Motives Assigned by
Prostitutes--(1) Economic Factor of Prostitution--
Poverty Seldom the Chief
Motive for Prostitution--But Economic Pressure Exerts a Real
Influence--The Large Proportion of Prostitutes Recruited from Domestic
Service--Significance of This Fact--(2) The Biological Factor of
Prostitution--The So-called Born-Prostitute--Alleged
Identity with the
Born-Criminal--The Sexual Instinct in Prostitutes--The Physical and
Psychic Characters of Prostitutes--(3) Moral Necessity as a Factor in the
Existence of Prostitution--The Moral Advocates of
Prostitution--The Moral
Attitude of Christianity Towards Prostitution--The
Attitude of
Protestantism--Recent Advocates of the Moral Necessity of
Prostitution--(4) Civilizational Value as a Factor of
Prostitution--The
Influence of Urban Life--The Craving for Excitement--Why Servant-girls so
Often Turn to Prostitution--The Small Part Played by
Seduction--Prostitutes
Come Largely from the Country--The Appeal of
Civilization Attracts Women
to Prostitution--The Corresponding Attraction Felt by
Men--The Prostitute
as Artist and Leader of Fashion--The Charm of Vulgarity.
IV. _The Present Social Attitude Towards Prostitution:_-
-The Decay of the
Brothel--The Tendency to the Humanization of
Prostitution--The Monetary
Aspects of Prostitution--The Geisha--The Hetaira--The
Moral Revolt Against
Prostitution--Squalid Vice Based on Luxurious Virtue--
The Ordinary
Attitude Towards Prostitutes--Its Cruelty Absurd--The
Need of Reforming
Prostitution--The Need of Reforming Marriage--These Two Needs Closely
Correlated--The Dynamic Relationships Involved.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CONQUEST OF THE VENEREAL DISEASES.
The Significance of the Venereal Diseases--The History of Syphilis--The
Problem of Its Origin--The Social Gravity of Syphilis--
The Social Dangers
of Gonorrhoea--The Modern Change in the Methods of
Combating Venereal
Diseases--Causes of the Decay of the System of Police
Regulation--Necessity
of Facing the Facts--The Innocent Victims of Venereal
Diseases--Diseases
Not Crimes--The Principle of Notification--The
Scandinavian
System--Gratuitous Treatment--Punishment For
Transmitting
Venereal Diseases--Sexual Education in Relation to
Venereal
Diseases--Lectures, Etc.--Discussion in Novels and on
the Stage--The
"Disgusting" Not the "Immoral".
CHAPTER IX.
SEXUAL MORALITY.
Prostitution in Relation to Our Marriage System--
Marriage and
Morality--The Definition of the Term "Morality"--
Theoretical Morality--Its
Division Into Traditional Morality and Ideal Morality--
Practical
Morality--Practical Morality Based on Custom--The Only Subject of
Scientific Ethics--The Reaction Between Theoretical and Practical
Morality--Sexual Morality in the Past an Application of Economic
Morality--The Combined Rigidity and Laxity of This
Morality--The
Growth of a Specific Sexual Morality and the Evolution of Moral
Ideals--Manifestations of Sexual Morality--Disregard of the Forms of
Marriage--Trial Marriage--Marriage After Conception of Child--Phenomena in
Germany, Anglo-Saxon Countries, Russia, etc.--The Status of Woman--The
Historical Tendency Favoring Moral Equality of Women
with Men--The Theory
of the Matriarchate--Mother-Descent--Women in Babylonia-
-Egypt--Rome--The
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries--The Historical
Tendency
Favoring Moral Inequality of Woman--The Ambiguous
Influence of
Christianity--Influence of Teutonic Custom and
Feudalism--Chivalry--Woman
in England--The Sale of Wives--The Vanishing Subjection of
Woman--Inaptitude of the Modern Man to Domineer--The
Growth of Moral
Responsibility in Women--The Concomitant Development of Economic
Independence--The Increase of Women Who Work--Invasion of the Modern
Industrial Field by Women--In How Far This Is Socially Justifiable--The
Sexual Responsibility of Women and Its Consequences--The Alleged Moral
Inferiority of Women--The "Self-Sacrifice" of Women--
Society Not
Concerned with Sexual Relationships--Procreation the
Sole Sexual Concern
of the State--The Supreme Importance of Maternity.
CHAPTER X.
MARRIAGE.
The Definition of Marriage--Marriage Among Animals--The Predominance of
Monogamy--The Question of Group Marriage--Monogamy a
Natural Fact, Not
Based on Human Law--The Tendency to Place the Form of
Marriage Above the
Fact of Marriage--The History of Marriage--Marriage in Ancient
Rome--Germanic Influence on Marriage--Bride-Sale--The
Ring--The Influence
of Christianity on Marriage--The Great Extent of this
Influence--The
Sacrament of Matrimony--Origin and Growth of the
Sacramental
Conception--The Church Made Marriage a Public Act--Canon Law--Its Sound
Core--Its Development--Its Confusions and Absurdities--
Peculiarities of
English Marriage Law--Influence of the Reformation on
Marriage--The
Protestant Conception of Marriage as a Secular Contract-
-The Puritan
Reform of Marriage--Milton as the Pioneer of Marriage
Reform--His Views on
Divorce--The Backward Position of England in Marriage
Reform--Criticism of
the English Divorce Law--Traditions of the Canon Law
Still Persistent--The
Question of Damages for Adultery--Collusion as a Bar to Divorce--Divorce in France, Germany, Austria, Russia,
etc.--The United
States--Impossibility of Deciding by Statute the Causes for
Divorce--Divorce by Mutual Consent--Its Origin and
Development--Impeded by
the Traditions of Canon Law--Wilhelm von Humboldt--
Modern Pioneer
Advocates of Divorce by Mutual Consent--The Arguments
Against Facility of
Divorce--The Interests of the Children--The Protection of Women--The
Present Tendency of the Divorce Movement--Marriage Not a Contract--The
Proposal of Marriage for a Term of Years--Legal
Disabilities and
Disadvantages in the Position of the Husband and the
Wife--Marriage Not a
Contract But a Fact--Only the Non-Essentials of
Marriage, Not the
Essentials, a Proper Matter for Contract--The Legal
Recognition of
Marriage as a Fact Without Any Ceremony--Contracts of
the Person Opposed
to Modern Tendencies--The Factor of Moral
Responsibility--Marriage as an
Ethical Sacrament--Personal Responsibility Involves
Freedom--Freedom the
Best Guarantee of Stability--False Ideas of
Individualism--Modern Tendency
of Marriage--With the Birth of a Child Marriage Ceases to be a Private
Concern--Every Child Must Have a Legal Father and
Mother--How This Can be
Effected--The Firm Basis of Monogamy--The Question of
Marriage
Variations--Such Variations Not Inimical to Monogamy--
The Most Common
Variations--The Flexibility of Marriage Holds Variations in
Check--Marriage Variations _versus_ Prostitution--
Marriage on a Reasonable
and Humane Basis--Summary and Conclusion.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ART OF LOVE.
Marriage Not Only for Procreation--Theologians on the
_Sacramentum
Solationis_--Importance of the _Art of Love_--The Basis of Stability in
Marriage and the Condition for Right Procreation--The
Art of Love the
Bulwark Against Divorce--The Unity of Love and Marriage a Principle of
Modern Morality--Christianity and the Art of Love--Ovid-
-The Art of Love
Among Primitive Peoples--Sexual Initiation in Africa and Elsewhere--The
Tendency to Spontaneous Development of the Art of Love in Early
Life--Flirtation--Sexual Ignorance in Women--The
Husband's Place in Sexual
Initiation--Sexual Ignorance in Men--The Husband's
Education for
Marriage--The Injury Done by the Ignorance of Husbands--
The Physical and
Mental Results of Unskilful Coitus--Women Understand the Art of Love
Better Than Men--Ancient and Modern Opinions Concerning Frequency of
Coitus--Variation in Sexual Capacity--The Sexual
Appetite--The Art of Love
Based on the Biological Facts of Courtship--The Art of Pleasing Women--The
Lover Compared to the Musician--The Proposal as a Part of
Courtship--Divination in the Art of Love--The Importance of the
Preliminaries in Courtship--The Unskilful Husband
Frequently the Cause of
the Frigid Wife--The Difficulty of Courtship--
Simultaneous Orgasm--The
Evils of Incomplete Gratification in Women--Coitus
Interruptus--Coitus
Reservatus--The Human Method of Coitus--Variations in
Coitus--Posture in
Coitus--The Best Time for Coitus--The Influence of
Coitus in Marriage--The
Advantages of Absence in Marriage--The Risks of Absence-
-Jealousy--The
Primitive Function of Jealousy--Its Predominance Among Animals, Savages,
etc, and in Pathological States--An Anti-Social Emotion-
-Jealousy
Incompatible With the Progress of Civilization--The
Possibility of Loving
More Than One Person at a Time--Platonic Friendship--The Conditions Which
Make It Possible--The Maternal Element in Woman's Love--
The Final
Development of Conjugal Love--The Problem of Love One of the Greatest Of
Social Questions.
CHAPTER XII.
THE SCIENCE OF PROCREATION.
The Relationship of the Science of Procreation to the
Art of Love--Sexual
Desire and Sexual Pleasure as the Conditions of
Conception--Reproduction
Formerly Left to Caprice and Lust--The Question of
Procreation as a
Religious Question--The Creed of Eugenics--Ellen Key and Sir Francis
Galton--Our Debt to Posterity--The Problem of Replacing Natural
Selection--The Origin and Development of Eugenics--The General Acceptance
of Eugenical Principles To-day--The Two Channels by
Which Eugenical
Principles are Becoming Embodied in Practice--The Sense of Sexual
Responsibility in Women--The Rejection of Compulsory
Motherhood--The
Privilege of Voluntary Motherhood--Causes of the
Degradation of
Motherhood--The Control of Conception--Now Practiced by the Majority of
the Population in Civilized Countries--The Fallacy of
"Racial
Suicide"--Are Large Families a Stigma of Degeneration?--
Procreative
Control the Outcome of Natural and Civilized Progress--
The Growth of
Neo-Malthusian Beliefs and Practices--Facultative
Sterility as Distinct
from Neo-Malthusianism--The Medical and Hygienic
Necessity of Control of
Conception--Preventive Methods--Abortion--The New
Doctrine of the Duty to
Practice Abortion--How Far is this Justifiable?--
Castration as a Method of
Controlling Procreation--Negative Eugenics and Positive Eugenics--The
Question of Certificates for Marriage--The Inadequacy of Eugenics by Act
of Parliament--The Quickening of the Social Conscience in Regard to
Heredity--Limitations to the Endowment of Motherhood--
The Conditions
Favorable to Procreation--Sterility--The Question of
Artificial
Fecundation--The Best Age of Procreation--The Question of Early
Motherhood--The Best Time for Procreation--The
Completion of the Divine
Cycle of Life.
CHAPTER I.
THE MOTHER AND HER CHILD.
The Child's Right to Choose Its Ancestry--How This is
Effected--The Mother
the Child's Supreme Parent--Motherhood and the Woman
Movement--The Immense
Importance of Motherhood--Infant Mortality and Its
Causes--The Chief Cause
in the Mother--The Need of Rest During Pregnancy--
Frequency of Premature
Birth--The Function of the State--Recent Advance in
Puericulture--The
Question of Coitus During Pregnancy--The Need of Rest
During
Lactation--The Mother's Duty to Suckle Her Child--The
Economic
Question--The Duty of the State--Recent Progress in the Protection of the
Mother--The Fallacy of State Nurseries.
A man's sexual nature, like all else that is most
essential in him, is
rooted in a soil that was formed very long before his
birth. In this, as
in every other respect, he draws the elements of his
life from his
ancestors, however new the recombination may be and
however greatly it may
be modified by subsequent conditions. A man's destiny
stands not in the
future but in the past. That, rightly considered, is the most vital of all
vital facts. Every child thus has a right to choose his own ancestors.
Naturally he can only do this vicariously, through his parents. It is the
most serious and sacred duty of the future father to
choose one half of
the ancestral and hereditary character of his future
child; it is the most
serious and sacred duty of the future mother to make a similar choice.[1]
In choosing each other they have between them chosen the whole ancestry of
their child. They have determined the stars that will
rule his fate.
In the past that fateful determination has usually been made helplessly,
ignorantly, almost unconsciously. It has either been
guided by an
instinct which, on the whole, has worked out fairly
well, or controlled by
economic interests of the results of which so much
cannot be said, or left
to the risks of lower than bestial chances which can
produce nothing but
evil. In the future we cannot but have faith--for all
the hope of humanity
must rest on that faith--that a new guiding impulse,
reinforcing natural
instinct and becoming in time an inseparable
accompaniment of it, will
lead civilized man on his racial course. Just as in the past the race has,
on the whole, been moulded by a natural, and in part
sexual, selection,
that was unconscious of itself and ignorant of the ends it made towards,
so in the future the race will be moulded by deliberate selection, the
creative energy of Nature becoming self-conscious in the civilized brain
of man. This is not a faith which has its source in a
vague hope. The
problems of the individual life are linked on to the
fate of the racial
life, and again and again we shall find as we ponder the individual
questions we are here concerned with, that at all points they ultimately
converge towards this same racial end.
Since we have here, therefore, to follow out the sexual relationships of
the individual as they bear on society, it will be
convenient at this
point to put aside the questions of ancestry and to
accept the individual
as, with hereditary constitution already determined, he lies in his
mother's womb.
It is the mother who is the child's supreme parent. At various points in
zoölogical evolution it has seemed possible that the
functions that we now
know as those of maternity would be largely and even
equally shared by the
male parent. Nature has tried various experiments in
this direction, among
the fishes, for instance, and even among birds. But
reasonable and
excellent as these experiments were, and though they
were sufficiently
sound to secure their perpetuation unto this day, it
remains true that it
was not along these lines that Man was destined to
emerge. Among all the
mammal predecessors of Man, the male is an imposing and important figure
in the early days of courtship, but after conception has once been secured
the mother plays the chief part in the racial life. The male must be
content to forage abroad and stand on guard when at home in the
ante-chamber of the family. When she has once been
impregnated the female
animal angrily rejects the caresses she had welcomed so coquettishly
before, and even in Man the place of the father at the birth of his child
is not a notably dignified or comfortable one. Nature
accords the male but
a secondary and comparatively humble place in the home, the breeding-place
of the race; he may compensate himself if he will, by
seeking adventure
and renown in the world outside. The mother is the
child's supreme parent,
and during the period from conception to birth the
hygiene of the future
man can only be affected by influences which work
through her.
Fundamental and elementary as is the fact of the
predominant position of
the mother in relation to the life of the race,
incontestable as it must
seem to all those who have traversed the volumes of
these _Studies_ up to
the present point, it must be admitted that it has
sometimes been
forgotten or ignored. In the great ages of humanity it has indeed been
accepted as a central and sacred fact. In classic Rome at one period the
house of the pregnant woman was adorned with garlands, and in Athens it
was an inviolable sanctuary where even the criminal
might find shelter.
Even amid the mixed influences of the exuberantly vital times which
preceded the outburst of the Renaissance, the ideally
beautiful woman, as
pictures still show, was the pregnant woman. But it has not always been
so. At the present time, for instance, there can be no doubt that we are
but beginning to emerge from a period during which this fact was often
disputed and denied, both in theory and in practice,
even by women
themselves. This was notably the case both in England
and America, and it
is probably owing in large part to the unfortunate
infatuation which led
women in these lands to follow after masculine ideals
that at the present
moment the inspirations of progress in women's movements come mainly
to-day from the women of other lands. Motherhood and the future of the
race were systematically belittled. Paternity is but a mere incident, it
was argued, in man's life: why should maternity be more than a mere
incident in woman's life? In England, by a curiously
perverted form of
sexual attraction, women were so fascinated by the
glamour that surrounded
men that they desired to suppress or forget all the
facts of organic
constitution which made them unlike men, counting their glory as their
shame, and sought the same education as men, the same
occupations as men,
even the same sports. As we know, there was at the
origin an element of
rightness in this impulse.[2] It was absolutely right in so far as it was
a claim for freedom from artificial restriction, and a demand for economic
independence. But it became mischievous and absurd when it developed into
a passion for doing, in all respects, the same things as men do; how
mischievous and how absurd we may realize if we imagine men developing a
passion to imitate the ways and avocations of women.
Freedom is only good
when it is a freedom to follow the laws of one's own
nature; it ceases to
be freedom when it becomes a slavish attempt to imitate others, and would
be disastrous if it could be successful.[3]
At the present day this movement on the theoretical side has ceased to
possess any representatives who exert serious influence.
Yet its practical
results are still prominently exhibited in England and the other countries
in which it has been felt. Infantile mortality is
enormous, and in England
at all events is only beginning to show a tendency to
diminish; motherhood
is without dignity, and the vitality of mothers is
speedily crushed, so
that often they cannot so much as suckle their infants; ignorant
girl-mothers give their infants potatoes and gin; on
every hand we are
told of the evidence of degeneracy in the race, or if
not in the race, at
all events, in the young individuals of to-day.
It would be out of place, and would lead us too far,
to discuss
here these various practical outcomes of the foolish
attempt to
belittle the immense racial importance of
motherhood. It is
enough here to touch on the one point of the excess
of infantile
mortality.
In England--which is not from the social point of
view in a very
much worse condition than most countries, for in
Austria and
Russia the infant mortality is higher still, though
in Australia
and New Zealand much lower, but still excessive--
more than
one-fourth of the total number of deaths every year
is of infants
under one year of age. In the opinion of medical
officers of
health who are in the best position to form an
opinion, about
one-half of this mortality, roughly speaking, is
absolutely
preventable. Moreover, it is doubtful whether there
is any real
movement of decrease in this mortality; during the
past half
century it has sometimes slightly risen and
sometimes slightly
fallen, and though during the past few years the
general movement
of mortality for children under five in England and
Wales has
shown a tendency to decrease, in London (according
to J.F.J.
Sykes, although Sir Shirley Murphy has attempted to
minimize the
significance of these figures) the infantile
mortality rate for
the first three months of life actually rose from 69
per 1,000 in
the period 1888-1892 to 75 per 1,000 in the period
1898-1901.
(This refers, it must be remembered, to the period