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The Man‐Made World
Free, the female chose the victor, and the vanquished went unmated—and without progeny. Dependent, having to be fed and cared for by some man, the victors take their pick perhaps, but the vanquished take what is left; and the poor women, “marrying for a
home,” take anything. As a consequence the inferior male is as free to transmit his inferiority as the superior to give better qualities, and does so—beyond computation. In modern days, women are freer, in
some countries freer than in others; here in modern America freest of all; and the result is seen in our improving standards of health and beauty.
Still there remains the field of inter‐masculine competition, does there not? Do not the males still struggle together? Is not that as of old, a source of race advantage?
To some degree it is. When life was simple and our activities consisted mainly in fighting and hard work; the male who could vanquish the others was bigger and stronger. But inter‐masculine competition ceases to be of such advantage when we enter the field
of social service. What is required in organized society is the specialization of the individual, the development of special talents, not always of immediate benefit to the man himself, but of ultimate benefit to society. The best social servant, progressive, meeting future needs, is almost always at a disadvantage besides the well-established lower types. We need, for social service, qualities quite different from the simple masculine characteristics—desire, combat, self‐expression.
By keeping what we call “the outside world” so wholly male, we keep up masculine standards at the expense of human ones. This may be broadly seen in the slow and painful development of industry and science as compared to the easy dominance of warfare
throughout all history until our own times.
The effect of all this ultra masculine competition upon health and beauty is but too plainly to be seen. Among men the male idea of what is good looking is accentuated beyond reason. Read about any
“hero” you please; or study the products of the illustrator and note the broad shoulders, the rugged features, the strong, square, determined jaw. That jaw is in evidence if everything else fails. He may be cross‐eyed, wide‐eared, thick‐necked, bandy‐legged—what you please; but he must have a more or less prognathous jaw.