spinster's outlook on life has upon their children1 particularly upon their daughters4 ,it is impossible entirely to divorce from one's moral influence upon children the prejudices and prepossessions of one's particular position in life1 and one's general attitude towards fundamental problems4 ,now1 since the spinster's particular position in life is an abnormal one1 it is questionable whether she can help her influence from imparting something of her own abnormality4 ,when we bear in mind that1 according to the census of #aiaa there were #ahg1bhc female teachers in ,england and ,wales1 #aga1dhj of whom were unmarried1 the gravity of this aspect alone of spinsterhood cannot be denied4 #aaj ,and neurosis in later life4 #aaa 8,the most serious manifestation of disordered conduct in hysteria is1 however1 the development of the appetite for teasing--for giving pain and annoyance to others0 7see ,charles ,mercier1 ,m4,b41 ,sanity and ,insanity1 ,london1 #ahij1 p4 #bae74 ,long after ,mercier wrote this his views were confirmed by the school of psycho-analysts4 ,i give the reference to ,mercier to show that the fact was observed before the psycho-analysts1 so much detested in certain quarters1 had come to the fore4 #aab ,see ,dr4 ,wrench's ,grammar of ,life 7,heinemann1 #aijh71 p4 #gf4 #aac ,freud deals with this point in many places in his works4 ,see particularly his ,sammlung ,kleiner ,schriften zur ,neurosenlehre1 ,vierte ,folge 7#aiah71 ,chapter ,,iii 7,die ,disposition zur ,zwangsneurose71 p4 #aag4 #aad ,the harm1 however1 does not cease with the work of the spinsters themselves4 ,their influence in this direction has become a national evil4 ,volumes could be filled with examples of this false and short-sighted humanitarianism1 but the following case1 taken from ,the ,news of the ,world on ,jan4 #a1 #aibb1 at a time when rates in almost all parishes in and around ,london were anything between #ags4 and #bjs4 in the 1 is typical of thousands of others4 8,rochford ,board of ,guardians1 ,essex1 are confronted with the problem of dealing with a man who is both a leper and insane4 ,the patient is a native of ,mauritius4 ,it was stated at a ,board meeting that the man lived for some time in a cottage in a rural parish1 and his wife looked after him1 but she was unable to do so any longer4 ,formerly the man was in the ,leper ,colony at ,bicknacre1 ,essex--an institution carried on by the ,society of the ,divine ,compassion1 assisted by the ,sisterhood of ,st4 ,giles--but his mental state was such that he could not remain there4 ,asylum authorities who were approached refused to accept the case1 and the ,board of ,control supported them in their attitude4 ,it was also stated that the ,ministry of ,health would not deal with the matter4 ,consequently the man had to be cared for by the ,guardians4 ,a building was prepared for him1 and efforts made to secure three male nurses1 though only two have been obtained4 ,the cost of three nurses is twelve guineas a week4 ,eventually the ,board decided to send a deputation to the ,ministry of ,health40 ,the influence of the spinster's frantic and unthinking humanitarianism is recognizable here4 #aae ,see ,mercier1 ,op4 cit41 p4 #bbj4 ,the author continues3 8,they the feelings in question take the shape of religious emotion1 and expression for them is found in observance of ceremonial and in devotion to a ritual40 ,the fact that the first initiation into religious fervour of this kind frequently starts by the young girl's wild adoration for an older woman--her school mistress or her ,sunday-school teacher--is not mentioned by ,mercier1 but it is important4 #aaf ,large numbers of the women in the ,suffrage movement were of this type4 ,nor is it possible to exonerate such women entirely from a charge of jealousy of the young girl1 when their efforts are obviously directed towards making her1 like themselves1 ill-adapted1 discontented and physiologically miserable4 #aag ,see ,the ,collected ,works of ,thomas de ,quincey1 ,vol4 ,,viii1 p4 #cdi4 ,the author proceeds3 8,accordingly it is amongst the young men and women of this body that the most afflicting cases under this eccentric type occur4 ,even for children1 however1 the systematic repression of all ebullient feeling must be perilous0 444 etc4 #aah ,for an interesting discourse1 uninfluenced by the recent psychoanalytical school1 on the connexion between sexual and religious emotion1 see ,mercier1 ,op4 cit41 pp4 #bbj-bbc4 #aai ,thus ,dr4 ,e4 ,jones argues 7,op4 cit41 p4 #bag71 8,civilization has reached1 or is on the point of reaching1 the limit1 beyond which unguided sublimation can no longer be successfully maintained40 #abj ,see ,byron's letter to ,john ,murray1 ,feb4 #g1 #ahba3 8,the truth is that in these days the grand #8primum mobile' of ,england is cant2 cant political1 cant poetical1 cant religious1 cant moral2 but always cant1 multiplied through all the varieties of life4 ,this is the fashion1 and while it lasts will be too powerful for those who can only exist by taking the tone of the time4 ,i say cant because it is a thing of words1 without the smallest influence upon human actions2 the ,english being no wiser1 no better1 and much poorer and more divided amongst themselves1 as well as far less moral1 than they were before the prevalence of this verbal decorum40 ,this was written a hundred years ago1 and is still true to-day4 #aba ,dr4 ,vintras and ,parent ,duchatelet both concur in representing ,english prostitution as about the most degraded and at the same time the most irrevocable4 #abb ,throughout this discussion ,i mean by prostitution not any form of illicit hetero-sexual relations but commercial and promiscuous unchastity4 #abc ,speaking of the prostitute ,lecky says3 8,but for her1 the unchallenged purity of countless happy homes would be polluted1 and not a few who1 in their pride of untempted chastity1 think of her with an indignant shudder1 would have known the agony of remorse and despair4 ,on that one degraded and ignoble form are concentrated the passions that might have filled the world with shame0 7,history of ,european ,morals1 ,london1 #ahii1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #bhc74 #abd ,let all who doubt this consult the literature on the subject 7even our own ,encyclopdia ,britannica1 #ith and #aath editions71 and also consult people who have been engaged in rescue work4 #abe ,it is for this reason that a man who gives a girl an illegitimate child is really more kind and merciful than the man who seduces her while taking precautions to prevent issue4 ,but it will take some time before the world can possibly be expected to see the matter in this light4 #abf ,those who1 like ,lombroso and ,ferrero1 argue that prostitutes are born1 and that there is a specific class of women1 which may be called potentially whorish from birth1 will naturally join issue with me1 and deny that the childless fate of the prostitute is her severest penalty4 ,i cannot accept the evidence that ,i have read1 however1 in ,la ,femme ,criminelle et la ,prostitue1 to show that prostitutes are a class of women apart 7as regards primary and secondary characteristics and instincts74 ,i feel very much more inclined to agree with ,emile ,faguet1 who thinks that all prostitutes start their illicit amours with a strong monogamic bias1 and that it is only subsequently that circumstances drive them to promiscuity4 ,see ,le ,feminisme 7,paris1 #aiaj71 p4 #bed3 8,la vrit est que la prostitue ne est excessivement rare4444 ,les autres prostitues sont des femmes qui out commenc par tre monogames comme leurs surs1 et qu'une premire dchance a jetes dans la classe des femmes pour tous40 ,thus ,faguet concludes 7p4 #bee73 8,la prostitue1 j'ai cru le montrer1 est un tre dnatur40 ,this ,i believe to be much nearer the point than ,lombroso's elaborate thesis4 #abg ,john ii4 #ae1 #af4 #abh ,rom4 viii4 #f1 #aj1 #ac4 #abi ,rom4 viii4 #f-h4 #acj ,her behaviour in this respect will be dictated not only by an instinctive desire to spread a negative doctrine broadcast as an end in itself1 but also by a feeling of very real and very stubborn envy towards all those who can enjoy a side of life from which she is completely shut off4 ,this envy may extend even to her attitude towards young women of all classes1 so that she will do everything in her power1 under the cover of philanthropic motives1 to keep them from such pastimes as flirtation1 from actually falling in love1 or from spending what she believes to be 8too much time0 in the company of the other sex4 ,see also p4 #bdf ante4 #aca ,it is true that the negative spinster was not alone in this support of the war from secret sex motives4 ,the old men of all nations also saw in the war a golden opportunity of expressing their natural secret hatred and jealousy of the young males of their circle1 and1 whether consciously or unconsciously1 seized on the patriotic motive in order to vent these passions4 ,the flood of letters that poured into the ,times office from sexagenarians1 septuagenarians and octogenarians1 imploring the authorities to continue the war at the time when there was some talk of peace1 was an expression of this unconscious but radical loathing of young men by the old4 #acb ,see1 however1 the exceptions mentioned on p4 #bdh ante4 ,for a woman's confirmation of the fact that negative women are increasing in ,england1 see ,arabella ,kenealy 7,op4 cit471 pp4 #hb-he1 and many other passages4 #acc ,the number of women workers 7married and unmarried7 in #aiaa was #d1hcj1gcd4 ,of these about #a1ejj1jjj were employed as domestic servants and hospital nurses4 ,in #aiag the total was #e1hhi1gcd4 ,about #agc1jjj of this increase came from domestic service1 so that the total for domestic servants and nurses in #aiag would appear to have been #a1hbg1jjj4 #acd ,it should also be borne in mind that work outside home necessarily throws men and girls constantly into each other's company4 ,unless1 therefore1 a certain degree of subnormality in the sexual and emotional nature of each sex be presupposed1 they cannot work side by side without having their attention diverted and their nerves harassed1 by the constant provocation of sex stimuli to which they cannot and must not respond4 ,to assume indifference and callousness here1 as modern business1 commercial and official employers do1 is1 however1 to take for granted that the modern generation of young men and girls are sufficiently below par to be able to resist being thrown together constantly without being distracted by each other's presence4 ,but this is not only an insult to the best among the young people1 but it is also placing a premium on the subnormal2 because the latter alone are able to overcome the difficulty with ease2 and thus happy survival or success is reserved nowadays to those types which are least desirable from every point of view except that of the ,puritan4 #ace ,later on in the chapter he even comes very close to my own view of the matter1 and of the fatal detachment of these females from the stream of ,life when he asks 8whether the yearly increasing army of the orderly annuitants and their parasites does not demonstrate the proud old country as a sheath for pith rather than of the vital run of the sap40 #acf ,let anyone attempt to write a novel or any kind of popular work that does not pander to their sentimentality and their distorted views of life1 and see how much success he will have4 ,they have established their ascendancy in ,england by such steady and insidious means1 that three-quarters of our population1 including our leading critics and publicists1 are not even aware that ,feminism is their ruling creed4 ,they reveal it1 however1 in every word they write on the sex question4 #acg ,according to the last ,census there were in #aiaa #ee1bhf unmarried women engaged in nursing 7including midwives71 #eg1ieb engaged in domestic service in hotels1 #a1agb1ddi engaged in domestic service in private houses1 #bb1ghi engaged as day girls1 and #bf1ijj engaged as charwomen in ,england and ,wales alone4 #ach ,on this point also the wisdom of the ancient ,hindus should be an example to us4 ,in the ,laws of ,manu 7,book ,,ix1 verse #d7 we read3 8,reprehensible is the father who gives not his daughter in marriage at the proper time40 #aci ,now1 the dread lest a daughter should not be self-supporting at twenty-one leads parents in all poorer middle-class families to sink all thoughts of marriage and making her fit for marriage beneath the consideration of providing her with a calling4 ,the ideal of independence for women1 from being pursued for purely economic reasons1 has come to be pursued for its own sake1 as if independence were in itself a desirable condition for the female4 ,but even if we concede the point that dependence on certain modern men amounts to ignominy1 we should not allow the argument to assume a shape which must identify woman's chief source of happiness with her relation to the man to whom she becomes related2 and we ought always to correct it by considering that1 in the long run1 man is only a means to an end where woman is concerned1 and that independence which is achieved without the experience of motherhood1 even if such independence saves the woman from association with a third or fourth-rate man1 is only equivalent to clutching at the shadow to let the substance go4 #adj ,see ,arabella ,kenealy 7,op4 cit41 p4 #abf73 8,feminist leaders have shown themselves deplorably indifferent alike to biological and to sociological law4 ,losing sight of the truth that the intrinsic and eternal function of ,humanity is ,parenthood--and more particularly ,motherhood--they have made1 all along the line1 not for the true emancipation of woman but for her commercialization1 merely40 #ada ,speaking of the hostile attitude of most women towards his ,don ,juan1 ,byron wrote to ,mr4 ,murray on ,october #ab1 #ahbj1 as follows3 8,the truth is that it is too true1 and the women hate everything which strips off the tinsel of sentiment2 and they are right1 as it would rob them of their weapons40 ,again writing of ,madame ,guiccioli's dislike of ,don ,juan1 he says 7,july #f1 #ahba73 8,it arises from the wish of all women to exalt the sentiment of the passions1 and to keep up the illusion which is their empire4 ,now ,don ,juan strips off this illusion4444 ,i never knew a woman who did not protect ,rousseau1 nor one who did not dislike ,de ,gramont1 ,gil ,blas1 and all the comedy of the passions1 when brought out naturally40 ,,chapter ,x ,the ,virtues and ,vices of ,women ,whether we appeal to folklore1 to the proverbs of the nations1 or to the earliest legends of mankind1 we invariably encounter in the traditional wisdom of humanity judgments upon woman which are more or less unanimous in condemning her bad temper1 her disloyalty1 her dishonesty1 her vanity1 her malice and her indolence4 ,the very attitude of the common people towards witchcraft1 after the ,reformation1 points to a curious popular readiness to believe in the evil influences of the female2 for the fact that aged women and not aged men were the suspected parties in the persecutions against supposed cases of necromancy1 is significant1 even if we deny the validity of the charges that were brought against these unfortunate wretches4 ,in another work#adb ,i have dealt with the two principal legends of antiquity--that of ,pandora and that of ,eve--in which woman is specifically identified with the introduction of evil on earth1 and ,i shall have to return to this subject here2 for it cannot be merely a coincidence that in these oldest of human myths there is this connexion between woman and evil4 ,in the ,law ,book of ,manu1 which represents ancient ,hindu opinion1 the character of women meets again with the same charges4 ,we read3 8,through their passion for men1 through their mutable temper1 through their natural heartlessness1 they become disloyal to their husbands1 however carefully they may be guarded in this world4 8,knowing their disposition1 which the ,lord of creatures laid in them at the creation1 to be such1 7even7 man must strenuously exert himself to guard them4 8,when creating them1 ,manu allotted to woman 7love of their7 bed1 7of their7 seat and 7of7 ornament1 impure desires1 wroth1 dishonesty1 malice and bad conduct40#adc ,lombroso and ,ferrero actually regard deception as being 8physiological0 in women4 ,they ascribe it to her weakness 7which makes it necessary for her to rely on craft to achieve her ends71 to her periodical functional disturbances1 to her modesty1 to the pretences necessary to acquiring an ascendancy over man1 to the duties of maternity1 and to one or two other inevitable circumstances in her life4#add ,in ,chapter ,,vii of their work1 they adduce the testimony of such acute psychologists as ,flaubert1 ,balzac1 ,zola1 ,schopenhauer1 ,weininger1 ,molire1 to support their contention that in woman lying is instinctive4 ,we might add ,shakespeare1 ,luther1 ,byron1 ,nietzsche1 ,la ,bruyre1 and many others to the list4 ,no matter where we turn1 or to whom we refer1 we find1 more or less1 the same verdict4 ,it lies recorded even in an ,arab proverb1#ade just as it lies1 though perhaps more obscurely1 in most of that 8tinsel of sentiment0 with which1 utterly false as it is1 woman insists upon veiling the natural relations of the sexes2 while we must not forget that for hundreds of years a great and very profound people--the ,mussulmans of ,europe and ,asia--have denied woman a soul4 ,the evidence of profound psychologists1 the substance of myths1 the content of national proverbs1 the personal experience1 in short1 of all those who have learnt to know women generation after generation1 all point to this conclusion1 that there is a certain duplicity and unscrupulousness in their nature1 against which it is only a matter of ordinary caution for man to be on his guard4 ,on the other hand1 in all countries with a modern1 democratic outlook1 where woman's influence is in the ascendant1 and where men are inclined to a pronounced romanticism of thought1 there is no quality1 no jewel of human virtue1 too priceless for woman to be thought worthy of it4 ,perhaps the most radical attempt to contradict the tradition of ages1 concerning woman1 and to cast suspicion for ever upon all those who might venture to criticize her adversely1 was made by that gallant but1 alas6 henpecked ,english 8philosopher10 ,john ,stuart ,mill1 than whom no writer is perhaps more responsible for the sudden access of strength that the ,feminist movement acquired in the latter half of the nineteenth century in ,england4 ,and1 before proceeding with our inquiry1 it will be necessary to pause in order to deal with his views and to dispose of them2 for1 since they represent the maximum that can be said on the other side1 in accomplishing this1 we shall have dealt vicariously with most of what has been advanced as scientific argumentation against the verdict of the rest of mankind4 ,john ,stuart ,mill admitted that all his writings1 except his ,logic1 were as much his own work as that of the lady1 ,mrs4 ,taylor1 who ultimately became his wife4 ,he was not ashamed to acknowledge that ,mrs4 ,john ,taylor was 8in part the author of all that is best0 in his writings2 and speaking of his treatise on ,liberty1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,l4 ,courtney says it 8was written especially under her authority and encouragement40 ,the same author referring to the famous work ,the ,subjection of ,women1 which is going to occupy our attention1 writes3 8,mill's share was the result of discussions and conversations with his wife40#adf ,now1 quite early in this book on women1 the following important remark occurs3 8,what is now called the nature of women is an eminently artificial thing--the result of forced repression in some directions1 unnatural stimulation in others40#adg ,the ingenuity of this sentence1 its plausibility in the eyes of ignorant and prejudiced people1 and its dark innuendo1 make it one of the most astonishing utterances that ever issued from the lips of an alleged philosopher4 ,if it be more than an insincere attempt to quash all discussion and inquiry regarding the subject for ever1 it can mean only two things4 7#a7 ,the word 8now0 definitely restricts the allegations concerning the nature of women to the present age4 8,what is now called the nature of women10 therefore is implicitly contrasted with what was once called the nature of women4 ,the first possible meaning of the sentence is therefore as follows3 8,as compared with what used to be called the nature of women1 what is now called the nature of woman is an entirely artificial thing40 ,in order to dispose of this first possible meaning1 we have only to reply to ,mrs4 ,taylor 7for it is obvious that ,mill would only have referred us to her if we had addressed ourselves to him71 that1 as the present view of woman's nature does not differ entirely from the traditional and ancient view--where there exists no difference between the two1 we may presumably postulate eternities1 or constant factors4 ,and1 so long as we abide by those characteristics1 in which the testimony of the present age concurs with tradition and hoary antiquity1 we escape1 even if we do not respect1 her ruling4 7#b7 ,the words1 8an eminently artificial thing10 are surely a begging of the question4 ,everybody1 even the most be-,taylorized thinker1 ought to be able to see this4 ,for1 it may be asked1 what at present can be called natural and what can be called artificial in civilized man and woman8 ,is it natural to wear clothes1 or is it artificial8 ,is it natural to use implements instead of our fingers at meals8 ,is it natural to speak ,english8 ,two thousand years ago no one on earth spoke ,english4 ,in the days of ,caractacus1 if anyone had stood up to address a crowd in ,english1 he would have been suspected not only of artificiality1 but of dangerous insanity4 ,is the speaking of ,english now artificial8 ,this is not quibbling4 ,we are bound to suspect insincerity in anyone who1 at this late hour1 uses the distinctions 8artificial0 and 8natural0 of civilized man or woman--particularly when they do so without giving us exact definitions of these words4 ,many thousands of years ago in ,egypt1 a certain woman1 the wife of ,potiphar1 ,pharaoh's captain of the guard1 cruelly betrayed a man who flouted her advances4 ,similar cases have happened since4 ,we are all familiar with the saying3 8,hell has no fury like a woman scorned40#adh ,is this tendency in woman to retaliate upon him who scorns her1 the mortification she feels at his rebuff1 artificial or natural8 ,popular tradition in many countries tells us that women are habitual liars4 ,lombroso points out that their weakness1 relative to man1 has induced them to use craft and deceit to achieve their ends4 ,is woman's weakness relative to man natural or artificial8 ,if it is natural1 is her tendency to use craft and deceit also natural8 ,if her weakness is artificial1 when and how did it become so1 and when and how did prevarication come to her support8 ,those who are acquainted with ,the ,subjection of ,women will probably reply that ,mrs4 ,taylor1 or ,miss ,helen1#adi did feel it incumbent upon them to state a little more precisely what they meant by the use of the word artificial2 for ,mill proceeds to write as follows3 8,it may be asserted1 without scruple fine scruples these6661 that no other class of dependents have had their character so entirely distorted from its natural proportions by their relations with their masters40#aej ,this means that a 8true10 a 8natural0 woman once fell into man's hands1 and that since that time she has been distorted out of all recognition4 ,but we may very relevantly ask ,mesdames ,taylor1 how1 when and where they have had the unique privilege of coming across this wholly 8true0 and 8natural0 woman8 ,presumably1 she was not only a 8true0 woman1 but also a 8truthful0 woman2 she was not only a 8natural0 woman1 but a guileless1 honest woman1 devoid of all malice and vanity--in fact quite unlike the woman ,manu knew1 or the woman ,adam knew4 ,at what period in history did she appear and fall into the distorting hands of man8 ,by what scientific process have ,mesdames ,taylor acquired any knowledge of her8 ,we only know of woman as she is seen to-day1 in history1 in the literary remains of antiquity1 and in savage tribes4 ,whence comes this alleged 8true0 and 8natural0 woman1 beside whom the woman we know is only a distorted caricature8 ,to postulate a norm that is wholly hypothetical1 and then to argue that by the side of that gratuitous creation1 the woman that we know1 and have seen mirrored in history1 in the tradition of mankind1 and in the work of our acutest psychologists1 is a monstrous distortion1 may prove a useful means of clouding the issue1 but can hardly be allowed to pass as an argument4 ,and the fact that ,mill1 the logician1 the critic of ,spencer and ,sir ,william ,hamilton1 wrote this1 and the whole of the remaining paragraph1 surely demonstrates how very far he was from being himself when he wrote this particular book4#aea ,we therefore deny the possibility of any second meaning to ,mesdames ,taylor's sentence1 except this1 that1 like 8true0 women in argument1 they are trying to foist a spurious distinction upon their opponents1 with their two words 8artificial0 and 8natural10 so that henceforth all those who allege anything but pleasant things about women1 may be promptly gagged with the retort 8,artificial60 ,a little later on in his ,subjection of ,women we read the following3 8,for1 however great and apparently ineradicable the moral and intellectual differences between men and women might be1 the evidence of their being natural differences could only be negative4 ,those only could be inferred to be natural which could not possibly be artificial--the residuum1 after deducting every characteristic of either sex1 which can admit of being explained from education or external circumstances40#aeb ,in this sentence it is difficult not to discern the voice of the female collaborator in two distinct vibrations3 the general sentiment and the irrational argument2 for1 apart from the fact that it amounts practically to a drastic and final veto against all such discussions as the one ,i am engaging in at the present moment1 it relies upon wholly specious but plausible biological phraseology for its persuasiveness4 ,in it1 moreover1 we not only find a reiteration of the counterfeit argument1 but also an attempt to dress it in a delusively scientific garb4 ,according to the evolutionary hypothesis1 about which ,mrs4 and ,miss ,taylor must have known 7for they moved in circles where these matters were discussed1 and ,the ,subjection of ,women appeared eight to ten years after ,the ,origin of ,species7 it is impossible to say precisely what is and what is not the outcome of external circumstances in women4 ,in fact it is ridiculous to speak of a possible residuum after the influence of external circumstances has been deducted4 ,the evolutionary hypothesis postulates a method according to which it is conceivable that biological transformations have occurred in the past4 ,this method can be summed up in the following words3 ,the survival of the fittest 7the best adapted to life's circumstances7 through the operation of natural selection4 ,but this very law presupposes the action of environment on the organism4 ,it may make every allowance possible for an innate power in the organism to evolve along certain lines 7,darwin gave some weight to this factor71 but it must reckon with the influence of external circumstances notwithstanding4 ,in fact1 8adapted to environment0 is exactly what is meant by 8fit10 and no more4 ,in the light of this theory--and this is the only accepted theory with which they could have been familiar--what becomes of ,mesdames ,mill and ,taylor's supposed 8residuum10 when once the results of external circumstances have been deducted8 ,it may mean nothing at all4 ,it may mean the original protoplasm from which all life is supposed to have sprung4 ,it may mean a remote member of the anthropoid ape class1 or an antediluvian squirrel4 ,it was1 however1 never intended that it should undergo so severe an inspection4 ,it is simply one example1 flagrant but instructive1 of a woman's 8natural0 duplicity or dishonesty4 ,if accepted1 it makes all inquiry into the nature of man and woman1 even on the broadest lines1 utterly impossible4 ,if taken seriously1 it renders every conclusion you can possibly draw concerning that nature utterly invalid4 --,and this1 indeed1 is its precise intention4 ,this is exactly the function it was expected to perform4 ,mrs4 ,taylor and her daughter could hope to achieve no more by it4 ,advance any opinion on woman's nature1 consonant or not with a sane view of the women of to-day1 the women of history1 the women of myth1 and the women of tradition1 and immediately ,mrs4 ,taylor would shoot up from behind her neatly framed and quasi-learned sentence1 and declare that your opinion was quite incompatible with her alleged and hypothetical 8residuum40#aec ,all argument was thus stifled for ever1 all discussion1 all inquiry1 all belief6 ,but what did ,mrs4 ,taylor care8 ,with all those who were susceptible of being duped by her verbal conjuring1 she had achieved this remarkable success1 that she had silenced them on the subject of her sex's vices and virtues4 ,these sentences1 and many more like them1 constitute the burden of the argument in ,the ,subjection of ,women1 and make it not only valueless1 but also dangerously misleading4 ,the pamphlet remains the most unhappy record of ,mill's character as a thinker4 ,it is impossible here to examine this hermaphrodite pamphlet line by line2 but the fact which makes the disingenuousness of these early lines so monstrous is that the remainder of the book depends upon them1 evolves necessarily from them1 and falls entirely to the ground if it be deprived of them4 ,when1 therefore1 it is remembered that this book has exercised a potent influence over half a century of ,english life1#aed and that its principles have formed the basis of many hundreds of books of the same kind1 and of a movement which ultimately fixed the coping-stone into the arch of stupidity supporting our political life1 we cannot too severely condemn1 not only the carelessness of a man who could so imperfectly distinguish senile sentimentality from his duty to the public1 but also the unscrupulousness of two full-grown females who could take advantage of an old man's blind infatuation in order to mar books1 written under his own signature1 with the dialectical tactics of contentious and indignant housewives4#aee ,even if we examine the historical value of the ostensibly historic basis of ,mill's contention1 we find it entirely unsubstantiated by fact4 ,mill says3 8,what is now called the nature of women is an entirely artificial thing--the result of forced regression in some directions1 unnatural stimulation in others40 ,taken up by a thousand angry female voices1 this came to mean at the end of the nineteenth century that1 if women were as they were--inferior to man in intellectual power1 in honesty1 in reliability1 in social instincts1 in taste1 etc4--it was because throughout their history as a sex they had been oppressed and deprived of the opportunities of improvement4 ,now1 even if the first part of the sentence were true 7and we have already shown how false it is71 the latter part remains utterly untenable4 ,the fact that women throughout their history have had to play the part of mothers1 and therefore to stay very much at home1 cannot be meant as the artificial factor in their evolution4 ,we cannot therefore conceive of ,mrs4 ,taylor's having been so palpably foolish as to suppose that it was their motherhood that constituted this 8forced repression0 and 8unnatural stimulation40 ,have there been 8forced repression0 and 8unnatural stimulation0 in other respects--at least in the history of our race8 ,men of the ,j4 ,s4 ,mill school say that you can trace women's bondage throughout the ages1 that you can see how they have been withheld both from places of responsibility and from opportunities for intellectual development ever since the dawn of history4 ,but is this a fact8 ,is the evidence in favour of this view8 ,personally1 ,i am convinced that the evidence is entirely against it4 ,within the limits naturally described by their destiny as mothers1 we can1 on the contrary1 positively assert that1 at least in ,england and ,france1 nothing--no obstacle1 no restriction and no harsh measure whatsoever have stood in the way of women's development4 ,throughout the whole of its history1 our people have been careful to place no barrier in the path of women's advancement4 ,it is rather the other way2 everything has been done to enhance and to promote their importance4 ,speaking of the early ,teutonic tribes1 from which we partly sprang1 ,tacitus emphasizes the prominent rle that was allowed to the women for generations4 8,they neither scorn to consult them1 nor slight their answers10 said ,tacitus4 8,they even believe that a certain sanctity and prescience characterize the female sex4 ,we have seen ,veleda 444 long revered as a deity by many4 ,aurima1 besides1 and many more1 were formerly treated with the same veneration1 but not with slavish adulation1 nor as if they were goddesses40#aef ,speaking of the neighbours of the ,suiones1 the ,sitones1 ,tacitus says1 they 8differ in submitting to a female ruler2 so far have they degenerated1 not only from liberty1 but even from slavery40#aeg ,gibbon1 after referring more particularly to those women in the early ,teutonic tribes who were revered as goddesses1 goes on to say3 8,the rest of the sex1 without being adored as goddesses1 were respected as the free and equal companions of soldiers2 associated even by the marriage ceremony to a life of toil1 of danger and of glory40#aeh 8,even more marked than among the ,teutonic and ,frisian races10 says ,dr4 ,browne1 8was the recognition of women in the early ,celtic races1 whose blood--somewhat diluted--is in our veins40#aei ,two hundred years before the coming of ,christ1 in the league between ,hannibal and the ,celts1 there was the following clause3 8,if the ,celtae have complaints against the ,carthaginians the ,carthaginian commander in ,spain shall judge it4 ,but if the ,carthaginians have anything to lay to the charge of the ,celtae1 it shall be brought before the ,celtic women40#afj ,as regards the women of ,anglo-,saxon ,england1 the evidence of their freedom and high cultivation is so voluminous that it would be impossible to quote it in detail4 ,we have only to mention such names as ,rowena1 ,guiniver1 ,bertha1 ,ethelburga1 ,eanfled1 ,redburga and ,osburga#afa the mother of ,alfred the ,great4 ,editha1 the consort of ,edward the ,confessor1 appears to have been a remarkable woman4 ,the ,saxon historian1 ,ingulphus1 speaks highly of her learning and her domestic gifts1 while ,edith1 or ,alfgith1 ,harold's wife1 seems to have been at least a creature of refined sentiments4 ,we also know that all mixed monasteries in ,anglo-,saxon times were ruled over by able women4#afb 8,in #fid five ,kentish abbesses were present at the ,council of ,beckenham and signed the decrees above all the presbyters10#afc and ,anglo-,saxon women also became the heads of monastic institutions in ,thuringia4 ,dr4 ,browne tells us1 moreover1 that #abej years ago those of our ,english ancestors who could afford it sent their daughters to ,paris to be educated4#afd ,with the arrival of the ,normans1 the already important position of women could but be still further enhanced2 for1 the ,normans having attained to an even higher grade of civilization1 brought with them the notion1 created and taught by the troubadours and minstrels of ,france and ,italy1 that the softer sex was entitled1 not only to the protection and tenderness1 but also to the homage and service of all true knights4#afe ,certainly if ,emma1 wife of ,ethelred1 and subsequently of ,canute1 represented the type of ,norman women1 they must have been a remarkable breed4 ,i do not attach as much blame to her1 as some are inclined to do1 for sacrificing the interests of her children by her first husband to those by her second marriage with the ,danish conqueror--and this seems the gravamen of the charges brought against her1 even by ,edward the ,confessor2 for we have to remember two circumstances in mitigation of this charge3 7#a7 ,her possible greater love for her second husband2 7#b7 ,his ascendancy over her1 to which it is a credit to her to have yielded1 and consequently the likelihood of his having been himself responsible for her attitude to the children of the first bed4 ,in any case1 the fact that ,edward the ,confessor himself fell at her feet imploring her pardon with tears1 after she had successfully passed through the ordeal of walking barefoot unscathed over nine red-hot ploughshares in ,winchester cathedral1 in order to clear herself of the charges brought against her by her foes2 and the fact that he submitted to the discipline at the high altar1 as a penance for having exposed her to such a test of her innocence1 are1 to my mind1 overwhelming evidence in her favour4 ,on this score1 alone1 ,i feel safe in concluding that she must have been a remarkable woman not only for her own time1 but for all time4#aff ,in the ,middle ,ages1 therefore1 women may be said to have enjoyed a position1 not only of untrammelled freedom1 but of exceptional honour4 ,matilda of ,scotland1 ,adelicia of ,louvaine1 the third ,matilda1 ,berengaria1 ,eleanor of ,castille1 were creatures who could only have deployed the qualities they did deploy1 in an age in which every opportunity was afforded for female education and development4 ,and1 indeed1 ,mill himself sees an objection to his argument here2#afg for all historians are unanimous4 ,women were voting in municipal elections in ,france as early as #acaf and #acca4 ,guizot1 writing of the women of the ,middle ,ages1 says3 8,quand le possesseur de fief d'ailleurs sortait de son chteau pour aller chercher la guerre et les aventures1 sa femme y restait1 et dans une situation toute diffrente de celle que jusque'l les femmes avaient presque toujours eue4 ,elle y restait matresse1 chtelaine reprsentant son mari1 charge en son absence de la dfense et de l'honneur du fief4 ,cette situation leve et presque souveraine1 au sein mme de la vie domestique1 a souvent donn aux femmes de l'poque fodale une dignit1 un courage1 des vertus1 un clat qu'elles n'avaient point dploys ailleurs1 et elle a1 sans nul doute1 puissamment contribu leur dveloppement moral et au progrs gnral de leur condition40#afh ,we know that women surgeons were quite common in the ,middle ,ages2#afi ,queen ,philippa had one1 ,cecilia of ,oxford#agj2 the ,middle ,ages also produced many women writers2 while there is even reason to believe that the ordinary duties of motherhood--which presumably ,mill and his female authority would have regarded as part of the factors making for women's subjection--were evaded by certain medival mothers4#aga ,when we come to more recent times1 with the more plentiful material that lies to hand1 we are able to demonstrate beyond a doubt that1 if ever women had limitations forcibly imposed upon the development of their intellect or character1 it was certainly not in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries4 ,in ,france in #aegf they were voting for the elections of the ,states-general1 and in the same century they held seats in the ,states ,assembly of ,franche-,cont4 ,as regards protection of the female in ,france in this and the following two centuries1 it was rigorous to the point of being inhuman4 ,in #aegi there was a law that made rape a capital offence4#agb ,in #agji a certain ,sieur ,la ,gravigne was condemned to capital punishment for having seduced a girl with whom he had eloped2 in #agab a member of the ,paris ,parliament was ordered to pay #fj1jjj livres damages 7or #bjj1jjj francs7 for breach of promise1 and in #agch the ,parliament at ,dijon condemned the ,marquis de ,tavannes to death for having eloped with a ,demoiselle de ,bron4#agc ,miss ,alice ,clark has gone to great pains to collect some of the evidence that may be adduced on this subject1 in so far as ,england of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is concerned1 and speaking of the women of the sixteenth century she says3 8,the ladies of the ,elizabethan period possessed courage1 initiative1 resourcefulness and wit in a high degree4 ,society expected them to play a great part in the national life and they rose to the occasion2 perhaps it was partly the comradeship with their husbands in the struggle for existence which developed in them qualities which had otherwise been atrophied40#agd ,of the women of the seventeenth century1 she has shown how many were their opportunities of becoming self-reliant1 versatile and resourceful4 8,at the beginning of the seventeenth century10 she tells us1 8it was usual for the women of the aristocracy to be very busy with affairs--affairs which concerned their household1 their estates1 and even the ,government4444 ,among the nobility the management of the estate was often left for months in the wife's care4444 ,in addition to the household accounts1 those of the whole of ,judge ,fell's estate at ,swarthmore1 ,lancashire circa #afgj-afhj were kept by his daughter ,sarah40 ,these accounts 8show that the family affairs included a farm1 a forge1 mines1 some interest in shipping and something of the nature of a bank4444 ,a granddaughter of ,oliver ,cromwell1 the wife of ,thos4 ,bendish1 was also interested in the salt business1 having property in salt works at ,yarmouth in the management of which she was actively concerned10#age etc41 etc4 8,a book might be wholly filled with the story of the part taken by women in the political and religious struggles of the period10 says ,miss ,clark4 8,they were also active among the crowd who perpetually besieged the ,court for grants of wardships and monopolies or patents40#agf 8,from the women who begged for monopolies which if granted must have involved much worry and labour if they were to be made profitable10 continues ,miss ,clark1 8we pass naturally to women who actually owned and managed businesses requiring a considerable amount of capital4 ,they not infrequently acted as pawn-brokers and money-lenders4444 ,the names of women often occur in connexion with the shipping trade and with contracts4444 ,women's names appear in lists of contractors to the ,army and ,navy10#agg etc41 etc4 ,in short1 ,i cannot do better than refer the reader to ,miss ,clark's excellent treatise2 and should he leave it still thinking1 with ,mesdames ,taylor1 that the ,subjection of ,women is clearly demonstrated at least by the life of the seventeenth century1 he will have formed an opinion strangely at variance with the facts adduced4 ,now1 in the face of all this evidence--and ,i do not pretend to know1 much less to have adduced1 a hundredth part of it--in view1 moreover1 of the prominent part that women1 even of the most obscure origin1 played in the literature of the eighteenth century1 and the independence with which they moved in society1 how can it any longer be maintained1 with any semblance of honesty1 that there has been1 as if from malice aforethought1 a male conspiracy to achieve the subjection of women8 ,in trying to explain away certain female characteristics1 which are as unanimously testified to to-day as they have been in all ages of history1 by ascribing them to a distortion of 8true0 or 8natural0 woman--whoever or wherever she may be--as if woman were only just at this moment coming into her own1 as if in fact she were only just emerging from a dark and stifling obscurity that had stunted her1 ,mill and his followers are guilty of a deliberate lie4 ,they imply that which it is incumbent upon them to prove1 and they do so with the full-throated sentimentality of romanticists1 who cannot be quite sensible1 who must have a tear in their eye1 and a lump in their throat1 when they pronounce the word 8,woman40 ,but the falsehood1 palpable as it was1 succeeded by means of its flattering innuendo1 in convincing every woman in ,great ,britain1 who had reasons for being discontented and disgruntled4 ,indeed1 so flattering was the innuendo1 that even if the alleged subjection was not a historical fact1 it was felt that at least it ought to have been4 ,and what was this flattering innuendo in ,mrs4 ,taylor's falsehood8--,it was this3 ,that if hitherto women had produced no outstanding work1 no epoch-making masterpiece in the arts or in the sciences1 if1 in fact1 ,european women had not been so very different from the women of tradition and antiquity1 it was not because men were specially gifted1 or radically different from them1 but simply because ,european women had been stunted by oppression6 ,this was much too fascinating a lie ever to be suspected or distrusted by the overweening champions of ,women's ,rights1 either in the late nineteenth or the early twentieth century2 hence the eager speed with which it was swallowed down--hence too ,mill's inordinate popularity6 ,a large majority of women1 it is true1 were a little too thoughtful1 or a little too well informed1 to be duped by it2 but the disgruntled and arrogant minority won the day4#agh ,it is perfectly true1 of course--indeed nothing could be plainer--that man1 throughout the ages1 even of ,european history1 has been unable to relieve woman of those duties which1 as a mother1 and therefore as a homekeeper1 have necessarily devolved upon her2#agi but neither has he been able to relieve himself of the duties of the soldier1 the sailor1 the hewer of wood1 and the drawer of water4 ,nobody in his senses1 however 7unless he were infatuated with a second ,mrs4 ,taylor71 would argue that because man has been unable to relieve woman of those duties1 therefore he has distorted her 8true0 nature4 ,for the truth is1 the fact remains 7securely as ,mill was blinded to it7 that even in those departments of social life which for centuries1 almost from time immemorial1 have constituted practically the undisputed domain of woman--woman's ,empire1 woman's peculiar field for enterprise and initiative1 where her independence and supremacy have been unchallenged--in cooking1 clothing and child-care1 such ineptitude1 such inability to improve1 such gross and stubborn stupidity have been shown1 that only when men took over these departments of knowledge1 as special branches of study1 was there any sign1 any hope1 any certainty of progress being made4 ,even if we were so easily hoodwinked as to be led to admit that woman's relative intellectual inferiority1 her lack of creative and inventive ability in other spheres1 did not constitute a natural sexual characteristic1 but were the outcome of a deliberate attempt on our part to withhold from her the opportunities of acquiring ability in those spheres1 how are we to explain the marked deficiency of intelligence and initiative which she has shown as a sex in the elaboration and perfection of those arts or sciences1 such as cooking1 clothing1 and child-care1 which have practically been her exclusive domain for ages8 ,here she was supreme4 ,here she was entirely free and untrammelled4 ,by now she could have converted each of these pursuits into an exact science4 ,she has had the time1 the hereditary bias1 and the accumulated knowledge of tradition1 all on her side4 ,and yet1 as we know1 it was only when men took these departments in hand1 that they began to wear the aspect of properly regulated and scientific occupations4 ,to-day the high authorities1 the only authorities1 on cooking are all men4 ,to-day1 if a woman for some reason or other is unable to nurse her new-born child1 she cannot turn to the traditional wisdom of her sex1#ahj she cannot even turn to a classical work on child welfare written by one member of her sex1 she must turn to man2 for the high authorities on this subject1 at the time of writing1 are all men like ,dr4 ,eric ,pritchard1 or else women who have learnt all they know directly from them4 ,to-day1 every fashion1 whether of men's or of women's clothing1 is entirely the creation of the male mind4 ,a group of men in ,england direct the former1 and a group of men in ,france autocratically prescribe the latter4 ,the only circumstance that could possibly make me regret the death of a woman like ,mrs4 ,taylor1 many years before my own birth1 is that it has rendered me unable to confront her with these facts1 and to ask her how she accounts1 or how she would have made poor ,mill account1 for this colossal1 incurable and wellnigh incredible lack of ability in thousands of generations of women1 in occupations where they had everything their own way for centuries4 ,in ,england1 in the ,middle ,ages1 a proverb was current to the effect that 8,god sent us meat and the devil ordained the cooking of it40#aha ,the cooking of food1 which has remained in the hands of women for a longer period in ,england than in ,france1 is1 in ,england1 notoriously atrocious4 ,the clothing of women1 which in ,england is more remote from the male focus of inspiration than in ,france1 is in ,england proverbially inferior--despite fashion-books and a constant cross-,channel stream of ,british fashion-spies4 ,while the fact that child-welfare centres are being opened up everywhere 7inspired originally by male doctors1 and the results of male research71 in order to teach women how to take care of their babies1 is surely proof enough of the abysmal ignorance into which the traditional mother of history has sunk1 regarding a calling which has been her own exclusive field from the beginning of time1 and which she ought to have perfected at the very dawn of history4 ,if ,mill had1 with one masterly shake of his muddled head1 removed those soft pink fingers from his brow1 he might possibly have seen all this1 and have left his ,,ms4 in some conspicuous place where his wise housemaid 7who consigned ,carlyle's ,french ,revolution to the flames7 might have done the same by his own ,subjection of ,women4 ,but with characteristic confusion he mistook erotic vividness for mental vision1 and thus added one great intellectual blunder to the many which contributed towards forming late nineteenth-century opinion4 99 99 99 99 99 ,unlike man1 whose nature is more variegated and more subject to variation1 woman is possessed of a primum mobile that we can recognize--that is to say1 she is actuated by a mainspring1 a ruling motive1 that we can observe in operation4 ,as we have seen1 this primum mobile constitutes her the chief custodian and preserver of ,life1 and the chief promoter of ,life's multiplication4 ,in fact1 these two functions constitute her principal importance1 and endow her with her great power and her great value4 ,everything else in woman is of minor significance4 ,if1 therefore1 we assume at this stage in our treatise--for the point has been demonstrated often enough--that the positive woman's incessant and unconscious impetus is in the direction of ,life and its multiplication1 we may expect to find in woman all the virtues that guarantee the survival of the species1 and all the vices which ,life itself reveals in the pursuit of this same object4 ,seeing that the pursuit of ,life and its multiplication is in ,nature an activity that is untrammelled by any moral consideration whatsoever1 we may ask ourselves1 whether in view of the difficulty of improving upon ,nature's methods in this respect1 and in view1 moreover1 of the fact that woman is a child of ,nature1 we are not justified in recognizing in woman a primum mobile that is also completely a-moral4 ,if we are so justified1 then it follows that all woman's deeper characteristics1 as ,nature's characteristics1 are not moral but immoral1 not social but unsocial1 not lawful but lawless4#ahb ,let us proceed to examine this statement more narrowly4 ,a woman's deepest characteristics are termed by us unmoral4 ,what does that precisely mean8 ,we have admitted that what constitutes woman's greatest value and her greatest power is that she is the chief supporter of the vital functions--the promotion and preservation of ,life4 ,if1 therefore1 she is also immoral1 it must mean that1 in the fulfilment of her destiny1 she has often to run counter1 as ,nature does1 to our standard of moral integrity4 ,therefore1 that if she were moral1 this would be a hindrance and an obstacle in the way of her destiny4 ,but how will she reveal this immorality1 or a-morality8--,my reply is1 in being like ,nature utterly unscrupulous in the means she adopts to achieve her vital end--that is to say1 more intent on the vital end than on anything else1 such as truth1 honour1 justice1 fair-play1 etc41 etc4 ,for morality means scruples1 it involves the necessity of regarding scruples as obstacles in the way of certain actions4 ,if1 therefore1 we can show that woman1 like ,nature1 is unscrupulous in her promotion and preservation of ,life1 we will have gone some way towards establishing the fact of her immorality4 ,before1 however1 we proceed with this inquiry1 we should like to remind all readers1 who at this point may begin to feel their cheeks mantling with indignation1 that1 since from the optimist's point of view it is desirable for the human species to survive1 a very high sanction indeed prevails over woman's vital unscrupulousness1 however surprising and unexpected its consequences may prove to be4#ahc ,for instance1 if1 as we hope we have already abundantly shown1 woman's chief and deepest concern is the multiplication and preservation of life1 it is obvious that1 when confronted by a situation in which a lie will secure her vital end1 and one in which truth will defeat it1 she will naturally and instinctively choose to lie--not because she necessarily prefers to lie1 but because she is more concerned about the end in view than the means she adopts to achieve it1 and every lie to her is a 8white0 lie that secures her vital end4 ,if then from a vital indifference to truth she ultimately reveals an ordinary indifference to truth in the common and less vital circumstances of everyday life1 we must blame1 not a fundamental perversity of her nature1 which would seem to suggest that moral obliquity is a deep-rooted and ineradicable element of her psyche1 but a self-preservative characteristic of the race which1 though manifesting itself1 as it were1 unnecessarily and provokingly in everyday affairs1 nevertheless1 if absent altogether1 would prove the most serious menace to the survival of humanity4 ,in the form of a simile we might say that1 just as the good army marksman annoys us when1 in peace-time1 he disturbs our quiet moments with his incessant revolver or rifle practice1 and his insatiable desire to 8pot0 anything and everything1 yet we applaud and defend his love of his fire-arm and his skill with it1 when1 in time of war1 he and his like defend our homes and ourselves by 8accounting0 for numbers of the enemy4 ,is that clear8 ,in plain ,english1 to take an extreme case1 if a girl is to be equipped with that ability for wiles and small deceptions which1 despite adverse circumstances1 are to enable her to secure a lover and a husband and a large family early in life2 if1 moreover1 she is to be prepared to go to extreme lengths to defend and promote the welfare of her children 7as all good mothers are71 and also to secure their survival and success over the heads of other and possibly more deserving or better children 7as all good mothers are prepared to do#ahd72 if1 moreover1 in her relations with her husband and her children1 she is to display that tact and diplomacy which always secure her the victory in domestic negotiations2 then1 it seems to me1 we have a creature whose special gifts will extend beyond her family and its vital concerns1 and invade all the other circumstances of her life1 and who will inevitably practise wiles and small deceptions in those conditions where life1 its multiplication and preservation are not necessarily in question4 ,the fact1 however1 that such a creature may be detected again and again in some act of unscrupulousness1 not necessarily concerned directly with ,life1 or some vital interest1 does not mean that she is perverse or depraved for the sake of perversity and depravity1 as ends in themselves1 but simply that her vital unscrupulousness cannot well be confined to the business of ,life and its multiplication1 and cannot exist as a useful characteristic of her being1 without manifesting itself in conditions and circumstances where no vital consideration is at stake4 ,in other words1 if you are to have a good house-dog1 who will protect you from burglars at night1 you must warn your milkman and your dustman1 although they have no dishonest intention in entering your garden1 not to go too near him1 for his useful characteristic is bound to manifest itself in circumstances and conditions where its usefulness is not vital4 ,when from folklore and myth1 from national proverbs and tradition1 and from the text-books of the oldest religions1 therefore1 we learn that woman is two-faced1 or false1 or treacherous1 or disloyal1 while we cannot expect these sources of information to give us also their reasons for their verdict1 we have at least a hint that something deeper is in question than an obliquity of mind4 ,for one would have thought that centuries of schooling would have eradicated these characteristics from women1 and that if they have failed to do so1 something more essential to woman's nature than a mere perversion of mind may be suspected4 ,neither is it enough to point1 as ,lombroso does1 to woman's relative weakness1 to her periodical functional disturbances1 to her modesty1 etc41 to account for a trait so universally attested4#ahe ,the positive woman who is disloyal to her absent husband is not disloyal from weakness1 she is disloyal owing to the vital impulse of her large and important reproductive organs1 which1 after a spell of idleness1 clamorously demand employment4 ,the woman who lies about her age1 or about her antecedents1 or about any other circumstance of her life1 in order to secure a husband or a lover1 does not do so because she is relatively weaker than the man she wishes to secure1 but because1 again1 her unconscious mind urges her to procure fertilization at all costs4 ,the unfairness of the attitude of most psychologists and other men to the phenomenon of unreliability and deception in woman1 consists in the fact that they condemn it without understanding it2 while those who neither condemn it nor understand it stubbornly1 stupidly1 and sentimentally deny it in the face of all the overwhelming evidence in proof of its existence4 ,but when once you admit that duplicity and disloyalty in women are part of a vital principle making for the multiplication and preservation of life1 and serving the best interests of the species1 you are no longer even entitled to condemn those same characteristics when they happen to operate in circumstances and conditions inconvenient to yourself4 ,you cannot always expect to have it both ways1 and if the species profits by a certain principle in the female1 it must expect to pay for that principle somewhere1 somewhen4 ,to attempt to make woman perfectly honest and upright would therefore be to attack the most vital impulse within her#ahf--that impulse which causes her to be eager to the point of unscrupulousness in securing and preserving a multiplication of life4 ,and yet there are many wise fools1 both men and women1 who have solemnly set themselves that object1 and are striving to achieve it by every means in their power4 ,if we observe ,nature herself engaged upon the same task that constitutes woman's principal concern in life1 we observe the same unscrupulousness4 ,nature stops at nothing to achieve this end4 ,all means are good to her3 rapine1 deception1 falsehood1 usurpation of rights1 bullying1 stealth1 robbery1 invasion1 and complete indifference to quality and desirability4 ,life in ,nature is a continuous process of inter-racial and intra-racial struggles for power and supremacy1 with no principle1 except the one of 8more life0 in each race or species1 governing the whole4 ,every species behaves as if it alone had the right to exist on earth1 irrespective of all other claims4 ,the fact that there are more species of parasites than of any other kind of organism shows that this universal process of rapine and deception is pursued without any natural exercise of favour for what1 from the human standpoint1 can be called desirability4 ,the parasite kills the human genius just as readily as it kills the cow1 and the locusts devour the food which is the only sustenance of the ewe and her lamb4 ,without scruple1 and without favour1 ,nature's one cry is 8,life60 and evermore 8,life60 and whether the success of the struggle falls to what we should call the 8nobler0 species1 or to the 8inferior10 is a matter of utter indifference to her4 ,when men like ,weininger1 ,lombroso1 ,havelock ,ellis1 and many others1 inveigh against ,nature turned woman1 and see the same unscrupulousness concentrated on one form of survival--human survival--the fact that they do not trace this characteristic to a positive and vital source makes their moral condemnation of women worthless and unworthy of a scientific thinker4#ahg ,in woman ,i recognize some of the principal virtues that make for a continuance of the human species on earth3 7#a7 ,unreflecting constancy to the demands of ,life2#ahh 7#b7 ,untiring interest in the processes of ,life and its multiplication 7which in its minor ramifications lead to that intense concern about all human affairs1 which1 in opprobrious language1 is called 8a love of scandal-mongering072 7#c7 ,a capacity for desperate bravery in defending or succouring human life2 7#d7 ,a capacity for single-minded devotion to her own offspring 7which in its minor ramifications often manifests itself in the virgin1 and in the spinster of all ages1 as a single-minded devotion to a purpose1 to an idea1 or to a cause72 7#e7 ,a capacity for bodily purity1 or chastity1 which in the more passionate type of woman is based upon an instinct to withhold herself until her heart and her affections are captured 7this in its spiritual ramifications leads to intellectual obstinacy1 conservatism1 or fanaticism4 ,thus a woman's citadel of opinions1 like her bodily citadel1 is only liable to capitulation when her heart and her affections are engaged74 ,these five cardinal virtues of woman constitute her eternal claim to glory and to respect2 in each of them she is a natural mistress1 a gifted virtuosa4 ,they are of so much value1 of so much moment1 to the human species1 that they overshadow every catalogue of foibles and vices that has ever been drawn up against her by a ,weininger or a ,schopenhauer1 and she who possesses them can afford even to forgive a ,weininger or a ,schopenhauer4 ,noble as they are in themselves1 they can claim in addition the highest possible sanction and testimonial that it is possible for a human character to receive--the sanction and testimonial of ,human ,survival itself1 without which no virtue on earth can hope to last or to prevail1 and by the side of which the mere applause and approval of one or many generations of men is but as a pair of bellows puffing in the wind4 ,to appreciate these virtues of woman at their proper worth1 however1 a stronger and more vital generation of people is needed than any that has appeared1 in ,england at least1 for the last #bej years4 ,the very fact that1 at the present day1 the general concensus of opinion among men would accord to women quite a different set of virtues1 is a sufficient sign of the degeneracy that has occurred4 ,to-day1 for instance1 a ,parliament of ,englishmen or ,anglo-,saxons would1 in enumerating woman's virtues1 speak about--7#a7 ,her moralizing influence on ,society2#ahi 7#b7 ,her unselfishness 7whatever that may mean672 7#c7 ,her powers of self-sacrifice 7this is the result of sick values and a confusion of thought--see pp4 #gg-gi72 7#d7 ,her intuition 7a great myth1 the outcome of woman's habit of saying the first thing that enters her head1 and which1 according to the laws of chance1 must be right sometimes72 7#e7 ,her humanitarianism 7a mischievous misunderstanding7--all weak1 or at least1 fictitious qualities1 that no full-blooded woman would ever do anything more than pretend to possess1 and which made ,huxley say 8that woman's virtue was man's most poetic fiction60 ,if1 however1 we choose to dwell on the five cardinal virtues that derive directly from the great vital impulse within her1 and to think of the many useful minor virtues that spring from them1 we have a list which1 if it is less goody-goody than the above1 is both hardier and more compatible with reality4 ,from 7#a71 which we call the ,unreflecting constancy to the demands of ,life1 we can see the following as derivatives3 7a7 ,woman's constancy to the circumstances 7and therefore to the man7 who enables her to meet the demands of ,life4 7b7 ,her intensely keen sense of self-preservation1 when the danger threatening her is not life-promoting4 ,this accounts for her caution1 her sagacity in suspecting the unfamiliar1 and her over-anxiousness in public thoroughfares1 or on railway platforms1 on board ship1 and in the neighbourhood of restive horses1 etc4 7c7 ,her quick recognition of the fact that a given environment cannot procure the demands of ,life--hence her mobility1 tractableness1 docility1 amenability1 and readiness to follow at great personal risk1 until such time as she has found the environment that can procure her the demands of ,life4 ,in all communities where marriage is difficult owing to a superfluity of women1 girls thus show a tendency frequently to change their environment1 and are quite unconscious that in so doing they are pursuing tactics which are calculated to enable them to meet ,life's demands4 ,thus1 they will leave home to study ,political ,economy1 or ,sculpture1 and when that fails they will change over to child-welfare1 or to nursing1 and if that fails they will try secretarial work--giving as their reason at each change1 that the previous work 8did not satisfy them40 ,if economic pressure compels1 they will of course be forced to remain in one occupation1 whether it satisfies the demands of ,life or not2 but those who can afford it1 will1 as a rule1 be restless until they find an environment which promises them fertilization4 7d7 ,her ability to put up with any number of inconveniences and discomforts1 provided that the demands of ,life are procured for her--hence her stoicism in poverty1 or any other kind of distress1 despite the fact that her children share it2 hence her cheerful courage in those vital inconveniences connected with an existence in which the demands of ,life are being met--illness1 the incessant clatter of many children1 the hard work that a number of children imposes upon a poor female parent1 etc41 etc4 7e7 ,her ability to treat all life emotionally4 ,the very quality of unreasoning or unreflecting constancy to the demands of ,life1 involves an impulsive attitude towards them4 ,i used the word 8unreflecting0 purposely4 ,it is because woman does not pause to reflect whether it is proper1 or expedient1 or right1 that she should perform a certain action to meet the demands of ,life1 that she can be so thoroughly relied upon to perform it punctually4 ,if she reflected1 it would presuppose hesitation1 therefore delay1 therefore possibly inaction4 ,but it should be remembered that this attitude is a purely emotional one1 and since the business of ,life1 with the various relationships the family creates1 is largely a matter of the emotions too1 and not of the reflective or reasoning faculties1 it follows that the tradition or history of woman's mental life is largely confined to the play and the exercise of the emotions4 ,life1 as far as normal woman is concerned1 is a matter of affection1 of attachment and devotion1 first to the man of her heart1 and lastly to the children of her blood4 ,where she may be expected to be practised1 gifted and versatile1 therefore1 is precisely in this sphere of the emotions2 for they alone are capable of directing that unreflecting form of action that the demands of ,life impose upon her4 ,a mistress of feeling1 therefore1 we cannot expect her to be so perfect at reflection4#aij ,from 7#b71 which we call the ,untiring interest in the processes of ,life and its multiplication1 we can see the following derivations3 7a7 ,woman's helpfulness and readiness to be of use in all those circumstances in a neighbour's1 friend's1 or relative's home1 in which she comes in close contact with ,life's most serious business1 at moments of child-birth1 serious illness1 and death1 and particularly at moments of great domestic upheavals1 such as times of serious disagreement1 and all tragic occurrences1 between couples4 ,the fact that these virtues necessarily involve such an all-embracing interest in human affairs1 that a love of scandal is an almost inevitable counterpart of them1 is not difficult to see4 ,the evils of scandal-mongering1 however1 are grossly exaggerated4 ,all decent1 humane and humanity-loving people revel in scandal1 and ,i have never yet met a woman who was worth knowing who was not an inveterate scandal-monger4 8,the proper study of mankind is ,man10 said ,pope1 and he was entirely right4 ,but what is scandal-mongering1 and the exhaustive discussion of one's acquaintances1 relatives and friends1 but an essential description of that 8proper study08 ,husbands who do not sympathize with their wives' love of scandal1 and who refuse to join with them in expatiating on tittle-tattle1 are usually inhuman and narrow men1 such men as make good engineers1 good mathematicians1 good chemists1 and good sailors or explorers4 ,these men will expect their wives to listen breathlessly when they discuss sport or some other futile subject as remote as possible from humanity1 and yet will show impatience if their wives discuss the marital relations of their next-door neighbour4 7b7 ,this virtue makes women very observant of little odd characteristics in their fellow-creatures4 ,and if women are1 as a rule1 such good mimics and imitators1 it is due partly to the earnestness with which they observe other men and women 7the other reason for their power of imitation ,i shall give under 7#e774 ,women will frequently draw wrong conclusions from the traits they have observed--this ,i do not deny--but the interesting point is that they usually observe the traits4 ,from 7#c71 which we called ,desperate bravery in defending and succouring human life1 we can see the following derivatives3 7a7 ,the readiness to incur mortal risk for a child of their own 7quite common72 for a husband 7very rare1 except in early days of marriage when children have not yet arrived72 for a loved human creature of any kind4 7b7 ,a certain foolhardy and reckless daring in engaging overwhelming odds for the sake of achieving a vital purpose 7a woman will assault a man twice her size and three or four times her strength at such moments74 7c7 ,a capacity for a fierce unrelenting hatred towards enemies1 deceivers1 or betrayers of those she loves4 7d7 ,in the realm of the spirit1 a readiness to perform a mad feat of intrepidity to defend or promote an idea 7,miss ,emily ,davison in that marvellous rush at the ,king's horse in the ,derby of #aiac4aia ,we loathed the cause for which she fought1 but we honoured and admired the fierce single-mindedness with which she and the other militant suffragettes fought for it74 ,from 7#d71 which we call ,a capacity for single-minded devotion to her own offspring1 we can see the following derivatives3 7a7 ,woman's unswerving tenacity of purpose in serving and ministering to those she loves4 7b7 ,her indefatigable industry on behalf of those who depend on her1 so that she is able1 like a horse1 to work herself to death1 provided she loves and knows she is loved4 7c7 ,in the spiritual realm1 her capacity for fanatical adherence to a cause1 to a belief1 to a faith1 and her corresponding fierce antagonism to those who oppose that cause or faith4 7d7 ,her pride in her own offspring and her consequent tendency to undervalue or to dislike the offspring of others4 ,when this sentiment is stimulated to its zenith by the fact that the offspring of others happen to be the offspring of the former possessor of her man's love1 you get the staggering cruelties of the stepmother4 ,thus in woman's nature does good merge into evil1 and evil merge into good4#aib ,it is certainly in this capacity for single-minded devotion to her own offspring that1 generally speaking1 the greatest beauty of woman's character is revealed2 and to one who has experienced it in all its perfection and intensity1 there is perhaps some pardonable difficulty in speaking about it either with calm or with moderation4 ,the very effort of seeking1 in writing1 a suitable expression for his feelings in this matter may well seem to a man to subject them to a limitation and temperateness which he can hardly regard as sincere2 and1 ultimately1 in the coldness of the printed page1 he can perceive1 at best1 but a poor travesty of the sentiments he wished to convey4 ,everything connected with this virtue is at once so useful to the race1 and so unique and unforgettable as an individual experience1 that it seems only fitting to pause for a moment here to dwell on one or two of its most stirring features4 ,passing over the first months and years when the only force between helpless1 pitiably dependent life1 and death--or at least neglect--is precisely this mother's instinct1 this jealous care1 when inarticulate infancy can neither acknowledge1 return thanks for1 nor1 what is perhaps more perplexing1 realize all the thousand and one services that are cheerfully performed in order to promote its growth and its comfort2 passing over1 too1 those moments of the silent watcher1 of the sleepless sentry1 in which1 during times of danger1 every breath is a prayer1 and every smile a song of thanksgiving2 we would like more particularly to concentrate upon that period of early childhood1 on that age of babbling tongue and unsteady gait1 when most of that which is to be of use in life1 and indeed most of that which is never to be forgotten in life1 is learnt at the mother's side4 ,not that we would wish to reduce by one iota the importance of the former period1 the most wonderful aspect of which is1 perhaps1 the joy that is felt by either side in simply playing its appointed rle2 but rather because in the latter period both parties are conscious of this same joy1 and are in a position to prolong it1 transmute it and preserve it1 until long after that age when the positions become reversed1 and dependence has begun on the side of the once protecting mother4 ,there is in the child of a good mother1 a spirit so confiding1 so receptive1 so perfectly trustful1 that possibly at no other age are the pre-requisites for sound education more completely present than in those first years of life at the dawn of which a fold of the mother's skirt still offers a substantial amount of support to legs that are learning both bearing power and balance4 ,what happens then1 and how it happens1 will1 of course1 never be properly recorded2 for lessons are given and lessons are learnt without sufficient conscious effort on either side for the method to be made a subject of exact knowledge4 ,but the result is gradually made manifest by the marvellous transformation of an inarticulate little animal1 whose whole horizon is bounded by food1 sleep and apparently purposeless limb-exercises1 into a creature that can express its wishes1 demand explanations of the things about it1 learn to recognize the first rules of decent behaviour1 and1 what is more1 shed its own fresh light on the problems of existence2 and1 if what it learns later on may1 from the standpoint of material utility1 bear a more imposing and less chaotic aspect1 certainly nothing it has failed to learn at this period will ever be acquired at any subsequent stage of its existence4 ,it cannot be said that it has mastered any definite system of thought1 or that it has memorized any particularly striking fact2 it may not even have learnt the very patience and gentleness which its mother has constantly exhibited in her care of it4 ,nevertheless1 it has learnt things which1 in solemn truth1 can be said to be little short of priceless4 ,let it not be suspected1 however1 because we can find only vague phraseology for our purpose1 that we wish to claim for this early education an indispensable character that it really does not possess4 ,what is it then that makes it almost impossible to give a more narrow description of it without losing all grasp of its magnitude and importance8--,it is the fact that1 from this education are derived those qualities of heart and mind which1 though hardly ever referred to at critical moments in a man's life1 are nevertheless among the most serviceable and powerful of life's weapons4 ,the man who has had a good mother has learnt to feel a certain confidence in his own unaided efforts1 because the best in him has been diligently sought1 encouraged1 and brought to the fore2 he has acquired a certain vigorous sanguineness and courage because1 having started life so well1 in such a glorious morning of sunshine1 he is conscious of stored-up warmth within him1 upon which he can fall back in his moments of loneliness1 gloom and trouble2 but1 above all1 he has been launched forth into the world with at least one solid experience1 one ineffaceable impression of human kindness and human beauty1 and this1 while it gives him a perpetual criterion of value and criticism1 shielding him from the specious and the base1 also prevents him from ever feeling that despair and doubt about himself and his fellows which in moments of deep tribulation paralyses effort and precludes the possibility of hope4 ,this is what the equipment amounts to1 with which a loving mother can endow her son4 ,quite apart from the joys that are derived from deep filial emotions1 and from that unique relationship of a mother to her son1 these are among the chief benefits that the relationship necessarily involves4 ,most of the great men in history owe their greatness partly to this equipment2 most of the great men in history--,schopenhauer1 ,byron1 de ,quincey--whose relationship to their mothers was not ideal1 reveal in their works the effects of this deficiency2 and he who ventures to question that here1 indeed1 ,i have laid my finger on what is quintessential in the education that a good mother gives to her child1 and incapable of satisfactory substitution by any other means in her absence1 is one of those unfortunates from whom life has withheld this most precious of all her blessings4 ,it is here that woman excels2 it is here that she can defy all competition1 and it is in this rle that the best in herself1 and some of the best in mankind1 is developed and sustained4 ,anything else that she may do must be always second best to this2 and those who1 by misrepresentation and appeals to vanity1 persuade her while she is yet quite young that there are callings better than1 or at least as good as1 motherhood for her1 are enemies not only of woman1 but also of the species4 ,from 7#e71 which we call ,a capacity for bodily purity or chastity1 which is based upon an instinct to resist fertilization until heart and affection are engaged1 we can see the following derivatives3#aic 7a7 ,woman's tendency to a certain rather becoming dignity and pride1 which come to their zenith at the moment of the most heated appeal made by the lover who has failed to engage her heart and affection4 ,this on the spiritual side leads to a power of renitency against conviction and persuasion1 which frequently makes of woman a most powerful and reliable ally in a secret movement1 or in a secret intrigue4 7b7 ,since the demands of ,life make it necessary1 when once woman has abandoned her attitude of chaste resistance1 to yield wholly and unreservedly to the male1 there is in all women a certain sequaciousness1 a certain docility1 a marked predilection in favour of subservience and subordination to those who have engaged their affections1 which makes of woman the most naturally constituted follower1 disciple1 servant1 that it is possible to find4 ,on the spiritual side1 it makes her acutely subject to guidance and direction1 to receptivity1 to suggestion#aid and to imitation4 ,but seeing that sequaciousness1 imitation1 whether in regard to opinion1 mannerism or fashion1 is the reverse of original production1 and involves an absence or a weakness of the initiating power of personality1 we are bound to recognize in woman1 as a direct consequence of her necessary physical and psychological surrender1 when once the attitude of chastity has been abandoned1 a lack of originating power1 a lack of that prehensile attitude of mind which seizes and does not wait to be seized1 and which is behind all male emancipation1 aggression1 originality and inventiveness4 ,this1 indeed1 is the other reason which under 7#a7 we said we had yet to give for woman's power of imitation4#aie ,thus ,arabella ,kenealy calls the sex-instinct 8in the normal girl1 responsive rather than initiative40#aif ,from this fifth virtue1 which1 when the attitude of chastity is abandoned1 becomes converted into subjection and submission1 are thus derived woman's suppleness1 her plasticity1 her promptness to assimilate and to form herself according to another's pattern1 and her ability to adapt herself to circumstances4 ,in all these derivatives of the five cardinal virtues of woman we can trace the indirect but certain connexion with the vital primum mobile in her nature1 which is her deep concern about ,life and its multiplication4 ,on the same principle1 therefore1 it ought to be possible to enumerate the cardinal vices of woman and their auxiliary manifestations4 ,for if a creature's virtues are the outcome of its instincts1 its bodily formation and the functions it has to perform1 its vices must surely have a similar origin4 ,in the positive woman#aig only those vices may be recognized which are inseparable from her functions as a promoter and preserver of life1 for all the other vices she may or may not have in common with man4#aih ,those that are constantly characteristic of her are3-- 7#a7 ,duplicity and an indifference to truth2 7#b7 ,lack of ,taste2 7#c7 ,vulgarity2 7#d7 ,love of petty power2 7#e7 ,vanity2 and 7#f7 ,sensuality4 ,these six cardinal vices have been recognized in her in all ages2 they have been censured and deplored2 but no one so far1 to the best of my knowledge1 has ever traced them to a basic vital principle within her4 ,no one has ever said of them1 for instance1 what ,i say of them--that to attempt to eradicate them from her nature would amount to an attack on the most solid guarantee we possess of human survival4 ,while discussing the derivative and minor vices that descend from these six cardinal vices1 ,i shall1 however1 also show the connexion of the latter with woman's innate vital principle1 as in some cases this is not obvious at first sight4 ,no4 #a--;,duplicity and an indifference to truth--has already been discussed above1 and its relation to the will to ,life abundantly demonstrated4 ,let it suffice1 therefore1 to point out that an additional proof of its inveteracy in woman is to be found in the tinsel of false sentiment that women particularly have drawn over the natural relations of the sexes--a tinsel which not only promotes marriage and parenthood by concealing their sordid and tiresome side from the young male1 but which also prevents both sexes in most nations from detecting this less prepossessing side of matrimony throughout their whole lifetime4 ,if the reader wishes to test which sex really values this tinsel of false sentiment as its own1 as its most powerful weapon1 let him attempt to tear it away from the relations of the sexes in the presence of both women and men1 and then he will see from the unreasoning fury he provokes in the former which sex is most to blame for its existence4#aii ,again1 women are notorious for their tact and presence of mind in embarrassing situations2#bjj indeed1 the tactfulness or 8diplomacy0 of women is so well known in ,france that it has become proverbial4 8,on arrive par la femme10 say ,french 8climbers10 whose ambitions exceed their gifts and who have to rely on diplomacy to achieve their ends4 ,but the presence of mind which is but the necessary mental condition for saying the right word1 for turning away wrath1 suspicion1 or envy1 for assuaging mortified vanity1 and for making people forget their shortcomings1 is in reality only an essential pre-requisite of successful falsehood4 ,let the 8lying0 be as white as you choose in tactfulness and diplomacy1 it matters little2 what is important is to remember that neither tactfulness nor diplomacy is possible without the essential equipment of the born and resourceful liar--this equipment being an ability to say something1 at a moment's notice1 which is not the natural or obvious reaction to a given stimulus or provocation4 ,little girls show this ability quite early1 and easily outclass boys in the celerity with which they discover a plausible and innocent explanation for a reprehensible act in which they have been caught red-handed4#bja ,the fact that women are difficult to deal with under cross-examination is well known among lawyers1 and their skill in drawing red-herrings across the path of any enquiry directed against themselves1 makes them stubborn and evasive witnesses at all times when they have anything to conceal4#bjb ,no4 #b4 ,woman's fundamental lack of taste is the fact to which1 in my ,man's ,descent from the ,gods1 ,i ascribed the two myths of ,pandora and ,eve1 in which woman is depicted as being the cause of the fall of man1 and of the introduction of evil on earth4#bjc ,i demonstrated this fundamental bad taste by pointing to women's inability to select and recognize the best men1 and their general preference for inferior men--the reason of this preference being the greater facility with which the latter are ruled and made amenable to women's love of petty power4 ,i also showed that this bad taste is rooted in the attitude of the mother to her child1 which1 consisting as it does1 chiefly in a delight in the exercise of petty power over a helpless creature1 causes women not only to prefer the baby in long clothes before the full-grown child1 but also frequently to prefer the crippled or the physiologically-botched child before the hale and hearty one1 because of the former's more permanent helplessness4 ,i showed also how women prefer lap-dogs before large dogs for the same reason1 and reminded the reader that the ,romans wisely left it to the father to decide which of his children should survive and which should be suppressed1 because they knew that women1 having no taste1 and being guided only by what most gratified their lust of petty power1 could not be trusted to make such a decision wisely4 ,i also ascribed to the prevalence and ascendancy of women's views and sentiments nowadays the fact that the world was growing so ugly and degenerate 7physically72 for only if we assume the woman's attitude of irrational tenderness to cripples and the physiologically botched1 can we regard them with anything else than loathing and impatience4 ,what ,i did not do1 however1 in ,man's ,descent from the ,gods1 was to show the connexion between woman's fundamental bad taste1 or lack of taste1 with the vital principle within her1 and this ,i shall proceed to do now4 ,this1 however1 will not prove difficult1 for it amounts simply to emphasizing woman's profound likeness to ,nature1 in blindly pursuing ,life and its multiplication1 at all costs4 ,if we think of the immensely precarious situation of the new-born infant or animal1 its lack of all means of protection1 of mobility1 and of procuring nourishment independently1 its lack of warmth1 and frequently of the very equipment for preserving warmth 7clothing in the human infant1 and fur and feathers in the young animal and bird respectively71 we realize at once the immense importance to the species of an instinct in the mother which makes the provision of all these deficiencies a joy1 a passionate need1 in fact a delight worth fighting for4 ,if the new-born creature is to be preserved1 and the species is to survive1 there must be no possible loophole1 no conceivable crevice or chink1 in the armour of the natural instinct1 through which any doubt1 any hesitation whatever1 may enter1 as to the immediate urgency and desirability of succouring it4 ,the moment in the life of the young creature is too critical1 the situation is too precarious4 ,here you have pitiable helplessness1 pathetic dependence1 extreme vulnerability4 ,the future of the species depends upon these unreliable qualities being turned into reliable ones by the only creature in the young one's neighbourhood who1 while being necessarily present at its birth1 is in a position to offer first aid4 ,if then there were any excuse or pretext for indecision1 any humming and ha-ing over the question of desirability1 the 8best of the brood10 the 8most promising of the litter10 etc41 life's very future would be in the balance1 the precious instinct which secures the safety and the survival of the young creature would be undermined1 or at least no longer impelled unreflectingly to do the right thing in the right way4 ,there must be an uncritical unreasoning impulse to succour1 to warm1 to protect1 and to feed1 otherwise the speed1 the precision and the earnestness with which these functions have to be performed would be fatally impaired1 disastrously hampered4 ,let the struggle for existence be ever so severe subsequently1 one thing must remain assured and inviolable1 and that is that the mother's instinct must not have any excuse to fail1 it must not even be able to pause to question1 to pick or to choose4 ,discernment1 at this moment1 would make survival doubtful2 but there cannot be1 there must not be1 any doubt4 ,besides1 if organic evolution be true1 it depends upon the operation of three factors3 7#a7 ,the survival of the fittest through the action of 7#b7 ,natural ,selection1 with 7#c7 occasional appearance of variations from type4 ,now1 if the female of the species is to exercise discernment before she succours her young1 if her action is to be deliberative and not impulsive1 what becomes of those variations which1 when happy1 lead to a new development of the species1 or actually to a new variety of species8 ,happy variations are just as odd--qua type--as unhappy variations4 ,but if the female's instinct is to preserve life1 it will preserve one just as passionately as the other4 ,discrimination would prove fatal to both4 ,the very process of organic evolution1 if it be a fact1 therefore depends upon the lack of discrimination in the motherly instinct1 and the hypothesis of organic evolution certainly assumes it4 ,this instinct in the female to succour young life of any kind1 therefore1 is useful to ,nature's scheme4 ,it is an indispensable factor in ,nature's plan4 ,in the lower animals it is demonstrated by the ease with which a female of one species can be made to act as foster-mother to the young of another4 ,books on natural history mention many such cases3 cats that have reared leverets and young squirrels1#bjd hens that rear ducklings1 and the classical natural instance of birds like the ,pipit1 the ,water ,wagtail1 etc41 rearing the young of the cuckoo4#bje ,the latter1 of course1 is a parasitic abuse in ,nature1 of the female's undiscriminating instinct to succour2 but it is nevertheless1 an excellent example of the fact ,i have been trying to establish4 ,it is true that in the human species this lack of discrimination in the female operates as a preserver both of desirable and undesirable varieties2 but1 as in all modern civilizations1 the father is no longer allowed1 as he was by ancient ,sparta or ,rome1 to override the female's lack of taste in this matter1 and unsuccessful variations from type are more common than geniuses1 it follows that the female's point of view1 now that it is supported by the ,state and public opinion1 must lead to the survival of a vast number of undesirable human beings in our midst4 ,thus1 although the human female's instinct is seen to be a vital one1 and though her lack of taste must be regarded as part of the general scheme of life1 it must tend nowadays to an enormous amount of degeneration4 ,this1 however1 is not precisely our point4 ,the facts we wish to establish are1 in the first place1 that in woman's rle of mother1 the blind instinct to succour1 to protect1 and to preserve the helpless creature that she bears is of vital importance to the race2 and1 secondly1 that this blind instinct necessarily involves a deep-seated and incorrigible lack of taste4 ,the fact that subsequently--that is to say1 when the undesirable offspring1 be it cripple1 cretin or idiot1 grows up--it is frequently cherished by the mother more than her whole and hearty children1 is but a confirmation of the point ,i am attempting to make2 for it shows that what appeals to the true mother1 and what according to our whole argument must and ought to appeal1 is not the particular excellence of a given child1 not its claim to any particular form of desirability1 but simply its helplessness4 ,and1 since in the cripple1 the cretin and the idiot helplessness is prolonged to a much later age than in the healthy child1 it is the former to which unsophisticated and simple-minded motherhood naturally inclines4 ,the consequences of this fundamental and vital lack of taste in women are1 of course1 considerable4 ,when we read in ,manu's ,book of ,laws that 8women do not care for beauty10#bjf when ,lombroso and ,ferrero1 in discussing woman's taste state that 8en gnral1 la beaut et l'intelligence la laissent indiffrente10#bjg and when we find ,rousseau saying 8les femmes en gnral n'aiment aucun art1 ne se connoissent aucun10#bjh we feel inclined to object1 because we know of individual instances of women who have shown a marked feeling for beauty4 ,neither ,lombroso1 ,manu nor ,rousseau tells us1 however1 that their respective statements only refer to a specific and superficial manifestation of a deep and unalterable law4 ,when once we realize that law1 we see that these men must be right--not1 however1 because individual women have shown an indifference to beauty1 but because the sex as a whole has no taste1 and that1 wherever discernment for beauty is pronounced in a woman1 she either diverges from type or has undergone some special educating influence4 ,we are better able to understand now why the forms of art have all been man's invention1 although they have sometimes been successfully imitated by women 7in the novel71#bji and why clothes1 even those that fill the wardrobes of women1 are all derived from an original masculine designing centre in ,london or ,paris4 ,we can also see why women are so prone to select and to associate with the worst and most unpromising type of men1#baj why they have no flair 7except on the sexual side1 and even that is by no means infallible7 where men are concerned1 and why even their palates and their stomachs have never assisted them in the development of the culinary art1 when they had it entirely in their own hands4 ,but let us remember again that we cannot have it both ways1 and that if we educated tastelessness away in women1 we should be undermining one of the most valuable and fundamental of female instincts1 the consequences of which alone can we safely hope to correct1 without attempting to eliminate their cause4 ,no4 #c4 ,woman's ,vulgarity might be supposed to arise from her natural absence of taste4 ,but1 truth to tell1 it is the outcome of a different basic principle in her4 ,many men have been conscious of it1 but none1 as far as ,i have been able to discover1 has shown how essential it is1 and how necessarily it derives from the vital functions of the female nature4 ,besides1 there is a substantial difference between a lack of taste and vulgarity4 ,the former is a defect1 a minus4 ,the latter is a definite quality which operates as a determined bias in an unrefined1 rude and low direction4 ,a person lacking taste may by a fluke select a tasteful thing4 ,a vulgar person can in no circumstances be refined4 ,it is not necessarily low1 or rude1 or unrefined in the mother to prefer the crippled or cretin child before the healthy one--that is simply tasteless4 ,we could not call the mother vulgar because she prefers her child in long clothes before her grown-up child in knickerbockers4 ,the grown-up child makes a stronger appeal to taste1 owing to the greater harmony of his proportions1 his articulateness1 his intelligence1 and his greater command over his body and its movements2 but as the mother is chiefly attracted by helplessness1 it is the child in long clothes that she prefers4 ,the appeals to taste do not affect her4 ,it is tastelessness1 therefore1 and not vulgarity1 that elects the child in long clothes4 ,thus we see there is a distinct difference between the two1 and the one cannot derive from the other4 ,it can aggravate the other1 add to its seriousness as a social evil1 complicate and multiply its errors1 but it cannot spring from it4 ,we call that person vulgar who constantly and consciously avoids those things that bear the hall-mark of cultivation1 or refinement1 or careful selection1 in order deliberately to pursue1 select1 value1 and cherish those that bear the stamp of coarseness1 brutality and baseness4 ,now woman constantly overlooks and avoids the former and as constantly pursues the latter1 and we hope to show that she cannot help acting in this way--in fact1 that in so doing she is obeying a vital instinct4 ,the records of the lives of artists reveal one singular fact most impressively1 and that is the frequency with which they have had to associate with immoral women1 or women of the working classes3 ,heine1 ,gthe1 ,rodin1 ,van ,gogh1 ,wagner1 etc42 they are all alike in this2 so much so1 indeed1 that ,weininger1 with his customary superficiality1 thought fit to assert that 8great men have always preferred women of the prostitute type40#baa ,weininger is wrong--great men have not always preferred women of this type4 ,the point is1 however1 that women of the prostitute type1 or women of the proletariat1 are the only women who will1 as a rule1 have anything to do with great men when1 as in the case of ,wagner1 ,heine1 ,van ,gogh1 and ,rodin1 their beginnings are poor1 inconspicuous1 and uncertain4 ,these artists at the outset1 like many hundreds of other great men1 were unsuccessful4 ,that is the important fact as far as the sexual side of their life is concerned4 ,unsuccessful men find it quite difficult enough to prevail upon women of their own station in life to associate with them1 but to get them as wives is out of the question4 ,this accounts for the fact that great men are so frequently thrown upon the company of courtesans and women of lower rank4#bab ,woman has no primary interest in a great or artistic man1 she does not prefer him to a successful and rich soap-boiler1 and what is more1 she never knows he is great until the world acknowledges him as such4 ,in fact she is not in the least concerned with refinement of interests or with cultivation of mind in her mate4 ,she is only deeply fascinated by the great man and the artist when he is a material success4 ,otherwise1 not only does his extra refinement and cultivation leave her indifferent1 but his very poverty repels her4 ,woman1 by her very nature1 is bound to take this attitude4 ,she is compelled1 therefore1 to be vulgar4 ,what is the rationale of her conduct8 ,it is obviously as follows3 ,woman1 like the female butterfly1 the female house-fly1 or the female horse-fly1 has the very vital and useful instinct to deposit her eggs only there where there is a sound promise of food1 and ample quantities of it1 for the support of the larv that are to be reared from them4 ,to consider other matters here would obviously imperil not so much the mother herself as her future offspring4 sthetic considerations must therefore be barred4 ,it is not the best-looking repository1 or the most refined1 or the most learned1 or the most artistic1 that is sought1 but that repository which promises the richest food-supply for the coming brood4 ,in the insect it is the leafy tree1#bac the towering dung-heap2 in the human female it is the man who shows some substantial promise of being able to support the family that will come1 and support it1 moreover1 in circumstances similar to those in which the wife herself has been reared4 ,thus the struggling artist1 the struggling scientist1 and the ambitious but penniless politician--though each may be a genius in his way--repels the true and normal woman of his own class4 ,their spiritual gifts count as nothing1 and since woman has no flair for greatness1 and cannot with certainty pick out the great man before the world has applauded him to the echo1 it is only when they have become a material success that the female of their own or a superior station in life will look at them4 ,now this is obviously a very useful and a very vital instinct in woman4 ,from the standpoint of the species nothing could be more laudable than this anxious preoccupation with the future of the offspring4 ,but it amounts to this1 that by their nature women can have no primary concern about those things that bear the hallmarks of cultivation1 of refinement and of greatness1 and that1 therefore1 they are essentially vulgar4#bad ,if in the ,europe of to-day1 and in all countries like ,europe1 it is material success alone that is regarded as of the highest value1 and if money is the principal hall-mark of power and prestige1 it is due to the ascendancy of women in our midst4 ,women cannot take any other point of view1 and where their influence tends to prevail1 as it does particularly in ,england and ,america1 there you will find the worship of cash the principal religion of the community4 ,it is true that women fall at the feet of great men and artists when they become famous4 ,when ,i was private secretary to ,auguste ,rodin1 the great sculptor1 at a time when he was making anything from fifteen to twenty thousand pounds a year1 women were his principal visitors4 ,they flocked to his studio and to his private house at ,meudon as to an ,oxford ,street drapery sale4 ,but1 as he used to say1 they left him in peace in his dirty little studio in ,la ,rue des ,fourneaux at the time when he was poor and struggling4 ,it is indeed one of the most pernicious results of woman's ascendancy in any society1 that this vulgar pursuit of mere material success 7because it provides the surest provision for the offspring7 tends to become general1#bae and it is a sign of woman's subordination in the ,hindu community1 for instance1 that there the most respected caste is the poorest caste4 ,to-day this vulgarity can be detected in every aspect of our lives4 ,everything1 every consideration of refinement1 is overlooked1 provided that money be present4 ,and the man who kills most female hearts is he who can throw a rich fur round his capture and whirl her off in a sumptuous ,rolls-,royce4 ,this to the normal decent woman is simply irresistible4 ,she will abandon any mere artist for this experience4 ,and though in later years1 when the latter has become great in a worldly sense1 she may deplore her error of judgment1 she has no gifts that enable her immediately to gauge his worth1 and thus to foretell his ultimate position4 ,it is interesting to note that neither ,heine1 ,nietzsche nor ,van ,gogh ever became a material success until long after his death4 ,but ,heine1 ,nietzsche and ,van ,gogh were singularly free from the sort of female persecution that harassed ,rodin and ,wagner in later life1 and certainly not one of them ever had a successful association with a woman of his own station or class4 ,indeed1 so deeply rooted is this love of material success in women that it manifests itself in those who have long ceased to be able to bear children4 ,thus wives who have passionately loved their husbands will learn to dislike and despise them intensely if owing to some unhappy turn in their fortunes they become material failures4 ,daughters will also manifest a pronounced dislike towards fathers who1 for their station in life1 have been inadequate material successes4 ,i once heard a daughter of a peer talk most bitterly about her father1 because he was a failure from the financial point of view4 ,a woman will forgive anything in her man--adultery1 cruelty1 obesity1 and stupidity1--but she cannot and will not forgive material failure4 ,the ramifications of this fundamental and vital vulgarity in woman are1 of course1 manifold4 ,we have only to think of the ostentation of wealth1 of the insistence upon the insignia of wealth and material success by women 7diamonds1 pearls1 furs1 fine external domestic appointments1 etc471 and of the stampede for wealth and success in modern1 women-ridden society4 ,we have only to think of the commercial1 industrial and financial immorality of modern societies1 all of which are the direct outcome of the maniacal struggle for that hall-mark which alone means power and prestige in an effeminate community4 ,individually this vulgarity ramifies in woman as an inability to pursue refinement1 unassisted or undirected2 as a readiness to sacrifice refinement or else the fruits of cultivation1 to any other sordid end1 and as an inaccessibility to the finer nuances of thought4 ,that is why the notion 8,lady0 is such absurd nonsense4 ,it is the grossest and most palpable fiction4 ,no 8lady0 has ever existed or will ever exist4 ,as ,napoleon said1 8,women have no rank02--we have seen why this must be so4#baf ,no4 #d4 ,woman's love of petty power is obvious and hardly requires demonstrating4 ,it arises from the species' urgent need of some adult animal which1 when the offspring is born1 will take an instinctive delight in looking after it4 ,apart from the pleasant sensations that the healthy female--whether animal or human--derives from suckling1#bag there must also be an instinct which makes it a pleasure to nurse1 to fondle1 and to tend the infant of the species4 ,this instinct can be examined under its two aspects1 either as a love of petty power or as a love of dealing with something pathetically helpless4 ,and1 indeed1 if some of the deepest chords in the female's being were not moved by helplessness1 where on earth should we be8 ,what would become of our babies and our children8 ,as far as her relation to the child is concerned1 therefore1 there can be no doubt whatsoever concerning the utility to the species of woman's love of petty power1 and away from the child it is revealed in a hundred different ways3 woman's pronounced preference for lap-dogs1 her fondness for teaching 7when children play at school it is invariably a little girl of the party who plays the part of teacher71#bah her conscious preference for the grown-up schoolboy as a husband 7that is to say1 the man who is easily led by the nose71 her tendency to desire to give advice to relatives and friends1 in everything1 so that virtually she directs their lives 7this is admirably depicted by ,george ,eliot in her descriptions of ,maggie's aunts in the ,mill on the ,floss71 and finally her tendency to excessive self-assertion and to interference with other people's concerns4 ,it is only in its ramifications that this vital instinct in woman has a deleterious influence if it is not kept in check2 for her desire for petty power is always out of all proportion to her capacity for wielding any power whatsoever4 ,for instance1 in its tendency to make her favour the grown-up schoolboy type of man as a husband1 it acts as a distinct drawback to the race4 ,because1 although he proves an easy man to rule1 he is by no means a desirable type from the standpoint of virile virtue4 ,he is the type called 8,promethean0 in my ,man's ,descent from the ,gods--that is to say1 a man who has no mastery of life1 very little depth or understanding1 and who is gifted with the qualities of the lackey rather than of the leader4 ,the prevalence of this type of man to-day1 together with the paucity of men of the masculine and leader type1 is another sign of the extent to which women are having their own way4 ,he is a man who knows nothing about women1 but he is usually athletic1 breezy and fond of games--i4e4 he is harmless4 ,the fact that he now stands as the pattern of the 8manly0 man reveals the influence of the female standpoint in our modern communities1 as does also the fact that the other type of man 7the masculine and manly type who understands woman1 and who shows that he does7 is now vilified everywhere as the 8prig40 ,truth to tell1 woman is less happy with the grown-up schoolboy type than with the latter type1 but this she only finds out later4 ,her conscious choice1 supported by the values of the age1 inclines her to the type over which she can exercise petty power1 and this man1 who believes in 8chivalry10 who believes in playing 8cricket0 7or 8playing the game07 with his womenfolk1 and who accepts the whole of the tinsel of false sentiment that women have succeeded in drawing over the natural relations of the sexes1 has become the beau ideal of ,anglo-,saxon society4 ,ultimately1 of course1 woman suffers excruciatingly1 not only as an individual1 but also as a whole sex1 when this type of man becomes supreme2 because1 since he has no mastery over life1 and no understanding of life's problems 7the sex problem is only one of the many he actually creates71 the societies in which he prevails gradually get into such an appalling muddle1 and reveal in all their aspects such a tragic absence of the master mind1 that life in all its departments becomes ever more and more difficult4 ,a century in ,england of the prevalence of this type of man has brought us to our present hopeless plight1 and yet there are very few men1 and no women1 who seem to be aware of the fact that it is the prevalence of this alleged 8manly0 man that is to blame4 ,a moment's thought1 of course1 reveals at once how ridiculous even the terminology of this womanly ideal of man really is2 for truly 8manly0 men are not ruled by their women4 ,and yet1 in the most successful novels of the day1 in the most exalted circles of the land1 and in the hearts of all unsuspecting virgins1 he continues to be upheld as the paragon for all times and climes4 ,this is what we have had to pay for woman's point of view becoming paramount4 ,do not let it be thought1 however1 that the cure would consist in curbing1 uprooting or correcting woman's love of petty power4 ,this should not be attempted for one instant1 even if it were possible4 ,woman's love of petty power is much too valuable to the species to be tampered with4 ,the only practical cure would be the breeding of a type of masculine men over whom woman's love of petty power could not avail4 ,thus woman's lack of taste on the one hand1 her vulgarity and her love of petty power on the other1#bai are all seen to be exercising a deleterious and dangerous influence on modern society4 ,they are harmful because they exert a continuous pull downwards against the aspiring efforts of the age2 they are dangerous because they may lead to a degree of degeneration from which it may prove impossible ultimately to recover1 and they are difficult and delicate to handle because1 while they are persistent and incorrigible1 they are1 as we have seen1 too vital to be tampered with without jeopardizing the survival of the species4 ,what in the circumstances is the solution8 ,the only advisable solution lies in the direction1 not of changing woman--that would be suicidal to the species--but in limiting her power1 in controlling her influence4 ,feminism1 therefore1 which aims at the opposite ideal1 is wrong--wrong to the root4 ,there must be a revulsion of feeling1 or we perish4 ,woman must be re-defined4 ,her sphere must once again be delimited and circumscribed1 if her vital and precious instincts are not1 in their effort to extend 8out of bounds10 to drag us steadily down into the abyss4 ,if woman were happier as she is1 than with her influence controlled1 if ,feminism had brought bliss instead of anguish to millions of women1 there might be at least one remaining argument--a purely hedonistic one--in favour of this nineteenth-century madness4 ,but seeing that this is not so2 in view of what every one now knows and can see and feel with his own unassisted senses1 that woman has grown every day more wretched1 more neurotic1 and more sick1 with every advance that ,feminism has made1 the last and only possible word remaining in its favour1 the plea even of hedonism1 is shown to be as inadmissible as the rest4 ,when1 therefore1 we read in the old canon of the ,brahmins1 8,he who carefully guards his wife1 preserves the purity of his offspring1 virtuous conduct1 his family1 himself1 and his means of acquiring merit0#bbj2 when we read 8,day and night women must be kept in dependence by the males of their families 444 her father protects her in childhood1 her husband protects her in youth1 and her sons protect her in old age1 a woman is never fit for independence02#bba we shall surely be taking a very heavy onus of responsibility upon our shoulders if we declare this policy madness and our own wisdom4 ,is there anything beyond our own prejudice to show that we are more wise than the ,brahmins were8 ,is there anything in the organization of our society to show that it is more successful than that of the ,brahmins8 ,if we choose to interpret these texts merely as the unjust doctrines of a race 8hostile0 to women1 it should be incumbent upon us to prove that1 in point of fact1 our women are happier in their anarchy than those women are or were in their ,brahministic order4 ,but1 truth to tell1 the ,brahmins were a very wise race1 a race that meant to last longer than we mean to last1 and which1 in fact1 has achieved a degree of permanence far exceeding that which any ,european race has achieved1 or can hope to achieve1 unless it make a rapid volte-face in almost all its most cherished beliefs4 ,no4 #e4 ,woman's ,vanity1 ,i take it1 is not open to question4 ,if no other proof of its pre-eminence in her were available1 we should find one in her universally reported modesty2 for1 who says modest1 says also vain4#bbb ,since1 therefore1 no one has yet contested the modesty of women1 ,i may take it that her vanity is by implication generally accepted too4 ,the ramifications of this vice in her are to be found in her tendency to inordinate jealousy 7which arises from her incessant desire to be the centre of attraction and her intolerance of rivals in this desire72 in her love of honours1 titles1 badges1 etc4 7hence her incessant spurring on of her mate to obtain them1 and her impatience with him if he fails72 in her tendency to adopt only showy or conspicuous callings in which tangible and visible results1 and speedy applause1 are sure to be obtained4 7,thus ,havelock ,ellis says3 8,it is difficult to recall examples of women who have patiently and slowly fought their way at once to perfection and to fame in the face of complete indifference1 like1 for instance1 ,balzac4444 ,it is still more difficult to recall a woman who for any abstract and intellectual end has fought her way to success through obloquy and contempt1 or without reaching success1 like a ,roger ,bacon1 or a ,galileo1 a ,wagner or an ,ibsen072#bbc finally1 in her constant and deep concern about her appearance1 her clothes1 her hair1 and her neighbour's clothes and hair1 and her love of flattery4 ,this latter derivative of her basic vanity is perhaps the worst of all1 because it means that women1 as a rule1 are always governed in their likes and dislikes1 and in their appreciation of their fellow-creatures1 not by a recognition of the latter's intrinsic worth1 which they sum up once and for all1 but by the manner in which their fellow-creatures treat them4 ,a woman does not ask herself1 what is the precise character of ,so-and-so1 and value him accordingly4 ,her instinctive question is1 how did ,so-and-so treat me8 ,he may be an inferior man who dances attendance upon her and treats her well1 he may be a knave2 she will always prefer him before the worthy man who treats her with indifference4 ,madame de ,stal's adverse opinion of ,napoleon was not formed until ,napoleon had systematically and thoroughly snubbed her4 ,but ,madame de ,stal's adverse opinion of ,napoleon is not valuable as an index to ,napoleon's true character2 it is only valuable as an index to the way ,napoleon treated her4 ,likewise with our 8good ,queen ,bess10 it was not ,leicester's desirable qualities that so much endeared him to her2 for he was a bigamist1 a murderer1 an incompetent and cowardly general1 and a bad governor of men1 as his experiences in the ,netherlands proved2 but the fact that he was an arch-flatterer4 ,even the ingenuity he displayed in designing his presents to his sovereign and lady love1 reveal an unusual knowledge of woman's weaknesses4 ,elizabeth's treatment of ,admiral ,lord ,seymour1 whom she made a ,privy ,councillor1 was also not based upon an estimate of his true worth1 but upon the way in which he treated her2 for the man was a convicted defaulter4 ,see also her ridiculous behaviour with ,sir ,james ,melville in #aefd 7recorded by himself7 and her humiliating victimization by ,dr4 ,dee1 the alchemist4 ,the most cursory study of any woman's opinion about her fellow-creatures will always reveal the same fact1 that they are not based at all upon the intrinsic value of people1 but on the way people treat her4 ,this is a comparatively harmless trait so long as woman has no power2 the moment1 however1 that she is placed in a position of wielding power1 her errors of judgment affect public life1 and she only accepts those men as her ministers1 advisers or directors who can prostrate themselves with the best grace at her feet1 and appeal most irresistibly to her vanity4 ,her choice of a fellow-creature may of course be right by a fluke1 as for instance when he combines with general ability the power for fulsome flattery 7,benjamin ,disraeli72 but otherwise it is almost sure to be wrong4#bbd ,these ramifications of the fundamental vice of vanity in woman are1 ,i presume1 disputed by no one4 ,it only remains1 therefore1 to show that here again we are concerned with a vital instinct which1 while it may require curbing by man1 is too precious to be uprooted or suppressed4 ,for what1 after all1 is this vanity in woman but the outcome of her natural impulse to attract the notice of the male--to speed up1 that is to say1 or to make certain of1 the act of fertilization1 which can only be consummated when a male has been captivated8 ,if the female played the aggressive and prehensile rle in the sexual act1 she would only need to pursue and to overpower as the male does4 ,since1 however1 she plays the passive1 receptive and submissive rle1 her only means of securing and expediting fertilization is to draw the male to her2 and this instinct in the human female naturally manifests itself as a deep concern about her own personal appearance and its powers of provoking flattering attention4 ,if intellectual brightness can add to the power she is thus able to exercise1 and she has the gift for developing intellectual power1 she will do so in order to add to the glamour of her person4 ,that is why it is never safe to argue from a woman's intellectual pursuits that she is truly interested in the subjects she is studying4 ,it is far wiser to wait until she has given some unmistakable proof of the purity of her motives4 ,this1 however1 rarely1 if ever1 happens4#bbe ,since1 however1 in a contest between attractions1 native beauty and native endowments generally play a greater part than dress or acquired intellectual smartness1 it will generally be found that women are more bitterly jealous of each other's bodily gifts than of each other's wardrobes1 wealth or wisdom4 ,but woman does not consciously consider the benefit of the species1 although she is constantly working for it4 ,thus when she is vying with other women in the business of attraction1 she realizes the enormous advantage enjoyed by the rival who has the best physical endowments1 and since it is her own fertilization that is alone important to her1 her jealousy of the other woman or women may quite easily drive her to homicide1 if she can hope to achieve a speedier triumph by this means4 ,apart from sexual matters1 this characteristic in the female manifests itself generally as a desire to shine1 or to outshine1 and to be the centre of an admiring or1 at least1 attentive group4 ,tiresome as this propensity is1 particularly when a wife shows it to a marked degree1 it should never be forgotten that it has a vital origin1 and therefore that it should be treated with patience and toleration4 ,a little kindly and timely explanation to a woman of one's own circle will generally enable her to realize how foolish she has been making herself appear2 and the moment she realizes this1 and begins1 with the aid of your explanation1 to notice the self-assertiveness of other women1 and its reasons1 she will be on the high road to understanding the wisdom of your rebuke4 ,as a general rule it is best to teach women through the example of other women2 because their natural loathing and contempt of other women is such1 that if you can once convince your wife1 or your daughter1 that she is behaving1 or has behaved1 like a certain other woman1 whom she has had opportunities of observing with disapproval1 the chances are that you will have cured her spontaneously of the objectionable trait which it was your desire to suppress4 ,this fact1 however1 should be carefully noted in regard to female vanity1 and that is that normally it is only a means of luring the male4 ,when once the male has been lured1 and the woman is passionate and positive1 vanity is flung to the four winds1 and passion will induce the woman to accept even insults from the man she loves without ceasing from loving him4 ,the negative woman1 on the other hand1 whose vanity is never smothered by passion1 cannot accept an insult from anyone4 ,she hates the lover who does not keep up to the mark in worshipping her4 ,since she is never carried away by passion1 she never forgets to ask herself the constant question--what sort of figure she is cutting in the affair2 and this makes her very sensitive to adulation1 neglect and insults4 ,no4 #f4 ,woman's ,sensuality will be stoutly denied1 not only by women themselves1 but by all sentimental and women-ridden men4 ,owing to the lies told by the writers of the ,j4 ,s4 ,mill type1 most modern ,anglo-,saxons have got it into their heads that woman has acted as a moralizing influence on man1 and has thus led to a curbing and taming of the sensual impulses of humanity2 in fact that civilization is largely her work4#bbf ,with such false doctrines in their minds1 it is naturally difficult to convince such people that woman is sensual2 for1 with cerulean-eyed innocence they exclaim3 8,how can sensuality moralize mankind80 ,true enough1 it cannot2 but the mistake is to suppose anything so fatuous and absurd as that women ever advanced morality by a hair's breadth4 ,i think ,i have shown sufficiently cogently that when they do exercise any influence 8out of their proper bounds0 it is only in order to spread their bad taste and their vulgarity4 ,how then could their effect on humanity's civilization and cultivation have been anything but a retarding one8 ,the truth is that woman's direct influence in most civilizations has been but small1 and where this direct influence has been felt1 whether acutely or insignificantly1 it is always unfavourable4 ,but let us not suppose that on that account sensuality is an evil4--,on the contrary1 it is one of the greatest mainstays of life4 ,without sensuality we could not advance from one generation to another2 without a love of the flesh and its joys human nature and the animal creation would come to an end in half a century4 ,in this sense1 seeing that to-day we are all ,puritans--if not in deed1 at least in thought--,i have the best possible proof of how little woman has influenced civilization for the good4 ,for woman is chiefly sensual4 ,if then she had influenced civilization for the good1 she must have checked ,puritanism4 ,because even if we admit1 as we must1 that her sensuality must be kept within proper bounds by man1 we are forced to inquire how it is that the whole of ,western ,europe1 and all countries like it1 are ,puritan to-day1 if woman has exercised any influence on the evolution of society1 and that influence has been a good influence4 ,the reader may reply that this proves that woman is not sensual4 ,but ,i invite him to consider the process of bearing and rearing children4 ,surely it is from start to finish--from the coitus to the weaning--a sensuous process2 and in that sense woman's sensuality is entirely laudable4 ,when once this sensuous process ceases from being pleasant in all its stages1 disease is present1 and the species is in danger of extermination4#bbg ,this danger may be remote1 but it must be recognized4 ,now1 how can we expect a creature to find pleasure in a sensuous process lasting over such a long period of time unless sensuality plays a great part in her constitution8 ,the only point we have to settle here 7since we have placed sensuality among woman's vices7 is at what point does her sensuality become vicious4 ,now let it be thoroughly understood that two-thirds of our middle-class and certainly three-quarters of our wealthiest classes can hardly produce a positive woman among them1 and1 therefore1 that there can be no question of sensuality in the women of these sections of the community4 ,to be sensual a woman must at least be positive2 she must at least have healthy and tonic organs1 both of alimentation1 etc41 and of sex2 hence1 we shall not be thinking of the bulk of ,british women when we proceed to show how the natural and laudable sensuality of the positive woman becomes a vice4 ,like all the other vital qualities of woman--her tastelessness1 her vulgarity1 her love of petty power1 and her vanity--sensuality only becomes a vice when it is out of hand4 ,it is1 therefore1 in greatest danger of becoming a vice when men have conceded overmuch liberty to their womenfolk1 and where woman1 by having her own way1 can indulge her proclivities without limitation4 ,but this is the state in which we find ourselves in ,england to-day1 and if it were not for the fact that three-quarters of our women are negative 7that is to say1 too unhealthy and too atonic in their alimentary1 sexual and other organs to derive any pleasure from their functions71 sensuality would be one of the worst vices of the times4 ,how does it operate harmfully when once it has become a vice through positive women having their own way8 ,it operates as a vice by breaking up the family unit1 by unduly exhausting the menfolk of the nation1 by leading to promiscuity and thence to disease1 by making woman the only subject whether of agreement or disagreement among men1 and by elevating to the first place among the virtues a caprine degree of masculine potency4 ,the way of arresting this vice1 however1 is not1 as our ancestors of the seventeenth century thought 7and did71 to eradicate woman's sensuality and to make her negative2 for that is tantamount to destroying a portion of her vitality1 and of her valuable vital impulses4 ,the only remedy1 here again1 is to circumscribe woman's powers1 and to place each woman under the tutelage of some responsible man4 ,but in order to do this successfully you must have the men who can undertake the charge4 ,besides1 is it not too late to speak of this now8 ,has not the wrong remedy1 the rearing of negative and non-sexual women1 gone too far8 ,i doubt whether1 in view of humanity's infinite possibilities1 anything could have gone too far4 ,but the revulsion of feeling that would be required to alter our present condition in suchwise as 7#a7 to rear a majority of positive women once more1 and 7#b7 to rear the men who could take charge of them and account for their actions appears1 as things are1 to be so remote that1 although everything is possible1 it is doubtful whether precisely this thing is probable4 ,certainly the choice taken by our ancestors cannot have been the right one4#bbh ,it cannot be right to suppress a vice by eradicating or detoning the vital principle that causes it#bbi2 and now that we have the fruits of this method about us1 in our millions of negative women1 it may reasonably be asked whether we do not see the necessity of starting a counter movement which1 while it will increase the proportion of positive women in our midst1 will also and concurrently rear the men who can take charge of them4 8,day and night woman must be kept in dependence by the males of their families10 says ,manu1 8and if they attach themselves to sensual enjoyments1 they must be kept under one's control40#bcj 99 99 99 99 99 ,thus we have seen that both in her virtues and her vices woman is entirely the creature of vital impulses4 ,her virtues1 like her vices1 arise from principles within her that are valuable--nay indispensable1 to the species4 ,furthermore1 we have seen that her vices are not vices in their origin1 but only become so when certain vital principles within her get out of hand1 or find expression in a way they were not intended to adopt4 ,to attempt to correct these vices by extirpation is dangerous1 seeing that to do so is to ruin instincts upon which the race depends for its survival4#bca ,if therefore society is to be protected from women's vices1 and the future of mankind guaranteed against the deteriorating effect of woman's spiritual influence1 the only practical remedy that does not menace the species is to emulate the great wisdom of the ,orient1 and to place woman once more under man's charge4 ,to attempt any other method1 such as the one advocated by the ,feminists for instance1 is1 as we have seen1 to involve one of two difficulties3 either the need of eradicating some of woman's most vital principles in order to make her liberty innocuous to society 7this we have already partially done with regard to her sensuality71 or else the necessity of suffering the gradual deterioration of life through her influence1 if she remain uncontrolled4 ,either alternative is bad2 because in either event the ruin of civilization is a mathematical certainty4 ,you cannot eradicate woman's most vital principles without destroying her usefulness1 and yet you cannot tolerate her deteriorating influence if her vital principles are allowed to get out of hand4 ,there remains1 therefore1 but the alternative of restoring women to the charge of men--an alternative which involves the denial1 the overthrow1 and the rout of ,feminism4 ,the only difficulty we can see in the way of this desirable reform1 is the absence of the men who would be capable of carrying it out4 ,for women themselves are already half-convinced that ,feminism is wrong1 and that ,j4 ,s4 ,mill is actually the pernicious liar ,i have shown him to be4 ,,footnotes3 #adb ,see ,man's ,descent from the ,gods1 chapter ,,viii4 #adc ,book ,,ix1 verses #ae1 #af1 #ag4 #add ,op4 cit4 p4 #ace4 8,mais si le mensonge est un vice trs rpandu dans toute l'humanit1 c'est surtout chez les femmes qu'il atteint son maximum d'intensit4 ,demontrer que le mensonge est habituel1 physiologique chez la femme1 serait inutile3 cela est consacr par la croyance populaire40 #ade 8,there are three things that cannot be trusted3 a king1 a horse1 and a woman2 the king tyrannizes1 a horse escapes1 a woman is perfidious40 #adf ,see ,life of ,john ,stuart ,mill1 p4 #afb4 #adg ,see ,the ,subjection of ,women1 chap4 ,i1 section #g4 #adh ,the observation occurs in ,congreve's ,mourning ,bride1 at the end of the #crd ,act1 and is put in the mouth of ,queen ,zara4 ,the precise words are3-- 8,heaven has no rage1 like love to hatred turn'd1 ,nor ,hell a fury1 like a woman scorn'd40 #adi ,w4 ,l4 ,courtney 7,op4 cit47 tells us that portions of the ,subjection of ,women were written by ,miss ,helen ,taylor 7,mill's step-daughter74 #aej ,op4 cit41 section #ah4 #aea ,see ,sir ,almroth ,e4 ,wright 7,op4 cit41 p4 #cb71 footnote3 8,this is a question on which ,mill has endeavoured to confuse the issue for his reader1 first1 by representing that by no possibility can man know anything of the #8nature1' i4e4 of the #8secondary sexual characters' of woman2 and secondly1 by distracting attention from the fact that #8acquired characteristics' may produce unfitness for the suffrage40 #aeb ,j4 ,s4 ,mill1 section #bj4 #aec ,cp4 ,sir ,almroth ,e4 ,wright1 who1 in speaking of ,mill's hypothetical natural woman1 says 7,op4 cit41 p4 #e73 8,instead of dealing with woman as she is1 and with woman placed in a setting of actually subsisting conditions1 ,mill takes as his theme a woman who is a creature of his imagination4 ,this woman is1 by assumption1 in mental endowment a replica of man4 ,she lives in a world which is1 by tacit assumption1 free from the complications of sex4444 ,it is in connexion with this fictitious woman that ,mill sets himself to work out the benefit which women would derive from co-partnership with men in the government of the ,state1 and those which such co-partnership would confer on the community40 #aed ,the ,rev4 ,e4 ,cobham ,brewer1 ,,ll4,d41 calls ,mill's ,subjection of ,women 8admirable40 #aee ,a certain ,french writer1 despite a wholly mistaken admiration for ,j4 ,s4 ,mill1 is nevertheless bound to admit1 in reference to ,mill's ,subjection of ,women and his strangely wild and unreasoning infatuation for ,mrs4 ,taylor1 that3 8,il n'en est pas moins curieux et remarquable que1 sous l'aiguillon de ce sentiment1 cet esprit froid1 si fort1 si durement logique1 ait pris sans hsiter cette attitude40 ,see ,psychologie de la ,femme1 by ,henri ,marion1 7,paris1 #aijc1 p4 #beg74 ,in his ,criticisms on ,contemporary ,thought and ,thinkers the ,rev4 ,r4 ,h4 ,hutton1 ,m4,a41 writes as follows on ,mill's relation to ,mrs4 ,taylor2 8,his passionate reverence for his wife's memory and genius--in his own words #8a religion'--was one which1 as he must have been perfectly sensible1 he could not possibly make to appear otherwise than extravagant1 not to say an hallucination1 in the eyes of the rest of mankind40 7,see ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #agc47 ,see the same work for some sharp and well-deserved criticism of ,mill's ,utilitarianism4 #aef ,germania1 chap4 ,,ix4 #aeg ,ibid41 chap4 ,,xlv4 #aeh ,see ,decline and ,fall1 chap4 ,,ix4 #aei ,the ,importance of ,women in ,anglo-,saxon ,times1 by the ,rt4 ,rev4 ,g4 ,f4 ,browne1 ,d4,d41 p4 #ab4 #afj ,browne 7,op4 cit471 p4 #ab4 ,the women of the ruling class in ,britain at the time of the ,roman subjugation of the island1 were also distinguished for their cultivation2 such women1 ,i mean1 as ,cartismandua1 the earliest ,british queen to be mentioned in history1 ,boadicea1 and ,martia1 surnamed ,proba1 whose laws were ultimately confirmed1 and partly adopted1 by ,king ,alfred and ,edward the ,confessor4 #afa ,the only reason why these last two did not share the honours of royalty with their husbands was because of the crimes of the ,queen ,edburga who had poisoned her husband4 #afb ,browne 7,op4 cit471 p4 #bc4 #afc ,ibid41 p4 #bc4 #afd ,ibid41 p4 #bc4 #afe ,see ,lives of the ,queens of ,england1 by ,agnes ,strickland4 ,vol4 ,i4 ,introduction4 #aff ,we have only to think of the enormous amount of faith and intense inward conviction that the successful survival of such an ordeal must mean1 in order to realize that ,emma of ,normandy must have possessed qualities that are extremely rare even among the women of to-day4 #afg ,subjection of ,women1 chap4 ,i1 section #i4 ,henry ,,iii's wife and mother of ,edward ,i1 although perhaps extravagant and reckless1 enjoyed an excellent education4 #afh ,histoire de la ,civilisation en ,france 7,paris #ahdf71 ,vol4 ,,iii1 pp4 #ccb-ccc4 #afi ,see ,lacroix1 ,science et ,lettres au ,moyen ,age et l'poque de la ,renaissance 7#bnd ,ed471 p4 #afi1 where the author1 speaking of the beginning of the fourteenth century1 says3 8,bien des femmes ne donnaient confiance qu' des personnes de leur sexe pour des oprations d'une nature dlicate40 #agj ,see ,mary ,bateson1 ,medival ,england1 p4 #bhf4 #aga ,see ,g4 ,s4 ,coulson1 ,m4,a41 ,a ,medival ,garner1 p4 #eh4 #agb ,see ,emile ,faguet1 ,le ,fminisme1 p4 #agc3 8,quand on songe que la cotume de ,bretagne et que l',ordonnance de ,blois de #aegi 7executive dans tout le ,royaume7 condamnaient la peine de mort1 les hommes coupables de rapt60 ,as to the spiritual side of the seventeenth century1 on the other hand1 we have only to think of ,molire's ,prcieuses ,ridicules and ,les ,femmes ,savantes1 each of which plays caricatures the then existing phenomenon of the learned woman4 #agc ,faguet1 ,op4 cit4 #agd ,see ,working ,life of ,women in the ,seventeenth ,century1 p4 #da4 #age ,alice ,clark1 ,op4 cit41 pp4 #ad-ah4 #agf ,ibid41 ,op4 cit41 p4 #be4 #agg ,alice ,clark1 pp4 #bh-ca4 #agh ,weininger agrees that it is wholly erroneous to suggest that hitherto women have had no opportunity for the undisturbed development of their mental powers 7see ,op4 cit41 p4 #gb71 but1 as usual1 the support of his contention is feeble and unconvincing4 #agi ,miss ,clark is of the opinion that even in these domestic duties she was not altogether unassisted by men in former times1 as the following passage shows3 8,on the other hand it may be urged that1 if women were on the whole more actively engaged in industrial work during the seventeenth century than they were in the first decade of the twentieth century1 men were much more occupied with domestic affairs than they are now4 ,men in all classes gave time and care to the education of their children1 and the young unmarried men1 who generally occupied positions as apprentices and servants1 were partly employed over domestic work4 ,therefore1 though it is now taken for granted that domestic work will be done by women1 a considerable proportion of it in former days fell to the share of the men40 7,op4 cit41 p4 #e47 #ahj ,if she does so1 it only means disaster4 ,as late as a generation ago1 if she happened to be in ,india1 she was put to no trouble whatsoever2 for the custom there1 in such circumstances1 was for the ,european mother to seek out a native mother who could act as wet-nurse4 ,the fact that this almost invariably meant--as every ,anglo-,indian will tell you--the death of the native woman's own child1 was cynically overlooked by the ,british occupiers of ,india4 #aha ,paul ,lecroix1 ,op4 cit41 pp4 #cgj-cga4 #ahb ,weininger comes to the same conclusion4 ,see ,op4 cit41 pp4 #aej-aea and #aif4 ,but he does not give the same reasons as ,i do4 ,his conclusion is much more of a guess than mine is1 and therefore makes one suspect that he was actuated by strong prejudice4 #ahc ,weininger 7,op4 cit41 p4 #cdf71 who maintained that 8it cannot be a moral duty to provide for the continuance of the race10 was an avowed pessimist1 and1 being unable therefore to find a higher sanction for woman's immorality1 perforce condemned it4 ,we who believe that there is no duty more sacred than to provide for the continuance of the race1 naturally take the other view1 and though recognizing woman's unscrupulousness in furthering the survival of the race1 recognize the high sanction which her immorality thus acquires4 #ahd ,cp4 ,sir ,almroth ,e4 ,wright 7,op4 cit41 p4 #df73 8,it would be difficult to find anyone who would trust a woman to be just to the rights of others in the case where the material interests of her children1 or of a devoted husband1 were involved4 ,and even to consider the question of being in such a case intellectually just to anyone who came into competition with personal belongings like husband and child would1 of course1 lie quite beyond the moral horizon of ordinary woman40 #ahe ,schopenhauer in one of his ,essays 7see the ,parerga und ,paralipomena1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 ,chap4 ,,xxvii7 also speaks of women's 8instinctive cunning0 and 8her ineradicable tendency to falsehood10 as the outcome of her weakness1 but never hints at any deeper1 or more positive cause4 ,speaking of woman's character as being given to injustice1 he says3 8,er entsteht zunchst aus dem dargelegten ,mangel an ,vernnftigkeit und ,ueberlegung1 wird zudem aber noch dardurch untersttzt1 dass sie1 als die schwcheren1 von der ,natur nicht auf die ,kraft1 sondern auf die ,list angewiesen sind3 daher ihre instinktartige ,verschlagenheit und ihr unvertilgbarer ,hang zum ,lgen40 #ahf ,not a little even of our 8,good0 ,queen ,bess's success as a ruler was due to her unlimited capacity for lies4 ,speaking of ,queen ,elizabeth1 ,j4 ,r4 ,green in his ,short ,history of the ,english ,people1 says3 8,ignoble1 inexpressibly wearisome as the ,queen's diplomacy seems to us now1 tracing it as we do through a thousand despatches1 it succeeded in its main end4 ,it gained time1 and every year that was gained doubled ,elizabeth's strength4 ,nothing is more revolting in the ,queen1 but nothing is more characteristic1 than her shameless mendacity4 ,it was an age of political lying1 but in the profusion and recklessness of her lies ,elizabeth stood without a peer in ,christendom40 7,chap4 ,,vii4 ,section ,,iii47 ,and later on in the same chapter he says3 8,as we track ,elizabeth through her tortuous mazes of lying and intrigue1 the sense of her greatness is almost lost in a sense of contempt40 ,even her most distinguished minister1 ,william ,cecil1 ,lord ,burleigh1 was a most incorrigible liar and rascal4 #ahg ,it is true that ,havelock ,ellis1 when discussing woman's tendency to ruse and deception1 is careful to say that 8to regard the caution and indirectness of women as due to innate wickedness1 it need hardly be said1 would be utterly irrational4 ,it is inevitable1 and results from the constitution of women1 acting in conditions under which they are generally placed40 7,op4 cit41 p4 #aif47 ,but this is a very long way from my position1 according to which woman's tendency to ruse and deception is a constant1 positive and life-promoting instinct4 #ahh ,as ,i have shown in ,chap4 ,,viii1 this constancy supersedes1 and frequently defeats1 her constancy to man4 #ahi ,see ,lecky1 ,the ,history of ,european ,morals2 ,buckle1 ,the ,influence of ,women on the ,progress of ,knowledge2 ,herbert ,spencer1 ,sociology2 etc4 ,emerson asks1 8,what is civilization80 and replies1 8,it is the influence of good women40 #aij ,see ,arabella ,kenealy 7,op4 cit41 p4 #aje73 8,no matter to what degree she may acquire masculine characteristics and aptitudes1 she remains1 at core1 a creature of instinct2 not of reason4 ,as a creature of instinct she is invaluable to life--because ,life is moulded upon instinct40 #aia ,this occurred on the #dth of ,june1 and ,miss ,davison died1 as the result of her action1 on the #hth of ,june at #d4ej p4m4 at ,epsom4 #aib ,this is not generally understood4 ,the cruel stepmother is universally reviled in fable1 in fiction1 and in real life2 but truth to tell1 the very fact that she is a bad stepmother shows how deep her mother's instincts must be4 ,i have known one or two such stepmothers1 and have always found them the most excellent mothers4 ,in fact a good stepmother may always be taken to mean a bad or indifferent mother4 ,this is so little realized by most people1 that ,i believe ,i am the first person in history who has ventured to defend the bad stepmother on these lines4 ,on the contrary1 the whole tendency of the modern world is to deprecate the bad stepmother and to honour the good stepmother4 ,in this way are woman's best virtues being undermined4 #aic ,this is in addition to the derivatives already given in the first mention of this virtue4 #aid ,see ,baudouin's confirmation of this in his interesting work ,suggestion and ,auto-,suggestion4 7,george ,allen ,unwin1 ,ltd47 #aie ,see ,henri ,marion 7,op cit41 p4 #gi74 8,les filles sont aussi plus imitatrices que les garons1 quoique l'instinct d'imitation soit remarquable chez tous galement4 ,selon ,mlle ,lauriol #8les filles imitent et singent mieux que les garons4' ,il semble qu'elles remarquent mieux ce qu'on dit et fait devant elles et qu'elles y prennent plus d'intrt2 le rpter et l'imiter est un de leurs plaisirs les plus vifs4 ,elles y excellent d'autant plus qu'elles crent1 inventent et innovent moins40 #aif ,op4 cit41 p4 #bcd4 ,see also p4 #agg3 8,the sex-instinct in woman having had its origin in surrender1 retains much still of this primal element40 #aig ,it is naturally impossible to discuss or enumerate the many vices that may or may not fall to the share of the negative woman2 for they would consist of all the positive woman's vices1 plus those vices that come with subnormal health1 and minus1 of course1 sensuality4 ,negative women can at least pride themselves on this minus4 #aih ,no reference will be made to those vices that result from a thwarting of her natural instincts--such vices as cruelty1 gluttony1 and drunkenness2 for most of these were discussed in the ,chapter on the ,old ,maid4 #aii ,byron has already been mentioned in this volume as one who also detected women as the creators of this tinsel of false sentiment4 ,michelet and ,alphonse ,daudet were among the ,frenchmen who saw eye to eye with ,byron on this point4 ,daudet said3 8,la femme deteste l'ironie qui la dconcerte et qu'elle sent tre l'antagoniste des enthusiasmes et des rveries de l'amour40 #bjj ,see ,havelock ,ellis1 ,op4 cit41 p4 #aif3 8,whenever a man or a woman are found under compromising circumstances1 it is nearly always the woman who with ready wit audaciously retrieves the situation4 ,every one is acquainted with instances from life or from history of women whose quick and cunning ruses have saved lover or husband or child4 ,it is unnecessary to insist on this quality1 which in its finest forms is called tactfulness40 ,see also ,lecky1 ,history of ,european ,morals1 ,vol4 ,,ii41 p4 #ceh4 ,see as a magnificent poetic representation of this power in women ,byron's ,don ,juan1 ,canto ,i1 stanzas ,,cxlii to ,,clxxviii4 ,the latter stanza is worth quoting in full4 ,it is as follows3-- 8,a hint1 in tender cases is enough2 ,silence is best2 besides1 there is a tact-- 7,that modern phrase appears to me sad stuff1 ,but it will serve to keep my verse compact7-- ,which keeps1 when push'd by questions rather rough1 ,a lady always distant from the fact3 ,the charming creatures lie with such a grace1 ,there's nothing so becoming to the face40 #bja ,speaking of little girls ,henri ,marion says3 8,de mme les observateurs n'hsitent pas dclarer les petites filles moins parfaitement droites que les garons1 en gnral1 plus compliques1 plus diplomates1 plus fertiles en petites roueries1 plus inclines biaiser1 broder1 inventer1 tout au moins aranger et amplifier4444 ,surtout quand elles veulent mentir1 elles sont plus habiles que les petits garons1 se troublent moins1 ont plus de prsence d'esprit pour soutenir un premier mensonge40 ,op4 cit41 p4 #hf4 ,monsieur ,marion adduces ,mgr ,dupanloup and ,mlle ,lauriol as his authorities for this view4 #bjb ,finally among the great thinkers of ,europe who have held the view that women are indifferent to truth1 and incapable of rectitude1 ,i would further mention ,rousseau1 ,diderot1 ,la ,bruyre1 and that great genius ,kant1 who1 in his ,ueber ,pdagogik coldly conjures fathers to enforce truthfulness in their children because 8mothers have a tendency to attach but little importance to it40 ,his exact words are 7p4 #ajh of the ,knigsberg #ahac ,edition71 speaking of children's habit of lying1 8,des ,vaters ,sache ist es1 darauf zu sehen1 dass sich die ,kinder dessen entwhnen2 denn die ,mtter achten es gemeiniglich fr eine ,sache von keiner1 oder doch nur geringer ,bedeutung40 #bjc ,see ,chapter ,,viii of that work4 #bjd ,see ,white's ,natural ,history of ,selborne4 ,letters ,,lxxvi and 8,observations on ,quadrupeds40 #bje ,the researches of ornithologists during recent years sufficiently prove that the female cuckoo lays her egg upon the ground1 and then deposits it in the nest of a bird whose egg resembles the one she has just laid4 #bjf ,see chap4 ,,ix1 verse #ad4 #bjg ,op4 cit41 p4 #aba4 ,see also ,weininger1 ,op4 cit41 p4 #bej4 #bjh ,letter to d',alembert4 #bji ,among other reasons accounting for woman's dependence on man for art-forms is her lack of originality4 #baj ,see my ,man's ,descent from the ,gods1 chap4 ,,viii4 #baa ,op4 cit41 p4 #bbf4 #bab ,one or two exceptions will occur to the reader's mind1 such as ,mahommed and ,benjamin ,disraeli2 but these are not really exceptions1 because in each case the woman was rich enough to compensate for her husband's impecunious and unsuccessful condition4 #bac ,see ,w4 ,s4 ,coleman1 ,m4,e4,s41 ,british ,butterflies1 p4 #d3 8,prompted by a most remarkable instinct1 and one that could not have originated in any experience of personal advantage1 the female butterfly1 when seeking a depository for her eggs1 selects with unerring certainty the very plant which1 of all others1 is best fitted for the support of her offspring1 who1 when hatched1 find themselves surrounded by an abundant store of their proper food40 #bad ,the reader is probably aware that celibacy was not always the rule among the clergy of the ,holy ,catholic ,church4 ,it was only enforced by law during the fourth century ,a4,d4 ,now1 it is my theory that it was this instinctive vulgar predilection of the female in favour of material success that was partly responsible for compelling the authorities of the ,church ultimately to make celibacy a duty among the clergy4 ,because as the bulk of them were1 by virtue of their profession1 poor1 it was impossible for them to find women of their own station to marry them1 and in consequence they were thrown on the lowest women1 or the prostitutes1 of the time4 ,to avoid the abasement of the ecclesiastical body by this inevitable law1 the authorities therefore prescribed celibacy4 ,h4 ,h4 ,milman1 ,d4,d41 in his ,history of ,latin ,christianity1 admits that celibacy was enforced among the clergy to save the ,church from degeneration1 but he gives as a reason that ecclesiastical matrimony would have led to the holy office passing from father to son1 and thus to grandson and great-grandson4 ,why this should necessarily have led to degeneration is not clear1 unless he assumes1 as ,i do1 that the clergy would have had to marry beneath them4 ,see ,vol4 ,,iv 7,ed4 ,london1 #ahfd71 pp4 #ag-ah4 #bae ,that acute thinker1 ,schopenhauer1 realized this1 and spoke of the harm that women do to modern society by stimulating the most sordid and ignoble ambitions of men4 ,see ,essay1 ,ueber die ,weiber1 in the #bnd ,vol4 of the ,parerga und ,paralipomena1 chap4 ,,xxvii1 para4 #cfi4 #baf ,an intelligent working man once said in my presence1 8,almighty ,god made woman1 and money made ladies40 ,i have wondered ever since whether the deep wisdom in this remark was original1 or whether there is any national saw embodying this sentiment4 #bag ,in ,white's ,natural ,history of ,selborne there are some interesting and illuminating remarks on this point4 ,see ,edward ,jesse's edition 7,london1 #ahih71 pp4 #bbc 7,footnote7 and #ccc4 #bah ,see the ,chapter on the ,old ,maid4 #bai ,this1 by the by1 was recognized by ,pope4 ,see his ,moral ,essays 7,epistle ,,ii1 ,to a ,lady73-- 8,in men1 we various passions find2 ,in women1 two almost divide the kind2 ,those1 only fixed1 they first and last obey1 ,the love of pleasure1 and the love of sway40 #bbj ,the ,book of ,manu1 chap4 ,,ix1 verse #g4 #bba ,the ,book of ,manu1 verses #b and #c4 #bbb ,for the necessary relationship of vanity and modesty1 see ,chapter on ,divorce1 pp4 #bbc-bbe ante4 #bbc ,op4 cit41 p4 #baa4 #bbd ,a vain man is just as dangerous when he has power2 because he too judges his fellows only according to how they treat him4 #bbe ,this tendency to add to personal attractions by cultivating intellectual interests is more particularly suspicious in the mature virgin1 and in the young married woman who is either childless or has ceased to bear children4 ,in both the waxing unconscious desire for fertilization calls forth the instinct to use every possible weapon to draw attention4 #bbf ,see1 for instance1 ,lecky1 ,history of ,european ,morals1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #cgi3 8,morally the general superiority of women over men is1 ,i think1 unquestionable 444 they are more chaste both in thought and act0 6664 ,see also ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #ade3 8,sensuality is the vice of young men40 ,there is scarcely an ,english book on this subject that does not reiterate this insane legend4 ,see also footnote on p4 #cjh ante4 #bbg ,nature evidently intended it to be pleasant in all its stages3 for all bodily functions1 when healthy1 are pleasant2 their very pleasantness seems to be part of the design of preserving life on earth4 ,he who has watched a female cat1 as ,i have often done1 from the moment of fertilization to the day when the kittens are weaned1 can no longer entertain any doubt that the enormous amount of unpleasantness that civilized women have to undergo1 in the process of child-bearing1 is all the result of degeneration and disease4 ,a female cat purrs even while the kittens are being born4 #bbh ,for a description of how our ancestors deliberately created a majority of negative women1 see ,chapter ,v of my ,defence of ,aristocracy4 #bbi ,this method of going to work1 which is the method of amputation1 is always the first adopted by weak and stupid people4 ,it is easier to amputate and suppress than it is to master and to organize4 ,hence there is an element of impotence and dull-wittedness in the counsel1 8,and if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee0 7,matthew v4 #bi1 #cj72 8,and if thy right hand offend thee0 do ditto4 #bcj ,book of ,laws1 ,,ix1 #b4 #bca ,rousseau was groping towards this truth when in ,emile1 ,book ,v1 he said3 8,vous dites sans cesse1 les femmes out un tel et tel dfaut que nous n'avons pas4 ,votre orgueil vous trompe2 ce seroint des dfauts pour vous1 ce sont des qualits pour elles2 tout iroit moins bien si elles ne les avoient pas4 ,empchez ces prtendus dfauts de dgnerer1 mais gardez-vous de les dtruire40 ,,chapter ,,xi ,women in ,art1 ,philosophy and ,science4 ,the ,outlook4 ,conclusion ,from what has been laid down in the previous chapter1 it will have been seen that1 in the economy of ,nature1 the female of the species has been endowed with very special qualities which1 while they are indispensable to the survival of life1 also give her a very definite character1 different from that of the male and susceptible of alteration only at the peril of the species4 ,woman1 at her best1 has been revealed as a creature1 who1 without exaggeration or fulsomeness1 may be called the ,custodian and ,promoter of ,life4 ,if this is the rle in which she is at her best1 it therefore follows that1 in any other rle she undertakes1 she will display her second best1 or her subordinate1 side4 ,a creature cannot wantonly do violence to her nature and proceed along lines foreign to the strongest forces that have been evolved in her1 and yet hope to achieve the same virtuosity as when she had nature and the tradition of her line both on her side4 ,to repeat the simile already used in this work1 as well might you expect a fly to walk with the same facility on its antenn as on its legs4 ,a priori1 without examining the evidence for or against our contention1 we should expect to find that in ,art1 ,philosophy and ,science1 which are pursuits exacting qualities frequently antagonistic to the natural pre-requisites of woman's rle as a ,custodian and ,promoter of ,life1 woman can at best only make an inferior display1 even if she make any display at all4 ,this1 as the reader will agree1 is surely not a matter of opinion1 it is one of facts1 and the facts can be verified4 ,what would the logic of the most carefully argued thesis signify1 if all about us we possessed the evidences of women's unquestioned mastery in ,arts1 in ,philosophy1 and in ,science8 ,this is true enough1 and in this respect1 the verdict of facts is final4 ,in science and philosophy1 says ,havelock ,ellis1 8it is not simply that women are more ready than men to accept what is already accepted and what is most in accordance with appearance--and that it is inconceivable1 for instance1 that a woman should have devised the ,copernican system--but they are less able than men to stand alone40#bcb ,whether we turn to metaphysics1 epistemology1 and the other departments of abstract thought1 astronomy1 physics1 or mechanics2 whether we turn to medicine1 chemistry1 philology1 geology1 physiology or any other of the more modern sciences1 or whether we turn to architecture1 sculpture1 poetry1 or painting1 the names that really count1 the figures that are milestones in the history of these human pursuits--and this is the ultimate criterion--are all names of male performers4 ,there should be no need to elaborate this point4 ,anyone acquainted even slightly with the history of any art or science1 is in a position to accept it without demur4 ,think what we embrace in the subjects mentioned1 when we pronounce the names of ,aristotle1 ,bacon1 ,hobbes1 ,kant1 ,nietzsche1 ,copernicus1 ,galileo1 ,newton1 ,harvey1 ,pasteur1 ,lyell1 ,grimm1 ,pheidias1 ,michelangelo1 ,titian6 ,it is not legitimate1 as we have seen1 to argue that men have distinguished themselves more than women in all these fields because women have been suppressed and wilfully stunted4 ,in this respect the ,feminists have wished to prove too much1 and in doing so have overreached the truth4 ,specialization of function must be accompanied by specialization of instinct1 impulse1 and outlook4 ,the highly specialized functions of woman in the long line of evolution1 therefore1 must be taken into account1 in any inquiry into the striking disparity existing between her performances and man's1 in such important departments of life as ,art1 ,philosophy and ,science4 ,and if1 by taking the said specialization into account1 we are able to explain this disparity1 what need is there of a hypothesis so very much at variance with historical fact1 according to which it is claimed that the difference between the intellectual capacities of man and woman are the outcome of a warping or of a stultification of the female mind1 somewhere and somewhen1 in the development of the race8 ,in connexion with this differentiation of the sexes from the standpoint of their respective capacity in matters of artistic production1 it should1 however1 always be borne in mind that the positive man is distinguished from the positive woman 7vide ,chapter ,,iv7 by the possession of a developed social instinct which1 in itself1 is a sufficient basis for all his powers of order and arrangement4 ,the relative importance of the social instinct in man--that instinct to which everything in the nature of civilization and ordered human society is to be traced--its power in him to act freely and independently of the reproductive and self-preservative instincts1 and sometimes even to act against them 7as in its control of male lust and its recognition of the responsibilities of that lust7 is certainly an important factor in man's superiority over woman in the matter of art production4 ,for ,art is not only a social function in the sense that it is an expression of one man's feelings to another1 it also partakes1 in the forms it adopts1 of those elements of order and arrangement which reach their highest manifestation in the ordering and arranging of society4#bcc ,men1 as social animals1 are therefore possessed of the necessary sex tradition to produce great artists2 whereas women1 as pointed out in ,chapter ,,iv1 not only have no sex tradition in the forming of society1 i4e4 in the creative aspect of the social instinct1 to which order1 form and arrangement belong1 but they are also too much overpowered by one instinct 7the reproductive7 to allow their rudimentary social instinct free play4 ,as ,i have already shown1 woman only inclines to art1 therefore1 when 7a7 her reproductive instinct is prepared to stand aside1 because it is not as strong as it might be1 owing to some flaw in her ancestry or in the tone or correlation of her bodily parts2 or 7b7 she wishes to wield an extra weapon in attracting the other sex4 ,in the first case1 she turns to art at the bidding of a genuine impulse to it1 arising from a real whisper coming direct from her rudimentary social instinct1 in which case her reproductive instinct may be considered as imperfect1 suspect1 lacking in vigour4 ,in the second case1 she turns to art at the bidding of her reproductive instinct1 which urges her unconsciously to adopt one of the arts temporarily as an extra feather with which to distinguish her from the ordinary crowd of females about her4 ,it is1 however1 probable that to woman's lack of a strong sex tradition in the free exercise of a social instinct1 the unimportance of her performances in the arts is largely due2 and seeing that a more perfect equipment in this direction must mean the disturbance of her instincts' balance1 and the suppression of her reproductive in favour of her social impulses1 it is not likely that1 if the human species is to survive1 we shall ever witness such a readjustment of woman's instincts as to render great female artists a possibility4 ,the reader may wish to point out that the acceptance of the theory of organic evolution hardly allows us to deny that some transformation of woman along lines that would make her able to become a great artist1 philosopher or scientist is surely possible4 ,according to this theory there can be no limit to the possible metamorphoses which a deliberate and consistent change in environment and in habit might produce in a number of generations2 and1 given the will thereto1 the end is probably not beyond human achievement4 ,there is some plausibility in this objection2 but1 as in the matter of the virtues and vices of women1 it may well be asked3 7#a7 ,whether it is a desirable end1 7#b7 whether the price paid for its achievement--the volatilizing of women's subservience to a concern about the concrete demands of life--can be afforded by a race already somewhat exhausted from the standpoint of vital instincts1 and 7#c7 whether the experiment could possibly be made on a sufficiently large scale1 for a sufficient number of generations1 to bring about a modification of the sex as a whole4 ,to transform the whole of the female sex in civilized countries in the hope of bringing forth a female ,michelangelo or a female ,kant1 would seem a hazardous and very laborious experiment1 with but a doubtful reward as its object2 and seeing that the experiment might and very probably would involve a dangerous depreciation of woman's vital instincts1 the endeavour to philosophize with women might quite conceivably end in racial and social suicide4 ,there is1 however1 a grave difficulty in the way of any such experiment1 a difficulty that would probably foredoom it to failure from the start2 and that is the probability that the appearance of such minds as ,michelangelo's or ,kant's in the male sex is due to a male characteristic which can by no human means1 selectional1 educational or otherwise1 be transferred to woman4 ,i refer to masculine variability4 ,it is probable that the appearance of all great men is to be ascribed to the law of the greater variability of males than females1 and that it never will be possible to achieve in woman that large gamut of endowments which separate1 say1 a ,newton from an average suburban-dwelling newspaper-and-cabbage-fed clerk4 ,the fact that while this greater male variability produces geniuses superior in every way to the highest woman1 it also produces male fools whose standard of stupidity is far and away higher than any that woman has ever reached1 is not denied2 but we are bound to reckon with it notwithstanding4 ,and if1 as biologists assure us1 the extreme variability of man is the ultimate cause of the genius1 then it seems unlikely that in the experiment above outlined1 anything more could be achieved than the deterioration of woman as woman4 ,apart from woman's natural lack of originality1 and her absence of initiative1 or of that spirit of bold and confident conviction--all of which derive from her necessary rle in the relation of the sexes--her indifference to truth is what chiefly incapacitates her for scientific pursuits1 as it does for all undertakings where truthfulness is of pre-eminent importance2 while her constant subjection to her emotions makes her an untrustworthy judge of all those facts or questions1 to which she may be inclined to bear an emotional relation4 ,anyone who has an extensive knowledge of women--even of the most cultivated among them--is aware of how constantly they are guided in their conclusions concerning what is true by hedonistic considerations4 ,indeed1 it is the most difficult thing to persuade a woman1 even of the most obvious truth1 if that truth strikes her as being too unpleasant to be comfortably assimilated to her previous stock of knowledge4 ,in addition to her vital indifference to truth1 therefore1 woman's emotions add a further disability to her nature in this department4 ,her convictions are so intimately and unconsciously interwoven with her deepest interests and long-cherished beliefs1 that if1 to accept a certain truth1 these convictions have to be outraged1 she prefers to reject that truth as unacceptable4 ,in this sense1 woman's thinking is largely feeling1 and her thoughts are largely sensations4#bcd ,the more emphatic and stubborn a woman is in any belief1 the more strongly you may suspect that she has not facts1 but emotional reasons for holding it4#bce ,that is why women are so notoriously bad at giving reasons for their opinions1 and why they are so untrustworthy as judges of matters of fact1 where impartiality is a pre-requisite4 ,a woman ,feminist1 for instance1 will emphatically claim 7,i have actually heard a body of them claim this7 that the music of ,dame ,ethel ,smyth is equal to any that has been composed by the best male musicians1 and she will reiterate this claim and press it the more aggressively and stubbornly the more you try to appeal to her reason with the view of showing her the absurdity of her position4 ,now the cause of this is not the female ,feminist's intellectual conviction that ,dame ,ethel ,smyth's music is actually equal to the best male music1 but her strong emotional desire that it should be so2 and this strong emotional desire makes her utterly unfit to express an impartial opinion upon it4 ,the truth1 which is that ,dame ,ethel ,smyth's music is by no means equal to the most superior male music1 is too unpleasant to be accepted3 therefore1 without any further ado1 it is rejected as untrue4 ,it is enormously difficult for a woman to divorce her wishes1 her likes and dislikes1 from her beliefs and from her conclusions2 and this1 in addition to her natural indifference to the truth1 and her lack of originality1 is enough to explain the fundamental unsuitability of her sex for any scientific pursuit4#bcf ,these characteristics of woman's mind ought1 of course1 to exclude her from any function in which impartiality and unemotional judgments are pre-requisite4 ,we ought not to dream1 therefore1 of placing women on juries1 or of making them judges of anything except the most trivial and impersonal questions2 and consequently it is perhaps the best proof of our stupidity1 or rather of our subjection to female influence1 as a nation1 that women are not only allowed to sit in our principal governing bodies1 but also on our juries4 ,that gross miscarriages of justice are bound to follow1 is a prophecy that anyone can make now1 and with absolute confidence that he will prove right4 ,in fact1 although at the time of writing1 it is hardly more than a twelvemonth since women have been sitting on juries1 a gross miscarriage of justice has already occurred4#bcg ,when1 therefore1 we hear that on ,february #bd1 #aibb1 ,mr4 ,justice ,coleridge1 in welcoming four women on the ,grand ,jury at the ,surrey ,assizes1 said he was satisfied that the administration of justice would be strengthened by women on ,grand ,juries1 we can only shrug our shoulders at the vagaries of the senile--or anile8--judicial mind4 7,he was apparently seventy-one when he expressed this view47 ,we should have liked to ask him1 on what evidence he1 as a judge1 based this utterly unwarrantable opinion4 ,had he any evidence8 ,if he had none1 why did he1 as an expert trained in the sifting of half-truths and untruths from ,truth1 ever allow himself to make such a wild statement8 ,if he had evidence1 where did he get it from8 ,we can condone his senile slobbering over four strange ladies in his court and under his immediate patronage1 but he might at least have confined the expression of his sentiments to less harmful amenities than the remark he actually made4 ,verily the emotionalism of our bench of ,high ,court judges is one of the many dangers menacing our civilization2 for it furnishes a proof that ,feminism and effeminacy are invading the very quarters where they do most harm--that is to say1 those quarters on which the nation depends for impartiality and coolness of judgment4 ,it is perfectly possible so to change a woman as to convert her into a creature who might be as impartial as a slot machine or a ready-reckoner2 but1 before this could be achieved1 so many of her vital characteristics would have to be destroyed1 that the process of education would amount to a training in degeneration1 dangerous both to the species and to human life in general4#bch ,to employ her1 however1 in functions demanding characteristics the very opposite of those which are the most vital in her2 to place her in a position in which she has to display a love of truth1 a lack of emotion1 and a capacity for thinking as apart from feelings of desire1 like or dislike1 is to anticipate this training in degeneration before it has effected its results1 and thus to make justice1 and every other public function in which she takes part1 a pure and unadulterated farce4 ,in opposition to the sentimental septuagenarian of the ,surrey ,assizes1 therefore1 we prophesy with even more conviction than he could possibly feel1 that the administration of justice will only be weakened by women on ,grand and all other juries4 ,in reply to those ,feminists who are inclined angrily to dismiss all the above as the outcome of prejudice1 or whatever else they may imagine has animated me in writing it1 it would be interesting to ask them how they propose to account for woman's inconspicuous part in ,art1 ,philosophy and ,science1 unless they are prepared to accept as real some of the disabilities which ,i have shown to be derived from the most vital elements in female nature4 ,they cannot now argue that it is due to the systematic repression of women's capacities by men1 because this canard is no longer believed by anybody4 ,they can hardly argue that it is due to the frequently adverse conditions of women's life2 because we know that some of the greatest geniuses of history were not only born in conditions unfavourable to high achievements1 but also produced some of their finest work while still struggling with adversity4 ,if they are not prepared to ascribe the fact to a natural difference between the sexes1 which1 in view of its being part of the economy of life1 it would be dangerous to disturb1 what is their position8 ,the fact that women possess certain powers of mind peculiar to themselves alone1 which enable them frequently to hit at a truth beneath its many disguises1 and to appear to guess when they really only see or feel the correct answer to the question1 has been asserted and claimed too often to be passed over here without some comment4 ,and we are the less inclined to leave it unnoticed1 seeing that both tradition and the wisdom of antiquity take it for granted4 ,this power is usually called intuition4 ,it is an immediate road to knowledge1 instead of a mediate one4 ,without reasoning or analysis1 the intuitive person perceives the truth4 ,in the sense of its being an immediate road to knowledge1 however1 ,i should doubt very much whether it could be proved that woman possesses intuition4 ,the number of her guesses being infinite1 it is only natural that occasionally they should be right4#bci ,but1 in any case1 even if we did grant that woman possessed intuition in this sense1 we could not claim that she is alone in this possession4 ,all great male poets have possessed it3 ,heraclitus1 ,theognis1 ,shakespeare1 ,gthe6 ,when ,gthe perceived the true morphology of the human cranium1 after looking at a skull1 he saw intuitively a fact which the science of a subsequent ,age was only able to prove at the cost of much labour and research4 ,likewise1 when the poet responsible for the opening chapter of ,genesis wrote down the order in which the organic world appeared on earth1 he perceived intuitively a fact which thousands of years afterwards the analysis and reasoning of science confirmed4 ,we have not on record any such profound scientific fact that was originally discovered intuitively by woman4 ,if1 however1 women really possessed intuition1 in the sense of a power that enabled them immediately to perceive a hidden or hitherto undiscovered truth1 the records of the sciences would surely be full of such cases2 and we should expect to find the history of every science to consist of an early intuitional period in which all the fundamental great truths were discovered by women1 and a later substantiating period1 in which these female discoveries were proved and confirmed by the analytical and rational faculties of the male4 ,this1 however1 is not what the history of any science reveals4 ,it frequently records cases of correct guesses on the part of male poets and thinkers1 which subsequent generations of male scientists have confirmed2 but1 to my knowledge1 not one such case of a woman4 ,nevertheless1 we are bound to treat with some respect a tradition of such hoary antiquity as is this one concerning woman's peculiar mental powers1 and although we may doubt whether they may be truly characterized by the one word intuition1 it is at least incumbent upon us to find a better word1 or to explain how the tradition arose1 and on what feature of the female psyche it is based4 ,the most striking instance of the recognition by the ancients of special spiritual powers in woman1 is the employment of virgins as the voices of oracles4 ,the ,oracle of ,delphi1 for example1 which was the most celebrated of all the oracles of ,apollo1 employed a virgin in this way1 and she was known as the ,pythia of the ,temple4 ,whenever the oracle was consulted she was led by the prophetes to her seat on the tripod1 and then1 under the influence of the vapour arising from the chasm under her feet1 she would fall into a state of delirious intoxication1 and utter the sounds which contained the revelations of ,apollo4 ,until about the end of the third century ,b4,c4 this virgin was usually a young girl taken from some family of poor country people4 ,about this time1 however1 a certain ,thessalonian named ,echecrates is supposed to have seduced her1 and thereafter she was replaced by a woman of fifty or over4 ,three such virgins were constantly employed at ,delphi in the heyday of ,hellenic civilization1 and the pronouncements of the oracle1 although they frequently contained prophecies of a very definite kind1 were so consistently wise and true1 that it is impossible to deny at least some mysterious power behind their inspiration4 ,modern rationalists1 like the ,greek rationalists of old1 have scoffed at the supposed mysterious power that resided in these virgin mediums1 but it is easier to scoff than to explain1 and the task of dismissing them as a fraud is simpler than that of explaining how a wise people like the ancient ,greeks could have maintained their faith in them for generations1 if there had not been a genuine element of divination in their many pronouncements4 ,other oracles were served by women1 in addition to that at ,delphi1 and among these we may mention the ,oracle of ,apollo at ,tegyra1 the ,oracle of ,apollo at ,argos1 the ,oracle at ,deiradiotes1 and the ,oracle at ,patara in ,lycia4 ,whatever the powers were that the mediums used1 ,i1 at all events1 feel disinclined to doubt their truly mysterious quality1 nor do ,i believe that this mysterious quality was in the nature of a fraud engineered and practised by the priesthood4 ,if the mediums and their peculiar functions were the only instance we had of occult powers being used for prophecy and divination1 through the instrumentality of virgins1 ,i should feel more inclined to side with the sceptics4 ,but1 seeing that we have in the medival belief in the magic of witchcraft further evidence of a popular traditional notion that occult powers of a sort can reside in woman2 seeing1 moreover1 that we have such staggering cases of mysterious virginal inspiration and second sight as that which is typified in the history of ,joan of ,arc1 we can but maintain a humble attitude of mind1 and until such time as greater knowledge is given us1 readily admit that here there is something outside our philosophy which1 while it cannot be denied1 is yet akin to what1 for lack of a better term1 we may call the ,unknown4 ,when we are told by psychologists1 therefore1 that in the matter of psycho-therapeutics women reveal greater suggestibility than men2 when ,baudouin tells us#bdj that in applying his system of cure by auto-suggestion1 ,cou has met with speedier results among women than men1 the most we can do1 at the present state of our knowledge1 is perhaps to suppose that there exists in woman an easier and readier contact with the unconscious mind1 that women are therefore able to communicate with greater success than men with that mysterious reservoir of strength and life1 now designated vaguely as the ,unconscious1 and it is in this power that we must seek an explanation of the miraculous phenomena with which1 for millenniums1 women have been traditionally associated4 ,in any case1 it must now be obvious that it would be a mistake to call this power intuition1 i4e4 an immediate perception of objective scientific truth2 because tradition and history alike give us no record of objective scientific facts that have been discovered by women in this way4 ,it would be more accurate1 for the present1 to regard it as a sort of clairvoyance1 a power of presaging an event1 by feeling correctly the significance of antecedent circumstances or perturbations preceding the event4 ,presumably every event in history is but the inevitable bursting of a mine1 the various trains of gunpowder to which may be accurately located and recognized some time before the explosion takes place4 ,given a degree of sensitiveness that feels one or more of the existing trains1 before their presence is even suspected by the remainder of mankind1 and correctly traces their course to an ultimate goal1 and the presentiment that a perturbation will sooner or later occur at that goal1 must follow with more or less intensity4 ,how this presentiment or feeling becomes conscious1 how the virgin ,pythia of ,delphi felt1 for instance1 that the ,persians would one day plunder and burn the ,temple of ,didyma1 and accurately prophesied the event some time before it happened1 it is impossible to say2 as well might we try to explain the accurate weather prognostications of snails1 of swallows1 or of the monkeys on the rocks of ,gibraltar4 ,this1 however1 is certain1 that a kind of second sight is frequently given to women1 particularly to young virgins 7probably owing to their condition of acute apprehensive-and sensitive-ness72 but whether it will ever be explained as a sort of feeling intelligence of the periphery of their bodies1 or of their sight1 or of their ears1 or definitely located in a peculiar function of their psyche1 it is at present impossible to say4#bda ,in conclusion1 however1 ,i must1 for the sake of the reader unacquainted with the history of this aspect of the human mind1 call attention to the fact that men1 too1 have been known to possess these very powers4 ,it is in no spirit of hostility to women that ,i here add this reminder of a well-known fact1 but simply with a view to saving myself from misinterpretation4 ,the feminist reader1 who will imagine that the bulk of this book1 instead of having been dictated by a feeling of deep friendliness to women1 is really the work of prejudice1 will halt here1 and feel perhaps a certain disappointment4 ,here was ,i1 at last1 generously according a unique psychical power to woman1 and lo6 ,i now proceed to add that even this peculiar gift is not peculiar1 and that she shares it with man4 ,alas1 yes6 ,the truth must be admitted4 ,the most we can say is1 that women perhaps possess it more frequently1 more normally than men2 but that men have possessed it1 and will continue to possess it1 cannot1 ,i fear1 be denied4 ,the ancients1 whose wisdom in these matters is our first hint of the existence of such occult powers in humanity1 were perfectly well aware of this fact4 ,the oracles at the ,hill of ,ptoon1 at ,claros1 at ,olympia1 and in the ,oasis of ,lybia 7,zeus ,ammon71 and many others1 were all conducted by men1 while that of ,zeus at ,dodona1 was conducted by men at first1 and only in later times by women4 ,the records of the ,jewish race and of the ,middle ,ages are full of instances of men whose 8clairvoyance0 was well known1 while in the ,east1 the employment of men in functions where powers of divination and clairvoyance are essential1 is almost universal4 ,whether these facts justify the ultimate conclusion that1 while man includes woman1 woman does not include man--that while all that is woman is man1 all that is man is not woman1 it is perhaps a little difficult to say4 ,at all events1 it is my belief that the truth resides very near1 if not actually in1 this statement of the relation of the sexes2 and although ,i claim no originality for it as it stands1 ,i think it helpful in explaining briefly much that will probably be eternally true about this relation4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,teutonic and ,anglo-,saxon races have little of the seer in their constitution4 ,they are better at meeting and enduring disaster than at foreseeing and forestalling it4 ,they are suspicious of prophets and prophecy1 because they have none of the gifts that would enable them to indulge in vaticinations themselves4 ,not being possessed of any capacity for divining the ultimate bourne of current tendencies1 they doubt very much whether it is possible for any man to foretell that bourne1 or to describe it in anticipation4 ,they are completely wedded to the doctrine of experience4 8,what you have not experienced you cannot possibly know10--this is the ultimate epistemological doctrine of these two races4 ,the consequence of this is that they are constantly in the precarious position of him who1 knowing nothing of poisons1 and being quite unable to predict their possible effect1 has to wait for the consequence of having partaken of strange drugs before he can know whether they are good for him or not4 ,such an attitude would be excusable at the dawn of history1 at the beginning of human life1 or in the ,garden of ,eden4 ,it seems quite inexcusable in the present ,age4 ,and yet1 although the ,anglo-,saxon and ,teutonic races have the whole of the accumulated history of civilized mankind1 and the whole of the tradition of humanity1 at their command1 they still persist in demanding individual experience of everything1 before they will pronounce upon it4 ,the fact that in such circumstances one may quite easily die of experience1 or at least fall into a hopeless decline as the result of it1 never seems to occur to them4 ,they go blundering on1 refusing to learn from the lessons of previous civilizations1 and determined to allow every possible experience of mankind to work its worst consequences upon them1 as if these consequences had never been heard of in the world before4 ,it is so with ,democracy1 and it will be so with ,ochlocracy4 ,these things have been tried before4 ,they are known1 and have proved fatal to the civilization that tried them4 ,but what is that to the ,teuton and ,anglo-,saxon8 ,he has no personal experience of their evils1 and is therefore determined to stake the fate of his civilization on trying them4 ,even without actual experience of their evils1 either in the present or the past1 it would be simple for anyone1 equipped with only a little insight and wisdom1 to foresee exactly whither democracy will lead1 whither it must lead1 whither it cannot help leading2 for you cannot conduct any institution with a committee consisting of everybody1 without condemning that institution to immediate or ultimate disaster4 ,democracy has only to be thought about for a few hours1 in order to be dismissed as the most stupid of all forms of government4 ,even if other civilizations had failed to try it1 even if democracy were a hitherto unexplored field1 a moment's reflection would be sufficient to enable one to condemn it as utterly hopeless4 ,such1 however1 is the constitution of the ,teutonic and ,anglo-,saxon mind1 that the people of these races will require to see their civilization in ruins about them1 as the result of their experiment with democracy1 before they will be prepared to alter their opinion on the subject of democratic institutions1 and agree to label them 8,poison0 for all time4 ,what is true of democracy in ,teutonic and ,anglo-,saxon countries1 is also true of ,feminism4 ,it is possible to say now quite positively that ,feminism is stupid and wrong4 ,it is possible to prophesy with complete certainty that ,feminism will only aggravate the disasters already overtaking civilization4 ,to anyone who feels that the arguments advanced in this book cannot be cavalierly dismissed as negligible1 it must be plain that modern humanity's experiment with ,feminism1 by striking nearer to the roots of ,life1 is perhaps even more dangerous to civilization and to the race1 than ,democracy itself4 ,but let no one who feels disposed to take this view imagine for one moment that the ,anglo-,saxon or ,teuton will therefore stop the experiment of ,feminism here and now4 ,to the ,anglo-,saxon and the ,teuton1 ,feminism is an unexplored experience4 ,however mad1 however dangerous1 and however mortal it may be1 it will therefore be allowed to proceed until its danger and its deadliness are apparent to all4 ,the fact that1 by that time1 it may be too late to reverse the engine1 too late to repair the havoc wrought1 does not disturb the ,teuton or ,anglo-,saxon mind for one minute4 ,to lock the stable door after the horse has gone1 to label 8,poison0 an emptied phial1 are practices so common1 so habitual in ,england1 and in all countries like ,england1 that it would be romantic to hope that any halt will be called in the modern stampede in favour of ,democracy and ,feminism until long after their worst consequences have become plain to the meanest intelligence4 ,this fact1 however1 would not be sufficient to exonerate anyone like myself from all blame1 if he omitted to raise his voice above the roar of the stampede1 to try at last to call attention to its dangers4 ,for1 even if ,i may fail to gain the ear of my own countrymen and all those who resemble them1 ,i may at least have the satisfaction of warning off those who have not yet become involved in the colossal errors of ,western and particularly ,anglo-,saxon civilization4 ,the outlook1 then1 is decidedly depressing4 ,it seems almost certain that the experiment of ,feminism1 far from being arrested1 will be pursued further and further4 ,not until its worst consequences begin to be understood by the dullest inhabitants in ,great ,britain1 is it in the least likely to be regarded as a possible mistake2 and1 seeing that ,england and ,america--not to speak of ,france and the northern countries of ,europe--have it in their power to set an example to the rest of the world1 it is probable that the harm it will do will be world wide and deep seated before anything in the nature of a revulsion of feeling begins to make itself felt4 ,the prospects of an immediate revulsion of feeling in this country are not very hopeful4 ,there are indeed signs of such a movement2 but1 in my opinion1 it is too feeble1 too sporadic1 and too unreasoning to be effective4#bdb ,it is very much more likely that ,feminism will enjoy a fresh access of power and popularity in the near future1 than that it will meet with any serious reverse2 for almost everybody to-day is an unconscious feminist4 ,every journalist1 novelist1 poet and public man1 with but few exceptions1 takes the first principles of ,feminism for granted4 ,no one seriously doubts1 for instance1 that woman has exercised a beneficent influence over civilization2 the absurd idealism which represents woman as the unselfish1 self-sacrificing1 partner in human life1 is almost universally accepted4 ,everybody is inclined to regard man as the unmoral 7non-social or anti-social7 and woman as the moral 7social7 sex1 and to hold the sexes as otherwise perfectly equal4 ,and as long as these false ideas prevail1 it cannot be a matter of surprise that modern man should have come to the conclusion that the more women's influence is made to prevail1 the better the world will be4 ,it is true that there are still a number of intelligent and healthy people who are prepared to enlighten the world on the danger of this tendency2 but their voice can hardly be heard above the clamour of the other side4 ,in fact1 the victory of the ,feminist standpoint is so complete1 that success in any field to-day presupposes a certain deep and sometimes quite unconscious sympathy with ,feminist ideals4 ,all those who fail to confirm this tendency1 all those who attempt to tear away the tinsel of dangerous sentiment and sentimentality that now adorns the female of the species1 and to raise a masculine voice of protest against the absurd idealization that disfigures and distorts and will ultimately ruin her1 finds the whole front of modern criticism1 modern prejudice1 and even modern philosophy against him4 ,the chances are1 then1 that before another century dawns1 we shall see women as judges1 women in holy orders1 and even women as ,cabinet ,ministers4 ,but by the time this comes about1 if it should come about1 it is to be hoped that the influence of ,anglo-,saxon and ,teutonic countries will have sufficiently declined in the world1 for their example to be no more than a sign-board1 a warning and a danger-signal1 to inform other nations of the fatal peril of following in their wake4 ,the reforms suggested in this work1 for the purpose of curtailing the power of women and of instituting saner and healthier views of marriage1 are hardly likely to be adopted while the influence of ,feminists remains in the ascendant2 for the possibility of greater happiness and greater health resulting from such reforms could hardly be admitted by a public which1 through being largely under the direction of ,feminist sentiments on the subject1 must take a romantic rather than a realistic view of the relation of the sexes4 ,indeed1 the probability is that the views regarding marriage1 and the laws regulating it1 will grow steadily more and more insane as the century advances and the more deeply we sink into ,feminism2 for the increasing influence of women in every sphere1 including particularly politics1 can only tend to falsify and destroy every natural relation and every sound institution of social life4 ,with perfect confidence1 therefore1 we can prophesy an increasing degeneracy of life in ,england1 that will reach its lowest point with the zenith of feminine influence2 but whether at the end of this tragic cycle there will remain sufficient health and sanity in the population to help towards a recovery of its former greatness1 and towards a reaction that will prove salutary1 is a question that we should require a ,pythia of ,delphi to answer for us4 ,the same remarks apply to the reforms suggested in the chapter on the ,old ,maid4 ,not until ,england has suffered very much more cruelly than she has suffered hitherto1 can we hope to see reforms introduced which1 for their initiation1 would require not only the defeat of ,feminism1 but also a state of mind entirely purged of feminine1 romantic1 and anti-male influences4 ,but this moment is still a very long way off4 ,the fibre of the nation will require to be very substantially stiffened before these happenings will be descried even on the most distant horizon1 and it is feared that this stiffening process will be achieved only by the fierce lesson of a cruel disaster4 ,nothing else will convince people that the road has been a wrong one4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i have now come to the end of my undertaking4 ,i have called my work ,a ,vindication1 because ,i sincerely meant it as a book friendly in spirit to the female sex1 and one in which the worst that can be said about them is shown to be but the outcome of their best1 or at least but the result of a misuse or abuse of their best4 ,i have attempted to show that their virtues1 like their vices1 are all derived from the unalterable vital instincts which their evolutionary rle1 as the mothers of the race1 have gradually implanted in them and fixed in them for ever4 ,not the smallest suspicion of hostility or bitterness towards women has animated me in writing one line of the preceding pages4 ,it is my conviction that those who misunderstand women1 who wish to make them more negative1 and who flatter them into the belief that their present and traditional inferiority to man is not natural but 8artificial10 are the true enemies of womankind4 ,it is they who are now contriving woman's unhappiness1 and who1 in conspiring to rob her of the greatest joys of which her body and spirit are heirs1 distract her attention from their nefarious scheme by holding before her prizes which1 in the ripeness of time1 she herself recognizes as mere baubles4 ,the possibilities of human nature are so incalculable1 and the freaks of adaptation so manifold1 that it is by no means impossible to destroy the woman in woman and to convert her into a creature in which masculine instincts and aspirations come into constant conflict with a non-masculine physique and a non-masculine racial history4 ,as an ideal achievement this is not impossible4 ,the only question humanity has to decide is whether such a metamorphosis is desirable2 whether in the interests both of woman herself and the species in general1 such a transformation will be for the good4 ,it is true1 as we have seen1 that it will never be possible to rear female geniuses equal to male geniuses1 because these extremes in men seem to be due to a purely masculine tendency to greater variability2 but a more modest programme of masculinization is certainly not impossible4 ,make woman honest1 upright1 straightforward1 however2 make her impartial2 make her scrupulous2 make her the reverse of vulgar2 destroy her love of petty power1 her vanity and her sensuality2 and what1 in sooth1 will you have achieved8 ,you will have undermined the very instincts that ,nature has implanted in her to secure the survival of the species at all costs1 and in the face of everything4 ,if that is desirable1 if that is an ideal worthy of our aspirations1 then certainly let us do all in our power to realize it4 ,if1 however1 it is possible to entertain the smallest shadow of doubt concerning the wisdom of this course2 if by the exercise of a little humility we can question whether our nineteenth-century or our twentieth-century ideals can possibly be more profound and more far-sighted than the eternal sagacity of ,nature2 if there are still reasons for feeling that it is not woman as ,i have described her in these pages1 but man himself--man as we know him in this post-war ,europe of #aibb--who is really in direst need of transformation2 then1 it seems to me1 that it is above all important to pause and carefully to take our bearings before we make this daring plunge2 for we cannot now with any pretence of honesty or good faith claim that it is a plunge into the unknown4 ,,the ,,end ,,footnotes3 #bcb ,op4 cit41 pp4 #baj1 #baa4 #bcc ,for a detailed discussion of the relationship of the painter1 sculptor1 poet1 architect and musician to the great social builder and artist1 see my ,introduction to ,van ,gogh's ,letters 7,constable ,co41 ,london74 #bcd ,see ,lecky 7,op4 cit41 vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #cfj74 ,speaking of women he says3 8,they are little capable of impartiality or of doubt2 their thinking is chiefly a mode of feeling40 ,see also ,buckle 7,the ,influence of ,women on the ,progress of ,knowledge71 the whole argument of which is to the effect that woman's thinking is emotional4 ,weininger also says 7,op4 cit41 p4 #ajj73 8,with the woman1 thinking and feeling are identical10 but this testimony is not nearly as valuable as that of the two former writers1 who can in no way be suspected of misogyny4 #bce ,on this whole question cp4 ,sir ,almroth ,e4 ,wright 7,op4 cit41 p4 #ce73 8,woman's mind attends in appraising a statement primarily to the mental images which it evokes1 and only secondarily--and sometimes not at all--to what is predicated in the statement 444 accepts the congenial as true1 and rejects the uncongenial as false2 takes the imaginary which is desired for reality1 and treats the undesired reality which is out of sight as non-existent40 #bcf ,with the softening of men in an effeminate civilization1 women are1 of course1 not alone in holding this attitude to truth4 ,many men1 even among the most cultivated1 are unable to-day to separate pleasantness from truth2 for to do so implies a control of emotion by reason which is not the forte of modern mankind4 ,not only men writers during the war1 but also politicians1 proved beyond doubt their own and their male audiences' inability to regard truth rationally2 and at the present time you are quite as likely to be flatly contradicted by a man as by a woman1 if you enunciate an unpleasant truth before an ordinary crowd4 #bcg ,vide ,press reports of the ,william ,harkness case1 particularly the comments published1 after ,harkness's execution1 in ,the ,news of the ,world for ,february #bf1 #aibb4 #bch ,arabella ,kenealy was tending towards this conclusion when she wrote 7,op4 cit41 p4 #aee73 8,the woman of average brain1 however1 attains the intellectual standards of the man of average brain at cost of her health1 of her emotions1 or of her morale40 ,i would suggest 8and0 instead of 8or0 in the latter part of the sentence4 #bci ,anyone who attempts to keep a record of his wife's1 mother's or sister's so-called 8intuitive0 statements1 will soon realize how few of them reveal an accurate power of immediately perceiving truth4 #bdj ,see several passages in his ,suggestion and ,auto-,suggestion4 #bda ,the fact that certain organisms in the animal kingdom use senses which1 as far as we can tell1 have neither sight1 taste1 smell1 hearing1 nor touch1 for their basis1 is shown by ,w4 ,s4 ,coleman in his ,british ,butterflies4 ,the manner in which the males of the ,kentish ,glory ,moth1 for instance1 are attracted to the female1 when she is sometimes more than a mile away from them1 is utterly unknown1 and ,coleman is compelled to refer it to a sort of clairvoyance4 7,see pp4 #bh-bi47 #bdb ,it is largely animated by commercial and industrial rivalry1 and this sort of opposition to ,feminism is too contemptible to inspire much enthusiasm4 ,,index ,,actors1 the1 in modern society1 #bad ,,adultery1 committed by the artist when he marries1 #hi2 in case of positive woman due to long absence of husband1 #ahi2 caused by vanity1 #ahi n41 #bai2 during war-time misunderstood by fools1 #aij1 #aia2 of the woman owing to her husband's impotence1 #aid2 in positive woman due to childlessness1 #bjb ,,affectation1 a sign of misery in spinsters1 #bdj ,,alcohol1 a sublimator of sex1 #bdh ,,alfred ,,the ,,great1 the masculinity of his mother1 #aeh ,,an,,mia1 pernicious effects of1 in the positive girl1 #aaf1 #aag ,,anglo-,,saxons1 their lack of insight1 #cfa-c ,,aristotle1 his doctrine of catharsis1 #bdg ,,art1 only a weapon in the hands of positive women1 #fe1 #ff2 all forms of1 man's invention1 #cbe2 why women turn to1 #cdi ,,artist1 the1 often ruined by his success with women1 #he2 commits adultery when he marries1 #hi ,,athletics1 pernicious effect of1 on the positive girl1 #aac-e ,,births1 table of legitimate and illegitimate1 #abh n4 ,,body1 the1 thrilled by sexual union and also by order1 #eh-fj2 the joys of the healthy1 never pall1 #hg2 care of the1 in positive girls essential1 #aag2 the1 ruined by ,puritanism in both rich and poor1 #aah2 the joys of the1 most important in life1 #adi ,,byron1 unhappy married life of1 #adc2 the masculinity of his mother1 #aeh2 on cant1 #bej n42 attitude of women towards his ,don ,juan1 #bgi n42 his unfortunate relationship to his mother1 #caf2 on women and false sentiment1 #cai n4 ,,calvin1 hostile to life1 #aa2 altogether negative1 #ac n4 ,,cant1 see ,introduction4 ,the inevitable ingredient in every movement in ,england1 #bej2 ,byron on1 #bej n4 ,,carlyle1 unhappy married life of1 #adc ,,catholic ,,church1 honest and practical regarding superfluous women1 #cb2 its wise organization of spinsters1 #bgd1 #bge4 ,,celibacy1 in the ,catholic ,church enforced by poverty1 #cbi n4 ,,change1 a necessary tonic in life1 #adj ,,charles ,i ruled by social instinct1 #de ,,childlessness1 as an end destructive of conjugal happiness1 #bjd2 its bad effect on the husband1 #bje1 #bjf2 a cause of divorce1 #bjg-aj2 longer endured by the negative than the positive woman1 #bae ,,children1 positive if healthy1 #ac1 #ad2 healthy1 the best pattern for the positive man1 #ae2 the seriousness of positive1 #ae1 #af2 positive to everything1 #ah-bj2 their restless energy1 #cg2 their misrepresentation of their restlessness1 #ch2 their unconscious motives1 #ci2 the object of woman's eternal gratitude1 #db2 their healthy contempt of sickness and deformity1 #aja2 their taste should be guided along healthy lines1 #aja1 #ajb n42 the regulation of the procreation of1 the object of marriage1 #ach2 a consolation to the wife for decline in her husband's affection1 #adh1 #adi2 a separating force in marriage1 #adi2 no bodily consolation to the father1 #adi2 during regular bearing of1 a woman rarely tempted to leave her husband1 #agi2 years do not necessarily increase love between the parents1 #ahj-d2 frequently a source of friction1 #ahc2 much more important to the wife than the husband is1 #ahe2 not consciously desired by the dissatisfied wife1 #bja n42 necessary to introduce variety into the home1 #bje2 the pernicious relations of spinsters with1 #bda ,,christianity1 logically condemns sex and advocates eternal life1 #d1 #e2 responsible for decadent doctrines1 #ajb n42 teaches nonsensical doctrine of 8union of souls0 in marriage1 #acg2 and thus responsible for degeneration1 #aci2 responsible for degeneration1 #agf n42 a sublimator of sex1 #bdh2 attractive to the negative spinster1 #beh ,,cleanmindedness1 destroyed by sexual abstinence1 #agc2 only obtained by healthy gratification1 #agd ,,cleverness1 exaggerated value attached to1 nowadays often leads to unhappy marriages1 #he ,,cohabitation1 pernicious during gestation and suckling1 #afc-e ,,colbert1 ruled by social instinct1 #de ,,companionship1 impossible in marriage1 #adg ,,concubine1 necessary for positive young man1 #agb ,,conscience1 a guilty1 merely costive1 #ah2 woman tries to rule man by giving him a guilty1 #aig n4 ,,constipation1 bad effects of1 #aae ,,contempt1 inevitable in modern love-matches1 #adc1 #add ,,contraceptives1 unknown to the body1 #ge2 because they cause sterility lead to adultery in the woman1 #aie1 #aif2 deleterious effect of1 #bjc1 #bje n41 #baa ,,co-,,respondent1 the1 a vain fool1 #aia1 #aic2 the1 always vain1 #bjj2 his vanity1 #baa2 far too lightly treated in ,england1 #bbc ,,courtship1 should be an adventure1 but to-day is not1 #adb ,,criminals1 the vanity of1 #bbf n4 ,,davison1 ,emily1 her marvellous rush at the ,derby1 #cab ,,death1 the necessary counterpart of sex1 #c ,,degeneration1 of modern man1 #afa 7see also ,introduction72 the object of society to-day1 #aff ,,democracy1 has been proved fatal to civilization1 #cfb ,,de ,,quincey1 on the evil effects of repression1 #bdf2 his unfortunate relationship to his mother1 #caf ,,desire1 killed by gratification1 #ada ,,dickens1 ,,charles1 unhappy married life of1 #adc ,,discipline1 of healthy children most difficult1 #bj2 the object of1 #ba ,,disraeli1 ruled by social instinct1 #de2 an able man capable of fulsome flattery1 #cch ,,divorce1 rarer where there are many children1 #ahj2 high figures for1 in cases of small families1 #bjb2 majority of petitions made by men1 #bjg2 some statistics of1 #bjh2 childlessness a cause of1 #bjg-aj2 chart of1 according to professions1 #baa2 higher percentage of1 in professional classes1 #bab2 of the negative couple1 #baf ,,domestic work1 value of1 #bff ,,don ,,juan1 the cold1 #bbb ,,dostoiewsky1 on the vanity of criminals1 #bbf n4 ,,education1 in ,england produces womanly men1 #age ,,elizabeth1 ,queen1 her vanity1 #ccg1 #cch2 her success as a ruler largely due to her unlimited capacity for lies1 #cae n4 ,,emma ,,of ,,normandy1 a remarkable woman1 #bib1 #bic ,,england1 full of negative and asexual women1 #ec2 lacking in positive men1 #ig2 disregard of the body in1 #aab1 #aac2 men made negative in1 for #bgj years1 #aai2 her 8trousered women10 #aef n41 #afb2 large proportion of negative women in1 account for adultery out of vanity1 #ahi n42 public opinion in1 chiefly ruled by ,puritanical old ladies1 #aij2 co-respondents treated too lightly in1 #bbc2 marriage in1 often peaceful through negativism1 #bbg2 women less positive in1 #bdg2 cheerful spinsters in1 a bad sign1 #bdh2 prostitution most degraded in1 #bea2 hypocritical attitude towards prostitution in1 #beb2 more misery and disorder in1 connected with sex1 than anywhere else1 #bfj2 full of homes owned by wealthy spinsters1 #bfi1 #bga2 cooking in1 atrocious1 #bii2 and clothing inferior1 #cjj ,,englishman1 less positive than the ,frenchman1 #ib2 has less social instinct than the ,frenchman1 #ib1 #id2 increasingly negative1 #id2 his negativism1 #aai2 his erroneous views of woman's virtues1 #cjh ,,eternal ,,life1 doctrine of1 hostile to sex1 #d ,,exuberance1 high sexual1 often accompanies superior spiritual gifts1 #hd2 lack of1 makes both men and women unhappy1 #if2 sexual1 not required in modern industrial slaves1 #if ,,family1 the1 created by monogamy1 #ace ,,father1 the reasons of his attachment to the family1 #ahf1 #ahg ,,female1 the positiveness of the1 almost unbreakable1 #bb ,,femaleness1 in the male due to snubbed sex and broken spirit1 #aef ,,feminism1 a phenomenon of male degeneration1 #ce 7see also ,introduction72 the ruling creed of ,english journalists and writers1 #bgb n42 largely the creation of wealthy spinsters1 #bgc2 the creed of the age1 #bgh2 to be condemned even from the hedonistic point of view1 #cce2 rout of1 essential1 #cde2 stupid and wrong1 #cfb2 bound to be given a trial in ,anglo-,saxon countries1 #cfc1 #cfd2 likely to grow stronger1 #cfe ,,flapper1 the courage of the healthy ,english1 #aje2 helped by her vanity1 #ajf ,,food1 joking over1 a sign of negativeness1 #ae ,,football1 bad for men1 barbarous for women1 #aad ,,france1 old maids in1 always unbearable1 #aab ,,francis1 ,,st41 of ,assisi1 ruled by social instinct1 #de ,,friendship1 requires change and separation1 #adj2 affords recreation1 #adf1 #adg ,,gibbon1 on the importance of women among the ,teutons1 #bhj1 #bia ,,girl1 the first meeting of the positive1 with a possible mate1 #hj1 #ha2 her disappointment to-day1 #ha2 foolish prejudices that mislead the positive1 in the choice of a mate1 #hb2 the ,french1 always watched1 #ib2 the ,english1 less positive than the ,french1 #ic1 #id2 the positive1 often disappointed in marriage1 #ie2 tragic plight of the positive ,english1 #ig2 the conflict between her body and modern ideals in the positive ,english1 #ajd2 her self-contempt and pessimism1 #aje2 only the positive1 makes the hateful spinster1 #aaa2 the negative1 makes a cheerful old maid1 #aab2 the positive1 often ruined by athletics1 #aac2 care of her body imperative1 #aag2 the positive1 converted to negativism by her husband1 #aah1 #aba1 #abb ,,good1 definition of1 in a positive sense1 #aj-ab1 #ec ,,greece1 schools for initiation into sex in1 #bec ,,greeks1 schools for initiation into sex among the1 #agb ,,health1 means pleasurable functioning1 #aea ,,hermaphroditism in both sexes1 #aee ,,hindus1 their healthy teaching about marriage1 #ajb n42 their wise regulations for wives separated from their husbands1 #ahi n42 their provision for women childless through husband's fault1 #aid n42 destined their daughters for marriage only1 #bgf n42 description of woman in their sacred book1 #bhj1 #bha2 on woman's disregard for beauty1 #cbe2 the poorest caste the most respected among the1 #ccj2 their wisdom in controlling their women1 #cbe1 #ccf1 #cdd ,,homosexuality1 admired by ,weininger but condemned by the author1 #ec ,,humanitarianism1 an outlet for the spinster's love of power1 #bdb2 merely inverted sadism1 #bdc2 the harm done by1 #bdd ,,husband1 the saviour of his wife's body1 #ajg ,,huxley1 on woman's virtue1 #cjh ,,ill-,,health1 in girls due to waiting for marriage1 #aaj ,,impudence1 the1 of those who imagine they are capable of feeling and inspiring undying love1 #ade ,,indian women1 cynical treatment of by ,british1 #bii n4 ,,infertility1 danger of1 to married life1 #aie-bjc ,,instinct1 defined1 #dc1 #dd2 the three fundamental instincts1 #dd2 the social1 rules men like ,napoleon1 ,charles ,i1 ,nietzsche1 etc41 #de2 the self-preservative1 rules cowards1 anarchists1 unscrupulous plutocrats1 etc41 #de2 the reproductive1 rules ,woman1 #df2 the self-preservative1 suspended during courtship1 #hi-ia2 the social1 keeps reproductive1 in control1 #ia ,,instincts1 sound1 necessary for positiveness1 #ad ,,intuition1 in women and great men1 #cef ,,joan ,,of ,,arc1 her mysterious powers1 #ceh ,,john ,,the ,,baptist1 ruled by social instinct1 #de ,,judges1 effeminacy of present-day1 #ced ,,lady1 no such thing has ever existed1 #cca ,,laughter1 not a characteristic of positiveness1 #af2 shrill1 the social noise of ,puritan countries1 #ag2 the only positive form of1 defined1 #ag ,,leucorrh,a1 bad effects of1 #aae-g ,,life in ,nature quite tasteless1 #cjf ,,love1 illicit1 some penalties of1 #abh2 defined1 #abh2 society's lie regarding permanence of1 #abi2 permanent only in very rare cases1 #acj2 may be an excuse for an illicit union but not for marriage1 #aci2 only lasts if it is unconsummated1 #ada n42 the delusion of lasting1 #adb2 not necessarily deeper between parents of a large family1 #ahj1 #aha ,,lunacy1 in females chiefly among the unmarried1 #bch n4 ,,luvv1 the right spelling for the maudlin modern idea of the nobler sentiment1 #adc2 the corrosive of monogamic marriages1 #adc2 as described in modern novels1 #bad ,,lying1 8physiological0 in women1 #bha2 in women vital and essential to life1 #cjb-e ,,lytton1 ,lord1 his unhealthy influence1 #aja n4 ,,male1 the1 naturally prehensile1 #abj ,,man1 cannot mould woman1 #bg2 but can make her miserable and ill1 #bi2 modern1 less positive than woman1 #bc2 a means unconsciously exploited by woman1 #db2 not generally ruled by reproductive instinct1 #df2 an amputation from ,life1 #ee2 reproductive instinct not universally predominant in1 #ee2 social instinct most important in his life1 #ef2 woman a temptation to the positive1 #fg1 #fi2 practically asexual after performing the sexual act1 #fh2 guided by social instinct to support woman and child1 #fh2 the modern public school athlete a torture machine for women1 #hb1 #hc2 guided by values in his choice of a mate1 #ih1 #ii2 the positive1 ruined by ,puritanism1 #aeb1 #aec2 the positive1 misled by ,puritan values1 #ajj1 #ajb2 duty of the positive1 to give woman a clean conscience in regard to sex1 #ajg2 degeneration of1 #afa 7see also ,introduction72 the rarity of the male1 in ,england1 #afa1 #afb2 school of initiation into sex for1 #agb2 effect of childlessness upon the positive1 #bje1 #bjf2 games1 hobbies1 and religion the substitutes for sexual variety for the positive1 #bjg2 the negative1 guided by vanity1 #bbb2 the proud1 disliked to-day1 #bbd n41 #bbe2 the modern1 very much below even a modest idea of what man should be1 #bcj2 ruined and devitalized by commercialism1 #bfe 7see also ,introduction72 the creative intelligence even in woman's sphere1 #bii2 the ,promethean type of1 and the misery he creates1 #ccc1 #ccd2 geniuses and unmitigated fools produced by the extreme variability of1 #cej1 #cea2 his psychic powers1 #cfj2 his great variability1 #cfg2 most in need of transformation1 #cfh ,,manliness1 absurd modern conception of1 #hb ,,manu1 ,laws of1 see ,,hindus ,,marital fidelity1 due to ill-health1 #aea ,,mark ,,anthony1 ruled by reproductive instinct1 #de1 #ee ,,marriage1 erroneous to regard it is a sacrifice for women1 #gi2 often a disappointment to the positive girl1 #ij2 a social contrivance1 #abe2 not a natural state1 #abf2 hedonistic view of1 reprehensible1 #aca1 #acb1 #acc1 #acd1 #acg2 its utility1 #acc2 in a chaotic condition in ,europe owing to ,christianity1 #aci2 unhappy in most cases of men of genius1 #adc2 modern1 now on the rocks1 #afh2 should be utilitarian1 #afi2 points to be considered in1 #afi2 right teaching regarding1 #agj2 reform of1 essential1 #agf2 the fifth to the tenth the most critical years for1 #baj1 #baa2 entered upon from vanity1 #bah2 in ,england often peaceful owing to negativism1 #bbg2 should be the only calling for women1 #bgf ,,maternity1 the pains of1 exaggerated by modern women to give man a guilty conscience1 #gg2 only intolerably painful in disease1 #gh2 only 8unselfish0 in the case of a sick or badly formed woman1 #gh2 increasing number of women suffering from1 to-day1 #gi2 only self-sacrifice in the case of sick females1 #adh n4 ,,memory1 ancestral1 in women1 #bcd ,,meredith1 ,george1 on wealthy spinsters1 #bgj ,,mill1 ,john ,stuart1 a henpecked philosopher1 #bhb2 inspired by his wife1 #bhb2 his foolish remarks on the nature of woman1 #bhc-g2 his false assumptions regarding woman1 #bhi2 a sentimental liar concerning women1 #bif2 a pernicious liar1 #cde ,,modesty defined1 #bbd ,,monogamy1 natural to some animals but unnatural for man1 #abf2 advantages of1 chiefly social1 #acd-g2 regulates the procreation of children1 #ach2 disadvantages of1 #aci-fg2 precludes all change and respite1 #adj1 #ada2 more satisfactory to the female than to the male1 #adh1 #adi1 #aej2 may inflict sexual abstinence on the male during pregnancy of the wife1 #afe2 productive of ill-health and degeneracy1 #afe ,,mortal ,life1 desirable together with sex and other means thereto1 #f-h1 #ab1 #ac2 includes pain1 #aj2 intellectual justification required for constant attacks upon1 #ab2 to be called ,life1 as being the only kind of ,life we know1 #ac ,,mother1 the1 loved by the true artist1 #ga2 the positive1 consciously desires her full sexual cycle1 #gg2 importance of the early training of the child by the1 #cad1 #cae ,,mother',s milk1 abominable substitutes for1 #afd ,,napoleon1 ruled by social instinct1 #de2 his dictum that women have no rank1 #cca1 #ccb2 and ,madame de ,stal1 #ccg ,,negativeness1 defined1 #ac2 noisy laughter a sign of1 #ag2 the attitude of1 towards childhood1 #bb2 in woman1 the outcome of sickness or degeneracy1 #ce ,,negativism1 responsible for chastity in ,england1 #if2 excellent from the ,puritan point of view1 #if2 causes of deterioration to1 #ajh-aa2 physical disorders due to1 #aab2 positive girl converted to1 by her husband1 #aah2 in women through lack of mastery in men1 #aba1 #abb2 incapable of lasting emotion1 #acj2 impossible to calculate the vagaries of1 #bac2 due to an atonic condition of the body1 #bae2 confounds motherhood with martyrdom1 #bae2 never guided by passion1 #bbg ,,nietzsche1 ruled by social instinct1 #de ,,old ,,maid1 the1 less enthusiastic about 8,woman's ,cause0 than the negative wife1 #bah 7see also ,,spinster7 ,,old ,,testament1 honest in its attitude to disease1 #aja ,,order1 means greater happiness and security1 #fj ,,orgasm1 the1 alone unsatisfying for the woman1 #aie ,,pain1 to be accepted because necessary to ,mortal ,life1 #ac2 the depth and distinction gained by1 #ajg ,,parents1 should destine their daughters for marriage only1 #bgf ,,passion1 does not grin and grimace1 #bba2 never directs negative people1 #bbg2 euphemisms for lack of1 #bbh ,,paul1 ,,st41 hostile to ,life1 #i1 #aa2 altogether negative1 #ac2 immoral because hostile to ,life1 #fb ,,penelope1 her undesirability probably the cause of her fidelity1 #aij n42 admiration of1 #aib n4 ,,pessimism1 the1 of the positive ,english girl1 #aje ,,philosopher1 the positive1 deeply interested in the child1 #ad1 #ae ,,positiveness1 defined1 #ac2 the seriousness of1 #af1 #ag2 forgets all that mars interest in life1 #ag2 rarely has a guilty conscience1 #ah2 has no fear of pain1 #ah ,,prayer ,,book1 its wisdom in the ,marriage ,service1 #ajg2 its teaching regarding marriage1 #ach ,,prehension1 a male quality1 #abj2 modern ,englishman lacking in1 #aba ,,prig1 woman's epithet for the man of insight1 #bag ,,procreation1 improper and impious for cold-blooded ,puritans1 #cd ,,professional classes1 reasons for high percentage of divorce in the1 #bab ,,prostitute1 the1 loved by degenerates and anarchists1 #ga2 the only kind of woman to whom man is everything1 #gc2 driven by unfortunate circumstances to misunderstand her true needs1 #gf2 the sadness of her lot not due to its moral turpitude1 #bed2 her childless fate her severest penalty1 #bee n42 not so by nature but made so by circumstances1 #bee ,,prostitution1 an evil in ,western civilization because it is made so1 #bdi2 sexual1 not necessarily the worst1 #bej2 most degraded in ,england1 #bea2 hypocritical attitude towards1 in ,england1 #beb2 ,lecky on1 #beb n42 as a school of initiation into sex1 #bec2 necessity of placing1 on a sound and more humane basis1 #bed ,,puritan1 the1 his implacable loathing of sex1 #e2 and of all bodily matters1 #h2 immoral because hostile to ,life1 #fb2 by associating sexual pleasure with marriage only1 responsible for msalliances1 #acd2 his outcry against wise marital infidelity1 #aff ,,puritanism1 has reduced men to nincompoops1 #cc2 claims of1 now heard because of increase in repulsive and botched people1 #ce2 vitality impaired by depressing foods and drinks introduced by1 #ec2 affected men more deeply than women in ,england1 #id1 #ie2 ruins the sexual life of the positive couple1 #aec2 has destroyed the male man in ,england1 #afa ,,purity1 true and false1 #ajj2 the only true1 is the outcome of fire1 #ajj ,,religion1 as a compensation for sex1 #bde ,,repression1 ,de ,quincey and ,aristotle on bad effects of1 #bdf1 #bdg ,,reynolds1 ,,joshua1 his bodiless child angels the ideal of the negative mind1 #bb ,,sadism1 in little girls1 spinsters1 and old women1 #aef2 unconscious1 in women1 #aeg2 humanitarianism an inverted form of1 #bdc ,,savouriness1 a pre-requisite in marriage1 #hg ,,scandal1 loved by all decent1 humane people1 #caa ,,schopenhauer1 hostile to ,life1 #aa2 the masculinity of his mother1 #aeh2 on woman as the voice of the species1 #agh2 his conclusions vitiated by his failure to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy1 #bac n42 on woman's cunning1 #cjd n42 his unfortunate relationship to his mother1 #caf2 on harm done to modern society by woman's influence1 #ccj n4 ,,seducer1 the1 who gives a girl a child more merciful than he who does not1 #bed n4 ,,self-,,control1 that1 which arises from strength1 #gj2 the so-called1 of the negative young man1 #ia2 not responsible for the chastity of ,english courting couples1 #ie2 a euphemistic name for lack of virility1 #afg2 in sex a counsel for wax figures1 #age2 the vain boast of negative spinster1 #beg ,,selfish1 a meaningless term1 #aig ,,sensuality1 necessary in woman1 #cdj-d2 but should be controlled1 #cdc ,,sex1 the necessary counterpart of death1 #c2 incompatible with ,eternal ,life1 #d1 #e2 necessary for ,mortal ,life1 #f1 #h ,,sexual ,,act1 man's attitude towards the1 #gj1 #ga2 alone insufficient for woman1 #gf ,,social instinct1 creates society1 #fb2 positiveness towards1 in woman denotes decline of woman1 #ff2 leads man to support woman and children1 #fh2 keeps sexual instinct in control1 #gj ,,socrates1 unhappy married life of1 #adc ,,soul1 the pernicious doctrine of the pure1 #aja1 #ajb n4 ,,spencer1 ,,herbert1 right regarding children of large families1 #ba2 ruled by social instinct1 #de ,,spinster1 the hateful1 only made by the snubbed positive girl1 #aaa2 the cheerful1 made by the negative girl1 #aab2 her advice about girls to be suspected1 #aad n42 her outcry against wise marital infidelity1 #aff2 the1 always abnormal1 #bbi-ca2 exercises an abnormal influence on society1 #bca-c2 her 8useful work0 should be suspected1 #bcb1 #bcc2 the positive and negative defined1 #bcd1 #bce2 the positive1 a great conscious sufferer1 #bce-g2 profound physiological disappointment of the ,positive1 #bch2 tendency to suicide in the very positive1 #bch1 #bci2 neuropathic symptoms in the1 #bci1 #bdj2 affectation a sign of misery in the1 #bdj2 the various ways in which she seeks compensation1 #bdj1 #bdf2 reason of her frequent choice of the teaching profession1 #bda2 her jealousy of young girls1 #bdf2 the embittered1 more common on the ,continent than in ,england1 #bdg2 the negative1 not a great conscious sufferer1 #bee2 misinterpretations of the lack of sexual vigour in the negative1 #bef1 #beg2 the danger of these misinterpretations1 #beg2 will gravitate almost automatically to ,christianity1 #beh2 her love of the weak and the poor1 #bfj2 her hatred of men1 #bfa2 the negative becoming more prevalent in ,england1 #bfb2 increases economic difficulties1 #bfc2 the wealthy1 inevitably a burden on society1 #bfh-ga2 her good works a means of making herself important1 #bgj2 ,george ,meredith on1 #bgj2 contaminates ,english opinion1 #bgb2 largely responsible for ,feminism1 #bgc2 an abnormal influence1 #bgc1 #bgd2 wisely provided for by the ,catholic ,church1 #bgd1 #bge2 the 8annuitant0 always a bane1 #bgh2 benevolent sequestration of the1 desirable1 #bgh ,,spirit1 the things of the1 pall quickly1 #hf ,,stepmother1 the bad1 a good mother1 #cab1 #cac n4 ,,strafford1 ruled by social instinct1 #de ,,sublimation of sex possible but undesirable outside a ,church1 #agd2 of sex may be accomplished through ,christianity or alcohol1 #bdh ,,suicide1 through disappointed love more common among women than men1 #db n42 tendency to1 in the positive spinster1 #bch1 #bci ,,tacitus1 emphasizes the important rle of women among the ,teutons1 #bij ,,teacher1 pernicious influence of the unmarried1 #bda ,,teutons1 importance of women among the1 #bij ,,unconscious motives1 actuating action1 #dj1 #da2 misunderstood by women1 #dc1 #dg-i ,,unhealthiness1 defined1 #ej2 the unhealthy woman approaches maleness1 #ea2 makes woman an infidel towards ,life1 #eb ,,unselfish1 a meaningless term1 #aig ,,unselfishness1 the1 of motherhood one of the greatest lies produced by ,western civilization1 #gi ,,values1 guide a man in his choice of a mate1 #ih1 #ii ,,vanity1 helps to save the young girl's body1 #ajf2 makes the sick girl desire marriage1 #aaa2 as cause of adultery1 #ahi n42 of the old man1 #aic n42 mistaken for passion1 #bad2 leading to imitation of passion1 #bah2 leading to marriage1 #bah2 leading to adultery1 #bai2 courtship the time of the strongest appeal to1 #bbj2 guiding the negative woman1 #bah-bb2 guiding the negative man1 #bbb1 #bbc2 always found in conjunction with modesty1 #bbc-e2 the tragedy of mortified1 #bbf2 of criminals1 #bbf n42 judgments based on1 unreliable1 #bbf n4 ,,virgin1 the1 does not sincerely crave for children1 #ge2 the 8pure0 defined1 #beh2 as the voice of oracles1 #ceg ,,virginity1 idiotic demand for1 in men before marriage1 #aee ,,vulgarity1 vital1 of women1 #cbf-cj ,,war1 the ,great1 supported by negative spinsters and old men from secret sex motives1 #bfa 7see also ,introduction7 ,,warts1 children positive even to1 #ai ,,wealth1 desired by positive woman1 #hd ,,weininger1 his logical hostility to ,sex and ,mortal ,life1 #h1 #i1 #aa2 his misunderstanding of the unconscious in woman1 #dg2 makes no classification into healthy and unhealthy1 #ej2 admired sterility1 #eb2 admired homosexuality1 #eb n42 his contradictory statements about the prostitute1 #ga n42 his view of 8maleness0 in women1 #aee2 this view proved false1 #afa n42 his conclusions vitiated by his failing to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy1 #bac n42 agrees that there has been no subjection of women1 #big2 on woman's natural lawlessness1 #cja n42 his pessimism1 #cjb n42 on great men preferring the prostitute1 #cbg ,,will defined1 #dd ,,woman1 more positive than modern man1 #bc2 wretched and desperate to-day1 #be2 an unchanging individuality not fashioned by man1 #be1 #bg2 her primary adaptation to man and the child1 #bh2 is ,life's uninterrupted stream1 #bi2 to-day deprived of her primary adaptations1 #cj2 rightly dissatisfied with modern man1 #cj2 modern attitude towards superfluous women insulting and dishonest1 #ca1 #cb2 the ,catholic ,church more honest towards them1 #cb2 as ,life's custodian inevitably miserable and in pain to-day1 #ce2 not equipped for ordering ,life1 #ce2 her cry of warning must be respected but her remedies rejected1 #cf2 her action guided by her bodily structure1 #da2 is above all wedded to ,life and sins in its service1 #db2 unconsciously exploits man1 #db2 does not know her unconscious motives1 #dc2 ruled by reproductive instinct1 #df2 misinterprets promptings of reproductive instinct1 #dg2 unconscious of her motives1 #di1 #ej2 approaches maleness when unhealthy1 #ea2 an infidel towards ,life when unhealthy1 #eb2 for woman positiveness to sex and ,life is the same thing1 #ee2 the asexual1 hostile to ,life1 #ef2 will follow man if he understands her1 #ef2 positive to order1 #fa2 feels no confidence in men lacking in social instinct1 #fb2 the positive1 all sex1 #fc2 the positive1 timid in the presence of men1 #fd2 the positive1 does not continue to practise the arts when once they have helped her to secure a man1 #fe2 modern1 losing faith in man because of the decline of his social instinct1 #fg2 attitude of the positive1 to sexual act1 #gb2 sexual union alone insufficient for1 #gb1 #gf2 her love for man a romantic ideal1 #gc2 the positive1 unconscious of what is necessary for full sexual experience1 #gc1 #gd2 positive in the first place to man1 #gd2 the positive1 unconsciously desires full sexual cycle1 #ge1 #gf2 the modern ,european1 exaggerates pains of maternity in order to give man a guilty conscience1 #gg2 increasing number of women suffering from maternity to-day1 #gi2 the positive1 desires wealth for the protection of her offspring1 #hd2 the positive1 not impressed by spiritual gifts alone1 #hh2 guided by ,life in choice of a mate1 #ih1 #ii2 the negative1 content without children1 #adi n42 sadism in1 #aef1 #aeg2 the 8male0 desirable1 #aeg-i 7see also ,introduction72 cases in which the 8male0 is undesirable1 #aei2 maleness in1 only made recessive by superior maleness in the man1 #afj1 #afa1 #agd1 #age2 misery of the 8male0 woman in ,england1 #afb2 her demand for the sexual cycle the voice of the ,will of the ,species1 #agh2 rarely tempted to leave her husband if regularly bearing children1 #agi2 the positive1 grows more indifferent to her husband as the family grows1 #aha1 #ahb2 the positive1 unconsciously desires to employ her reproductive machinery1 #ahh2 the positive1 commits adultery owing to long absence of husband1 #ahi2 the best1 faithful to ,life before all else1 #aib2 her adultery owing to husband's impotence1 #aid2 the childless1 often takes up a ,cause1 #aif n42 tries to rule man by giving him a guilty conscience1 #aig n42 more likely to go wrong in marriage through childlessness than the man1 #bje2 the negative1 endures childlessness much longer than the positive1 #bae2 the negative1 cultivates a taste for soulful literature and ,christianity1 #baf2 calls man who sees through her 8prig10 #bag2 difference between positive and negative1 in an illicit love affair1 #bbj1 #bba2 the negative1 notoriously grimacire1 #bba2 the surplus1 and work outside the home1 #bfg2 being besotted by entering the work market1 #bfg1 #bfh2 the number of surplus women in ,england1 #bgd2 should be destined for marriage alone by her parents1 #bgf2 suggested ways of dealing with the problem of the surplus1 #bgf1 #bgg2 connected with evil from time immemorial1 #bhj2 lying 8physiological0 in1 #bha2 her bondage an illusion1 #bhi1 #bij1 #bif2 her importance among the ,teutons1 ,celts1 and ,early ,english1 #bij-b2 in the ,middle ,ages1 #bic1 #bid2 in the #afth and #agth centuries1 #bid-f2 has consistently shown crass stupidity in her own peculiar domain1 #bih1 #bii2 ,life's custodian1 #cjj2 her primum mobile completely a-moral1 #cja2 her lies vital1 #cjb1 #cje2 her lying necessarily extended to non-vital matters1 #cjb-d2 her five cardinal virtues1 #cjg2 modern ,englishman's erroneous view of her virtues1 #cjh2 her derivative virtues1 #cji-ai2 her laudable love of scandal1 #caa2 her six cardinal vices1 #cah-dc2 her tact1 #cbj2 her lack of taste of vital necessity1 #cbf-cb2 her incapacity to appreciate great men1 #cbg-i2 cannot forgive material failure in her men1 #cca2 has no rank1 #cca1 #ccb2 her love of petty power1 #ccb-f2 must be controlled1 #cce1 #ccf2 her vanity1 #ccf-dj2 danger of her vanity1 #cch2 her vanity vital1 #cci1 #cdj2 vanity overcome by passion in the positive1 #cdj2 her sensuality1 #cdj-d2 her sensuality vital1 #cda1 #cdb2 the custodian of ,life1 #cdf2 negligible in ,art1 ,philosophy and ,science1 #cdf1 #cdg2 reasons for her turning to ,science or ,art1 #cdi2 cannot be changed without danger to the species1 #cej1 #cea2 her thinking largely feeling1 #cea1 #ceb2 incompetent to act in any judicial capacity1 #cec1 #cee2 her intuition1 #cee1 #cef2 her psychic powers1 #ceh1 #cei ,,womanhood1 ideal of 8true womanhood0 cruel nonsense1 #bf1 #bg ,,women workers1 their number1 #bfc n4 ,,working-,,man1 the1 more gifted at love-making than his social superior1 #aed n4 ,printed in ,great ,britain by ,butler ,tanner1 ,frome and ,london4 ,transcriber's ,notes pg #h ,changed3 and1 finally--this gem of negativness3 to3 and1 finally--this gem of negativeness3 pg #ajb ,changed3 ,the danger at persent to3 ,the danger at present pg #acg ,changed3 that pictire of it that dwells to3 that picture of it that dwells pg #ade ,changed3 and that ,b has delieved him to3 and that ,b has believed him pg #ahf ,changed3 passion qiu soit bon to3 passion qui soit bon pg #bjg ,changed3 practise in their lesiure hours to3 practise in their leisure hours pg #bag ,added footnote marker after3 analysing the true nature of woman4 pg #bbc ,changed3 grotesquely lenient to corespondents to3 grotesquely lenient to correspondents pg #bbf ,changed3 perspicacious1 knowledgable1 etc41 etc4 to3 perspicacious1 knowledgeable1 etc41 etc4 pg #bcg ,changed3 the passion1 the disapppointment1 the hardships to3 the passion1 the disappointment1 the hardships pg #bff ,changed3 and perfer to pay even the price to3 and prefer to pay even the price pg #cjb ,changed3 immorality1 preforce condemned it4 to3 immorality1 perforce condemned it4 pg #cjc 7footnote7 ,changed3 or of a dovoted husband to3 or of a devoted husband pg #cai ,changed3 unreasonng fury he provokes to3 unreasoning fury he provokes pg #cce ,changed3 we read in the old cannon to3 we read in the old canon pg #cdg ,changed3 devised the ,copernician system to3 devised the ,copernican system