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 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN
 
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 THE TRUTH 
 ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 BY 
 
 C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY 
 
 (MRS. WALTER M. GALLICHAN) 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 
 1914
 
 RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, 
 
 BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STKEET, S.E. 
 
 AND BUNGAV, SUFFOLK.
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 TO 
 LESLIE, MY LITTLE ADOPTED SON 
 
 In writing at last this book on Woman, which for so 
 many years has had a place in my thoughts, one truth has 
 forced itself upon me : the predominant position of Woman 
 in her natural relation to the race. The mother is the 
 main stream of the racial life. All the hope of the future 
 rests upon this faith in motherhood. 
 
 To whom, then, but to you, my little son, can I dedicate 
 my book ? You came to me when I was still seeking out 
 a way in the futility of Individual ends ; you reconciled 
 my warring motives and desires ; you brought me a new 
 guiding principle. You taught me that the Individual Life 
 is but :us a bubble or cluster of foam on the great tide of 
 humanity. I knew that the redemption of Woman rests in 
 the growing knowledge and consciousness of her responsi- 
 bility to the race.
 
 "The social revolution which is impending in Europe is 
 chiefly concerned with the future of the workers and the 
 women. It is for this that I hope and wait, and for this I 
 will work with all my powers." IBSEN.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 IT is very difficult to write a preface to a work 
 which is expressly intended as a revelation of the faith 
 of the writer. The successive stages of thought and 
 emotion that have been passed through are still too near, 
 and one feels too deeply. I have made several futile 
 attempts to concentrate into a short note the Truths about 
 Woman that I have tried to convey in my book. I find 
 it impossible to do this. The explanation of one's own 
 book would really require the writing of another book, 
 as Mr. Bernard Shaw has proved to us in his delightful 
 prefaces. But to do this one must be freed altogether 
 from the limits of length and time. The fragments of 
 what I wish to say would be of no service to any one. 
 
 I then tried to place myself, as it were, outside the 
 book, and to look at it as a stranger might. But the 
 difficulties here were even greater. I grew so interested 
 in criticising my own opinions that my notes soon outran 
 the possibilities of a preface. In this spirit of genuine 
 discrimination, I became aware how easy it would be for 
 any one who does not share my faith to find apparent 
 contradictions of statement and errors in thought much 
 that is feeble here, extravagant there; to notice some 
 salient fault and to take it as decisive of the writer's 
 incompetence. I am tempted to point these out myself 
 to guide and protect the reader. 
 
 Til
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 Now that my book is done I feel that I have touched 
 only the veriest fringe of a vast subject. But one thing 
 I may say, I have tried to express the truth as I have 
 come to see it. The conception I have of Woman is 
 not new; it is very old. And for that reason it will be 
 rejected by many women to-day. At present the inspira- 
 tion towards freedom in the Woman's Movement has 
 involved a tendency to follow individual paths, without 
 waiting to consider to what end they lead. There has 
 arisen a sort of glamour about freedom. No one of us 
 can be free, for no one of us stands alone; we are all 
 members one of another. And woman's destiny is rooted 
 in the race. This, rightly considered, is the most vital 
 of all vital facts. I appeal to women to realise more 
 clearly their true place and gifts, as representing that 
 original racial motherhood, out of which the masculine 
 and feminine characters have arisen. 
 
 My book is a statement of my faith in Woman as the 
 predominant and responsible partner in the relations of 
 the sexes. To such a belief my opinion was driven, as 
 it were, not deliberately set from the beginning. The 
 time when the resolve to write a book upon Woman first 
 took a place in my thoughts goes back for many years. 
 The child of a Puritan father, who died for the faith 
 in which he believed, the desire to teach was born in my 
 blood. Our character is forged in the past, we cannot 
 escape our inheritance. I began my work as the head- 
 mistress of a school for girls. I was young in experience 
 and very ignorant of life. In my enthusiasm I was quite 
 unconscious of my own limitations. I believed that I 
 was able to train up a new type of free woman. Of
 
 PREFACE ix 
 
 course I failed. Looking back now I wonder if I ever 
 taught my pupils one-hundredth part of what they taught 
 me. Perhaps if any of them, separated from me by time 
 and circumstances, chance to read my book, they may 
 be glad to know that it was largely due to them and 
 what I learnt from them that it has come to be written. 
 Certainly it was in those days, when saddened by my 
 own failures, that the purpose came to me, dimly but 
 insistently, to seek out the Truth about Woman and the 
 relations of the sexes. I began to read and to collect 
 material at first for my own guidance and instruction, and 
 as a necessary preparation for my work. I needed it : 
 I must have been slow to learn. For a long time I 
 wandered in the wrong path. My desire was to find 
 proofs that would enable me to ignore all those facts 
 of woman's organic constitution which makes her unlike 
 man. I stumbled blindly into the fatal error of follow- 
 ing masculine ideals. I desired freedom for women to 
 enable them to live the same lives that men live and to 
 do the same work that men do. I did not understand 
 that this was a wastage of the force of womanhood ; that 
 no freedom can be of service to woman unless it is a 
 freedom to follow her own nature. I am very glad that 
 the book that is now finished was not written in that 
 period of my belief. I have waited and I have lived. 
 
 Five years ago I took up definitely the task of writing 
 the book. At that time the plan of the work was made 
 and the first Introductory chapter written. Circumstances 
 into which I need not enter caused the work again to be 
 put aside. T am glad : I have learnt much in these last 
 years.
 
 x PREFACE 
 
 There is little more that I need to say. 
 
 The book is divided into three parts the first 
 biological, the second historical. These two parts are 
 preliminary to the third part, which deals with the 
 present-day aspects of the Woman Problem, the differ- 
 ences between woman and man, and the relations of the 
 sexes. 
 
 This arrangement of my inquiry into three parts was 
 necessary. It may seem to some that I should have done 
 better to confine my investigations to the present. But 
 the claim of woman for freedom is rooted deep in the 
 past. This fact had to be established. I have tried to 
 give the earlier sections such lighter qualities and interest 
 as would commend them to my readers. It is hardly 
 necessary for me to say I can make no claim to personal 
 scientific knowledge. Probably I have made many 
 mistakes. 
 
 It is perhaps foolish to make apologies for work that 
 one has done. But the inclusion of so wide a field has 
 had a disadvantage. My investigations may be objected 
 to as in certain points not being supported by sufficient 
 proof. I know this. My stacks of unused notes remind 
 me of how much I have had to leave out. This is 
 especially the case in the final part. The subject of 
 every chapter treated here could easily form a volume 
 in itself. I hope that at least I have opened up sug- 
 gestions of many questions on which I could not dwell 
 at length. 
 
 Some remarks may be necessary as to the nature of 
 my material. It has been drawn from a variety of sources. 
 I have tried to acknowledge in footnotes the great amount
 
 PREFACE xi 
 
 of help I have received. But my notes have been taken 
 during many years, and if any acknowledgment has been 
 forgotten, it is my memory that is at fault, and not my 
 gratitude. The Bibliography (which has been drawn up 
 chiefly from the works I have consulted, and is merely 
 representative) will show how many fields there are from 
 which the student may glean. In particular I am indebted 
 to the works of Havelock Ellis, of Iwan Bloch and 
 Ellen Key. To these writers I would express my 
 warmest thanks for the help and guidance I have gained 
 from their work. 
 
 The opinions expressed are in all cases my own. I 
 say this without any apology of modesty. I hold that 
 the one justification of writing a book at all is to state 
 those truths one has learnt from one's own experience 
 of life. For we can give to others only what we have 
 received ourselves ; the vision rising in our own eyes, the 
 passion born in our own hearts. 
 
 C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY. 
 
 7, Carlton Terrace, 
 Child's Hill, N.W. 
 
 March, 1913.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 N.B. A complete synopsis of confetti s will be found at the 
 beginning of each chapter 
 
 CHAf. PACE 
 
 I INTRODUCTION THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY i 
 
 PART I BIOLOGICAL SECTION 
 II THE ORIGIN OF THE SEXES 31 
 
 III GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION . . . . . 45 
 
 I The Early Position of the Sexes. 
 II Two Examples The Beehive and the Spider. 
 
 IV THE EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEXES . . .71 
 V COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE, AND THE FAMILY . > . 85 
 
 I Among the Birds and Mammals. 
 
 II Further Examples of Courtship, Marriage, and the Family 
 among Birds. 
 
 PART II HISTORICAL SECTION 
 VI THE MOTHER- AGE CIVILISATION 117 
 
 I Progress from Lower to Higher Forms of the Family 
 
 Relationship. 
 II The Matriarchal Family in America. 
 
 III Further Examples of the Matriarchal Family in Australia, 
 
 India, and other Countries. 
 
 IV The Transition to Father-right. 
 
 VII WOMAN'S POSITION IN THE GREAT CIVILISATIONS OF 
 
 ANTIQUITY 177 
 
 I In Egypt. 
 II In Babylon. 
 
 III In Greece. 
 
 IV In Rome. 
 
 nil
 
 xiv CONTENTS 
 
 PART III MODERN SECTION: PRESENT-DAY 
 ASPECTS OF THE WOMAN PROBLEM 
 
 CHAT. PACK 
 
 VIII SEX DIFFERENCES . ... . 245 
 
 IX APPLICATION 'to THE FOREGOING CHAPTER WITH SOME 
 
 FURTHER REMARKS ON SEX DIFFERENCE ,. . 271 
 I Women and Labour. 
 II Sexual Differences in Mind and the Artistic Impulse in 
 
 Women. 
 
 Ill The Affectability of Woman -Its Connection with the Religious 
 Impulse. 
 
 X THE SOCIAL FORMS OF THE SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP . 329 
 
 I Marriage. 
 II Divorce. 
 Ill Prostitution. 
 
 XI THE END OF THE INQUIRY . . . , . 375 
 
 \
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTION THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 
 
 The twentieth century the age of hurrying progress The change in 
 the position of women Reasons for the revolution First efforts 
 towards emancipation Outlook of the Woman Movement Its 
 fundamental error Possibilities of future development Mother- 
 hood and the Woman Movement Schopenhauer's view of woman 
 He asserts an absurdity The predominance of man over woman 
 not to be regarded as a natural and inviolable law An examina- 
 tion of the mastery of the male Can we look forward to a remedy ? 
 Our own time a turning-point in the history of women Assumed 
 inferiority of the female sex Necessity for biological knowledge 
 in forming an estimate of the present sex-relationship Two kinds 
 of influences to be considered Nature and Nurture The different 
 play of the environmental forces, or Nurture, upon women and 
 upon men The importance of Nature Galton's Law of Inherit- 
 ance Woman's responsibility as race-bearer Sexual differences 
 between the female and the male Primitive woman and her 
 position in early civilisations Remarks and conclusion The 
 immense importance of motherhood.
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTION THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 
 
 " The method of investigating truth commonly pursued at this 
 time, therefore, is to be held erroneous and almost foolish, in which so 
 many inquire what others have said, and omit to ask whether the 
 things themselves be actually so or not." WILLIAM HARVEY. 
 
 THE twentieth century will, we may well believe, be 
 stamped in the records of the future as "the age of 
 hurrying change." In certain directions this change has 
 resulted in a profounder transformation of thought than 
 has been effected by all the preceding centuries. Never, 
 probably, in the history of the world were the meanings 
 and ambitions of progress so prevalent as they are to-day. 
 Aii energy of inquiry and an endless curiosity is sweeping 
 away the complacent Victorian attitude, which in its 
 secure faith and tranquil self-confidence accepted the 
 conditions of living without question and without emo- 
 tion. Stripped of its masks, this phase of individual 
 egoism was perhaps the most villainous page of recorded 
 human history; yet, with strange confidence, it regarded 
 itself as the very summit of civilisation. It may be that 
 such a phase was necessary before the awakening of a 
 social conscience could arise. Old conceptions have 
 become foolish in a New Age. A great motive, an 
 enlarging dream, a quickening understanding of social 
 responsibility, these are what we have gained. 
 
 Above all, this common Faith of Progress has brought 
 
 B 2 3
 
 4 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 a new birth to women. Many are feeling this force. 
 There are two, says Professor Karl Pearson, 1 and it might 
 almost be said only two great problems of modern social 
 life they are the problem of woman and the problem 
 of labour. Regarded with fear by many, they are for 
 the younger generation the sole motors in life, and the 
 only party cries which in the present can arouse enthus- 
 iasm, self-sacrifice, and a genuine freemasonry of class 
 and sex. 
 
 There is something almost staggering in the range and 
 greatness of the changes in belief and feeling, in intel- 
 lectual conclusions and social habits, which are now dis- 
 turbing the female part of humankind. How complete 
 is the divorce between the attitude of the woman of this 
 generation towards society and herself, and that of the 
 generation that has passed yes, passed as completely 
 as if hundreds and not units represent the years that 
 separate it from the present. 
 
 It is instructive to note in passing what was written 
 about woman at the time immediately preceding the 
 present revolt of the sex. The virtue upon which most 
 stress was laid was that of " delicacy," a word which 
 occurs with nauseous frequency in the books written 
 both by women and men in the two last centuries. 2 " Pro- 
 priety," wrote Mrs. Hannah More, " is to a woman what 
 the great Roman citizen said action is to an orator : it is 
 the first, the second, and the third requisite." 3 
 
 " Woman and Labour," The Chances of Death, Vol. I. p. 226. 
 
 2 Quoted from The Emancipation of English Women, by W. Lyon 
 Blease, a book which gives an unbiased, and in many respects excellent, 
 account of the struggle of English women to gain freedom from the 
 seventeenth century to the present day. 
 
 8 Strictures, I. 6, Gregory.
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 5 
 
 "This delicacy or propriety," it has been well said, 1 "implied 
 not only modesty, but ignorance ; and not only decency of con- 
 duct, but false decency of mind. Nothing was to be thoroughly 
 known, nothing to be frankly expressed. The vicious concealment 
 was not confined to physical facts, but pervaded all forms of 
 knowledge. Not only must the girl be kept ignorant of the 
 principles of physiology, but she must also abstain from penetrat- 
 ing thoroughly into the mysteries of history, of politics, of science, 
 and of philosophy. Even her special province of religion must be 
 lightly surveyed. She was not required to think for herself, 
 therefore she was deprived of all training which would enable her 
 to think at all. The girl must appear to be dependent upon the 
 mental strength of a man, as well as upon his physical strength." 
 
 It is necessary to remember this attitude if we are to 
 understand the direction that woman's emancipation has 
 largely and, as some of us think, mistakenly taken in 
 this country. It explains the demand for equality of 
 opportunity with men, which has become the watch-cry 
 of so many women, thinking that here was the way to 
 solve the problem. A cry good and right in itself, but 
 one which is a starting-point only for woman's freedom, 
 and can never be its end. 
 
 Little more than fifty years have passed since Miss 
 Jex-Blake undertook her memorable fight to obtain 
 medical training for herself and her colleagues at the 
 University of Edinburgh. 2 At about the same time arose 
 women's demand for the right of higher education, and 
 colleges for women were opened at Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge. These were the practical results which followed 
 the revolt of Mary Wollstonecraft, and later, the great 
 
 1 The Emancipation of English Women. 
 
 1 For an account of this struggle see Sketch of the Foundation and 
 Development of the London School of Medicine for Women, by Isabel 
 Thorne ; also The Emancipation of English Women.
 
 6 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 revival due to the publication of John Stuart Mill's 
 epoch-marking book, the Subjection of Women. 
 
 During the first period of the woman's movement the 
 centre of restlessness was amongst unmarried women, 
 who rebelled at the old restrictions, eager for self- 
 development and a more intellectually active life. These 
 women undertook their own cause, insisting that their 
 humanity came before their sex. They were picked 
 women, much above the average woman, and to a certain 
 extent abnormal in so far as they denied the important 
 factor of sex. To them the average male was not a sub- 
 ject of overwhelming interest, and marriage and mother- 
 hood were not of prominent importance in their thought. 
 For them " equality of opportunity for women with men " 
 seemed to solve the problem of woman's emancipation. 
 The constructive result of their campaign was the win- 
 ning of the higher education of woman, the right to work, 
 and the rush of women into the professions. Much, 
 indeed, was gained, though it may be said with equal 
 truth that much was lost. With this solution the 
 increased power of self-realisation in a narrow class of 
 picked women, chiefly unmarried women of the middle- 
 class the woman's movement might well begin, but in 
 this alone it can never end. The movement was incom- 
 plete as far as woman's emancipation went, because it 
 was won by ignoring sex. In spite of the great advance 
 in freedom and in scope of activity of life, the stigma 
 attached to woman was not removed. To-day we have 
 arrived at a point where instead of ignoring sex we must 
 affirm it, and claim emancipation on the ground of our 
 sex alone. Our mothers taught acceptance, and asked
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 7 
 
 for privileges; the pioneers of revolt raised the cry 
 "acceptance is a sin and all privilege evil"; we, the 
 blood in our veins beating more strongly and understand- 
 ing at last the true inwardness of our power, found our 
 claim for complete emancipation upon that special work 
 in the world and for the State which our differentiation 
 from men imposes upon us. This differentiation is our 
 potentiality for motherhood, and is the endowment of 
 every woman, whether realised or not. We claim as our 
 glory what our mothers accepted as their burden of 
 shame. 
 
 No sudden causeless changes ever happen, or ever 
 have happened. And the question, Why ? arises. What 
 is this dynamic force which has been, and is still sweeping 
 in a great wave of emancipation across the civilised world, 
 joining women in one common purpose ? On the outside 
 the revolutionary character of women's modern thought 
 and modern practice means nothing more than that they 
 claim the rights of adult human beings political en- 
 franchisement, the right of education and freedom to 
 work. But the facts are far too complex to enable us 
 thus to rush hastily to an answer. There is a pitiful 
 monotony in much that is written and spoken about 
 women's emancipation. The real causes are deep to 
 seek, and not infrequently they have been missed even 
 by those who have been most instrumental in bringing 
 a new hope to women. The most advanced women 
 champions, the martyrs of revolt, show no greater sense 
 of the meanings and issues of the struggle in which they 
 are engaged than the complaisant supporters of the worn- 
 out customs they combat. They exhibit only the energies
 
 8 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 of an admirable impulse, without the control of a guiding 
 law. Speculation, which should be carried to a compre- 
 hension of general facts, is concentrated upon the imme- 
 diate gain of the hour. The tendency is to trifle with 
 truth, and to disguise its reach and consequences. We 
 have read, and spoken, and thought so much about the 
 special character of woman that we have become almost 
 wearied of the subject. Like Narcissus, we stand in 
 some danger of falling in love with our own image. 
 Perhaps the truth is we speculate too much instead of 
 trying to find out the facts. The woman question is 
 as old as sex itself and as young as mankind. 
 
 The future position of woman in society is a question 
 that carries with it biological and psychological, as well 
 as social and practical, issues of the widest significance, 
 and further, it is bound up intimately with the pro- 
 foundest riddles of existence. The problems remain to 
 a great extent unsolved. But the conviction forces itself 
 that the emancipation of woman will ultimately involve 
 a revolution in many of our social institutions. It is 
 this that brings fear to many. Yet we must remember 
 that woman's emancipation is no new movement, but has 
 always been with us, although with varying prominence 
 at different times in history. In the past, civilisations 
 have fallen, in part at least, because they failed to 
 develop in equal freedom their women with their men. 
 It is also certain that no civilisation in the future can 
 remain the highest if another civilisation adds to the 
 intelligence of its male population the intelligence of its 
 women. This in itself is enough to condemn all ideas 
 of sex inequality.
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 9 
 
 The struggle for the Suffrage has intensified many 
 problems which it will take all the intellectual and 
 emotional energy of both men and women to solve. Up 
 till now there has been little more than a fight for mere 
 rights against male monopolies. In the near future this 
 struggle must lead to a realisation of the duties of woman, 
 founded on a level-headed facing of the physiological 
 realities of her nature. It is a complete disregard of 
 sexualogical difficulties which renders so superficial and 
 unconvincing much of the talk which proceeds from the 
 " Woman's Rights " platform. All efforts made to 
 understand the sex problem, which is the woman question, 
 must be based on the full knowledge of the physical 
 capacity of woman and the effect that her emancipation 
 will have on her function of race production. All effort 
 ought to be directed towards the future welfare and 
 happiness of the children who are to follow us. This 
 is the goal of woman's struggle for progress, it is the sole 
 end worthy of it. 
 
 To assume as Schopenhauer and so many others have 
 done, down to Sir Almroth Wright's recent hysterical 
 wail in The Times, that woman, on account of her 
 womanhood is incapable of intellectual or social develop- 
 ment, paying her sole debt of Nature in bearing and 
 caring for children, is really to state a belief in decay 
 for humankind. Any stigma attached to women is really 
 a stigma attached to their potentiality as mothers, and 
 we can only remove it by beginning with the emancipa- 
 tion of the actual mother. No sharp cleavage can be 
 made between qualities that are good and masculine on 
 the one side, and all that is feminine on the other. The
 
 10 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 view is entirely erroneous. How, for instance, can ignor- 
 ance and weakness constitute at once the perfection of 
 womankind, and the imperfection of mankind? The 
 matter is not so simple. Man must fall with woman, and 
 rise with her. 
 
 My first purpose is to make this clear. 
 
 To-day we are faced with the question whether the pre- 
 dominance of man over woman is to be regarded as a 
 natural, and therefore inviolable, law of the male and 
 female. Some will deny this mastery of the male. It may 
 be said that woman sways man more than he rules her. 
 This is true. The influence of woman is important fear- 
 fully important. Yet the fitting answer to such glossing 
 if it be necessary really to point out that sexual privilege 
 is not personal power is that such government is exer- 
 cised in one direction alone, and arises not from woman's 
 strength, but out of her subjection. Women have ren- 
 dered back to men the ill that this long sex domination 
 has wrought upon them. None the less have we to 
 reckon with the despotism of the male side of life. ' The 
 softening influence of woman ! "... It is a pretty 
 phrase; but all the same women and men have been 
 doing their best to degrade each other to a pitiful 
 mediocrity. It is not the purifying influence of women 
 the theory of chivalrous moralists but an unguided 
 and therefore deteriorating sexual tyranny that regulates 
 society. Let us have done with this absurd catch-phrase 
 of "Woman's Influence." No influence worth naming 
 as such can be exercised but by an independent mind. 
 Women need better fields for the exercise of their love 
 of power. The sexual sphere, which has shaped an im-
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 11 
 
 palpable prison around them, has barred them from that 
 part of life which is social and broadly human ; the falsely 
 feminine has been developed to the loss of the woman- 
 hood in them. It is only in obedience to man that woman 
 has gained her power of life. She has borne children 
 at his will and for his pleasure. She has received her 
 very consciousness from man : this has been her woman- 
 hood, to feel herself under another's will. There is no 
 possible hiding of the truth; if women influence men, 
 men command life. 
 
 But is it possible, looking forward to new conditions 
 of society, now approaching like a long-delayed spring, 
 to foresee a remedy? Can the woman of the future 
 belong to herself? What are her natural disabilities, 
 and to what extent are they modifiable by new arrange- 
 ments of social and domestic life ? Must she be content 
 for the future with that dependence on the individual 
 man which has been her fate in the past ; or, on the other 
 hand, can she take up her economic and social position 
 in society and work therein for her own maintenance as 
 free from considerations of her sex as a man can ? These 
 are the questions which must be faced when united 
 womanhood begins to formulate their wants and to realise 
 their power. It is almost idle in the present transition 
 to speculate as to what women should or should not be, 
 or the work they should or should not do. Women do 
 not yet know what they want. All that can be done is 
 to note the changes that are taking place, for we cannot, 
 even do we wish, now change the revolutionary forces. 
 We must seek to understand their causes, so that we may 
 be able to direct them in the future in such ways as will
 
 12 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 tend to the greater solidarity and happiness of women 
 and men. 
 
 In the everlasting controversy as to woman's place in 
 Nature the majority of arguments have been based on an 
 assumed inferiority of the female sex. Appeal has been 
 made to anatomy to establish the difference between the 
 natural endowment of men and women in the hope of 
 fixing by means of anatomical measurements and tests 
 those characters of males and females that are unalter- 
 able, because inborn, and those that are acquired, and 
 therefore modifiable. But the obstacles in the way of 
 anatomical investigations are very great, if only on 
 account of the complexity of the material. Often and 
 often it has happened that old conclusions have been 
 overthrown by new knowledge. Indeed, it may be said 
 that such appeal has resulted in uncertainty, and in many 
 instances in confusion. The chief source of error has 
 been the careless acceptance of female inferiority, which 
 has maimed most investigations and seriously retarded 
 the attainment of useful results. And though it is very 
 far from my purpose to wish to deny the fundamentally 
 different nature of the masculine and feminine character, 
 it is still true that a blank separation of human qualities 
 into male qualities and female qualities is no longer pos- 
 sible. In no instance have the anatomists succeeded in 
 determining with absolute distinction between the char- 
 acters that belong separately to the sexes. Moreover, it 
 has been shown that there is no such thing as a fixed 
 woman character, but that women differ according to the 
 circumstances under which they live, just as men differ. 
 This brings us directly against the old problem, in-
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 13 
 
 feriority cannot be accepted as the sole reason of woman's 
 present restricted position in society. Other causes must 
 be sought for. 
 
 Many features of the social and psychic as well as the 
 physical phenomena of human life have what we may 
 call an organismal mainspring, and become more intelli- 
 gible when traced back to these. No one, for instance, 
 can appreciate the social significance of sex, or account 
 for the existing sexual relationships in human societies, 
 who does not know something of their biological ante- 
 cedents. Take again the sex differences, which attain 
 to such complexity and importance in the human civilised 
 races, these can be explained only if their origin is recog- 
 nisable. To comprehend the higher forms of life we 
 must gain an acquaintance with the lower and more 
 formative types. In this way we shall begin to see some- 
 thing of that continual upward change under the action 
 of love's-selection that has developed the female and 
 the male. Many problems that have brought sorrow and 
 perplexity to us to-day will become recognisable as we 
 ascertain their causes, and then we can do much to 
 remove them. Thus the problem of woman must first be 
 considered from a biological point of view. Explora- 
 tions must be made into the remote and obscure begin- 
 nings of sex. We must carry our investigations back 
 beyond the cycle of man, and trace the growth and uses 
 of the differentiation of the sexes from the lowest forms 
 of life. 
 
 Biology, a science hardly more than a century old, is 
 still in the descriptive and comparative stage; it is the 
 scientific study of the present and past history of animal
 
 14 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 life for the purpose of understanding its future history. 
 It is of vital importance to human welfare in the future 
 that we should learn by this comparative study of origins 
 and of the potent past what are the lines along which 
 progress is to be expected. 
 
 This, then, will be the first path of our discovery. We 
 shall have to traverse many past ages of life and to con- 
 sider certain humble organisms, before we shall be able 
 really to understand woman in her true position in the 
 sexual relationship as we find it to-day. 
 
 But the possibility of applying biological results to 
 sociology with any hope of enlightenment depends on an 
 understanding of the questions, How? and Why? It is 
 important to know what the phenomena are, but it is 
 yet more important to know how ? and for what reason ? 
 they have come about. Thus we are led forward always 
 from facts to their efficient causes. Women are found 
 to differ from men in this or that respect. But this in 
 itself decides nothing. As soon as we are informed as 
 to any one difference, we must seek out its cause; and 
 this we must do over and over again. Hundreds of 
 women must be interrogated, observed and reported upon 
 and then what? Shall we know the answer to our 
 problem? Certainly not In each case we must ask: 
 Is this difference we have found between the sexes a 
 natural inborn quality of woman, whether it be physical 
 or psychical, that must be regarded as a right and unalter- 
 able part of her woman character, or is it an acquired, 
 and therefore changeable, modification that has been 
 superimposed upon her through the artificial sexual, 
 social and economic circumstances of her environment?
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 15 
 
 The mere asking of this question will give many new 
 discoveries. 
 
 Life is a relation between two forces : on the one hand 
 the organism and on the other the external conditions 
 that form the environment These two processes are 
 known as Nature and Nurture, they are complementary 
 and inseparable, and they act together. Thus the organ- 
 ism modifies its surroundings, and is in turn modified 
 by them. But every life possesses in great degree the 
 power of self-adaptation, and, broadly speaking, it is 
 true that no matter under what conditions it may be com- 
 pelled to live, it will mould its own life into harmony 
 with those conditions and thus continue its existence, and 
 this whether it is compelled to adopt a more perfect or 
 a less perfect character. It becomes evident that an 
 appropriate environment is necessary if the Nature is to 
 be expressed, or expressed fully; otherwise life cannot 
 realise development. The environment is constantly 
 checking and modifying the inheritance. Nurture sup- 
 plies the liberating stimulus to the inheritance, and 
 growth is limited, in exact measurement by the Nurture 
 stimuli available. Human advancement is, of course, 
 widely different from the slow progress in the lower 
 forms of life, but it is fundamentally the same. Experi- 
 ence is continually spreading over new fields and bring- 
 ing about a more wide and exact relation between the 
 individual and the external world. It follows that any 
 change in the environment will cause a change in the 
 individual. To live differently from what one had been 
 living is to be different from what one has been. These 
 are simple biological facts.
 
 16 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 Now, how does woman stand in this respect? No 
 one can deny the difference of environment that in the 
 past has acted on women and on men. Speaking from 
 a biological standpoint, it would seem that any present 
 inferiority of woman is mainly social, due to her adapta- 
 tion to an arbitrary environment. It has been truly said J 
 that "man, in supporting woman, has become her 
 economic environment." By her position of economic 
 dependence in the sex relation, sex distinction has 
 become with her " not only a means of attracting a mate, 
 as with all creatures, but a means of gaining her liveli- 
 hood, as is the case with no other creature under heaven." 
 Can we wonder that the differences between the sexes 
 assume such great and, in certain directions, such 
 unnatural importance? Woman to a far greater extent 
 than man is in process of evolution; her powers dormant 
 for want of liberating Nurture stimuli. We know that 
 Alpine plants brought from their natural soil change 
 their character and become hardly recognisable, and 
 these marked modifications will reappear in many 
 generations of plants, but as soon as the plants are taken 
 back to grow in their natural environment they are trans- 
 formed to their original Alpine forms. May we not then 
 entertain as a possibility that woman's modern character, 
 with all its acknowledged faults all its separation from 
 the human qualities of man is a veneer imposed by an 
 unnatural environment on succeeding generations of 
 women? If the larger social virtues are wanting in her, 
 may it not be because they have not been called for 
 
 1 Woman and Economics, Mrs. Stetson, p. 38.
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 17 
 
 in a parasitic life? How splendid a hope for women 
 rests here ! There is a biological truth, not usually- 
 suspected by those who quote it, in the popular saying : 
 " Man is the creature of circumstance." And this is 
 even more true of women, who are less emancipated 
 from their surroundings than are men more saturated 
 with the influences and prejudices of their narrowed 
 environment. 
 
 It would seem, then, that Nurture is more important 
 than Nature in seeking to explain the character of woman 
 to-day. Yet, let me not be mistaken, nor let it be thought 
 for one moment that I do not realise the importance of 
 Nature. The first right of every human being is the right 
 of being well-born. This is the goal of all our struggles 
 for progress it is the sole end worthy of them. 
 
 Let me try to make this clearer. 
 
 Reproduction carries life beyond the individual. 
 Haeckel has said that the process is nothing more than 
 the growth of the organism beyond its individual mass. 
 But this process in the higher forms of life has become 
 exceedingly complex. All living beings are individual 
 in one respect and composite in another, for the inherit- 
 ance of each individual is a mosaic of ancestral con- 
 tributions. Gallon's Law of Inheritance makes this 
 abundantly clear. Briefly stated, the law is as follows : 
 The two parents of each living being contribute on the 
 average one-half of each inherited quality, each of them 
 contributing one-quarter of it. The four grand-parents 
 furnish between them one-quarter, or each of them one- 
 sixteenth ; and so on backwards through past generations 
 of ancestors. Now, though, of course, these numbers
 
 18 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 are purely arbitrary, applying only to averages, and 
 rarely true exactly of individual cases, where the pre- 
 potency of any one ancestor may, and often does, upset 
 the balance of the contributions made by the other 
 ancestors, it may certainly be accepted as the most prob- 
 able theory that biology has given us to explain the 
 grand-parents, great-grand-parents, great-great-grand - 
 difficult problem of Nature that is the inheritance we 
 receive from our ancestors. 
 
 We see that the heredity relation is an extremely 
 complex affair. It is not merely dual from the parents ; 
 but it is multiple, through them reaching back to the 
 parents, and so on backwards indefinitely. It is, indeed, 
 a mosaic of many, yes, of uncountable, contributions. 
 The Life Force gathering within itself these multiple 
 sets of heredity contributions is like capital ever growing 
 at compound interest. The importance of this is abun- 
 dantly clear. For as we come to understand the con- 
 tinuity of our inheritance from generation to generation 
 we realise more vividly how the past has a living hand 
 on and in the present, and how that present will be 
 carried on to the future. We are all links in the one 
 mighty Chain of Life, and on us, and upon women 
 especially, rests a high responsibility. We must hand 
 on our past inheritance unimpaired, so that the new link 
 forged by us may strengthen and not weaken the chain. 
 It is the duty of every woman as a potential mother of 
 men to choose a fitting father for her children, having 
 first educated herself for a freer and more capable 
 maternity. In the past she has done this blindly, follow- 
 ing the Life Force without understanding, or hindered
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 19 
 
 from her purpose by the artificial conditions of society. 
 In the future such blindness and such failure of her 
 powers will alike be regarded as sin. With full know- 
 ledge, woman will fulfil her great central purpose of 
 breeding the race ay, breeding it to heights now deemed 
 impossible, not dreamt of even by those of us who look 
 forward through the darkness to the clear sunlight of that 
 time when the sex relation shall be freed from economic 
 pressure and from all coercion of a false morality, and 
 the universal creative energy, no longer finding gratifica- 
 tion alone in personal ends, shall at last reach its goal 
 and give birth to a race of new women and new men. 
 
 But to come back from this dream of the future. 
 
 Certain facts now become evident. In the inheritance 
 of each individual are many latent qualities that do not 
 find expression. It is as if in every life the separate 
 heredity qualities, or groups of qualities, wait in com- 
 petition, and those that succeed and find an expression 
 in each life owe their success to an incalculable number 
 of small and mostly unknown circumstances. One is 
 tempted to speculate as to a possible direction in the 
 future of women that may arise from the liberating of 
 these unknown forces ; but as yet we have not a sufficient 
 basis of facts. But one truth must not be lost sight of; 
 the unsuccessful qualities that do not find their expres- 
 sion in an individual life may remain to be handed on 
 for new competition to a new generation. No one of 
 the forces of our inheritance, be it for good or for evil, 
 is dead ; rather it sleeps till that time when the liberating 
 powers of Nurture call it into active expression. There 
 
 is real biological truth in the saying, " Every man is a 
 ca
 
 20 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 potential criminal " ; but it is equally true that every one 
 is a possible saint. And there is one point further; we 
 know that those qualities which do succeed in the com- 
 petition of the inheritance, and which form at birth the 
 character of the individual, are very different from their 
 actual expression in the development of life, where per- 
 force such qualities are modified to the environment. 
 What we are is no certain criterion of what we are capable 
 of becoming. For every item of our inheritance requires 
 an appropriate growth-soil if it is actively to live. Each 
 life is an adjustment of internal character to external 
 conditions. A garden that has been choked with weeds 
 may remain flowerless for many succeeding years, but 
 dig that garden, and sleeping flowers, not known to live 
 within the memory of man, may spring to life. May it 
 not be that in the garden of woman's inheritance there 
 are buried seeds, lying dormant, which at the liberating 
 touch of opportunity may reawaken and assert them- 
 selves as forgotten flowers? Yes, to-day this seems a 
 practical fact that already is being accomplished, and 
 not a futile speculation. The re-birth of woman is no 
 dream. At last she is realising the arrest in her develop- 
 ment that has followed the acceptance of a position 
 which forces her to be a parasite and a prostitute. 
 
 Every one admits the differences of function that 
 separate the female from the male half of humankind. 
 But to assume that the physical, mental, and moral dis- 
 abilities of women, of which we hear so much, are a 
 necessary part of their inheritance the debt they pay 
 for being the mothers of the race is an absurdity it 
 would be difficult to explain except for that strange sex
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 21 
 
 bias, which seems always to colour all opinions as to 
 women, their character and their place in society. 
 Havelock Ellis, who in his admirable work Man and 
 Woman has made an exhaustive examination of all the 
 known facts with regard to the real and supposed 
 secondary sexual differences between women and men, 
 comes to this conclusion in his final summary 
 
 "We have not succeeded," he says, "in determining the radical 
 and essential character of men and women uninfluenced by external 
 modifying conditions. We have to recognise that our present 
 knowledge can not tell us what they might be, but what they actually 
 are, under the conditions of civilisation. . . . The facts are so 
 numerous that even when we have ascertained the precise signifi- 
 cance of some one fact, we cannot be sure that it is not contra- 
 dicted by other facts. And so many of the facts are modifiable 
 under a changing environment that in the absence of experience 
 we cannot pronounce definitely regarding the behaviour of either 
 the male or female organism under different conditions." 
 
 Only a knowledge of the multifarious and complex 
 environmental forces, which in the past have moulded 
 women into what to-day they are, will lead us to our goal. 
 We may examine woman's present character, both 
 physical and mental, with every precision of detail, but 
 the knowledge gained will not settle her inborn Nature. 
 We shall discover what she is, not what she might be. 
 No, rather to do this we must go back through many 
 generations to primitive woman. We must study, in par- 
 ticular, that period known as the Mother-Age, when we 
 find an early civilisation largely built up by woman's 
 activity and developed by her skill. We must find out 
 every fact that we can of woman's physical and mental 
 life in this first period of social growth ; we must examine
 
 22 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 the causes which led to the change from this Mother- 
 rule to that of the Father-rule, or the patriarchate, which 
 succeeded it. Insight into the civilisations of the past is 
 of special value to us in trying to solve our problems of 
 woman's true place in the social life. For one thing, we 
 shall learn that morality and sexual customs and institu- 
 tions are not fixed, but are peculiar to each age, and are 
 good only in so far as they fulfil the needs of any special 
 period of a people's growth. We must note, in particular, 
 the contributions made by woman to early civilisation, 
 and then seek the reasons why she has lost her former 
 position of power. The savage woman is nearer to 
 Nature than we ourselves are, and in learning of her 
 life we shall come to an understanding of many of the 
 problems of our lives. 
 
 This, then, must be the second path of our discovery, 
 and, following it, we shall gain further knowledge of 
 what is artificial and what is real in the character of 
 woman and in the present relations of the sexes. 
 
 We find that the external surroundings that influence 
 life are referable to one of two classes : those which tend 
 to increase destructive processes, and find their active 
 expression in expenditure of energy, and those which 
 tend to increase constructive processes, and are passive 
 instead of active, storing energy, not expending it. 
 These two classes of external forces, disruptive and con- 
 structive, are called katabolic and anabolic. Looking 
 back on the early natural lives of men and women, we 
 find there has been a very sharp separation in the play 
 of these opposite sets of influences. A hasty survey of 
 the facts suffices to prove that the work of the world was
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 23 
 
 divided into two great parts, the men had the share of 
 killing life, whether that of man or of animals, their 
 attention was given to fighting and hunting; while the 
 women's share was the continuing and nourishing life, 
 their attention being given to the domestic arts to 
 agriculture and the attendant stationary industries. 
 Woman's position during the matriarchate was largely 
 the result of the need in primitive society of woman's 
 constructive energy, and her power arose from an un- 
 fettered use of her special functions. But this divergence 
 of the paths of women from the paths of men continued, 
 and during the patriarchal period became arbitrary with 
 the withdrawal of women from initiative labour, an 
 unnatural arrangement which arose out of later social 
 conditions. The militant side of social activities has 
 belonged to men, the passive to women; and men have 
 been goaded into growth by the conditions and struggles 
 of their lives. They have gathered around themselves 
 a special man-formed environment of institutions and 
 laws, of activities and inventions, of art and literature, 
 of male sentiments, and male systems of opinions, to 
 which they are connected in subtle and numerous rela- 
 tions, and this complex heritage of influences has been 
 reimposed on men generation by generation. In this 
 social working-life women have not had an equal part 
 and a drag in their development has arisen as the result 
 of this passivity. At a certain period in civilisation 
 women became an inferior class because men with their 
 greater range of opportunities, which brought them within 
 a wider and more variable circle of influences, developed 
 a superior fitness on the motor side. Another contrast
 
 24 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 is very evident, men's work being performed under more 
 striking circumstances and with more apparent effort 
 and danger, drew to itself prestige, which women's work 
 did not receive; their work, on the contrary, was held 
 in contempt. 1 
 
 Yet, in this connection, it is necessary to say emphatic- 
 ally that, in its origin, there was nothing arbitrary in 
 this division between the sexes. It was, in itself, a 
 natural outcome of natural causes, arising out of the 
 needs of primitive societies. There is nothing dero- 
 gatory to woman in accepting the passive or, more truly, 
 the constructive power of her nature ; rather it is her chief 
 claim for the regaining of her true position in society. 
 I wish at once to say how far it is from my desire to 
 judge woman from a male standpoint. The power and 
 nature that are woman's are not secondary to man's; 
 they are equal, but different, being co-existent and com- 
 plementary in fact, just the completion of his. 
 
 There is another point that must be made clear. 
 
 The separation in the social activities of women and 
 men was not brought about, as is stated so frequently, 
 by men's injustice to women. There is an unfortunate 
 tendency to regard the subjection of woman as wholly 
 due to male selfishness and tyranny. Many leaders of 
 woman's freedom hold to this view as their broad exposi- 
 tion of principle. Such belief is illogical and untrue. 
 It cannot be too often repeated that sex-hatred means 
 retrogression and not progress. I do not mean to say 
 that women have not suffered at men's hands. They 
 
 1 See Thomas, Sex and Society, chapter on " Sex and Primitive 
 Industry," pp. 123-146; and Ellis, Man and Woman, pp. 1-17.
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 25 
 
 have, but not more than men have suffered at their hands. 
 No woman who faces facts can deny this truth. Neither 
 sex can afford to bring railing accusations against the 
 other. The old doctrine of blame is insufficient. 
 Women's disabilities are not, in their origin at least, 
 due to any form of male tyranny. I believe, moreover, 
 that any solution of the woman problem, and of woman's 
 rights, is of ridiculous impotence that attempts to see in 
 man woman's perpetual oppressor. The enemy, if enemy 
 there is, of woman's emancipation, is woman herself. 
 
 But, on the other side, it is certain that the long-held 
 opinion what we may call " the male view of women " 
 -which believes that the position woman occupies in 
 society and the duties she performs are, in the main, 
 what they should be, she being what she is, is equally 
 false. Such theorists throw upon Nature the responsi- 
 bility of the evils consequent on the deviations from 
 equality of opportunity in the past lives of women. 
 Truly we credit Nature with an absurd blunder do we 
 accept this inferiority of the female half of life. Woman 
 is what she is because she has lived as she has. And 
 no estimate of her character, no effort to fix the limit of 
 her activities, can carry weight that ignores the totally 
 different relations towards society that have artificially 
 grown up, dividing so sharply the life of woman from 
 that of man. 
 
 I am brought back to the object of this book. 
 
 What are the conditions that have brought woman to 
 her position of dependence upon man? How far is her 
 state of physical and mental inferiority the result of this 
 position? To what extent is she justified in her present
 
 26 THE TRUTH ABOUT WMOAN 
 
 revolt ? What result will her freedom have on the sexual 
 relationships ? Will the change be likely to work for the 
 benefit of the future? In a word, how far are the new 
 claims woman is making consistent with race permanence ? 
 It is not one, but a whole group of questions that have 
 to be answered when once the ideal of the right of the 
 present position of the sexes is shaken. The subject is so 
 entangled that a straightforward step-by-step inquiry will 
 not always be possible. Dogmatic conclusions, and the 
 bringing forward of too hasty remedies must alike be 
 avoided. The past must lead us to the present, and 
 thence we must look to the future. The first need is to 
 find out every fact that we can that will help us in our 
 search for the truth. Most writers on the subject, in their 
 desire to fix on a cause of the evil, have selected one 
 factor, or group of factors, and largely neglected all 
 others. Otto Weininger, for instance, the brilliant 
 modern denouncer of woman, refers the whole great 
 difference between women and men to one cause the 
 bondage of sexuality. Mrs. Stetson, in Woman and 
 Economics, finds a different answer to the same question, 
 and assumes that the whole evil is of economic origin. 
 Both explanations are in part true, but neither is the 
 truth. 
 
 To institute reform successfully needs a wider spirit. 
 We must face sex problems with biological and historical 
 knowledge. Before we can understand women's present 
 position in society, or even suggest a future, we must 
 examine the place she has filled in the civilisations of the 
 past; we must fix, too, the part the female half of life 
 has played in the evolution of the sexes. Yet an inquiry
 
 THE STARTING-POINT OF THE INQUIRY 27 
 
 into facts is only the first stage, and not the final. When 
 we can go on from these facts to their results, and learn 
 the reasons of what we have discovered, we shall become 
 to some extent, at least, prepared. Then, and then only, 
 can we venture to look forward and intelligently suggest 
 whither the present revolution is leading us. 
 
 It is to reach this goal that this book is written. It is 
 an attempt to place the woman question in a wider and 
 more decisive light. It is not an investigation of facts 
 alone, but of causes. The gospel it would preach is a 
 gospel of liberation. And that from which woman must 
 be freed is herself the unsocial self that has been 
 created by a restricted environment. We have seen that 
 woman's social inferiority in the pasthas been to a great 
 extent a legitimate thing. To all appearances history 
 would have been impossible without it, just as it would 
 have been impossible without an epoch of slavery and 
 war. Physical strength has ruled in the past, and woman 
 was the weaker. The truth is that woman's time had not 
 come, but now her unconscious evolution must give place 
 to a conscious development. Happiness for women ! 
 That must imply wholly independent activities, and com- 
 plete freedom for the exercise of her work of race pro- 
 duction. Woman's duty to society is paramount, she is 
 the guardian of the Race-body and Race-soul. But 
 woman must be responsible to herself; no longer must 
 she follow men. The natural growth force needs to be 
 liberated. Woman must be freed as woman; she must 
 die to arise from death a full human being. There is 
 no other solution to the woman question, and there can 
 be no other.
 
 PART I 
 BIOLOGICAL SECTION
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER II 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE SEXES 
 
 Biology the starting-point of sociology The irresistible force of Love 
 The true place of woman and man in the animal kingdom Analogy 
 between animal love-matings and our own The Life-force 
 Reproduction a process of nutrition Different modes of Reproduc- 
 tion Cell-division Successive stages of growth Theory of sex 
 Its nature and origin Incipient sex among the early forms of life 
 The true office of sex The principle of fertilisation Its use to 
 the species in progressive development Nutrition as a factor 
 determining sex Illustration of the volvox The dependence of 
 the male-cell upon the female-cell The well-nourished female 
 The hungry male Relation between food supply and the sexes 
 Illustrations Lessons to be learnt All species are invented and 
 tolerated by Nature for parenthood and its service The part 
 played by the female The demand laid upon her heavier than 
 that laid upon the male The female is mainly responsible for the 
 race The female led and the male followed in the evolution of 
 life.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE SEXES 
 
 " Before studying the sexual relations, and their more or less regulated 
 form in human societies, it will not be out of place to say a few words 
 on reproduction in general, to sketch briefly its physiology in so far 
 as this is fundamental, and, to show how tyrannical are the instincts 
 whose formation has been determined by physiological causes." 
 LETOURNEAU. 
 
 LET us now, as the first path of our inquiry, turn our 
 attention to that biological point of view which is indis- 
 pensable and fundamental if we are to understand those 
 primary emotions, impulses and differences of the sexes, 
 of deep organic origin, which were rooted long ago in 
 the lowest forms of life, and hence were passed on to 
 man from his pre-human ancestors. No apology is 
 needed for this inquiry ; for in these uncounted ancestral 
 forces, dating back to the remote beginnings of life, we 
 shall find hints, at least, of many things which lead up 
 to and explain those problems which must be solved, 
 before we can determine the true position of woman in 
 the complex sexual relations of our social life. We 
 cannot deny our lineage. The force which drove life 
 onwards from the start drives it still to-day. The repro- 
 ductive impulse is the chief motor of humanity ; our seed 
 is eternal. And the point of view that I wish to make 
 clear is that the sex-impulses, which are, as few will 
 deny, the base of the present unrest among women, have 
 an inconceivably long history, and thus spring up within 
 D 33
 
 34 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 us with a tremendous organic momentum. To deny this 
 force is futile, to suppress it impossible; all that can be 
 done is to so regulate its expression that it may serve 
 life instead of waste it. Implanted in every normal life 
 is an instinctive desire to function in two ways : to grow 
 and to reproduce, from the simple cell to the highest 
 type of life, including man and woman, these two desires 
 are essential and imperative. The irresistible Force of 
 Life has been inherited by us from millions of ancestral 
 lovers. Only when furnished with a re-interpretative clue 
 to the origin of sex and its functioning can we come to 
 realise its strength and its beauty, far stronger, far subtler, 
 than we suspected before. It is the shirking of these 
 life-facts that has resulted so often in error. 
 
 And let no one resent or think useless such an analogy 
 between animal love-matings and our own. In tracing 
 the evolution of our love-passions from the sexual rela- 
 tions of other mammals, and back to those of their 
 ancestors, and to the humbler, though scarcely less beau- 
 tiful, ancestors of these, we shall discover what must be 
 considered as essential and should be lasting, and what 
 is false in the conditions and character of the sexes 
 to-day; and thereby we shall gain at once warning in 
 what directions to pause, and new hope to send us for- 
 ward. We shall learn that there are factors in our sex- 
 impulses that require to be lived down as out-of-date 
 and no longer beneficial to the social needs of life. But 
 encouragement will come as, looking backwards, we learn 
 how the mighty dynamic of sex-love has evolved in fine- 
 ness, without losing its intensity, how it is tending to 
 become more mutual, more beautiful, more lasting. And
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE SEXES 35 
 
 this gives us new hope to press forward on that path 
 which woman even now is travelling, wherein she will 
 be free from the risk of clinging to conditions of the 
 past, which for so long have dragged her evolution in 
 the mire. 
 
 The same force that pushed life into existence tends 
 to increase and perpetuate it. For when the great Force 
 of Life has once started, the same movements which 
 constitute that life continue, and give rise to nutrition, 
 the first of the great faculties, or powers, of life. Then, 
 after this growth has been carried to a certain point, the 
 organism from the superabundance of nutrition is fur- 
 nished with a surplus growing energy, by means of which 
 it reproduces itself, whence arises the second of the great 
 life faculties. We thus have the two essential forces of 
 life the preservative force and the reproductive force, 
 arising alike from nutrition. Food to assure life and 
 growth for the individual ; reproduction, an extension of 
 the same process, to ensure the continuance of the 
 species. We thus see the truth of Haeckel's definition 
 that "reproduction is a nutrition and growth of the 
 organism beyond its individual mass," or in biological 
 formula, " a discontinuous growth." * 
 
 It is well to grasp at once this first conception of repro- 
 duction as simply an extension of nutrition, if we are to 
 free our minds from misconception. It is a common 
 belief that the original purpose of sex is to ensure repro- 
 duction, whereas fundamentally it is not necessary to 
 propagation at all. It is perfectly true, of course, that 
 
 1 Haeckel, Generelle Morphologic der Organismen, Vol. II. p. 16. 
 D 2
 
 36 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 in the majority of animals, and also in many plants, an 
 individual life begins in the union of two minute 
 elements, the mother egg-cell and the sperm father-cell. 
 But this is not the earliest stage, and below these higher 
 forms we find a great world of life reproducing without 
 this sex-process by simple separation and growth. In 
 these unicellular organisms reproduction is known as 
 asexual, because there are no special germ-cells, nor is 
 there anything corresponding to fertilisation. The most 
 common forms are (i) by division into two; (2) by bud- 
 ding, a modified form of division; (3) by sporulation, a 
 division into many units. 1 
 
 It is worth while to wait to learn something of this 
 first stage in the development of life, for in this way 
 we shall gain a clue as to the origin of sex and the real 
 purpose it fulfils in the service of reproduction. In the 
 very simplest forms of unicellular organisms propagation 
 is effected at what is known as " the limit of growth " ; 
 when the cell has attained as much volume as its surface 
 can adequately supply with food, a simple division of the 
 cell takes place into two halves or daughter cells, each 
 exactly like the other, which then become independent 
 and themselves repeat the same rupture process. But in 
 some slightly more complex cases differences occur 
 between the two cells into which the organism divides, 
 as in the slipper animacule, where one-half goes off with 
 the mouth, while the other has none. In a short time, 
 however, the mouthless half forms a mouth, and each 
 half grows into a replica of the original. We have here 
 one of the earliest examples of differentiation. That 
 
 1 Thomson, J. Arthur, Heredity, p. 29.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE SEXES 37 
 
 injured multicellular organisms should be able by re- 
 growth to repair their loss is an analogous phenomenon ; 
 thus an earth-worm cut by a spade does not necessarily 
 suffer loss, but the head part grows a tail and the decapi- 
 tated portion produces a head; sponges, which do not 
 normally propagate by division, may be cut in pieces 
 and bedded out successfully ; the arms of a star-fish, torn 
 asunder by a fisherman, will almost always result in 
 several perfect star-fish. Similarly among plants a cut- 
 off portion may readily give rise to new plants a potato- 
 tuber is one of hundreds of instances. This ability to 
 effect complete repair is one of the powers that life has 
 lost; it persists as high in the scale as reptiles, and a 
 lizard is able to regrow an amputated leg. 
 
 It is certainly not the least interest in studying these 
 early forms that one is able to trace the analogy they 
 bear with the higher forms. No rigid line can be drawn 
 between the successive stages of growth. And it should 
 be borne in mind that, simple as is the life-process in 
 these single-celled organisms, many of them are highly 
 differentiated and show great complexity of structure 
 within the narrow limits of their size. Thus among the 
 protozoa, the basis of all animal life, we find very definite 
 and interesting modes of behaviour, such as seeking light 
 and avoiding it, swimming in a spiral, approaching cer- 
 tain substances and retreating from others ; the organisms 
 often, indeed, trying one behaviour after another. 1 If 
 we realise this it becomes easier to understand how the 
 higher types of life have developed from these primitive 
 types. Indeed, all the bodies of the most complex 
 
 1 Thomson, J. Arthur, Heredity, p. 33.
 
 88 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 animals including ourselves originate as simple cells, 
 and in the individual history of each of us divide and 
 multiply just as do the cells which exist independently; 
 only in multicellular organisms each cell must be 
 regarded as an individual, modified to serve a special 
 purpose, one cell differentiated to start a lineage of 
 nerve cells, another a lineage of digestive cells, yet 
 another for the reproduction of the species, and so on, 
 each group of cells taking on its special use, but the 
 power of division remaining with the modified cell. Thus 
 a new life is built up a child becomes an adult, by 
 multiplication of these differentiated cells, repeating the 
 original single-cell development. 
 
 Budding, the second, and perhaps the most usual mode 
 of asexual propagation, may be said to mark a further 
 step in the development of the reproductive process. 
 Here the mother-cell, instead of dividing into two equal 
 parts and at once rupturing, protrudes a small portion 
 of its substance, which is separated by a constriction that 
 grows deeper and deeper until the bulk becomes wholly 
 detached. This small bud then grows until it attains 
 the size of the parent, when it, in turn, repeats the same 
 process. This mode of reproduction is common to the 
 great majority of plants. In animal life it is not confined 
 to single-celled organism, but takes place in certain 
 multicellulars, such as worms, bryozoans, and ascidians; 
 one very interesting example being the sea-worm 
 (myrianida) which buds off a whole chain of individuals. 
 
 Nearly allied with budding is the third stage, in which 
 the division is multiple and rapid within the limited space 
 of the mother-cell. This is known as spore formation.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE SEXES 39 
 
 The cells become detached, and do not further develop 
 until they have escaped from the parent. They then 
 increase by division and growth to form independent 
 individuals. This spore reproduction is found among 
 certain types of vegetation ; it also occurs in the protozoa. 
 It is probable that these three stages of asexual repro- 
 duction are not all the steps actually taken by Nature in 
 the development of the early life-process. There must 
 have been intermediate steps, perhaps many such, but the 
 forms in which they occur either have not persisted, or 
 have not yet been studied. 1 The feature common to all 
 ordinary forms of asexual multiplication is that the repro- 
 ductive process is independent of sex; what starts the 
 new life is the half, or a liberated portion of the single 
 parent cell. It will be readily seen that by this process 
 the offspring are identical with the parent. Life con- 
 tinues, but it continues unchanged. Thus the power of 
 growth is restricted within extremely narrow limits. 
 Any further development required a new process. With 
 the life-force pushing in all directions every possible 
 process would be tried. We are often met with striking 
 phenomena of adjustments to new conditions, which in 
 some cases, when found to be advantageous to the 
 organism, persist. There is, in fact, abundant evidence 
 that Nature in these early days of life was making 
 experiments. In pursuance of this policy it naturally 
 came about that any process by which the organism 
 gained increased power of growth had the greater likeli- 
 hood of survival. The number of devices in the way 
 of modification of form and habit to secure advantage 
 
 1 Ward, Pure Sociology, p. 307.
 
 40 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 is practically infinite; but there was one principle that 
 was eagerly seized upon at a very early stage, and, per- 
 sisting by this law of advantage, was utilised by all 
 progressive types as an accessory of success. This was 
 the principle of fertilisation, which arose in this way 
 from what would almost seem the chance union of two 
 cells, at first alike, but afterwards more and more highly 
 differentiated, and from whose primordial mating have 
 proceeded by a natural series of ascending steps all the 
 developed forms of sex. 
 
 The ways in which this was brought about we have 
 now to see. But even at this point it becomes evident 
 that the true office of sex was not the first need of 
 securing reproduction that had been done already 
 rather it was the improving and perfecting of the single- 
 cell process by introducing variation through the com- 
 mingling of the ancestral hereditary elements of two 
 parents, and, by means of such variations, the production 
 of new and higher forms of life in fact, progress by 
 the mighty dynamic of sex. 1 
 
 As we should expect, the passing from the sexless 
 mode of reproduction to the definite male and female 
 types is not sharply defined or abrupt. Even among 
 many unicellular organisms the process becomes more 
 elaborate with distinct specialisation of reproductive ele- 
 ments. In some cases conjugation is observed, when two 
 individuals coalesce, and each cell and each nucelus 
 divides into two, and each half unites with the half of 
 the other to form a new cell. This is asexual, since 
 
 1 See Ward, op. cit., pp. 304-314, from whose chapter on this subject 
 I have taken these facts.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE SEXES 41 
 
 the uniting cells are exactly similar, but the effect would 
 seem to be the strengthening of the cells by, as it were, 
 introducing new blood. In somewhat more complex 
 cases these cells do not part company when they divide, 
 but remain attached to one another, and form a kind of 
 commonwealth. Here one can see at once that some 
 cells in a little group will be less advantageously placed 
 for the absorption of nourishment than others. By 
 degrees this differentiation of function brings about 
 differentiation of form, and cells become modified, in 
 some cases, to a surprising extent, to serve special pur- 
 poses. The next advance is when the uniting cells 
 become somewhat different in themselves. In the early 
 stages this difference appears as one of size; a small 
 weakly cell, though sometimes propagating by union 
 with a similar cell, in other cases seeks out a larger and 
 more developed cell, and by uniting with it in mutual 
 nourishment becomes strong. This may be seen 
 among the protozoa where we can trace the distinct 
 beginnings of the male and female elements. A very 
 instructive example is furnished by the case of volvox, a 
 multicellular vegative organism of very curious habits. 
 The cells at first are all alike; they are united by proto- 
 plasmic bridges and form a colony. In favourable 
 environmental conditions of abundant nutrition this state 
 of affairs continues, and the colony increases only by 
 multiplication and without fertilisation. But when the 
 supply of food is exhausted, or by any cause is checked, 
 sexual reproduction is resorted to, and this in a way that 
 illustrates most instructively the differentiation of the 
 female and male cells. Some of the cells are seen
 
 42 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 accumulating nourishment at the expense of the others 
 and grow larger, and if this continues, cells which must 
 be regarded as ova, or female cells, result; while other 
 cells, less advantageously placed with more competitors 
 struggling to obtain food, grow smaller and gradually 
 change their character, becoming, in fact, males. In 
 some cases distinct colonies may in this way arise, some 
 composed entirely of the large well-nourished cells, and 
 others of small hungry cells, and may be recognised as 
 completely female or male colonies. 1 
 
 We are now in a position to gain a clue to the difficult 
 problem of the origin of the sexes. It would be easy as 
 well as instructive to accumulate examples. 2 I am 
 tempted to linger over the life-histories of these early 
 organisms that are so full of suggestion; but the case I 
 have selected the volvox really answers the question. 
 Sex here is dependent on, and would seem to have arisen 
 through, differences in environmental conditions. We 
 find the well-nourished, larger, and usually more 
 quiescent cell is the female, the hungrier and more 
 mobile cell the male; the one concerned with storing 
 energy, the other with consuming it, the one building up, 
 the other breaking down; or expressed in biological 
 formula, the female cell is predominantly anabolic, that 
 of the male predominantly katabolic. Thus we find that 
 the male, through a want of nutrition, was carried 
 developmentally away from the well-fed female cell, 
 which it was bound to seek and unite with to continue 
 life. This relation between the food supply and the 
 
 1 Evolution of Sex, pp. 137-138, 161. 
 
 2 Geddes and Thomson, in The Evolution of Sex, pp. 117-123, 
 135-140, give many interesting and corroborative examples.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE SEXES 43 
 
 sexes is found persisting in higher forms, and, in this 
 connection, the well-known experiments of Young on 
 tadpoles and of Siebald on wasps may be cited. By 
 increasing the nutrition of tadpoles the percentage of 
 females was raised from the normal of about fifty per 
 cent, to ninety, while similarly among wasps the number 
 of females was found to depend on warmth and food 
 supply, and to decrease as these diminished. Mention 
 also may be made of the plant-lice, or aphides, which 
 infest our rose-bushes and other plants, which, during 
 the summer months, when conditions are favourable, pro- 
 duce generation after generation of females, but on the 
 advent of autumn, with its cold and scarcity of food, 
 males appear and sexual reproduction takes place. 
 Similarly brine-shrimps when living under favourable 
 conditions produce females, but when the environment 
 is less favourable males as well are found. Another 
 significant fact is the simple and well-known one that 
 within the first eight days of larval life the additions 
 of food will determine the striking and functional differ- 
 ences between the workers and queen-bee. 1 Among the 
 higher animals the difficulties of proving the influence 
 of environment upon sex are, of course, much greater. 
 There are, however, many facts which point to a per- 
 sistence of this fundamental differentiation. Among 
 these it is sufficient to mention the experiments of stock- 
 breeders, which show that good conditions tend to pro- 
 duce females; and the testimony of furriers that rich 
 regions yield more furs from females, and poor regions 
 
 1 Geddes and Thomson, The Evolution of Sex, pp. 40-52, 249-250, 
 give a complete exposition of this theory with many examples. See 
 also Thomas, Sex and Society, pp. 4-43.
 
 44 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 more from males. Even when we reach the human 
 species facts are not wanting to suggest a similar con- 
 dition. It is usual in times of war and famine for more 
 boys to be born ; also more boys are born in the country 
 than in cities, possibly because the city diet is richer, 
 especially in meat. Similarly among poor families the 
 percentage of boys is higher than in well-to-do families. 
 And although such evidence is not conclusive and must 
 be accepted with great caution, it seems safe to say that 
 the facts of which I have given a few only of the most 
 common are sufficient to suggest that the relation 
 among the lower forms of life persists up to the human 
 species, and that the female is the result of surplus 
 nutrition and the male of scarcity. 
 
 This is sufficient for our present purpose ; all other 
 questions and theories brought forward regarding the 
 determination and conditions of the sexes are outside 
 our purpose. Those who will survey the evidence in 
 detail will find ample confirmation of the point of view 
 I wish to make clear, (i) All species are invented and 
 tolerated by Nature for parenthood and its service; (2) 
 the demands laid upon the female by the part required 
 from her are heavier than those needed for the part 
 fulfilled by the male. The female it is who is mainly 
 responsible to the race. And for this reason the progress 
 of the world of life has always rested upon and been 
 determined by the female half of life. What I wish to 
 establish now is that the male developed after and, as it 
 were, from the female. The female led, and the male 
 followed her in the evolution of life.
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER III 
 
 GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION 
 
 I. The Early Position of the Sexes 
 
 A further examination into the opinion of the superiority of the male 
 Contradictions to the accepted view of female inferiority A new 
 way of stating the problem The female as the creator of the 
 male Examples of the simplest types of the sexes Predominance 
 of the female in the animal kingdom below the invertebrates 
 Superiority of the female in size and often in power of function 
 Complemental male husbands Illustrations of male parasites 
 Corroborative evidence from the sex-elements The primary 
 service of the male to assist the female in the race-work Sex- 
 parasitism among females This explained by the conditions under 
 which the species live The lessons to be drawn from sex-parasit- 
 ism Structural modifications acquired for adapting the sexes to 
 different modes of life Care of offspring not always confined to 
 the female Among fishes it is the father who gives any attention 
 to the young The superiority of the female persists among higher 
 forms Examples Sex-equality among birds Conclusion The 
 sexual relationship may assume almost any form to suit the varying 
 conditions of life. 
 
 II. Two Examples The Beehive and the Spider 
 
 The case of the beehive The drones The queen-mother The sterile - 
 workers The sacrifice of the sexes to the Life-Force The maternal 
 instinct among the workers This has persisted after the atrophy 
 of the sexual needs Maternal love has expanded out into social 
 affection Application of the lessons of the beehive Analogy with 
 modern society The Intellectuals among women Do they 
 understand what they really want The organic necessity of love 
 The price of sterility The courtship of the Spider Mr. Bernard 
 Shaw's Ann The part played by woman in courtship Her 
 passivity only apparent Female superiority with which sexuality 
 began remains in every courtship The fierce hunger of the male 
 His absorption by the female Nothing can, or should, alter 
 this The importance of woman's activity in love in connection 
 with her claim for emancipation General observations and con- 
 clusion.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION 
 
 " Sexually Woman is Nature's contrivance for perpetuating its 
 highest achievement. Sexually Man is Woman's contrivance for 
 fulfilling Nature's behest in the most economical way. She knows 
 by instinct that far back in the evolution process she invented him, 
 differentiated him, created him in order to produce something better 
 than the single-cell process can produce." Don Juan in Hefi Man 
 and Superman. 
 
 I. The Early Position of the Sexes 
 
 THE opinion of the superiority of the male sex has been 
 so widely, and without question, accepted that it is neces- 
 sary to emphasise the exact opposite view which was 
 brought forward in the last chapter. From the earliest 
 times it has been contended that woman is undeveloped 
 man. 1 This opinion is at the root of the common estima- 
 tion of woman's character to-day. Huxley, who was in 
 favour of the emancipation of women, seems to have held 
 this opinion. He says that " in every excellent character 
 the average woman is inferior to the average man in the 
 sense of having that character less in quantity or lower 
 in quality ; " and that " the female type of character is 
 neither better nor worse than the male, only weaker." 
 Few have maintained that the sexes are equal, still fewer 
 
 1 So deep-rooted has been this opinion of female inferiority that it 
 has formed the basis of many theories of sex. Thus Richarz holds 
 that " the male sex represents a higher grade of development in the 
 embryo." Hough thinks males are born when the female system is at 
 its best, females in periods of growth, reparation, or disease. Tiedman 
 and others regard females as an arrested male, while Velpau, on the 
 other hand, believes them to be degenerated from primitive males. 
 See Geddes and Thomson, Evolution of Sex, p. 39. 
 
 47
 
 48 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 that women excel. 1 The general bias of opinion has 
 always been in favour of men. Woman almost invariably 
 has been accorded a secondary place, the male has been 
 held to be the primary and essential half of life, all things, 
 as it were, centering around him.^tyhile the female, 
 though necessary to the continuance of the race, has been 
 regarded as otherwise unimportant in fact, a mere 
 accessory to the male. 
 
 The causes that have given rise to such an opinion 
 are not far to seek. The question has been approached 
 from the wrong end; we have looked from above down- 
 wards from the latest stages of life back to the begin- 
 ning, instead of from the beginning on to the end. We 
 find among the higher forms of life the animals with 
 which we are all familiar that the males are as a rule 
 larger and stronger, more varied in structure, and more 
 highly ornamented and adorned than the females. And 
 when we rise to the human species these sex differences 
 persist and are even emphasised, though finding their 
 expression in a greater number of less strongly marked 
 characters, not on the physical side alone, but on the 
 mental and psychical. It is difficult to divest the mind 
 of facts with which it is most familiar. Thus it is easy 
 to understand the widely-held opinion of the superiority 
 of the male half of life, and that the female is the sex 
 sacrificed to the reproductive process. 
 
 Now, were this true, the question of woman's place in 
 life would indeed be settled. There can be no upward 
 change which is not in accord with the laws of Nature. 
 
 1 The theory of Lester Ward, to which I have already referred, 
 supports this view.
 
 THE EARLY POSITION OF THE SEXES 49 
 
 If the female really started and had always remained 
 secondary to the male, necessary to continue life, but 
 otherwise unimportant, in such position she must be con- 
 tent to stay. Her struggles for advancement may be 
 heroic, yet would they be doomed to failure, for no indi- 
 vidual growth can persist which injures the growth of the 
 race-life. Well it is for women that there need be 
 no such fear, even among the most timid-hearted; 
 woman's position and advancement is sure because it 
 is founded with deepest roots in the organic scheme 
 of life. 
 
 As once more we search backwards, tracing the differ- 
 ences of sex function to their earliest appearance in the 
 humblest types of life, we find the exact opposite of this 
 theory of the inferiority of the female to be true. The 
 female is of more importance than the male from 
 Nature's point of view. We have seen that life must 
 be regarded as essentially female, since there is no choice 
 but to look upon asexual reproduction as a female 
 process; the single-cell being the mother-cell with the 
 fertilising element of the father or male-cell wanting. 
 We know further that a similar process, but much more 
 highly developed, is possible in what is called partheno- 
 genesis, or virgin-birth, which can only be explained as 
 a survival of the early form. For long life continued 
 without the assistance of the male-cell, which, when it 
 did arise, was dependent on the ova, or female-cell, and 
 was driven by hunger to unite with it in fatigue to 
 continue life. We are thus forced to regard the male- 
 cell as an auxiliary development of the female, or as 
 Lester Ward ingenuously puts it, "an after-thought of
 
 50 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 Nature devised for the advantage of having a second 
 sex." 
 
 Now, if we examine the simplest types of the sexes 
 in the lower reaches of the animal kingdom, 1 below the 
 vertebrates we find the same conditions prevailing. The 
 male is frequently inconspicuous in size, of use only to 
 fertilise the female, and in some cases incapable of any 
 other function; the female, on the other hand, remains 
 unchanged and carries on the life of the species. So 
 marked is this difference among some species that the 
 male must be regarded as a fallen representative of the 
 female, having not only greatly diminished in size, but 
 undergone thorough degeneration in structure. 2 In 
 certain extreme cases what have been well called " pigmy 
 males" illustrate this contrast in an almost ridiculous 
 degree. This is well seen among the common rotifers, 
 where the males are much smaller than the females and 
 
 1 I have left out of my inquiry any reference to plants, though all 
 that has been said of the protozoa in the last chapter is equally true of 
 the protophyla, the basis of plant life. Among plants there are many 
 beautiful and instructive examples of the relative position of the 
 female and the male plant. A well-known case is that of the hemp-plant, 
 where the sexes are indistinguishable up to the period of fertility, but 
 when the male plants have shed their pollen, and thus fulfilled their 
 duty of fertilising the female plants, they cease to grow, turn yellow 
 and sere, and if at all crowded wither and die. Many other examples 
 might be cited, but the question is too wide to enter on here. See 
 Lester Ward, o-b. cit., pp. 318-322. 
 
 2 Encyclopedia Britannica, article on " Sex," by Prof. Geddes; also 
 Evolution of Sex, pp. 20, 21. Prof. Lester Ward, Pure Sociology, 
 Part II, Chap. XIV, gives an ingenuous and complete view of the early 
 superiority of the female, to which he gives the name of the Gynaeco- 
 centric theory, as opposed to the usual Androcentric theory, based 
 on the superiority of the male. While fully appreciating the sug- 
 gestiveness and value of this theory, and also acknowledging very 
 gratefully the help I have derived from it, it must be stated that some 
 of the facts brought forward in its support by the distinguished 
 American cannot be accepted. Nor am I able, as will appear later, to 
 accept the conclusion he arrives at of the passive character of the 
 female. See also a popular article by Prof. Ward, " Our Better 
 Halves," The Forum, Vol. VI., Nov. 1888, pp. 266-275.
 
 THE EARLY POSITION OF THE SEXES 51 
 
 very degenerate. Sometimes they seem to have dwindled 
 out of existence altogether, as only females are to be 
 seen; in other cases, though present they fail even to 
 accomplish their proper function of fertilisation, and as 
 reproduction is carried on by the females, they are not 
 only minute but useless. Nor are such cases of male 
 degeneration confined to this group. The whole family 
 of the Abdominalia (cirripedes) have the sexes separate; 
 and the males, comparatively very small, are attached 
 to the body of each female, and are entirely passive and 
 dependent upon her. 1 Some of these male parasites are 
 so far degenerated as to have lost their digestive organs 
 and are incapable of any function except fertilisation : 
 the male Sy garni (menatodes), for instance, being so far 
 effaced that it is nothing but a testicle living on the 
 female. 2 A yet more striking instance is furnished by 
 the curious green worm Bonellia, where the male appears 
 like a remote ancestor of the female, on whom it lives 
 parasitically. Somewhat similar is the cocus insect, 
 among whom the males are very degenerate, small, blind 
 and wingless. 
 
 This phenomenon of minute parasitic male fertilisers 
 in connection with normally developed females was 
 noticed by Darwin, and his observations have been con- 
 firmed by Van Beneden, by Huxley, Haeckel, Milne 
 Edwards, Fabre, Patrick Geddes, and many other emi- 
 nent entomologists. 3 A full study of these early forms of 
 
 1 Van Beneden, Animal Parasites and Messmates, p. 55. 
 
 * Milne Edwards, Lefons sur la physiologic et I'anatomie comparee 
 df I'komme et des animatix, Vol. IX. p. 267. 
 
 3 In addition to the works already mentioned, see Darwin, Descent 
 of Man, Vol. I. p. 329; Haeckel, Evolution of Man, and A Manual of 
 the Anatomy of the Invertebrated Animals, by T. Huxley, pp. 261-262. 
 
 E2
 
 52 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 sexuality should be made by all who wish to understand 
 the problem of woman; their life-histories furnish pro- 
 phecies of many large facts. I wish it were possible 
 for me to bring forward further examples. It is the 
 difficulty of treating so wide a subject within narrow 
 limits that so many things that are of interest have to 
 be hurried over and left out. But there is one delightful 
 case that I cannot refrain from mentioning. The facts 
 are given in a letter from Darwin to Sir Charles Lyell, 
 dated September 14, 1849. It is quoted by Professor 
 Lester Ward. This instance of the sexual relationship 
 among the cirripedes illustrates very vividly the early 
 superiority of the female. 
 The letter runs thus 
 
 "The other day I got a curious case of a unisexual, instead of 
 hermaphrodite cirripede, in which the female had the common 
 cirripedial character, and in two valves of her shell had two 
 little pockets, in each of which she kept a little husband; I do 
 not know of any other case in which the female invariably has two 
 husbands. I have still one other fact, common to several species, 
 namely, that though they are hermaphrodite, they have small 
 additional, or shall I call them, complimental males, one specimen, 
 itself hermaphrodite, had no less than seven of these complemental 
 males attached to it. Truly the schemes and wonders of Nature 
 are illimitable." 1 
 
 Here, indeed, is a knock-down blow to the theory of 
 the natural superiority of the male. These cases we 
 have examined are certainly extreme, the difference 
 between the sexes is, as we shall see, less marked in 
 many early types. But the existence of these helpless 
 little husbands serves to show the true origin of the male. 
 
 1 Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. I. p. 345.
 
 THE EARLY POSITION OF THE SEXES 53 
 
 How often he lived parasitically on the female, his work 
 to aid her in the reproductive process, useful to secure 
 greater variation than could be had by the single-celled 
 process. In other words, the male is of use to the life- 
 scheme in assisting the female to produce progressively 
 fitter forms. She, indeed, created him, his sole function 
 being her impregnation. 
 
 Corroborative evidence appears in the contrast which 
 persists in all the higher forms between the relatively 
 large female-cell or germ and the microscopical male- 
 cell or sperm, as also in the absorption of the male cellule 
 by the female cellule. In the sexual cells there is no 
 character in which differentiation goes so far as that of 
 size. 1 The female cell is always much larger than the 
 male; where the former is swollen with the reserve food, 
 the spermatozoa may be less than a millionth of its 
 volume. In the human species an ovum is about 3000 
 times as large as spermatozoa. 2 The male cellule, dif- 
 ferentiated to enable it to reach the female, impregnates 
 and becomes fused within her cellule, which, unlike hers, 
 preserves its individuality and continues as the main 
 source of life. 
 
 It is true that exceptions occur, sex-parasitism appear- 
 ing in both sex forms, and in some cases it is the female 
 who degenerates and becomes wholly passive and 
 dependent, but this is usually under conditions which 
 afford in themselves an explanation. Thus, in the 
 troublesome thread-worm (Heterodera schacktii), which 
 infests the turnip plant, the sexes are at first alike, then 
 
 1 Thomson, J. A., Heredity, p. 39. 
 
 * Article by Ryder, Science, Vol. I., May 31, 1895, p. 603.
 
 54 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 both become parasitic, but the adult male recovers him- 
 self, is agile and like other thread-worms, while the 
 female remains a parasitic victim without power of func- 
 tion a mere passive, distended bag of eggs. Another 
 extreme but well-known example is that of the cochineal 
 insect, where the female, laden with reserve products in 
 the form of the well-known pigment, spends much of its 
 life like a mere quiescent gall on the cactus plant; the 
 male, on the other hand, is active, though short-lived. 
 Among other insects such, for example, as certain ticks 
 a very complete form of female parasitism prevails; 
 and while the male remains a complex, highly active, 
 winged creature, the female, fastening itself into the 
 flesh of some living animal and sucking its blood, has 
 lost wings and all activity and power of locomotion, 
 having become a mere distended bladder, which, when 
 filled with eggs, bursts and ends a parasitic existence 
 that has hardly been life. 1 In many crustaceans, again, 
 the females are parasitic, but this also is explained by 
 their habit of seeking shelter for egg-laying purposes. 2 
 
 The whole question of sex-parasitism as it appears in 
 these first pages of the life-histories of sexes is one of 
 deep suggestion; and one, moreover, that casts forward 
 sharp side-lights on modern sex problems. In some 
 early forms, where the conditions of life are similar for 
 the two sexes, the male and the female are often like 
 
 1 Schreiner, Olive, Woman and Labour, pp. 77-78. 
 
 2 These examples of female parasitism have been taken from 
 Evolution of Sex, p. 17; see also pp. 19-22. The authors bring 
 them forward with many other examples to prove the main thesis 
 of their book that the character of the female is anabolic, that of 
 the male katabolic. In establishing this theory they do not appear to 
 give sufficient importance to the fact that this degeneration of the 
 female is only found where the conditions of life are parasitic.
 
 THE EARLY POSITION OF THE SEXES 55 
 
 one another. Thus it is very difficult to distinguish a 
 male starfish from a female starfish, or a male sea-urchin 
 from a female sea-urchin. It becomes abundantly clear 
 that degeneration in active function, whether it be that 
 of the male or the female, is the inevitable nemesis of 
 parasitism. The males and females in the cases we have 
 examined may be said to be martyrs to their respective 
 sexes. 
 
 A further truth of the utmost importance becomes 
 manifest. Many differences between the relative posi- 
 tion of the sexes, which we are apt to suppose are inherent 
 in the female or male, are not inherent, in light of these 
 early and varying types. We see that the sex-relation- 
 ship and the character of the female and male assume 
 different forms, changing as the conditions of life vary. 
 Again and again when we come to examine the position of 
 women in different periods of civilisation, we shall find 
 that whenever the conditions of life have tended to with- 
 draw them from the social activities of labour, restricting 
 them, like these early sex-victims, to the passive exercise 
 of their reproductive functions alone, that such parasit- 
 ism has resulted invariably in the degeneration of 
 woman, and through her passing on such deterioration 
 to her sons, there has followed, after a longer or shorter 
 period, the degeneration of society. But these questions 
 belong to the later part of our inquiry, and cannot be 
 entered on here. Yet it were well to fix in our minds 
 at once the dangers, without escape, that follow sex- 
 parasitism. 
 
 It may be thought that these cases of sex-victims are 
 exceptions, and that, therefore, it is unsafe to draw
 
 56 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 conclusions from them. The truth would rather seem to 
 be that they are extreme examples of conditions that were 
 common at one stage of life. There is no doubt that 
 up to the level of the amphibians female superiority in 
 size, and often in power of function, prevails. 1 If, for 
 example, we look at insects generally, the males are 
 smaller than the females, especially in the imago state. 
 There are many species, belonging to different orders 
 as, for instance, certain moths and butterflies in which 
 this superiority is very marked. The males are either 
 not provided with any functional organs for eating, or 
 have these imperfectly developed. It seems evident that 
 their sole function is to fertilise the female. A familiar 
 and interesting example is furnished by the common 
 mosquitoes, 'among whom the female alone, with its 
 harmful sting, is known to the unscientific world. The 
 males, frail and weaponless little creatures, swarm with 
 the females in the early summer, and then pass away, 
 their work being done. 
 
 Dr. Howard, writing of the mosquito in America, 
 says 
 
 " It is a well-known fact that the adult male mosquito does not 
 necessarily take nourishment, and that the adult female does not 
 necessarily rely on the blood of warm-blooded animals. The 
 mouth parts of the male are so different from those of the female 
 that it is probable that, if it feeds at all, it obtains its food in quite 
 a different manner from the female. They are often observed 
 sipping at drops of water, and in one instance a fondness for 
 molasses has been recorded." 2 
 
 1 Evolution of Sex, p. 21; Pure Sociology, pp. 316-317. 
 
 2 " Not'.'s on the Mosquitoes of the United States," by L. O. Howard, 
 Bulletin No. 25, New Series, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division 
 of Entomology, 1900, p. 12. Quoted by Lester Ward, Pure Sociology, 
 P- 3i7-
 
 THE EARLY POSITION OF THE SEXES 57 
 
 We find many examples of such structural modifica- 
 tions acquired for the purpose of adapting the sexes to 
 different modes of life. Darwin notes that the females 
 of certain flies are blood-suckers, whilst the males, living 
 on flowers, have mouths destitute of mandibles. 1 The 
 females are carnivorous, the males herbivorous. It 
 would be easy to bring forward many further examples 
 among the invertebrates in which the differences between 
 the sexes indicates very clearly the persistence of female 
 superiority. But for these I must refer the reader to the 
 works of Darwin and other entomologists, and to the 
 many interesting cases given by Professor Lester Ward. 
 There are, it is true, exceptions, but these may be 
 explained by the conditions under which the species live. 
 Even when we ascend the scale to back-boned animals, 
 cases are not wanting in which the early superiority in 
 size of the female remains unaltered. The smallest 
 known vertebrate, Heterandria formosa, has females 
 very considerably larger than the males. 2 Among fishes 
 the males are commonly smaller than the females, who 
 are also, as a rule, considerably more numerous. 3 This 
 is a fact that fishermen are well aware of. I may men- 
 tion, as an example, that on one occasion when my 
 husband and I caught twenty-five trout in a mountain 
 lake in Wales there were only two males among them. 
 It is curious to find that any care of offspring that is 
 evident among fishes is usually paternal. This furnishes 
 another instance of the truth so necessary to learn that 
 
 1 Descent of Man, p. 208. 
 * Science, Vol. Xv., Jan. 1902, p. 30. 
 
 3 Fulton, Naturalist to the Scottish Fishery Board. Cited in Evo- 
 lution of Sex, p. 22 ; see also pp. 25, 272, 295.
 
 58 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 the sex-relationships may assume almost any form to 
 suit the varying conditions of life. 
 
 There are some mammals among whom the sexes do 
 not differ appreciably in size and strength, and very little 
 or not at all, in coloration and ornament. Such is the 
 case with nearly all the great family of rodents. It is 
 also the case with the Erinaceidae, or at least with its 
 typical sub-family of hedgehogs. 1 Even among birds, 
 where the sex instincts have attained to their highest and 
 most aesthetic expression, we find some large families 
 as, for example, the hawks in which the female is 
 usually the larger and finer bird. 2 Thus the adult male 
 of the common sparrow-hawk is much smaller than the 
 female, the length of the male being 13 ins., wing 7*7 ins., 
 and that of the female 15*4 ins., wing 9 ins. The male 
 peregrine, known to hawkers as the tiercel, is greatly 
 inferior in size to his mate. The merlin, the osprey, the 
 falcon, the spotted eagle, the golden eagle, the gos-hawk, 
 the harrier, the buzzard, the eagle-owl, and other species 
 of owls are further examples where the female bird is 
 larger than the male. Among many of these families the 
 female birds very closely resemble the males, and where 
 differences in colour and ornament do occur, they are 
 slight. 
 
 A further point of the greatest importance to us 
 requires to be made. Wherever amongst the birds the 
 sexes are alike the habits of their lives are also alike. 
 The female as well as the male obtains food, the nest 
 is built together, and the young are cared for by both 
 
 1 Pure Sociology, pp. 317, 318. 
 
 * Birds of Britain, by J. Lewis Bonhote, p. 208; also pp. 190-221.
 
 THE BEEHIVE AND THE SPIDER 59 
 
 parents. These beautiful examples of sex equality 
 among the birds cannot be regarded as exceptions that 
 have arisen by chance a reversal of the usual rule of 
 the sexes ; rather they show the persistence of the earlier 
 relations between the female and the male carried to a 
 finer development under conditions of life favourable to 
 the female. I will not here say more upon this subject, 
 as I shall have to refer to it in greater detail when we 
 come to consider the sexual and familial habits of birds. 
 I will only add that in their delicacy and devotion to 
 each other and to their offspring, birds in their unions 
 have advanced to a much further stage than we have in 
 our marriages. These associations of our ancestral 
 lovers claim our attentive study. 
 
 II. Two Examples The Beehive and the Spider 
 
 " At its base the love of animals does not differ from that of man." 
 DARWIN. 
 
 For vividness of argument I wish in a brief section of 
 this chapter to make a digression from our main inquiry 
 to bring forward two examples extreme cases of the 
 imperious action of the sexual instincts in which we 
 see the sexes driven to the performance of their functions 
 under peculiar conditions. Both occur among the inverte- 
 brates. I have left the consideration of them until now 
 because of the instructive light they throw upon what we 
 are trying to prove in this first attack on the validity of 
 the common estimate of the true position of the sexes in 
 Nature. Let us begin with the familiar case of the bees. 
 As every one knows, these truly wonderful insects belong
 
 60 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 to a highly evolved and complex society, which may be 
 said to represent a very perfected and extreme socialism. 
 In this society the vast majority of the population the 
 workers are sterile females, and of the drones, or males, 
 only a very few at the most are ever functional. Repro- 
 duction is carried on by the queen-mother. The lesson to 
 be drawn from the beehive is that such an organisation 
 has evolved a quite extraordinary sacrifice of the indi- 
 vidual members, notably in the submergence of the per- 
 sonal needs of sex-function, to its wider racial end. It 
 is from this line of thought that I wish to consider it. We 
 have (i) the drones, the fussing males, useless except for 
 their one duty of fertilisation, and this function only a few 
 actively perform; thus, if they become at all numerous 
 they are killed off by the workers, so that the hives may be 
 rid of them; (2) the queen, an imprisoned mother, special- 
 ised for maternity, her sole work the laying of the eggs, 
 and incapable of any other function ; her brain and mind 
 of the humblest order, she being unable even to feed 
 and care for her offspring ; (3) the great body of unsexed 
 workers, the busy sisters, whose duty is to rear the young 
 and carry out all the social activities of the hive. 
 
 What a strange, perplexing life-history ! What a 
 sacrifice of the sexes to each other and to the life-force. 1 
 
 1 A similar condition will be found in the even more complex societary 
 forms of ant-hills. Among the vast population of the ants all the 
 workers and soldiers are arrested in their sexual development, remaining, 
 as it were, permanent children of both sexes. It seems probable that 
 this explains the limit that has been reached in the evolution of these 
 wonderful creatures, which in certain directions have attained to an 
 extraordinary development, and have then become curiously and 
 immovably arrested. See Problems of Sex, by J. A. Thomson and 
 Prof. Patrick Geddes, p. 24; Mind in Animals, by Buchner, p. 60; 
 and Woman and Labour, by Olive Schreiner, p. 78.
 
 THE BEEHIVE AND THE SPIDER 61 
 
 It seems probable that these active workers have even 
 succeeded in getting rid of sexual needs. Yet the 
 maternal instinct persists in them, and has survived the 
 productive function; it may, indeed, be said to be 
 enlarged and ennobled, for their affection is not confined 
 to their own offspring, but goes out to all the young of 
 the association. In this community one care takes pre- 
 cedence of all others, the care and rearing of the young. 
 This is the workers' constant occupation; this is the 
 great duty to which their lives are sacrificed. With 
 them maternal love has expanded into social affection. 
 The strength of this sentiment is abundantly proved. 
 The queen-bee, the feeble mother, has the greatest pos- 
 sible care lavished upon her, and is publicly mourned 
 when she dies. If through any ill-chance she happens 
 to perish before the performance of her maternal duties, 
 and then cannot be replaced, the sterile workers evince 
 the most terrible grief, and in some cases themselves die. 
 It would almost seem that they value motherhood more 
 for being themselves deprived of it. 
 
 Now, how does this history from the. bee-hive apply 
 to us? Here you have before you, old as the world 
 itself, one of the most urgent problems that has to be 
 faced in our difficult modern society. I have little doubt 
 that something which is at least analogous to the sterilisa- 
 tion of the female bees is present among ourselves. The 
 complexity of our social conditions, resulting in the great 
 disproportion between the number of the sexes, has 
 tended to set aside a great number of women from the 
 normal expression of their sex functions. Among these 
 women a class appears to be arising who are turning
 
 62 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 away voluntarily from love and motherhood. Many of 
 them are undoubtedly women of fine character. These 
 " Intellectuals " suggest that women shall keep them- 
 selves free from the duties of maternity and devote their 
 energies thus conserved, to their own emancipation and 
 for work in the world which needs them so badly. But 
 the biological objection to any such proposition is not far 
 to seek. No one who thinks straight can countenance a 
 plan which thus leaves maternity to the less intellectual 
 woman to a docile, domestic type, the parallel of the 
 stupid parasitic queen-bee. Mind counts in the valua- 
 tion of offspring as well as physical qualities. The split- 
 ting of one sex into two contrasted varieties, which we 
 see in its completed development in the bee-hive, cannot 
 be an ideal that can even be worth while for us. It 
 means an end to all further progress. 
 
 There is another group of women who wish to bear 
 children, but who seem to be anxious to reduce the father 
 to the position of the drone-bee. He is to have no part 
 in the child after its birth. The duty of caring for it 
 and bringing it up is to be undertaken by the mother, 
 aided, when necessary, by the State. This is a terrible 
 injustice against the father and the child. It seems to 
 me to be the great and insuperable difficulty against any 
 scheme of State Endowment of Motherhood. I cannot 
 enter into this question now, and will only state my belief 
 that a child belongs by natural right to both its parents. 
 The primitive form of the matriarchal family, which we 
 shall study later, is realised in its most exaggerated form 
 by the bees and ants. In human societies we find onlv 
 imitations of this system. And here, again, there is a
 
 THE BEEHIVE AND THE SPIDER 63 
 
 lesson necessary for us to remember. Any ideal that 
 takes the father from the child, and the child from its 
 father, giving it only to the mother, is a step backward 
 and not forward. 
 
 And in case any woman is inclined still to admire the 
 position of the female worker-bees, so free in labour, 
 being liberated from sexual activity, it were well to con- 
 sider the sacrifice at which such freedom is gained. 
 These workers have highly-developed brains, but most 
 of them die young. Nor must we forget that each one 
 carries her poisoned sting no new or strange weapon, 
 but a transformation of a part of her very organ of 
 maternity the ovipositor, or egg-placer, with which the 
 queen-mother lays each egg in its appointed place. 1 
 
 Do " the Intellectuals " understand what they really 
 want? Those women who are raising the cry increas- 
 ingly for individual liberty, without considering the 
 results which may follow from such a one-sided growth 
 both to themselves and to the race let them pause to 
 remember the price paid by the sterile worker-bee. Is it 
 unfair to suggest that any such shirking for the gains of 
 personal freedom of their woman's right and need of 
 love and child-bearing may lead in the psychical sphere 
 to a result similar to the transformation of the sex-organ 
 of the bee ; and that, giving up the power of life, they will 
 be left the possessor of the stinging weapon of death ! 
 Some such considerations may help women to decide 
 whether it is better to be a mother or a sterile worker. 
 
 The second example I want to consider is that of the 
 
 1 Problems of Sex, p. 34. I would recommend this admirable little 
 book to all students.
 
 64 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 common spider, whose curious courtship customs are 
 described by Darwin. 1 Here we find the relatively 
 gigantic female seizing and devouring the tiny male 
 fertiliser, as he seeks to perform the only duty for which 
 he exists. This is a case of female superiority carried 
 to a savage conclusion. The male in these courtships 
 often has to risk his life many times, and it seems only 
 to be by an accident that he ever escapes alive from the 
 embraces of his infuriated partner. I will give an 
 example, taken from the mantes, or praying insect, 
 where, though the difference in size between the sexes 
 is much less than among many spiders, the ferocity of the 
 female is extraordinary. This case is quoted by Pro- 
 fessor Lester Ward, 2 who gives it on the authority of 
 Dr. L. O. Howard, one of the best-known entomologists 
 
 "A few days since I brought a male or Mantes Carolina to a 
 friend who had been keeping a solitary female as a pet. Placing 
 them in the same jar, the male, in alarm, endeavoured to escape. 
 In a few minutes the female succeeded in grasping him. She bit 
 off his left front tarsus and consumed the tibia and femur. Next 
 she gnawed out his left eye. At this the male seemed to realise 
 his proximity to one of the opposite sex, and began vain endeav- 
 ours to mate. The female next ate up his right front leg, and 
 then entirely decapitated him, devouring his head and gnawing 
 into his thorax. Not until she had eaten all his thorax, except 
 about three millimetres did she stop to rest. All this while the 
 male had continued in his vain attempt to obtain entrance at the 
 valvula, and he now succeeded, and she voluntarily spread the 
 parts open, and union took place. She remained quiet for four 
 hours, and the remnant of the male gave occasional signs of life, 
 by a movement of one of his remaining tarsi for three hours. 
 The next morning she had entirely rid herself of her spouse, and 
 nothing but his wings remained." 
 
 1 Descent of Man, Vol. I. p. 329. 
 
 * Pure Sociology, p. 316 ; Science, Vol. VIII., Oct. 1886, p. 326. 
 Letter by Dr. L. O. Howard.
 
 THE BEEHIVE AND THE SPIDER 65 
 
 You will think, perhaps, that this extreme case of 
 female ferocity has little bearing upon our sexual pas- 
 sions. But consider. I have not quoted it, as is done 
 by Professor Ward, to prove the existence of the 
 superiority of the female in Nature. No, rather I want 
 to suggest a lesson that may be wrested by us from these 
 first courtships in the life histories of the sexes. I spoke 
 at the beginning of this biological section of my book 
 of the warnings that surely would come as we traced the 
 evolution of our love-passions from those of our pre- 
 human ancestors. We are too apt to ignore the tremen- 
 dous force that the sex-impulse has gathered from its 
 incalculably long history. As animals exhibit in their 
 love-matings the analogies of the human virtue, it is not 
 surprising to find the occurrence of parallel vices. Let 
 us look for a moment at this in the light of the fierce 
 love-contest of the female spider. 
 
 Of this habit there are various explanations; the pre- 
 valent one regards the spider as an anomalous exception ; 
 the ferocity and superiority of size in the female not 
 easily to be explained. This is, I think, not so. Is it 
 not rather a picture, with the details crudely emphasised, 
 of the action of Life-Force of which the sexes are both 
 the helpless victims? Whether we look backward to 
 the beginning, where the exhausted male-cell seeks the 
 female in incipient sexual union, or onwards through 
 the long stages of sex-evolution to our own love-passions, 
 this is surely true. 
 
 Let me try to make this clearer by an example. It 
 would seem but a small step from the female spider, so 
 ruthlessly eating up her lover, to the type of woman
 
 66 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 celebrated by Mr. Bernard Shaw's immortal Ann. I 
 recall a woman friend saying to me once, " We may not 
 like it, and, of course, we refuse to own to it, but there 
 is something of Ann in every woman." I need not recall 
 to you Ann's pursuit of her victim, Tanner, nor his futile 
 efforts to escape. Here, as so often he has done, Mr. 
 Shaw has presented us in comedy with a philosophy of 
 life. You believe, perhaps, the fiction, still brought 
 forward by many who ought to know better, that in love 
 woman is passive and waits for man to woo her. I think 
 no woman in her heart believes this. She knows, by 
 instinct, that Nature has unmistakably made her the 
 predominant partner in all that relates to the perpetua- 
 tion of the race ; she knows this in spite of all fictions set 
 up by men. Have they done this, as Mr. Shaw suggests, 
 to protect themselves against a too humiliating aggres- 
 siveness of the woman in following the driving of the 
 Life-Force? This pretence of male superiority in the 
 sexual relation is so shallow that it is strange how it can 
 have imposed on any one. 
 
 I wish to state here quite definitely what I hold to be 
 true; the condition of female superiority with which 
 sexuality began has in this connection persisted. In 
 every case the relation between woman and man is the 
 same she is the pursuer, he the pursued and disposed 
 of. Nothing can or should alter this. The male from 
 the very beginning has been of use from Nature's point 
 of view by assisting the female to carry on life. It is 
 the fierce hunger of the male, increasing in strength 
 through the long course of time, which places him in 
 woman's power. Man is the slave of woman, often when
 
 THE BEEHIVE AND THE SPIDER 67 
 
 least he thinks so, and still woman uses her power, even 
 like the spider, not infrequently, for his undoing. 
 
 Here, indeed, is a warning causing us to think. The 
 touch of Nature that makes the whole world kin is 
 nowhere more manifest than in sex; that absorption 
 of the male by the female to which life owes its continua- 
 tion, its ecstasy, and its pain. It has seemed to me it 
 is here in the primitive relations of the sexes that we 
 may find the clue to many of those wrongs which women 
 have suffered at the hands of men. Man, acting instinct- 
 ively, has rebelled, not so much, I think, against woman 
 as against this driving hunger within himself, which 
 forces him helpless into her power. Like the fish that 
 cannot resist the fly of the fisherman, even when experi- 
 ence has taught him to fear the hidden barb, he struggles 
 and fights for his life to escape as he realises too late the 
 net into which his hunger has brought him. 
 
 But we may learn more than this ; another truth of even 
 deeper importance to us. It is because of this superiority 
 of the female in the sexual relationship that women must 
 be granted their claim for emancipation. Here is the 
 reason stronger than all others. Nature has placed in 
 women's hands so tremendous a power that the dangers 
 are too great for such power to be left to the direction of 
 untrained and unemancipated women. Above all it is 
 necessary that each woman understands her own sexual 
 nature, and also that of her lover, that she may realise 
 in full knowledge the tremendous force of sexual-hunger 
 which drives him to her, equalled, as I believe, by the 
 desire within herself, which claims him to fulfil through 
 her Nature's great central purpose of continuing the race. 
 
 F 2
 
 68 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 To women has been granted the guardianship of the 
 Life-Force. It is time that each woman asks herself how 
 she is fulfilling this trust. 
 
 It is the possession of this power in the sexual sphere 
 which lends real importance to even the feeblest attempts 
 of women to prepare themselves to meet the duties in the 
 new paths that are being opened to them. Women have 
 now entered into labour. They are claiming freedom 
 to develop themselves by active participation in that 
 struggle with life and its conditions whereby men have 
 gained their development. From thousands of women 
 to-day the cry is rising, " Give us free opportunity, and 
 the training that will fit us for freedom." Not, as so 
 many have mistakenly thought, that women may compete 
 with men in a senseless struggle for mastery, but in order 
 first to learn, and afterwards to perform, that work in 
 society which they can do better than men. What such 
 work is it must be women's purpose to find out. But 
 before this is possible to be decided all fields of activity 
 must be open for them to enter. And this women must 
 claim, not for themselves chiefly; but because they are 
 the bearers of race-life, and also to save men from any 
 further misuse of their power. Then working together 
 as lovers and comrades, women and men may come to 
 understand and direct those deep-rooted forces of sex, 
 which have for so long driven them helpless to the 
 wastage of life and love. 
 
 I would ask all those who deny this modern claim of 
 women to consider in all seriousness the two cases I have 
 brought forward that of the bee-hives, and even more 
 the destruction by the female spider of her male lover.
 
 THE BEEHIVE AND THE SPIDER 69 
 
 That they have their parallel in our society to-day is a 
 fact that few will deny. I have tried to show the real 
 danger that lurks in every form of sex-parasitism. It 
 would lead us too far from our purpose to comment in 
 further detail on the suggestions offered by these curious 
 examples of sex-martyrs among our earliest ancestral 
 lovers. Those whose eyes are not blinded will not fail 
 to see.
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEXES 
 
 Summary of conclusions arrived at in the previous chapters The 
 necessity of a further examination of sexual love among our pre- 
 human ancestors The question approached from a different point 
 of view The impelling motive of love the union of two cells 
 Hermaphroditism Its various forms The first step in the ladder 
 of sex Reproduction among fishes The next step The attrac- 
 tion of one sex for the other The female and the male begin to 
 associate in pairs Illustration of the salmon Sexual differences 
 become more frequent The males distinguished by bright colours 
 and ornamental appendages Sexual passion and jealous combats 
 of rival males Examples A further step The note of physical 
 fondness The male plays with the female, wooing and caressing 
 her The love play often extraordinary The case of the stickle- 
 back The males, passionate, polygamous, and jealous The 
 paternal instinct of the stickleback Nature making experiments 
 in parenthood Parental forethought among insects Illustrations 
 of male parental care The obstetric frog Further examples of 
 primitive animal courtships A psychic attraction added to the 
 physical The courtship of the octopus A final step The co- 
 operation of the sexes in work together The dung-rolling beetle 
 The significance of these early courtships Analogy with our 
 sex-passions The love-process identical throughout the whole 
 of We.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEXES 
 
 " Great effects are everywhere produced in animated Nature, by 
 minute causes. . . . Think of how many curious phenomena sexual 
 relation gives rise to in animal life ; think of the results of love in human 
 life ; now all this had for its raison d'etre the union of two cellules. . . . 
 There is no organic act which approaches this one in power and force 
 of differentiation." HAECKEL. 
 
 WHAT is the practical outcome to us of this early 
 relation of the sexes in Nature's scheme? 
 
 In attempting to answer this question it will be neces- 
 sary to take an apparently circuitous route, going back 
 over some of the ground that already has been covered ; 
 to examine in further detail the process of sexual love 
 as it presents itself among our pre-human ancestors. It 
 is well worth while to do this. If we can find in this way 
 an answer, we shall come very near to solving many of 
 the most difficult of woman's problems. At the same 
 time we shall have made clear how deep-rooted are the 
 foundations of those passions of sex which agitate the 
 human heart, and are still the most powerful force 
 amongst us to-day. 
 
 In the light of the facts I have briefly summarised, we 
 have been able in the former chapters to indicate how 
 sexuality began, with the male element developed from 
 the primary female organism, his sole function being 
 her impregnation; how this was seized upon and con- 
 tinued through the advantage gained by the mixing of 
 
 73
 
 74 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 the two germ-plasms, which, on the whole, resembling 
 one another somewhat closely, yet differ in details, and 
 thus introduce new opportunities of progress into the 
 life-elements; and how, in this way, differentiation of 
 function between the male and the female was set up. 
 We saw, further, how the development of the male, at 
 first often living parasitically upon the female, con- 
 tinued; but how, under certain conditions of life, such 
 parasitism was transferred to the female, so that it is she 
 who is sacrificed to the sex function ; and, lastly, taking 
 the extreme cases of the bee-hive and the spider, we 
 suggested certain warnings to be drawn from these early 
 parasitic relations between the sexes. It is necessary 
 now to penetrate deeper; to trace more fully the evolu- 
 tion of the sexual passion, which, from this line of 
 thought, may be said to be the process which carried on 
 the development and modification of the male, creating 
 him as surely we may believe by the love-choice of 
 the female. To do this we have once more to return to 
 the consideration, under a somewhat new aspect, of the 
 relative position of the female and the male in their love- 
 courtships in some examples among the humbler types 
 of animal life. After these have been considered, not 
 only in themselves, but in the relation they bear to the 
 higher forms which developed from them, we shall be in 
 a surer position to re-ascend the ladder of life. We 
 shall come to understand the biological significance of 
 love something of the complexity and beauty and force 
 of the passions that we have inherited. We shall find also 
 the causes, so important to us, which led to the reversal 
 of the early superiority of the female in size and often
 
 EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEXES 75 
 
 in function, replacing it by the superiority of the male. 
 Then, and then only, shall we be ready to approach the 
 difficult problems of the sexual differences which have 
 persisted, separating women from men among human 
 races, and to estimate if these differences are to be con- 
 sidered as belonging essentially to the female and the 
 male, or whether they have arisen through special 
 environmental causes. 
 
 If we look back anew to the very start of sexuality, 
 where two cells flow together, thereby to continue life, 
 we find the very simplest expression of the sex-appetite. 
 There is what may be called instinctive physical attrac- 
 tion, and the whole process is very much a satisfaction 
 of protoplasmic hunger. 1 Now it was, of course, a long 
 step from this incipient cell-union to the varied function 
 of sex in animal life, and it was a long process from these 
 to the yet more complex manifestation of the love- 
 passion among men. But in reality the source of all 
 love is the same; throughout the entire relations of the 
 sexes we find this cell-hunger instinct; in every case, it 
 matters not how fine and ennobling the love may be, the 
 single, original, impelling motive is the union of two 
 cells the male element and the female driven to seek 
 one another to continue life. I find it necessary to insist 
 on this physical basis of all love. Women are so apt 
 to go astray. It is one of the vicious tendencies of the 
 female mind to think that the needs of sex are something 
 to be resisted. Let us face the truth that this great force 
 of love has its roots fastened in cell-hunger, and it dies 
 when its roots are cut away. 
 
 1 Evolution of Sex, p. 265.
 
 76 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 It is evident that at first this sex-appetite cannot have 
 been purposive, but acted subconsciously by a kind of 
 interaction between the want of the organism and its 
 power of function. Even in many complex multicellular 
 organisms the liberation of the sex-elements continues 
 very passive; and although the differentiation of the 
 sexual-cells is already complete in plants and animals 
 comparatively low in the scale, it at first makes little 
 difference in the development of the other parts of the 
 individual. Among many lower animals, and most 
 plants, each individual develops within itself both kinds 
 of cells that is, female and male. This union of the 
 two sex functions in one organism is known as herma- 
 phroditism. There is little doubt that it was once 
 common to all organisms, an intermediate stage in the 
 sex-progress, after the differentiation of the sexes had 
 been accomplished. 
 
 Hermaphroditism must be regarded as a temporary or 
 transitional form. 1 It is found persisting in various 
 degrees in many species snails, earth-worms, and 
 leeches, for example, can act alternately as what we call 
 male and female. Other animals are hermaphrodite in 
 their young stages, though the sexes are separate in adult 
 
 1 There are some who believe that the higher animals pass through a 
 state of embryonic hermaphroditism, but decisive proof of this is 
 wanting. In this connection the structural resemblance of the male 
 and female sexual organs should be noticed ; in each sex there is a 
 complete but rudimentary set of parallels to the organs of the other sex. 
 This primitive and fundamental unity of the male and female sex 
 organs is very significant. Indeed, the whole question of hermaphro- 
 ditism is one of deep suggestion when these embryological facts are 
 brought into relation with the abnormalities which occur in the ex- 
 pression of the sexual impulses. See Evolution of Sex, chapter on 
 " Hermaphroditism," pp. 65-80 ; also Bloch, Sexual Life of Our 
 Times, pp. 11-12, 551-554. Weininger's Sex and Character, pp. 6, 7, 
 J 3 45. is also interesting.
 
 EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEXES 77 
 
 life, as, for example, tadpoles, where the bisexuality of 
 youth sometimes linger into adult life. Cases of 
 partial hermaphroditism are very common, while in many 
 species which are normally unisexual, a casual or abnor- 
 mal hermaphroditism occurs this may be seen in the 
 common frog, and is frequent among certain fishes, when 
 sometimes the fish is male on one side and female on 
 the other, or male anteriorly and female posteriorly. 1 
 
 There would seem to be a constant tendency to escape 
 from these early and experimental methods of reproduc- 
 tion, and to secure true sexual union, with complete 
 separation of the sexes and differences in the parents. 
 We have noticed the many instances of tiny comple- 
 mental males, in connection with hermaphrodite forms, 
 which, as Darwin states, must have arisen from the 
 advantage ensuring cross-fertilisation in the females who 
 harbour them. Even among hermaphrodite slugs we 
 find very definite evidence of the advance of love; and 
 in certain species an elaborate process of courtship, 
 taking the form of slow and beautiful movements, pre- 
 cedes the act of reproduction. 2 Some snails, again, are 
 provided with a special organ, a slightly twisted limy 
 dart, which is used to stimulate sexual excitement. 3 
 
 1 A similar condition has been noted among butterflies, where, in 
 some cases, differences in the colouring of the wings on two sides has 
 been found to correspond to an internal co-existence of the male and 
 female sex-organs. It seems probable that this interesting phenomenon 
 of abnormal hermaphroditism is of much commoner occurrence than 
 the cases that have been recorded (Evolution of Sex, p. 67). 
 
 1 " The Love of Slugs," article by James Bladon, Zoologist, Vol. XV., 
 1857, p. 6272. 
 
 3 " Molluscs," article by Rev. L. H. Cooke, Cambridge Natural History, 
 Vol. III. p. 143. Both these cases are quoted by Havelock Ellis in 
 his illuminative " Analysis of the Sexual Impulse," the opening chapters 
 in the third volume of the Studies in the Psychology of Sex.
 
 78 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 What do such marvellous manifestations, low down in 
 the ladder of life, go to prove, if not that there must 
 be the closest identity between the development of life 
 and the evolution of love ? 
 
 These examples of hermaphrodite love lead us for- 
 ward to a further step, where no reproduction takes place 
 without the special activity and conjugation of two kinds 
 of specialised cells, and these two kinds are carried about 
 by separate individuals. In some species fishes, for 
 example the two kinds of special cells meet outside the 
 bodies of the parents. At this humble level the sexes 
 are in many cases very like one another, and there is, 
 as we should expect, a good deal of haphazard in the 
 production of offspring. Among fishes, for instance, the 
 eggs and sperms are liberated into the sea, or the shallow 
 bed of a river, and, if the sperms (the milt of the males) 
 are placed near to the spot where the eggs (the spawn) 
 have been laid, fertilisation occurs, for within a short 
 distance the sperms are attracted in a way that is imper- 
 fectly understood to enter the eggs. By this method 
 there is of necessity great waste in the production of 
 offspring, many thousands of eggs are never fertilised. 
 The union of the sexual cells must be something more 
 than haphazard for further development. There must be 
 some reason inherent in the female or male inducing to 
 the act of reproduction. In other words, there must be 
 a psychic interest preceding the sex act. In this way a 
 higher grade is reached when the presence of one sex 
 attracts the other. Gradually the female and the male 
 begin to associate in pairs. 
 
 We may illustrate this important step in the evolution 
 of love by reference to the familiar case of the salmon.
 
 EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEXES 79 
 
 The male courts the female and is her attendant during 
 the breeding season, fertilising the deposited ova in her 
 presence. He guards her from the attention of all other 
 males, fighting all rivals fiercely, with a special weapon, 
 developed at this time, in the form of a hooked lower 
 jaw with teeth often more than half-an-inch long. 
 Darwin records a case, told to him by a river-keeper, 
 where he found three hundred dead male salmon, all 
 killed through battle. 1 Thus even among cold-blooded 
 fishes (though it may appear folly to use the word " love " 
 in this connection) a very clear likeness with our human 
 sex-passions can be traced. 
 
 Sex differences now become more frequent. The 
 males are in some cases distinguished by bright colours 
 and ornamental appendages. During their amours and 
 duels certain male fishes flash with beautiful and glowing 
 colours. Reptiles exhibit the same form of sexual- 
 passion, and jealous combat of rival males. The rattle 
 of certain snakes is supposed to act as a love-call. 
 Snakes of different sexes appear to feel some affection 
 for each other when confined together in cages. Romanes 
 relates the interesting fact that when a cobra is killed, 
 its mate is often found on the spot a day or two after- 
 wards. Darwin cites an instance of the pairing in spring 
 of a Chinese species of lizard, where the couples appear 
 to have considerable fondness for one another. If one 
 is captured, the other drops from the tree to the ground 
 and allows itself to be caught, presumably from despair. 2 
 
 A further development is reached by those animals 
 
 1 Trout also fight during the breeding season. Chapters on Human 
 Love, by Geoffrey Mortimer (W. M. Gallichan), pp. 13-14. 
 
 1 Evolution of Sex, pp. 625-626. Chapters on Human Love, p. 14.
 
 80 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 among whom what has well been called "the note of 
 physical fondness " is first sounded. We find the males 
 playing with the female, wooing and caressing her, it 
 may be dancing with her. The love-play is often extra- 
 ordinary, 1 as, for instance, in the well-known case of the 
 stickleback. Not only does the male woo the female with 
 passionate dances, but by means of its own secretions it 
 builds a nest in the river weeds. The males at this 
 season are transformed, glowing with brilliant colours, 
 and literally putting on a wedding garment of love. The 
 stickleback is passionate, polygamous and very jealous 
 of rivals. His guardianship of the nest and vigilance 
 in protecting the young cannot be observed without 
 admiration. 
 
 It is certainly significant to find one of the earliest 
 instances of genuine parental affection exhibited by the 
 male. This reversal of the usual role of the sexes is 
 common among fishes, among whom care of offspring is 
 very little developed. In some species the eggs are 
 carried about by the father the male sea-horse, for 
 instance, has a pouch developed for this purpose; in 
 other cases the male incubates, or cares for the ova. 
 Sometimes, however, it is the female who performs this 
 duty, but the known cases are few. 2 Some exceedingly 
 curious examples of male parental care occur among the 
 amphibians. One of the most interesting is that of the 
 obstetric frog, where the male helps to remove the eggs 
 from the female, then twists them in the coils around its 
 
 1 Problems of Sex, by J. A. Thomson and Prof. Patrick Geddes, 
 p. 20. 
 
 * Evolution of Sex, pp. 270-272, 295.
 
 EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEXES 81 
 
 hind legs and buries himself in the water, until the in- 
 cubation period is over and the tadpoles escape and 
 relieve him of his burden. In other species the croaking 
 sacs of the males, which were previously used for 
 amatory callings, become enlarged to form cradles for 
 the young. There are also instances of the female co- 
 operating with the male in this care of offspring. Thus 
 in the Surinam toad the male spreads the ova on the back 
 of the female, where skin cavities form in which the tad- 
 poles develop. In other cases the eggs are carried in 
 the dorsal pouches of the females. It would almost 
 seem that in this early time Nature was making experi- 
 ments as to which parent was the better fitted to rear and 
 protect the young ! 
 
 But let us return to our present examination of animal 
 love-making. In many diverse forms there is a very 
 remarkable courtship of touch, often prolonged and with 
 beautiful refinements, before the climax is reached, when 
 the two bodies unite. Racovitza 1 has beautifully de- 
 scribed the courtship of the octopus, which is carried out 
 with considerable delicacy, and not brutally as before 
 had been believed. 
 
 "The male gently stretches out his third arm on the right and 
 caresses the female with its extremity, eventually passing it into 
 the chamber formed by the mantle. The female contracts spas- 
 modically, but does not attempt to move. They remain thus about 
 an hour or more, and during this time the male shifts his arm 
 from one viaduct to the other. Finally, he withdraws his arm, 
 caresses her with it for a few moments, and then replaces it with 
 his other arm." 
 
 1 Natural Science, Nov. 1894, quoted by Havelock Ellis, Psychology 
 of Sex. Vol. III. p. 30. 
 O
 
 82 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 The various phenomena of primitive animal courtship 
 may be illustrated further by the love-parades of butter- 
 flies and moths, the love-gambols of certain newts, the 
 amatory serenading of frogs, the fragrant incense of 
 reptiles, the love-lights of glow-worms, the duels of many 
 male beetles and other insects, many of whom have 
 special weapons for righting with their rivals. Among 
 insects the sexes commonly associate in pairs, and it 
 seems certain there is some psychic attraction added to 
 the primitive tactile courtship. In some cases the asso- 
 ciation of the sexes is maintained for a lengthened 
 period, with many hints of what must be regarded as 
 love. There are many examples also of parental fore- 
 thought, amounting sometimes to a sort of divining pre- 
 science, as the habit of certain insects in preparing and 
 leaving a special nourishment, different from their own 
 food, for the sustenance of the future larvae. We even 
 find instances of co-operation of the sexes in work to- 
 gether, affording a first hint of this linking-force to the 
 development of love in its later and full expression. 
 Such are the activities of the dung-rolling beetle, where 
 the two sexes assist each other in their curious occupa- 
 tion. The male and female of another order of beetle 
 (Lethms cephalotes) inhabit the same cavity, and the 
 virtuous matron is said greatly to resent the intrusion of 
 another male. 1 
 
 In insects, as in the higher animals, and as in man, 
 sexual association takes many different forms. But 
 obviously I must not linger over these early types of 
 love. My object is to bring forward examples, which 
 
 1 Evolution of Sex, p. 265.
 
 EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEXES 83 
 
 seem to me useful as preliminary studies to throw light 
 on the origin of sex-passion, and proving that the love- 
 process throughout the whole of life is identical. Those 
 who are acquainted with the work of Fabre, " The Insects' 
 Homer," will have no difficulty in accepting this. The 
 studies he has given us of wonderful behaviour of insects, 
 their arts and crafts, their courtships and marriages, 
 their domestic and social relationships, opens up a new 
 drama of animal life. 
 
 G 8
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER V 
 
 COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 
 
 I. Among the Birds and Mammals 
 
 Courtship and marriage among birds and mammals Every form of 
 association similar to human marriage A high standard of love- 
 morality among birdsMonogamy, polygamy, and polyandry 
 Cases of absolute profligate promiscuity Suggestions of all the 
 sexual sins of humanity The phenomena of courtship The law 
 of battle Battles of mammals and male gallinaceae The frenzy 
 of love Where supremacy in love is gained by force the males 
 become stronger and better armed than the females Importance 
 of this Gentler ways of wooing Esthetic seductions Courteous 
 duels The note of joy in love among birds Affectionate partner- 
 ships lasting for life Frequency of monogamy among birds Co- 
 operation of both sexes in forming the home and caring for the 
 young The amatory dances of birds Significance of dancing 
 Numerous illustrations The use of song and decorative plumage 
 Musical seduction ^Esthetic constructions The extraordinary 
 power of sex-hunger General propositions. 
 
 II. Further Examples of Courtship, Marriage and the 
 Family among Birds 
 
 Darwin's theory of sexual-selection Objections to this by Wallace and 
 others An explanation The true object of courtship The 
 sexual passion the origin of social growth A rough outline of 
 society already established in the animal kingdom The maternal 
 and the paternal family The former the most frequent The 
 importance of the female Difference between the secondary 
 sexual characters of the male and the female Doubt of the accepted 
 view Need for a further examination Cases among birds in which 
 the female equals or even exceeds the male in size and strength 
 Beauty tests of brilliant plumage Numerous examples of almost 
 identical likeness between the sexes This similarity in plumage 
 occurs in some of the most brilliant of our birds The interesting 
 case of the phalaropes where the rdle of the sexes is reversed 
 These facts point to an error in the accepted opinion as to the 
 secondary sexual characters Sexual adornments cannot be re- 
 garded as a necessary and exclusive adjunct of the male Prof. 
 Lester Ward's Gynaeocratic theory Male efflorescence Among 
 the species in which male differentiation has gone farthest the 
 
 85
 
 86 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 males are bad fathers Examples to prove this The fathers devoid 
 of affection belong to the less intelligent species The conclusion 
 An extravagant growth of the secondary sexual characters not 
 favourable to the highest development of the species The most 
 oppressed females the most faithful wives The highest develop- 
 ment in the beautiful cases in which the sexes are more alike, equal 
 in capacity and co-operate together in the race-work Individual 
 fancies of females The case of a female wild duck Desire for 
 sexual variety Conjugal fidelity modified by the conditions of 
 life Civilisation depraves birds General observations Love the 
 great creative force.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 
 
 I. Among the Birds and Mammals 
 
 " The principle of ' divergence of character ' pervades all nature, 
 from the lowest groups to the highest, as may be well seen in the class of 
 birds." WALLACE. 
 
 A GREAT step in advance is taken when we come to 
 study the courtship and sexual relationships of birds and 
 mammals. There are many examples, in particular 
 among birds, of a beautiful and high standard of love- 
 morality. To the physical fondness of the sexes for one 
 another there is now added a wealth of what must be 
 recognised as psychical attraction, which finds its expres- 
 sion in many diverse ways. We shall find all forms of 
 sexual association, very similar to marriage in the human 
 species. There are temporary unions formed for the 
 purpose of procreation, after which the partners separate 
 and cease to care for one another. Polygamy is frequent, 
 polyandry also occurs, and there are many cases of abso- 
 lute profligate promiscuity. We shall, indeed, find the 
 suggestion of all the sexual sins of humanity, every form 
 of coquetry, of love-battles, jealousy and the like. There 
 are as well many examples of monogamic unions lasting 
 for the lives of the partners. This is especially the case 
 with birds. Among the higher mammals polygamy is 
 most common, but permanent unions are formed, especi- 
 ally among the anthropoid apes. Thus strictly mono- 
 
 87
 
 88 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 gamous marriages are frequent among gorillas and 
 orang-utans, the young sometimes remaining with their 
 parents to the age of six years, while any approach to 
 loose behaviour on the part of the wife is severely 
 punished by the husband. 1 We find both the matri- 
 archate and patriarchate family ; and we may observe the 
 greatest difference in the conduct of the parents in their 
 care of offspring. Even a rapid examination of these 
 customs is worth while, for they cast forward many 
 suggestions on our sexual, domestic, and social relation- 
 ships. 
 
 Let us take first the phenomena of courtship. 
 
 It is possible to give only the briefest outline of this 
 fascinating subject. We will begin with the law-of- 
 battle. Courtship without combat is rare among 
 mammals; it is less common in many species of birds. 
 Special offensive and defensive weapons for use in these 
 love-fights are found; such are the larger canine teeth 
 of many male mammals, the antlers of stags, the tusks 
 of elephants, the horns of antelopes, goats, oxen and 
 other animals, while among birds the spurs of the cock 
 and allied species are examples of sexual weapons. 3 
 
 ' The season of love is the season of battle," says 
 Darwin. To those who understand love there will 
 be no cause of surprise in these procreative explosions. 
 There can be no doubt that such combats are a stimulus 
 to mutual sexual excitement in the males who take part 
 in them and the female who watches them. Throughout 
 Nature love only reaches its goal after tremendous 
 
 1 Havelock Ellis, Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. p. 422. 
 3 Evolution of Sex, p. 8.
 
 AMONG THE BIRDS AND MAMMALS 89 
 
 expenditure of energy. Courtship is the prelude to love. 
 The question is what form it shall take ? It is this that 
 even yet we have not decided. But the importance of 
 courtship cannot be overlooked. We must regard it as 
 the servant of the Life-force. In the fine saying of 
 Professor Lloyd Morgan, 1 " the purpose of courtship 
 reveals itself as the strong and steady bending of the 
 bow, that the arrow may find its mark in a biological 
 end of the highest importance in the survival of a healthy 
 and vigorous race." 
 
 Even the most timid animals will fight desperately 
 under the stimulus of sex-passion. Hares and moles 
 battle to the death in some cases; squirrels and beavers 
 wound each other severely. Seals grapple with tooth 
 and claw; bulls, deer and stallions have violent en- 
 counters, and goats use their curved horns with deadly 
 effect. 2 The elephant, pacific by nature, assumes a terrible 
 fury in the rutting season. Thus, the Sanskrit poems 
 frequently use the simile of the elephant goaded by love 
 to express the highest degree of strength, nobility, 
 grandeur and even beauty. 3 It is hardly necessary to 
 point out that in these love-conflicts we may find the 
 sources of our own brute passions of jealousy, and the 
 origin of duels, murders and all the violent crimes com- 
 mitted by men under the excitement of sexual emotion 
 the tares among the wheat of love that drive men 
 mad and wild. 
 
 1 Animal Behaviour, p. 265, quoted by Havelock Ellis, Psychology 
 of Sex, Vol. III. p. 28. 
 
 * Geoffrey Mortimer (W. M. Gallichan), Chapters on Human Love, 
 pp. 17-18. 
 
 * Letourncau, Evolution of Marriage, p. 16.
 
 90 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 In birds it is among the gallinacese that love incites 
 the male with warlike fury. The barn-door cock is the 
 type of the jealous male amorous, vain and courageous. 1 
 It must be noted that wheresoever supremacy in love 
 is obtained by force the male has necessarily become, 
 through the action of selection, stronger and better armed 
 than the female. Among birds, where the law of battle 
 largely gives place to a gentler wooing, there are many 
 species in which the female is larger and stronger than 
 the male, and a much greater number where there is no 
 appreciable difference between the sexes. These prove 
 what we have already established among the inverte- 
 brates, that there is no necessary correlation between 
 weakness and the female sex. But to this question, so 
 important in its bearing on the relative position of the 
 sexes, I shall return later. 
 
 The acquisition of mates does not depend entirely 
 upon strength and victory in battle. Many male 
 mammals have crests and tufts of hair, and other marks 
 of beauty, such as bright colouring, are often conspic- 
 uous. These are used to attract the females. The 
 incense of odoriferous glands, which become specially 
 functional during the breeding season, are another fre- 
 quent means of sexual attraction. 2 Even many of the 
 amatory duels are not really fights between rivals. They 
 are rather parades, or tournaments, used by the males as 
 a means of displaying their beauty and valour to the 
 females. This is frequent among the contests of birds, 
 as, for instance, the grouse of Florida (Tetras cuspido), 
 
 1 Letourneau, Evolution of Marriage, p. 12. 
 * Evolution of Sex, pp. 7-8.
 
 AMONG THE BIRDS AND MAMMALS 91 
 
 which are said to assemble at night to fight until morning 
 with measured grace, and then to separate, having first 
 exchanged formal courtesies. 1 
 
 It is among birds that the notes of joy in love break 
 out with a wonderful fascination. They are the most 
 perfect of lovers; strength is often quite set aside, and 
 the eye and ear of the mate alone is appealed to. The 
 males (and also, in some cases, the females) use many 
 aesthetic appeals to stimulate passion, such as dancing, 
 beauty of plumage, and the art of showing it, as well 
 as sweetness of song and diverse love-calls. There are 
 numerous examples of affectionate partnerships between 
 the sexes, in some cases lasting for life. The female 
 Illinois parrot, for instance, rarely survives the death of 
 her mate. Similarly the death of either sex of the 
 -panurus is said to be fatal to its companion. The affec- 
 tion of these birds is strong; they always perch side by 
 side, and when they fall asleep one of them, usually the 
 male, covers the other with its wing. The couples of 
 the golden woodpeckers and doves live in perfect unison. 
 Brehm records the case of a male woodpecker who, after 
 the death of his mate, tapped day and night with his 
 beak to recall the absent one, and when at last dis- 
 couraged, he became silent and never recovered his 
 gaiety. 3 According to some estimates monogamy pre- 
 vails among ninety per cent, of birds. 8 This is explained 
 by the steady co-operation of both sexes in forming the 
 home and caring for the young, for it is surely the work- 
 ing together which causes their love to outlast the excite- 
 
 1 Epinas, Soc. Animates, p. 326; Darwin, Descent of Man, p. 433. 
 Letourneau, Evolution of Marriage, p. 27. 
 3 Ellis, Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. p. 422.
 
 92 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 ment of the procreative season. Sometimes we find this 
 affection flowing out into a wider altruism, extending 
 beyond the family to the social group; which again is 
 surely at once the condition and result of these beautiful 
 and practical love-partnerships. 
 
 Those who have read the absorbing pages of Darwin 
 devoted to the consideration of the sexual characters of 
 birds, or know the examples given by Biichner, Audubon, 
 Epinas, Wallace and other naturalists, or, better still, 
 those who have watched and noted for themselves the 
 love-habits of birds, will find it impossible to withhold 
 admiration for the poetic character of many of these 
 courtships and marriages, which put too often our own 
 human matings to utter shame. 
 
 Let us look first at the love-dances. Dancing as a 
 means of attracting the right pitch of passion in the male 
 and the female has always been used in the service of 
 the sexual instinct. It gives the highest and most com- 
 plex expression of movement, and may be said to have 
 been evolved by love from the more brutal courtships of 
 battle display. 1 The characteristic features of the 
 amatory dances of birds are well known; they may be 
 witnessed frequently during the pairing season. The 
 male blackbird, for instance, is full of action as he woos 
 his mate ; he flirts his tail, spreads his glossy wings, hops 
 and turns ; chases the hen, and all the time chuckles with 
 delight. Similar antics are performed by the whitethroat. 
 The male redwing, again, struts about before his female, 
 sweeping the ground with his tail, and acting the dandy. 2 
 
 1 One of the most charming accounts of the loves of birds is given 
 in a chapter on " Music and Dancing in Nature," in a volume entitled, 
 The Naturalist in La Plata, by W. H. Hudson. 
 
 1 Audubon, Scenes de la Nature, Vol. I. p. 350.
 
 AMONG THE BIRDS AND MAMMALS 93 
 
 The crested duck raises his head gracefully, straightens 
 his silky aigrette, struts and bows to his female, while 
 his throat swells and he utters a sort of guttural note. 1 
 The common shield duck, geese, wood-pigeons, carrion- 
 vultures, and many other birds have been observed to 
 dance, spread their tails, chase one another, and perform 
 many strange courting parades. A careful observer of 
 birds, Mr. E. Selous, who is quoted by Havelock Ellis, 2 
 has found that all bird dances are not nuptial, but that 
 some birds the stone-curlew (or great plover), for 
 example have different kinds of dancing. The nuptial 
 dances are taken part in by both the male and female, 
 and are immediately followed by conjugation; but there 
 are as well other dances or antics of a non-sexual char- 
 acter, which may be regarded as social, and these too 
 are indulged in by both sexes. 
 
 The love-fights of swallows, linnets and kingfishers, 
 and the curious aerial evolution of the swift are similar 
 manifestations of vigour and delight in movement 3 as a 
 sexual excitant to pairing. Some male doves have a 
 remarkable habit of driving the hen for a few days before 
 she lays the eggs. On these occasions his whole time is 
 spent in keeping her on the move, and he never allows 
 her to settle or rest for a minute except on the nest. 4 
 
 1 Audubon, Scenes de la Nature, Vol. II. p. 50. 
 
 >; Have 
 
 1 E. Selous, Bird Watching, pp. 15-20; Havelock Ellis, Psychology 
 
 Sex, Vol. III. p. 25. 
 
 3 The jay is the only bird I know whose habits in this respect are 
 
 of Sex, Vol. III. p. 25 
 3 The jay is the 01 
 different. Noisy and active during the winter the male becomes 
 
 exceedingly quiet with the approach of the pairing season. This may 
 possibly be explained by the fact that the two sexes of these beautiful 
 birds are practically alike; thus there may be less temptation for the 
 male to show off as the handsomer bird. 
 
 J. Lewis Bonhote, The Birds of Britain, p. 272. It is from this 
 work I have taken many facts relating to birds. See also A. R. Wallace, 
 Darwinism, p. 287.
 
 94, THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 This last case affords a striking illustration of the real 
 object of all these elaborate movements. The male 
 albatross, an ugly and dull-coloured bird, 1 during court- 
 ship stands by the female on the nest, raises his wings, 
 spreads his tail, throws up his head with the bill in the 
 air, or stretches it straight out or forwards as far as he 
 can, and then utters a curious cry. 2 But the most inter- 
 esting example that I have been able to find recorded of 
 dancing among birds is the habit of waltzing, common to 
 the male, and in a lesser degree to the female ostrich. 
 It is thus described by S. Cronwright Schreiner. 3 
 
 "After running a few yards they (the ostriches) will stop, and 
 with raised wings spin round rapidly for some time until quite 
 giddy, when a broken leg occasionally occurs. . . . Vigorous 
 cocks ' roll ' when challenging to fight or when wooing a hen. 
 The cock will suddenly bump down on his knees (ankle joints), 
 open his wings, and then swing them alternately backwards and 
 forwards as if on a pivot. At such a time the bird sees very 
 imperfectly, if at all, in fact he seems so preoccupied that if 
 pursued one may often approach unnoticed. Just before ' rolling, ' 
 a cock, especially if courting a hen, will often run slowly and 
 daintily on the points of his toes, with neck slightly inflated, 
 upright and erect, the tail half dropped and all his body feathers 
 fluffed up; the wings raised and expanded, the inside edges touch- 
 ing the sides of the neck for nearly the whole length, and the 
 plumes showing separately like an open fan. In no other attitude 
 is the splendid beauty of his plumage displayed to such advantage." 
 
 In this case it is very suggestive to find that it is the 
 
 1 Wallace states that these love-movements are more commonly 
 performed by birds with dull plumage who have no special beauties 
 to display to their mates, but the custom, as we have seen, is by no 
 means confined to such birds. 
 
 8 Notes of a Naturalist on the " Challenger," quoted by Wallace, 
 Darwinism, p. 287. 
 
 " The Ostrich," Zoologist, March 1897; quoted by Havelock Ellis, 
 Psychology of Sex, Vol. III. p. 34.
 
 AMONG THE BIRDS AND MAMMALS 95 
 
 male ostrich who takes upon himself the task of hatching 
 and rearing the young. Perhaps this accounts for the 
 female ostrich being able to dance as well as the male. 
 There are very few examples of birds who are bad 
 fathers. Often the male rivals the female in love for 
 the young ; he is in constant attendance in the vicinity of 
 the nest; he guards, feeds and sings to the female, and 
 sometimes shares with her the duty of incubation. This 
 is done by the male wood-pigeon, missel-thrush, blue 
 martin, the buzzard, stone-curlew, curlew, dottrel, the 
 sandpiper, common gull, black-coated gull, kittiwake, 
 razorbill, puffin, storm-petrel, the great blue heron and 
 the black vulture. Among these birds it is usual for the 
 family duties to be performed quite irrespective of sex, 
 and the parent who is free takes the task of feeding the 
 one who is occupied. As soon as one family is reared 
 many birds at once burden themselves with another. 
 Audubon records the case of the blue bird of America, 
 who works so zealously that two or three broods are 
 reared at the same time, the female sitting on one clutch, 
 while the male feeds the young of the preceding brood. 1 
 Next in importance to dancing and movement in the 
 aid of courtship among birds is their use of song and 
 display of decorative plumage. With them it would 
 seem, even more than among the mammals or with man, 
 sexual desire raises and intensifies all the faculties, and 
 lifts the individual above the normal level of life. The 
 act of singing is a pleasurable one, an expression of 
 superabundant energy and joyous excitement. Thus 
 love-songs, serving first probably as a call of recognition 
 
 1 Audubon, Seines de la Nature, Vol. I. p. 317.
 
 96 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 from the male to the female, came to be used as a means 
 of seduction. Every one is familiar with the exquisite 
 lyrical tournaments of our nightingales; their songs 
 during the love season do not cease by day or by night, 
 so that one wonders when sleep can be taken; but as 
 soon as the young are hatched the music ceases, and 
 harsh croaks are the only sound left. 1 The song of the 
 skylark, with its splendid note of freedom, is more 
 melodious and more frequent in the season of love's 
 delirium. 2 Another bird, the male of the weaver bird, 
 builds an abode of pleasure for himself, wherein he 
 retires to sing to his mate. 3 A very beautiful case of the 
 use of these love-calls by the tyrant bird (Pitangus 
 Bolivianus] is recorded by W. H. Hudson. 4 
 
 "Though the male and female are greatly attached they do not 
 go afield to hunt in company, but separate to meet at intervals 
 during the day. One of the couple (say the female) returns to 
 the trees where they are accustomed to meet, and after a time 
 becoming impatient or anxious at the delay of her consort, utters a 
 very long, clear call-note. He is perhaps a quarter of a mile away, 
 watching for a frog beside a pool, or beating over a thistle bed, 
 but he hears the note and presently responds with one of equal 
 power. Then, perhaps, for half-an-hour, at intervals of half-a- 
 minute, the birds answer each other, though the powerful call of 
 the one must interfere with his hunting. At length he returns : 
 then the two birds, perched close together, with their yellow 
 bosoms almost touching, crests elevated, and beating the branch 
 with their wings scream their loudest notes in concert a confused, 
 jubilant noise that rings through the whole plantation. Their joy 
 at meeting is patent, and their action corresponds to the warm 
 embrace of a loving human couple." 
 
 1 J. Lewis Bonhote, The Birds of Britain, p. 39. 
 1 Audubon, Scenes de la Nature, Vol. I. p. 383. 
 8 Epinas, SocieUs Animates, p. 299. 
 
 4 Argentine Ornithology, Vol. I. p. 148; quoted by Havelock Ellis, 
 Psychology of Sex, Vol. III. p. 33.
 
 AMONG THE BIRDS AND MAMMALS 97 
 
 Some birds, who are ill-endowed from a musical point 
 of view, have their wing feathers or tails peculiarly 
 developed and stiffened, and are able to produce with 
 them a strange snapping or cracking sound. Thus 
 several species of snipe make drumming or "bleating" 
 noises something like the bleat of a goat with their 
 narrowed tails as they descend in flight. 1 Magpies have 
 a still more curious method of call, by rapping on dry 
 and sonorous branches, which they use not only to attract 
 the female, but also to charm her. We may say that 
 these birds perform instrumental music. 2 
 
 The exercise of vocal power among birds seems to be 
 complementary to the development of accessory plumes 
 and ornaments. All our finest singing birds are plainly 
 coloured, with no crests, neck or tail plumes to display. 
 The gorgeously ornamented birds of the tropics have 
 no song, and those which expend much energy in display 
 of plumage, as the turkey and peacocks, have com- 
 paratively an insignificant development of voice. 3 The 
 extraordinary manner in which birds display their 
 plumage at the time of courting is well known. Let us 
 take one example the courtship of the Argus pheasant. 
 This bird is noted for the extreme beauty of the male's 
 plumage. Its courtship has been beautifully observed 
 by H. O. Forbes 4 
 
 " It is the habit of this bird to make a large circus, some ten 
 or twelve feet in diameter, in the forest, which it clears of every 
 
 1 Wallace, Darwinism, p. 284; also J. Lewis Bonhote, The Birds of 
 Britain, p. 319. 
 
 1 Letourneau, Evolution of Marriage, pp. 14-15. 
 
 8 Wallace, Darwinism, p. 287. 
 
 4 H. O. Forbes, A Naturalist's Wanderings, p. 131 ; quoted by Have- 
 lock Ellis, Psychology of Sex, Vol. III. pp. 33-34. 
 
 H
 
 98 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 leaf and twig and branch, till the ground is perfectly swept and 
 garnished. On the margin of this circus there is invariably a 
 projecting branch or high arched rest, at a few feet elevation from 
 the ground on which the female bird takes its place, while in the 
 ring the male the male bird alone possesses great decoration 
 shows off all its magnificence for the gratification and pleasure 
 of his consort, and to exalt himself in her eyes." 
 
 In this picture we have all the characteristic features 
 of the display of personal beauty in which many birds 
 delight. Any one may see such performances for them- 
 selves. The male chaffinch, for instance, will place him- 
 self in front of the female that she may admire at her 
 ease his red throat and blue head; the bullfinch swells 
 out his breast to display the crimson feathers, twisting 
 his black tail from side to side; the goldfinch sways his 
 body, and quickly turns his slightly expanded wings first 
 to one side, then to the other, with a golden flashing 
 effect. 1 Even birds of less ornamental plumage are 
 accustomed to strut and show themselves off before the 
 females. Birds often assemble in large numbers to com- 
 pete in beauty before pairing. The Tetras cuspido of 
 Florida and the little grouse of Germany and Scan- 
 dinavia do this. The latter have daily amorous assem- 
 blies, or cours d'amour, of great length, which are 
 renewed every year in the month of May. 2 It seems 
 certain that this aesthetic display is conscious and pre- 
 meditated ; for while most pheasants parade before their 
 females, two of the species the Crossoptilon auritum 
 and the Phasianus Wallichii which are of dull colour, 
 
 1 Darwin, Descent of Man, p. 438. 
 
 * Epinas, Soc. animates, p. 326; and Letourneau, Evolution of 
 Marriage, p. 14.
 
 AMONG THE BIRDS AND MAMMALS 99 
 
 refrain from doing so, being apparently conscious of 
 their modest livery. 1 
 
 Certain birds are not content alone with the display 
 of natural ornament, but make use of further aesthetic 
 appeal in the construction of their homes in a truly 
 beautiful manner. Some species of humming-birds are 
 said to decorate the exterior of their nests in great taste 
 with lichens, feathers, etc. The bower-birds of Australia 
 construct bowers on the ground, ornamented with shell, 
 feathers, bones and leaves. Both sexes take part in the 
 building of these abodes of love, which are used for the 
 courting parades. But an even more delightful example 
 of the rare sexual delicacy in courtship is recorded by 
 M. O. Beccari of a bird of Paradise of New Guinea, the 
 Amblyornis inornata. 2 
 
 "This wonderful and beautiful bird constructs a little conical 
 hut to protect his amours, and in front of this he arranges a lawn, 
 carpeted with moss, the greenness of which he relieves by scatter- 
 ing on it various bright coloured objects, such as berries, grains, 
 flowers, pebbles and shells. More than this, when the flowers are 
 faded, he takes great care to replace them, so that the eye may 
 be always agreeably flattered. These curious constructions are 
 solid, lasting for several years, and probably serving for several 
 birds." 
 
 It is, I think, by such cases as these that we may come 
 to realise the extraordinary power of sex-hunger. It 
 seems to me that many of us are still walking in sleep; 
 fear holds our eyes from the truth. But as we look back 
 to the complex and often beautiful manifestations of 
 love's actions among our animal ancestors, we begin to 
 
 1 Darwin, Descent of Man, p. 438 ; Letourneau, op. cit., p. 13. 
 1 Annali del Mtiseo civico di storia naturale di Genova, t. IX. fasc. 3-4, 
 '877, quoted by Letourneau, whose account I give; op. cit., p. 14. 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 perceive that unanalysable something called " beauty," 
 which is the glory that has arisen out of that first simple 
 impelling hunger, which drove the male cell and the 
 female cell to unite. This is how I see things Life 
 knows no development except through Love. 
 
 II. Further Examples of Courtship, Marriage, and 
 the Family among Birds 
 
 It is especially upon the efflorescence of male beauty 
 among birds that Darwin founded his celebrated theory 
 of sexual selection. The motley of display seems end- 
 less, beautiful plumes, elongated feathery tresses, neck- 
 ruffs, breast-shields, brightly-coloured cowls and wattles 
 occur with marvellous richness of variety. 
 
 Now, can we accept the Darwinian theory, and believe 
 that all these appendages of beauty, as well as the sexual 
 weapons, powers of song and movement, have been 
 developed through the preference of the females? the 
 stronger and more ornamental males becoming in this 
 way the parents of each successive generation. Wallace, 
 as is well known, opposed Darwin's view, preferring to 
 regard sexual selection as a manifestation of natural 
 selection. He has been followed by other naturalists, 
 who have denied this creative power of love, being 
 unable to credit conscious choice by the females of the 
 most gifted males. The controversy on the question has 
 been long and at times violent. Yet, it would seem, as 
 so often happens in all disagreements, that the difference 
 in opinion is more apparent than founded on the facts. 
 There is really no difficulty if once we understand the
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES AMONG BIRDS 101 
 
 true significance of courtship. What this is I have tried 
 to make clear. During the excitement of pairing the 
 male birds are in a condition of the most perfect develop- 
 ment, and possess an enormous store of superabundant 
 vitality; this, as may readily be understood, may well 
 express itself in brilliant colours and superfluities of 
 ornamental plumage, as also in song, in dancing, in love 
 tournaments and in battles. The fact that we have to 
 remember is that the female is most easily won by the 
 male, who, being himself most charged with sex desire 
 and through this means reaching the finest develop- 
 ment is able to create a corresponding intoxication in 
 her, and thus, by producing in both the most perfect 
 condition, favours the chances of reproduction. There 
 is no need whatever to suppose any conscious choice or 
 special aesthetic perception on the part of the females. 
 Great effects are everywhere produced in Nature by 
 simple causes. The female responds to the stimulus of 
 the right male at the right moment that is really the 
 whole matter. 1 
 
 In these instances (brought forward in the previous 
 section of this chapter) of the universal hunger of sex, 
 which are fairly typical and are as complete as my space 
 will allow, certain facts have become clear. In the first 
 place we have seen something of the strong driving of 
 the procreative function, which is the guarantee of the 
 continuation and development of life. The importance 
 
 1 Havelock Ellis, Psychology of Sex, Vol. III. pp. 18-24, has discussed 
 this question at some length. The brief account I have given is a 
 summary of his view. I take this opportunity of gratefully acknow- 
 ledging the great help I have gained from the illuminating and valuable 
 works of Mr. Ellis.
 
 102 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 of the result to be gained explains the diverse and 
 elaborate phenomena of courtship. The higher we 
 ascend in the animal kingdom the stronger does the sex- 
 appetite become : it vibrates in the nerve-centres, giving 
 rise to violent emotions which intensify all the physical 
 and psychic activities. Love is the great creative force. 
 It awakens impressions and desires in the individual, 
 giving rise to what may be called " experiments in 
 creative self-expression," to the energy of which we owe 
 the varied and marvellous phenomena in animal life. 
 
 A further cause arising from the development of love 
 is certainly of not less importance it is the beginning 
 of life not wholly individualistic. It is in the sexual pas- 
 sions we must seek the origins of all social growth. This 
 is evident. We have seen that sexual union induces 
 durable association between the female and the male 
 for the object of rearing the young. Here already we 
 find that truth, which it is the chief purpose of this book 
 to make plain, that the individual exists for the race. 
 This is the new and practical morality of the biological 
 view, which regards the individual as primarily the host 
 and servant of the seed of life. And this is really of the 
 greatest benefit to the individual. From this service 
 to the future arises the family and the home. The 
 familial instinct, more or less developed, may be traced 
 far back in the scale of life; and as it gains in strength 
 it extends from the family into a wider social love, which 
 in some species results in the forming of societies 
 grouped together for mutual protection and co-operation 
 in communal activities. A rough outline of society is 
 thus found established already in the animal kingdom.
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES AMONG BIRDS 103 
 
 Just as there were many different forms of sexual 
 associations among our animal ancestors, so we may 
 observe the two chief forms of human societies, the 
 matriarchate and the patriarchate or the maternal and 
 paternal family. It is the former that is the most fre- 
 quent. This is what we should expect. The female, the 
 mother, as the natural centre of the family, the male, 
 her servant, in the procreative act; but apart from this, 
 we find him most frequently following personal interests ; 
 the female's love for the young is stronger and more 
 developed than his. I lay stress upon this fact, for it 
 shows how strongly planted in woman is the maternal 
 instinct. I doubt if any woman can ever find true expres- 
 sion for her nature apart from motherhood. It isj in 
 these past histories of life's development that we may 
 find the key for its purpose and meaning to us. 
 
 There is another point of special importance to us in 
 estimating the true place of woman in society. This 
 early position of the female proves conclusively (as we 
 shall see more clearly later when we come to study the 
 primitive human family) the importance of the mother 
 and her children as the founders of society. Woman, 
 by reason of her more intimate connection with the 
 children and the home, became the centre of the social 
 group, while the males, less bound by domestic ties, were 
 able to wander, but came back to the home, driven by 
 their sexual needs to return to the female. But without 
 giving more time here to this question, to which I shall 
 return later, there is a further consideration, arising from 
 our study of the family habits among the birds and 
 mammals, that now must claim our attention. Certain
 
 104 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 examples I have come across, in particular among birds, 
 have forced into my mind doubt of a widely-accepted 
 belief. I put forward my opinion with great diffidence; 
 it is so easy to interpret facts by the bias of one's own 
 wishes. I know that the cases I have found and studied 
 are probably few in comparison with those I have missed ; 
 but to me they seem of such importance, by the light 
 they throw on the whole question of the position of the 
 sexes, that it seems necessary to bring them forward. 
 
 We must go back to the position we left, some time 
 back, of the differences between the secondary sexual 
 characters of the male and the female. We have fol- 
 lowed the development of the male, under the action of 
 love's selection, from his first insignificant position in 
 the reproductive process; we have seen him becoming 
 larger than the female, strong, jealous and masterful 
 in fact, a kind of fighting specialisation, with special 
 weapons of defence for sex-battles. This is the general 
 condition among mammals. Among birds another set 
 of secondary character, that may be classed as beauty- 
 tests, are more frequent. Now two questions must be 
 answered. Can it be proved that all these acquired 
 developments of strength and of beauty belong exclu- 
 sively to the males that they must be regarded as proof 
 of the greater tendency to diversity in the male, which 
 has carried him further in the evolution process than the 
 female ? Can it also be proved that such highly-marked 
 differentiation between the sexes is in all cases necessary 
 to reproduction that this heightened male attractive- 
 ness is a progressive force in the service of the race? 
 If so, examples will surely point in the direction of
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES AMONG BIRDS 105 
 
 finding that among those species where the sexual char- 
 acters of the male, whether of strength or of beauty, 
 are most different from the female, sexual love will find 
 its most perfect expression; and further, that the males 
 in such case will be the most highly developed the best 
 parents and the most social in their habits. The whole 
 question, I think it must be evident, turns upon this 
 being proved. 
 
 But in the face of the facts before us this is just what 
 we do not find. Among birds (who in erotic development 
 far excel all other animals, not, indeed, excepting the 
 human species, and thus must be accepted as affording 
 the most perfect examples of sexual development) we 
 have seen that the cases are not few in which the female 
 equals, or even exceeds the male in size and in strength. 
 This is so with the curlew, the merlin, the dunlin, the 
 black-tailed goodwit, which is considerably larger than 
 the male, and the osprey, where the female is also more 
 spotted on the breast : these examples must be added to 
 those I have already given (page 58). 
 
 If we turn now to the beauty-test of brilliancy of 
 plumage, we may observe an even larger number of 
 examples of almost identical likeness between the sexes. 
 Among British birds alone there are no fewer than 382 
 species, or sub-species, 1 in which the female closely 
 resembles the male. In some few of these examples, it 
 
 1 These facts are taken from Mr. J. Lewis Bonhote's British Birds. 
 I may add that in many species where the sexes are alike the young 
 are quite different from the parents, a fact which seems to have escaped 
 the notice of those who say that the young birds resemble the female. 
 A very curious instance is furnished by the greater spotted wood- 
 pecker, where the sexes are similar, but the female lacks the red crown 
 of the male ; and yet the young of both sexes have this red crown.
 
 106 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 is true, the colours of the female are slightly duller, and 
 in others the female is rather smaller than the male, but 
 the difference in each case is very slight. It is specially 
 significant to note that this similarity of plumage occurs 
 in some of the most beautiful of our birds, as, for 
 instance, the kingfisher and the jay, where, the brilliant 
 dresses of the sexes are practically alike; the female 
 robin shares the beauty of the male; in all the families 
 of the charming tits the sexes are alike; this is also the 
 case with the roller-bird with its gaily-coloured plumage ; 
 and there is no difference between the white elegance 
 of the female and the male swan. 
 
 In the presence of such examples it seems to me 
 impossible to refrain from thinking that there is a mis- 
 take somewhere, and that less importance is to be 
 attached to the secondary sexual characters of the male 
 than is generally imagined. Grant that these cases are 
 exceptional; but if we once admit that among many 
 species and these highly developed in sex the female 
 shows no evidence of retarded development, we shall be 
 forced also to break once for all with many beliefs and 
 trite theories which have inspired on this subject of the 
 sexual differences between the female and the male 
 so much dogmatic statement and so many unproved 
 assumptions. 
 
 I am not forgetting the gorgeous plumage of some 
 male birds, and the contrast they afford with the plain 
 females. What I wish to show is that such adornments 
 cannot be regarded as a necessary adjunct to the male 
 an expression, in fact, of the male constitution. Nor are 
 they, as we shall find later, necessary, or even beneficial
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES AMONG BIRDS 107 
 
 in the highest degree, to the reproductive process. 1 1 
 have an even more interesting case to bring forward, 
 which to me seems to point very conclusively to what I 
 am trying to prove. The phalaropes, both the grey and 
 red-necked species, have a peculiarity unique among 
 British birds, although shared by several other groups 
 in different parts of the world. 2 Among these birds the 
 role of the sexes is reversed. The duties of incubation 
 and rearing the young are conducted entirely by the male 
 bird, and in correlation with this habit the female does 
 all the courting, is stronger and more pugnacious than 
 the male, and is also brighter in plumage. In colour 
 they are a pale olive very thickly spotted and streaked 
 with black. The male is the psychical mother, the female 
 taking no notice of the nest after laying the eggs. Fre- 
 quently at the beginning of the breeding season she is 
 accompanied by more than one male, so that it is evident 
 that polyandry is practised. 8 
 
 Now, if such an example of the reversal of the sexes 
 has any meaning at all, it seems to me that we find the 
 conclusion forced upon us that the secondary sexual 
 characters are not necessarily different in the male and 
 the female, but depend on the form of the union or 
 marriage and the conditions of the family. Professor 
 Lester Ward, in connection with his Gynaeocratic theory, 
 fully discusses this question. His conclusion is that this 
 
 1 This seems to be the position taken by Professor Geddes and 
 J. A. Thomson in Evolution of Sex, pp. 4-5. 
 
 2 Several examples are mentioned by Wallace, Darwinism, p. 281. 
 He, however, brings them forward in quite a different connection to 
 prove his theory of the protective duller colours of the female birds. 
 
 3 My facts of the phalaropes are taken from J. Lewis Bonhote's 
 British Birds, pp. 314-315.
 
 108 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 superiority of the males in strength and size among 
 mammals and in beauty of plumage (which is also a 
 symbol of force) among birds, instead of indicating an 
 arrested development in the females indicates an over- 
 development in the males. " Male efflorescence" is the 
 apt term by which Professor Ward designates it. He 
 says 
 
 "The whole phenomena of so-called male superiority bears a 
 certain stamp of spuriousness and sham. It is to natural history 
 what chivalry was to human history ; . . . a sort of make-believe, 
 play, or sport of nature of an airy unsubstantial character. The 
 male side of nature shot up and blossomed out in an unnatural, 
 fantastic way, cutting loose from the real business of life, and 
 attracting a share of attention wholly disproportionate to its real 
 importance." * 
 
 This may, I think, be regarded as a picturesque over- 
 statement of what is in the main true. Male efflorescence 
 has drawn upon itself an excessive importance, through 
 what we may call its dramatic insistence upon our notice. 
 It is plain, too, that the more we examine the question 
 the more we are forced to the one conclusion. It is 
 certainly very suggestive, as Professor Ward points out, 
 that those mammals and birds in which the process of 
 male differentiation has gone farthest, such as lions, 
 buffaloes, stags and sheep among mammals, and pea- 
 cocks, pheasants, turkey-cocks and barn-door-cocks 
 among birds, do practically nothing for their families. 
 Among the gallinacese it is the female who undertakes 
 the whole burden of incubation, and feeding and caring 
 for the young ; during this time the male is running after 
 adventures, in some cases he returns when his offspring 
 
 1 Pure Sociology, p. 331.
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES AMONG BIRDS 109 
 
 are old enough to follow him and form a docile band 
 under his government. 1 The conduct of the male turkey 
 is much worse, and he often devours the eggs, which 
 have to be hidden by the mother, while later the offspring 
 are only saved from his attacks by large numbers of 
 females and the young uniting in troops led by the 
 mothers. 2 The polygamous families of monkeys are 
 always subject to patriarchal rule. The father is the 
 tyrant of the band an egoist. Any protection he 
 affords to the family is in his own interest, frequently he 
 expels the young males as soon as they are old enough 
 to give him trouble, the daughters, in some cases, he 
 adds to his harem; only when old age has rendered him 
 powerless are the tables turned, and the young, for so 
 long oppressed, rebel and sometimes assassinate their 
 tyrannous father. There is very little evidence of 
 paternal affection among mammals. Even among 
 monogamous species, where the male keeps with the 
 female, he does so more as chief than as father. At 
 times he is much inclined to commit infanticides and to 
 destroy the offspring, which, by absorbing the attention 
 of his partner, thwart his amours. Thus among the large 
 felines the mother is obliged to hide her young ones from 
 the male during the first few days after birth to prevent 
 his devouring them. 8 
 
 1 Epinas, Soc. animates, p. 422. 
 
 * Audubon, Seines de la Nature, t. I er , p. 29. I may say, that at the time 
 of writing this, while staying in the country, I have had an opportunity 
 of watching these bands of female turkeys with their young. Their fear 
 at the approach of the strutting noisy male is very manifest. On such 
 occasions they at once seek shelter. I once saw them fly into a church. 
 The females invariably keep together. I have never seen a single 
 mother with her young. 
 
 3 Letourneau, Evolution of Marriage, chapter on the " Family among 
 Animals," pp. 29-34, from which these cases are taken.
 
 110 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 It is important to note that among birds the fathers 
 devoid of affection generally belong to the less intelli- 
 gent species. We may, therefore, see that these violent 
 polygamous amours of the male, which result in the 
 development of the more extravagant of the second 
 sexual characters, are not really favourable to the 
 development of the species. They belong to a lower 
 grade of sexual evolution. And a further proof, it seems 
 to me, is furnished as we note that, in spite of this 
 tyranny, the females show considerable affection for these 
 tyrant males the chimpanzee, for example, proving 
 this by zealously plucking the lice from her master's 
 coat, which with monkeys is a mark of very special atten- 
 tion. 1 The most oppressed females are, as a rule, the 
 most faithful wives. Thus the females of the guanaco 
 lamas, if their master chances to be wounded or killed, 
 do not run away; they hasten to his side, bleating and 
 offering themselves to the shots of the hunter in order to 
 shield him, while, in sharp contrast, if a female is killed, 
 the male makes off with all his troop he thinks only 
 of himself. 2 Must we say, then, that the female animal 
 likes servitude ? It is, of course, because the aggressive 
 male, being the one to arouse her sexual passions, enables 
 her to fulfil her work of procreation. This may be. 
 But, granting this explanation, it must be allowed that 
 love under such conditions evidences a deterioration, not 
 
 1 Epinas, Soc. animates, p. 443. In this connection I may mention 
 the fact that in Southern Spain, where the women are noted for their 
 love of their children, I have often seen mothers sitting at their doors 
 for several hours, extracting lice from the heads and bodies of their 
 children. I once saw a beautiful flamenco, (Sevillian gipsy) performing 
 this task for her lover. 
 
 * Letourneau, Evolution of Marriage, p. 32.
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES AMONG BIRDS 111 
 
 alone in the size and strength of the female, but in mental 
 capacity love at a much lower level than those beautiful 
 cases in which the sexes are more alike, equal in capacity, 
 and co-operate together in the race work. 
 
 Yet in justice it must be added that even the most 
 polygamous males are not always devoid of affection. 
 I once saw on a Derbyshire high-road a cock show 
 evident signs of sorrow over the death of one of his 
 wives, who had been killed by a passing motor. He 
 refused to leave the spot where her body lay, and walked 
 round and round it, uttering sharp cries of grief. Nor 
 are sexual lapses confined to the males; a female will 
 take advantage of a moment when the attention of the 
 old cocks is entirely absorbed by the anxiety of a fight, 
 to run off with a young male. 1 Even among species 
 noted for their conjugal fidelity this sometimes happens. 
 Female pigeons, for example, have been known to fall 
 violently in love with strange males, and this is especially 
 common if the legitimate spouse is wounded or becomes 
 weak. 3 Darwin records a very curious case of a sudden 
 passion appearing in a female wild-duck, who, after 
 breeding with her own mallard for a couple of seasons, 
 deserted him for a stranger a male pintail. 
 
 "It was evidently a case of love at first sight, for she swam 
 about the newcomer caressingly, though he appeared evidently 
 alarmed and averse to her overtures of affection. From that hour 
 she forgot her old partner. Winter passed by, and the next spring 
 the pintail seemed to have become a convert to her blandishments, 
 for they nested and produced seven or eight young ones." s 
 
 1 Darwin, Descent of Man, p. 399. 
 * Ibid., p. 234. 
 3 Ibid., p. 455.
 
 112 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 I am tempted to wait to consider the immense signifi- 
 cance of such cases as these in the analogy they bear to 
 our own sudden preferences in love. The question as 
 to the moral conduct of this duck opens up suggestions of 
 those cases of exceptional love-passions, which all our 
 existing institutions, laws and penalties have never been 
 able to crush. The desire for sexual variety is the 
 ultimate cause of all sexual lapses and irrationalities. 
 It is a mistake to think that this is a condition peculiar to 
 mankind and the result of civilisation. If this were so 
 it would be easier to deal with ; but before these deeply- 
 rooted instincts of sexual hunger we are often powerless. 
 I know of no question that needs to be faced by women 
 more than this one. I would like to say more about it. 
 But already this first section of my book has exceeded 
 its limits. I must, therefore, pass on, to draw attention 
 to the fact, clearly proved by the case of this wild-duck's 
 love, as well as by many other examples, that it is the 
 females, who, exercising their right of selection much 
 more than the males, introduce individual preference into 
 their sexual relationships. The difficulty is that such 
 preference, of profound biological importance, is often 
 thwarted among civilised people by considerations of 
 property and the accepted morality. From this stand- 
 point permanent marriage may often fail to do justice to 
 the sexual needs both of the individual and the wider 
 needs of the race. Nature has no care for sex-morals as 
 we understand them, any mode of sexual union is equally 
 right so long as it serves the race-process. But men 
 have set up a whole host of prohibitions and conventions 
 the " thou shalt nots " of society and religion. Which
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES AMONG BIRDS 113 
 
 are we to follow? Which is the wheat and which the 
 tares, that must be garnered or sifted from our loves? 
 
 It is important to notice that among mammals, as 
 among men, conjugal fidelity is modified by the con- 
 ditions of life. An animal belonging to a species habit- 
 ually monogamic may easily change under the pressure 
 of external causes and adopt polygamy, and, in some 
 cases, polyandry. The shoveler duck, though normally 
 monogamic, is said l to practise polyandry when males 
 are in excess; two males being in constant and amicable 
 attendance on the female, without sign of jealousy. 
 Wild-ducks, again, which are strictly monogamous, good 
 parents, and very highly developed in social qualities 
 when in a wild state, become loosely polygamous and 
 indifferent to their offspring under domestication. Civil- 
 isation, in this case, depraves the birds, as often it does 
 men. 
 
 But enough has now been said. We shall find later 
 how far the facts we have learnt of the position of the 
 female and the sexual relationship, as we have studied 
 them in these examples from the animal kingdom, will 
 apply to us and to our loves. We have now to study 
 marriage and the family as it exists among primitive 
 peoples. We shall find a close resemblance in the court- 
 ship customs and the sexual and familial associations to 
 those we have seen to be practised by our pre-human 
 ancestors. The same resemblance will persist when, 
 lastly, we come to investigate the same institutions among 
 civilised races, up to our own. Indeed, we may have to 
 admit that, in some directions, love is not even yet as 
 
 1 J. G. Millais, Natural History of British Ducks, pp. 8, 13.
 
 114 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 finely developed with us humans as it is among birds. 
 It is in the loves of birds, as I believe, that we must seek 
 hints to that evolution in fineness, which has still to come 
 in our love. 
 
 One thing more. It refers to the disputed question of 
 the differentiation of the sexes by the action of love's- 
 selection. It is a truth that I wish as strongly as I am 
 able to emphasise. We cannot learn to know love's 
 selective powers by enclosing its action within the narrow 
 circle of our preconceived ideas. Instead of limiting its 
 power we should extend it without hindrance of any 
 form to the female as well as the male ; to the woman 
 as to the man. We should regard nothing as impossible, 
 no development of either sex too great to be accom- 
 plished, knowing that all progress is possible to love's 
 power. Exceptional cases, then, irregularities, it may 
 be, in sexual expression will henceforth no longer sur- 
 prise us ; they will find their place in the infinite order of 
 life. Such examples may come to be regarded as filling 
 in the chain ; they form intermediate stages and also mark 
 the reappearance of earlier manifestations of the sexual 
 hunger. The new morality of love, which is having its 
 birth amongst us to-day, will be deeper and wider than 
 the old morality, because it will be founded on surer 
 knowledge.
 
 PART II 
 
 HISTORICAL SECTION 
 
 I 2
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE MOTHER-AGE CIVILISATION 
 
 I. Progress from Lower to Higher Forms of the 
 Family Relationship 
 
 Primitive human love The same domination of sex-needs in man as 
 among the animals Different conditions of expression Acquisi- 
 tion of a new element The individuation of love Sex uninter- 
 ruptedly interesting The human need for sexual variety The per- 
 sonal end of passion Primitive sex-customs and forms of marriage 
 Superabundance of evidence An attempt to group the periods to 
 be considered An early period in which man developed from his 
 ape-like ancestors Illustrations from primitive savages First 
 formation of tribal groups Second period Mother-descent and 
 mother-rights The position of women The importance of this 
 early matriarchate The transitional period from mother-right to 
 father-right The assertion of the male force in the person of the 
 woman's brother This alien position of the husband and father 
 The formation of the patriarchal family The change a gradual 
 one and dependent upon property Civilisation started with the 
 woman as the dominant partner Traces of mother-descent found 
 in all parts of the world Evidence of folk-lore as legends Examples 
 of mother-descent in the early history of England, Scotland, and 
 Ireland The freedom enjoyed by women -Survival of mother- 
 right customs among the ancient Hebrews. 
 
 II. The Matriarchal Family in America 
 
 Traces of mother-descent frequent in the American continent Mother- 
 rule still in force in some districts Morgan's description of the 
 system among the Iroquois The customs of Iroquois tribes 
 Communal dwellings The authority of the women The creeping 
 in of changes leading to father-right The system of government 
 among the Wyandots Further examples of the sexual relation- 
 ships The interesting customs of the Seri tribe The probation 
 of the bridegroom His service to the bride's family Stringent 
 character of the conditions imposed The freedom granted to the 
 bride A decisive example of the position of power held by women 
 The Pueblos The customs of these tribes Monogamic marriage 
 The happy family relationship This the result of the supremacy 
 of the wife in the home Conclusions to be drawn from these 
 examples of mother-rights among the Aboriginal tribes of America 
 Women the dominant force in this stage of civilisation Why this 
 early power of women has been denied A meeting with a native 
 Iroquois He testifies to the high status and power of the Indian 
 women. 
 
 117
 
 118 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 III. Further Examples of the Matriarchal Family in 
 Australia, India and other Countries 
 
 The question of the position of women during the mother-age a disputed 
 one Bachofen s opinion An early period of gynaeocracy This 
 view not accepted Need for unprejudiced opinion Women the 
 first owners of property Their power dependent on this- 
 Further examples of mother-right customs The maternal family 
 in Australia -Communal marriage Mother-right in India The 
 influence of Brahmanism Traces of the maternal family Some 
 interesting marriage customs Polyandry Examples of its 
 practice Great polyandrous centres The freedom enjoyed by 
 women The causes of polyandry Matriarchal polyandry The 
 interesting custom of the Nayars The Malays of Sumatra The 
 ambel-anak marriage Letter from a private correspondent It 
 
 Sroves the high status of women under the early customs of mother- 
 escent Traces of the maternal family among the Arabs The 
 custom of beena marriage Position of women in the Mariana 
 Islands Rebellion of the husbands Use of religious symbolism 
 The slave-wife Her consecration to the Bossum or god in Guinea. 
 
 IV. The Transition to Father-right 
 
 The position of women in Burma The code of Manu Women's activity 
 in trade Conditions of free-divorce Traces of mother-descent in 
 Japan In China In Madagascar The power of royal princesses 
 Tyrannical authority of the princesses of Loango In Africa descent 
 through women the rule Illustrations The transition to father- 
 right The power passing from the mother into the hand of the 
 maternal uncle Proofs from the customs of the African tribes 
 The rise of father-right Reasons which led to the change Marriage 
 by capture and marriage by purchase The payment of a bride- 
 price Marriage with a slave-wife The conflict between the old 
 and the new system Illustration by the curious marriage customs 
 of the Hassanyeh Arabs of the White Nile Father-right dependent 
 on economic considerations R6sum6 General conclusions to be 
 drawn from the mother-age Its relation to the present revolt of 
 women The bright side of father-right.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE MOTHER-AGE CIVILISATION 
 
 I. Progress from Lower to Higher Forms of the 
 Family Relationship 
 
 " The reader who grasps that a thousand years is but a small period 
 in the evolution of man, and yet realises how diverse were morality 
 and customs in matters of sex in the period which this essay treats of " 
 ('. e. Mother- Age Civilisation), "will hardly approach modern social 
 problems with the notion that there is a rigid and unchangeable code 
 of right and wrong. He will mark, in the first place, a continuous flux 
 in all social institutions and moral standards ; but in the next place, if 
 he be a real historical student, he will appreciate the slowness of this 
 steady secular change ; he will perceive how almost insensible it is in 
 the lifetime of individuals, and although he may work for social 
 reforms, he will refrain from constructing social Utopias." Professor 
 KARL PEARSON. 
 
 OUR study of the sexual associations among animals 
 has brought us to understand how large a part the grati- 
 fication of the sex-instincts plays in animal life, equalling 
 and, indeed, overmastering and directing the hunger 
 instinct for food. If we now turn to man we find the 
 same domination of sex-needs, but under different con- 
 ditions of expression. 1 Man not only loves, but he 
 knows that he loves; a new factor is added, and sex 
 itself is lifted to a plane of clear self-consciousness. 
 
 1 It is abundantly evident to any one who looks carefully into the 
 past that sex occupied a large share of the consciousness of primitive 
 races. The elaborate courtship rites and sex festivals alone give proof 
 of this. It is, unfortunately, impossible for me to follow this question 
 and give examples. I must refer the reader to H. Ellis's Psychology 
 of Sex, Vol. IIL pp. 34-44, where a number of typical cases are given 
 of the courtship customs of the primitive peoples. See also Thomas, 
 Sex and Society, chapter on " The Psychology of Exogamy," pp. 175-179. 
 
 119
 
 120 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 Pathways are opened up to great heights, but also to 
 great depths. 
 
 We must not, therefore, expect to take up our study 
 of primitive human sexual and familial associations at 
 the point where those of the mammals and birds leave 
 off. 1 We have with man to some extent to begin again, 
 so that it may appear, on a superficial view, that the first 
 steps now taken in love's evolution were in a backward 
 direction. But the fact is that the increased powers of 
 recollection and heightened complexity of nervous organ- 
 isation among men, led to different habits and social 
 customs, separating man radically in his love from the 
 animals. Man's instincts are very vague when com- 
 pared, for instance, with the beautiful love-habits of 
 birds; he is necessarily guided by conflicting forces, 
 inborn and acquired. Thus precisely by means of his 
 added qualities he took a new and personal, rather than 
 an instinctive, interest in sex ; and this after a time, even 
 if not at first, aroused a state of consciousness in love 
 which made sex uninterruptedly interesting in contrast 
 with the fixed pairing season among animals. Hence 
 
 1 This is the mistake that Westermark in his valuable History of 
 Human Marriage as well as many writers have fallen into; assuming 
 that because monogamy is found among man's nearest ancestors, the 
 anthropoid apes, primitive human groups must have had a tendency 
 towards monogamy. Whereas the exact opposite of this is true. 
 There is, it would seem, a deeply rooted dislike in studying sex matters 
 to face truth. This habit of fear explains the many elaborate efforts 
 undertaken to establish the theory that primitive races practised a 
 stricter sexual code than the facts prove. Letourneau, in The Evolution 
 of Marriage, appears to adopt this view, and forces evidence in trying 
 to prove the non-existence of a widespread early period of promiscuity 
 (pp. 37-44). Mention may be made, on the other side, of I wan Bloch, 
 who, writing from a different standpoint and much deeper psychology, 
 has no doubt at all of the early existence of, and even the continued 
 tendency towards, promiscuity. The Sexual Life of Our Times, pp. 
 188-195.
 
 PROGRESS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIP 121 
 
 arose also a human and different need for sexual variety, 
 much stronger than can ever have been experienced by 
 the animals, which resulted in a constant tendency to- 
 wards sexual licence, of a more or less pronounced pro- 
 miscuity, in group marriage and other forms of sexual 
 association which developed from it. 
 
 This is so essential to our understanding of human 
 love, that I wish I could follow it further. All the 
 elaborate phenomena of sex in the animal kingdom have 
 for their end the reproduction of the species. But in the 
 case of man there is another purpose, often transcending 
 this end the independent significance of sex emotion, 
 both on the physical and psychical side, to the individual. 
 It seems to me that women have special need to-day to 
 remember this personal end of human passion. This is 
 not, however, the place to enter upon this question. 
 
 I have now to attempt to trace as clearly as I can the 
 history of primitive human love. To do this it will be 
 necessary to refer to comparative ethnography. 1 We 
 must investigate the sex customs, forms of marriage and 
 the family, still to be found among primitive peoples, 
 scattered about the world. These early forms of the 
 sexual relationship were once of much wider occurrence, 
 and they have left unmistakable traces in the history of 
 many races. Further evidence is furnished by folk 
 stories and legends. In peasant festivals and dances 
 and in many religious ceremonies we may find survivals 
 of primitive sex customs. They may be traced in our 
 
 * Our knowledge of the habits of primitive races has increased greatly 
 of late years. The classical works of Bachofen, Waitz, Kulischer, 
 Giraud-Teulon, von Hellwald, Krauss, Ploss-Bartels and other ethno- 
 logists, and the investigation of Morgan, McLennan, Muller, and many 
 others, have opened up wide sources of information.
 
 122 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 common language, especially in the words used for sex 
 and kin relationships. We can also find them shadowed 
 in certain of our marriage rites and sex habits to-day. 
 The difficulty does not rest in paucity of material, but 
 rather in its superabundance far too extensive to allow 
 anything like adequate treatment within the space of a 
 brief and necessarily insufficient chapter. For this 
 reason I shall limit my inquiry almost wholly to those 
 cases which have some facts to tell us of the position 
 occupied by women in the primitive family. I shall try 
 to avoid falling into the error of a one-sided view. Facts 
 are more important here than reflections, and, as far as 
 possible, I shall let these speak for themselves. 
 
 In order to group these facts it may be well to give 
 first a rough outline of the periods to be considered 
 
 i. A very early period, during which man developed 
 from his ape-like ancestors. This may be called the 
 pre-matriarchal stage. With this absolutely primitive 
 period we are concerned only in so far as to suggest how 
 a second more social period developed from it. The 
 idea of descent was so feeble that no permanent family 
 groups existed, and the family remains in the primitive 
 biological relation of male, female and offspring. The 
 Botocudos, Fuegians, West Australians and Veddahs of 
 Ceylon represent this primitive stage, more or less com- 
 pletely. They have apparently not reached the stage 
 where the fact of kinship expresses itself in maternal 
 social organisation. 1 A yet lower level may be seen 
 among certain low tribes in the interior of Borneo abso- 
 
 1 Thomas, Sex and Society, p. 68, and Letourneau, Evolution of 
 Marriage, pp. 269-270, 320.
 
 PROGRESS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIP 128 
 
 lutely primitive savages, who are probably the remains 
 of the negroid peoples, believed to be the first inhabitants 
 of Malaya. These people roam the forests in hordes, 
 like monkeys ; the males carry off the females and couple 
 with them in the thickets. The families pass the night 
 under the trees, and the children are suspended from the 
 branches in a sort of net. As soon as the young are 
 capable of caring for themselves, the parents turn them 
 adrift as the animals do. 1 
 
 It was doubtless thus, in a way similar to the great 
 monkeys, that man first lived. With the chimpanzee 
 these hordes never become large, for the male leader of 
 the tribe will not endure the rivalry of the young males, 
 and drives them away. But man, more gregarious in 
 his habits, would tend to form larger groups, his con- 
 sciousness developing slowly, as he learnt to control his 
 brute appetites and jealousy of rivals by that impulse 
 towards companionship, which, rooted in the sexual 
 needs, broadens out into the social instincts. 
 
 It is evident that the change from these scattered 
 hordes to the organised tribal groups was dependent 
 upon the mothers and their children. The women would 
 be more closely bound to the family than the men. The 
 bond between mother and child, with its long dependence 
 on her care, made woman the centre of the family. The 
 mother and her children, and her children's children, and 
 so on indefinitely in the female line, constituted the 
 group. Relationship was counted alone through them, 
 and, at a later stage, inheritance of property passed 
 through them. And in this way, through the woman, 
 
 1 Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation, p. 9.
 
 124 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 the low tribes passed into socially organised societies. 
 The men, on the other hand, not yet individualised as 
 husbands and fathers, held no rights or position in the 
 group of the women and their children. 
 
 2.. This leads us to the second period of mother- 
 descent and mother-rights. It is this phase of primitive 
 society that we have to investigate. Its interest to women 
 is evident. Just as we found in our first inquiry that, in 
 the beginnings of sexuality the female was of more im- 
 portance than the male, so now we shall find society 
 growing up around woman. It is a period whose history 
 may well give pride to all women. Her inventive facul- 
 ties, quickened by the stress of child-bearing and child- 
 rearing, primitive woman built up, by her own activities 
 and her own skill, a civilisation which owed its institu- 
 tions and mother-right customs to her constructive genius, 
 rather than to the destructive qualities which belonged 
 to the fighting male. 
 
 3. But again we find, as in the animal kingdom, that 
 step by step the forceful male asserts himself. We come 
 to a third transitional period in which the male relatives 
 of the woman usually the brother, the maternal uncle- 
 have usurped the chief power in the group. Inheritance 
 still passes through the mother, but her influence is grow- 
 ing less. The right to dispose of women and the pro- 
 perty which goes with them is now used by the male 
 rulers of the group. The sex habits have changed; 
 endogamous unions, or kin marriages within the clan, 
 have given place to exogamy, where marriage only takes 
 place between members of different groups. But at first 
 the position of the husband and father is little changed;
 
 PROGRESS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIP 125 
 
 he marries into the wife's group and lives with her family, 
 where he has no property rights or control over his wife's 
 children, who are now under the rule of the uncle. 
 
 4. It is plain that this condition would not be perma- 
 nent. The male power had yet to advance further; the 
 child had to gain a father. We reach the patriarchal 
 period, in which descent through the male line has re- 
 placed the earlier custom. Woman's power, first passing 
 to her brother or other male relative, has been transferred 
 to the husband and father. This change of power did 
 not, of course, take place at once, and even under fully 
 developed father-right systems many traces of the old 
 mother-rights persist. 
 
 What it is necessary to fasten deeply in our minds is 
 this : the father as the head of the woman and her chil- 
 dren, the ruler of the house, was not the natural order of 
 the primitive human family. Civilisation started with 
 the woman being dominant the home-maker, the owner 
 of her children, the transmitter of property. It was 
 as will be made abundantly clear from the cases we shall 
 examine a much later economic question which led to 
 a reversal of this plan, and brought the rise of father- 
 right, with the father as the dominant partner; while the 
 woman sank back into an unnatural and secondary posi- 
 tion of economic dependence upon the man who was her 
 owner a position from which she has not even yet suc- 
 ceeded in freeing herself. 
 
 The maternal system of descent is found in all parts 
 of the world where social advance stands at a certain 
 level. This fact, added to the widespread traces the 
 custom has left in every civilisation, warrants the assump-
 
 126 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 tion that mother-right in all cases preceded father-right, 
 and has been, indeed, a stage of social growth for all 
 branches of the human race. 1 
 
 I shall not attempt to give the numerous traces of 
 
 mother-descent that are to be found in the early histories 
 
 of existing civilised nations, for to do this would entail 
 
 the writing of the whole chapter on this subject. For the 
 
 same reason I must reluctantly pass over the abundant 
 
 evidence of mother-right that is furnished in folk-lore, 
 
 in heroic legends, and in the fairy stories of our children. 
 
 These stories date back to a time long before written 
 
 history; they are known to all of us, and belong to all 
 
 countries in slightly different forms. We have regarded 
 
 them as fables; they are really survivals of customs and 
 
 practices once common to all society. Wherever we find 
 
 a king ruling as the son of a queen, because he is the 
 
 queen's husband, or because he marries a princess, we 
 
 have proof of mother-descent. The influence of the 
 
 mother over her son's marriage, the winning of a bride 
 
 by a task done by the wooer, the brother-sister marriage 
 
 so frequent in ancient mythologies, the interference of a 
 
 wise woman, and the many stories of virgin-births all 
 
 are survivals of mother-right customs. Similar evidence 
 
 is furnished by mother-goddesses, so often converted into 
 
 Christian local saints. I wish it were possible to follow 
 
 this subject, 2 whose interest offers rich rewards. Perhaps 
 
 1 This opinion is founded on the anthropological investigations 
 during the past half century. See Hartland, Primitive Paternity, Vol. I. 
 pp. 256-257; H. Ellis, Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. pp. 390-392, and 
 " The Changing Status of Women," Westminster Review, October 
 1886; Thomas, Sex and Society, p. 58, and Bloch, Sexual History of 
 our Times, pp. 190-196. 
 
 8 For a fuU and illuminative treatment of this subject I would refer 
 my readers to the essays of Professor Karl Pearson, The Chances of
 
 nowhere else can we gain so clear and vivid a picture as 
 in these ancient stories and legends of the early powerful 
 position of woman as the transmitter of inheritance and 
 guardian of property. 
 
 It may interest my readers to know that mother-descent 
 must once have prevailed in Britain. Among the Picts 
 of Scotland kingship was transmitted through women. 
 Bede tells us that down to his own time the early part 
 of the eighth century whenever a doubt arose as to the 
 succession, the Picts chose their king from the female 
 rather than from the male line. 1 Similar traces are 
 found in England : Canute, the Dane, when acknow- 
 ledged King of England, married Emma, the widow of 
 his predecessor Ethelred. Ethelbald, King of Kent, 
 married his stepmother, after the death of his father 
 Ethelbert; and, as late as the ninth century, Ethelbald, 
 King of the West Saxons, wedded Judith, the widow of 
 his father. Such marriages are intelligible only if we 
 suppose that the queen had the power of conferring the 
 kingdom upon her consort, which could only happen 
 where matrilineal descent was, or had been, recognised. 3 
 
 Death, Vol. II. " Woman as Witch : Evidences of Mother-Right in 
 the Customs of Mediaeval Witchcraft " ; " Ashiepattle, or Hans Seeks 
 his Luck"; " Kindred Group Marriage," Part I.; "The Mother-Age 
 Civilisation," Part II. ; " General Words for Sex and Kinship," Part III. ; 
 " Special Words for Sex and Relationship." In these suggestive 
 essays Professor Pearson has brought together a great number of facts 
 which give a new and charming significance to the early position of 
 women. Perhaps the most interesting essay is that of " Woman as 
 Witch," in which he shows that the beliefs and practices connected 
 with mediaeval witchcraft were really perverted rites, survivals of 
 mother-age customs. 
 
 1 Bede, II. 1-7. 
 
 * F. Frazer, Golden Bough, Pt. I. The Magic Art, Vol. II. pp. 282- 
 283. Canute's marriage was clearly one of policy : Emma was much 
 older than he was, she was then living in Normandy, and it is doubtful
 
 128 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 In Ireland (where mother-right must have been firmly 
 established, if Strabo's account of the free sexual rela- 
 tions of the people 1 is accepted) women retained a very 
 high position and much freedom, both before and after 
 marriage, to a late period. " Every woman," it was said, 
 " is to go the way she willeth freely," and after marriage 
 "she enjoyed a better position and greater freedom of 
 divorce than was afforded either by the Christian Church 
 or English common law." 
 
 Similar survivals of mother-right customs among the 
 ancient Hebrews are made familiar to us in Bible history. 
 To mention a few examples only : when Abraham sought 
 a wife for Isaac, presents were taken by the messenger to 
 induce the bride to leave her home; and these presents 
 were given to her mother and brothers. Jacob had to serve 
 Laban for fourteen years before he was permitted to 
 marry Leah and Rachel, 3 and six further years of service 
 were given for his cattle. Afterwards when he wished 
 to depart with his children and his wives, Laban made 
 the objection, "these daughters are my daughters, and 
 
 if the Danish king had ever seen her. Such marriages with the widow 
 of a king were common. The familiar example of Hamlet's uncle is 
 one, who, after murdering his brother, married his wife, and became 
 king. His acceptance by the people, in spite of his crime, is explained 
 if it was the old Danish custom for marriage with the king's widow 
 to carry the kingdom with it. In Hamlet's position as avenger, and 
 his curious hesitancy, we have really an indication of the conflict 
 between the old and new ways of reckoning descent. 
 
 1 Strabo, IV. 5, 4. Hartland, Primitive Paternity, Vol. II. p. 132. 
 It must not be thought that mother-descent was always accompanied 
 by promiscuity, or even with what we should call laxity of morals. 
 We shall find that it was not. But the early custom of group marriages 
 was frequent, in which women often changed their mates at will, and 
 perhaps retained none of them long. We shall see that this freedom, 
 whatever were its evils, carried with it many privileges for women. 
 
 2 H. Ellis, citing Rhys and Brynmor- Jones, The Welsh People, 
 p. 214. 8 Gen. xxiv. 5-53.
 
 PROGRESS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIP 129 
 
 these children are my children." x Such acts point to 
 the subordinate position held by Jacob, which is clearly 
 a survival of the servitude required from the bridegroom 
 by the relatives of the woman, who retain control over 
 her and her children, and even over the property of the 
 man, as was usual under the later matriarchal custom. 
 The injunction in Gen. ii. 24, "Therefore shall a man 
 leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his 
 wife," refers without any doubt to the early marriage 
 under mother-right, when the husband left his own 
 kindred and went to live with his wife and among her 
 people. We find Samson visiting his Philistine wife, 
 who remained with her kindred. 2 Even the obligation 
 to blood vengeance rested apparently on the maternal 
 kinsmen (Judges viii. 19). The Hebrew father did not 
 inherit from his son, nor the grandfather from the grand- 
 son, 3 which points back to an ancient epoch when the 
 children did not belong to the clan of the father. 4 Among 
 the Hebrews individual property was instituted in very 
 early times (Gen. xxiii. 13); but various customs show 
 clearly the ancient existence of communal clans. Thus 
 the inheritance, especially the paternal inheritance, must 
 remain in the clan. Marriage in the tribe is obligatory 
 for daughters. " Let them marry to whom they think 
 best ; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall 
 they marry. So shall not the inheritance of the children 
 of Israel remove from tribe to tribe." 5 We have here 
 an indication of the close relation between father-right 
 and property. 
 
 1 Gen. xxxi. 41, 43. Judges xv. i. * Num. xxxii. 8-n. 
 
 ' Letourneau, Evolution of Marriage, p. 326. Num. xxxvi. 4-8.
 
 130 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 Under mother-descent there is naturally no prohibition 
 against marriage with a half-sister upon the father's side. 
 This explains the marriage of Abraham with Sara, his 
 half-sister by the same father. When reproached for 
 having passed his wife off as his sister to the King of 
 Egypt and to Abimelech, the patriarch replies : " For 
 indeed she is my sister ; she is the daughter of my father, 
 but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my 
 wife." * In the same way Tamar could have married her 
 half-brother Amnon, though they were both the children 
 of David. 2 The father of Moses and Aaron married his 
 father's sister, who was not legally his relation. 3 Nahor, 
 the brother of Abraham, took to wife his fraternal niece, 
 the daughter of his brother.* It was only later that 
 paternal kinship became recognised among the Hebrews 
 by the same title as the natural kinship through the 
 mother. 5 
 
 Other examples might be added. All these survivals 
 of mother-descent (and they may be discovered in the 
 early history of every people) have their value ; they are, 
 however, only survivals, and their interest rests mainly in 
 comparing them with similar facts among other peoples 
 among whom the presence of mother-right customs is 
 undisputed. To these existing examples of the primi- 
 tive family clan grouped around the mother we will now 
 turn our attention. 
 
 1 Gen. xii. * 2 Sam. xiii. 16. 3 Exod. vi. 20. 
 
 4 Gen. xi. 26-29. 6 See Thomas, Sex and Society, pp. 63-64.
 
 THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY IN AMERICA 131 
 
 II. The Matriarchal Family in America 
 
 Traces of mother-descent are common everywhere in 
 the American continent; and in some districts mother- 
 rule is still in force. Morgan, who was commissioned by 
 the American Government to report on the customs of 
 the aboriginal inhabitants, gives a description of the 
 system as it existed among the Iroquois 
 
 "Each household was made up on the principle of kin. The 
 married women, usually sisters, own or collateral, were of the 
 same gens or clan, the symbol or totem of which was often painted 
 upon the house, while their husbands and the wives of their sons 
 belonged to several other gentes. The children were of the gens 
 of their mother. As a rule the sons brought home their wives, 
 and in some cases the husbands of the daughters were admitted 
 to the maternal household. Thus each household was composed 
 of persons of different gentes, but the predominating number in 
 each household would be of the same gens, namely that of the 
 mother." * 
 
 There are many interesting customs belonging to the 
 Iroquois; I can notice a few only. The gens was ruled 
 by chiefs of two grades, distinguished by Morgan as 
 sachem and common chiefs. The sachem was the 
 official head of the gens. The actual occupant of the 
 office was elected by the adult members of the gens, 
 male and female, the own brother or son of a sister being 
 most likely to be preferred. 2 The wife never left the 
 parental home, because she was considered the mistress, 
 or, at least, the heiress ; her husband lived with her. In 
 
 1 Morgan, House and House-life of the American Aborigines, p. 64. 
 This example of mother-descent may be taken as typical of Indian 
 life in all parts of America at the epoch of European discovery. 
 
 1 Morgan, Anc. Soc., 62, 71, 76; Hartland, Primitive Paternity, 
 Vol. I. p. 298, Vol. II. p. 65. 
 K 2
 
 132 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 the house all the duties and the honour as the head of 
 the household fell on her. She was required in case of 
 need to look after her parents. The Iroquois recognised 
 no right in the father to the custody of his children ; such 
 power was in the hands of the maternal uncle. 1 Marriages 
 were negotiated by the uncles or the mothers ; sometimes 
 the father was consulted, but this was little more than 
 a compliment, as his approbation or opposition was 
 usually disregarded. 2 The suitor was required to make 
 presents to the bride's family. It was the custom for 
 him to seek private interviews at night with his betrothed. 
 In some instances, it was enough if he went and sat by 
 her side in her cabin ; if she permitted this, and remained 
 where she was, it was taken for consent, and the act would 
 suffice for marriage. If a husband and wife could not 
 agree, they parted, or two pairs would exchange husbands 
 and wives. An early French missionary remonstrated 
 with a couple on such a transaction, and was told : " My 
 wife and I could not agree. My neighbour was in the 
 same case. So we exchanged wives, and all four are 
 content. What can be more reasonable than to render 
 one another mutually happy, when it costs so little and 
 does nobody any harm ? " a It would seem that these 
 primitive people have solved some difficulties better than 
 we ourselves have ! 
 
 1 McLennan, Studies, I. p. 271. Thus among the Choctas, if a boy Is 
 to be placed at school, his uncle, instead of his father, takes him to 
 the mission and makes arrangements. 
 
 * Report of an Official for Indian Affairs on two of the Iroquoian 
 tribes, cited by Hartland, op. cil., Vol. I. p. 298. McLennan attributes 
 the arrangement of the marriages to the mothers (Studies, ii. p. 339). 
 This would be the earlier custom and is still practised among several 
 tribes. 
 
 3 Charievoix, V. p. 418, quoted by Hartland, op. cit., Vol. II. p. 66.
 
 THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY IN AMERICA 133 
 
 Among the Senecas, 1 an Iroquoian tribe with a less 
 organised social life, the authority remained in the hands 
 of the women. These people led a communal life, 
 dwelling in long houses, which accommodated as many 
 as twenty families, each in its own apartments. 3 
 
 "As to their family system, it is probable that some one clan 
 predominated (in the houses), the women taking in husbands, 
 however, from the other clans, and sometimes for novelty, some 
 of their sons bringing- in their young wives until they felt brave 
 enough to leave their mothers. Usually the female portion ruled 
 the house, and were doubtless clannish enough about it. The 
 stores were in common, but woe to the luckless husband or lover 
 who was too shiftless to do his share of the providing. No matter 
 how many children or whatever goods he might have in the house, 
 he might at any time be ordered to pack up his blanket and budge, 
 and after such orders it would not be healthful for him to attempt 
 to disobey ; the house would be too hot for him, and, unless saved 
 by the intercession of some aunt or grandmother, he must retreat 
 to his own clan, or, as was often done, go and start a new 
 matrimonial alliance in some other. The women were the great 
 power among the clans as everywhere else. They did not hesitate, 
 when occasion required, to 'knock off the horns,' as it was tech- 
 nically called, from the head of a chief and send him back to the 
 ranks of the warrior. The original nomination of the chiefs also 
 always rested with them." 
 
 This last detail is very interesting; we find the 
 woman's authority extending even over warfare, the 
 special province of men. 
 
 1 The customs of the Senecas have been noted by the Rev. A. Wright, 
 who was a missionary for many years amongst them, and was familiar 
 with their language and habits. His account is quoted by Morgan, 
 House and House-life of the American Aborigines. 
 
 2 We seem here to have a suggestion of the modern plan of co- 
 operative dwelling-houses. It is extraordinary how many of our new (!) 
 ideas seem to have been common in the mother-age. Was it because 
 women, who are certainly more practical and careful of detail than 
 men are, had part in the social arrangements ? This would explain 
 the revival of the same ideas to-day, when women are again taking up 
 their part in the ordering of domestic and social life.
 
 134 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 The Wyandots, another Iroquoian tribe, camp in the 
 form of a horse-shoe, every clan together in regular order. 
 Marriage between members of the same clan is for- 
 bidden; the children belong to the clan of the mother. 
 The husbands retain all their rights and privileges in 
 their own gentes, though they live in the gentes of their 
 wives. After marriage the pair live for a time, at least, 
 with the wife's mother, but afterwards they set up house- 
 keeping for themselves. 1 
 
 We may note here the creeping in of changes which 
 led to father-right. This is illustrated further by the 
 Musquakies, also belonging to the Algonquian stock. 
 Though still organised in clans, descent is no longer 
 reckoned through the mother. The bridegroom, how- 
 ever, serves his wife's mother, and he lives with her 
 people. This does not make him of her clan ; she be- 
 longs to his, till his death or divorce separates her from 
 him. As for the children, the minors at the termination 
 of the marriage belong to the mother's clan, but those 
 who have had the puberty feast are counted to the 
 father's clan. 8 
 
 The male authority is chiefly felt in periods of war. 
 This may be illustrated by the Wyandots, who have an 
 elaborate system of government. In each gens there is 
 a small council composed of four women, called yu-wai- 
 yu-wd-na; chosen by the women heads of the household. 
 These women councillors select a chief of the gens from 
 its male members, that is from their brothers and sons. 
 
 1 Powell, Rep. Bur. Ethn., i, p. 63. 
 
 2 Owen, Musquakies, p. 72, quoted by Hartland, op. cit., Vol. II. 
 pp. 68-69.
 
 THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY IN AMERICA 135 
 
 He is the head of the gentile council. The council of 
 the tribe is composed of the aggregated gentile councils, 
 and is thus composed of four-fifths of women and one- 
 fifth of men. The sachem of tribes, or tribal-chief is 
 chosen by chiefs of the gentes. All civil government of 
 the gens and of the tribe is carried on by these councils, 
 and as the women so largely outnumber the men, who 
 are also with the exception of the tribal chief chosen 
 by them it is surely fair to assume that the social 
 government of the gens and tribe is largely directed by 
 them. In military affairs, however, the men have sole 
 authority; there is a military council of all the able- 
 bodied men of the tribe, with a military chief chosen by 
 the council. 1 This seems a very wise adjustment of civic 
 duties; the constructive civil work directed by the 
 women ; the destructive work of war in the hands of men. 
 Some interesting marriage customs of the Seri, on the 
 south-west coast, now reduced to a single tribe, are 
 described by McGee. 2 The matriarchal system exists 
 here in its early form, it is, therefore, an instructive 
 example by which to estimate the position held by the 
 women 
 
 "The tribe is divided into exogamous totem clans. Marriage is 
 arranged exclusively by the women. The elder woman of the 
 suitor's family carries the proposal to the girl's clan-mother. If 
 this is entertained, the question of the marriage is discussed at 
 length by the matrons of the two clans. The girl herself is con- 
 sulted ; a jacal is erected for her, and after many deliberations, the 
 
 1 I have summarised the account of the Wyandot government as 
 given by Hartland, who quotes from Powell's " Wyandot Government," 
 first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1879-1880, 
 pp. 61 fif. 
 
 * " The Beginning of Marriage," American Anthropologist, Vol. IX. 
 p. 376. Rep. Bur. Ethn., XVII. p. 275.
 
 136 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 bridegroom is provisionally received into his wife's clan for a year, 
 under conditions of the most exacting character. He is expected 
 to prove his worthiness of a permanent relation by demonstrating 
 his ability as a provider, and by showing himself an implacable 
 foe to aliens. He is compelled to support all the female relatives 
 of his bride's family by the products of his skill and industry in 
 hunting and fishing for one year. There is also another provision 
 of a very curious nature. The lover is permitted to share the 
 jacal and sleeping robe, provided for the prospective matron by her 
 kinswomen, not as a privileged spouse, but merely as a protective 
 companion ; and throughout this probationary term he is compelled 
 to maintain continence he must display the most indubitable 
 proof of moral force." 
 
 This is the more extraordinary if we compare the free- 
 dom granted to the bride. " During this period the 
 always dignified position occupied by the daughters of 
 the house culminates." Among other privileges she is 
 allowed to receive "the most intimate attentions from 
 the clan-fellows of the group." " She is the receiver 
 of the supplies furnished by her lover, measuring his 
 competence as would-be husband. Through his energy 
 she is enabled to dispense largess with lavish hand, and 
 thus to dignify her clan and honour her spouse in the 
 most effective way known to primitive life; and at 
 the same time she enjoys the immeasurable moral 
 stimulus of realising she is the arbiter of the fate of a 
 man who becomes a warrior or an outcast at her bidding, 
 and through him of the future of two clans she is raised 
 to a responsibility in both personal and tribal affairs 
 which, albeit temporary, is hardly lower than that of the 
 warrior chief." At the close of the year, if all goes well, 
 the probation ends in a feast provided by the lover, who 
 
 1 This is supposed by McGee to suggest a survival of a vestigial 
 polyandry.
 
 THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY IN AMERICA 137 
 
 now becomes husband, and finally enters his wife's jacal 
 as " consort-guest." His position is wholly subordinate, 
 and without any authority whatever, either over his 
 children or over the property. In his mother's hut he 
 has rights, which seem to continue after his marriage, 
 but in his wife's hut he has none. 
 
 The customs of the Pueblo peoples of the south-west 
 of the United States are almost equally interesting. 
 They live in communal dwellings, and are divided into 
 exogamous totem clans. Kinship is reckoned through 
 the women, and the husband on marriage goes to live 
 with the wife's kin and becomes an inmate of her family. 
 If the house is not large enough, additional rooms are 
 built adjoining and connected with those already occu- 
 pied. Hence a family with many daughters increases, 
 while one consisting of sons dies out. The women are 
 the builders of the houses, the men supplying the 
 material. The marriage customs are instructive. As is 
 the case among the Seri, the lover has to serve his wife's 
 family, but the conditions are much less exacting. Un- 
 like most maternal peoples, these, the Zuni Indians, are 
 monogamists. Divorce is, however, frequent, and a 
 husband and wife would " rather separate than live to- 
 gether unharmoniously." * Their domestic life " might 
 well serve as an example for the civilised world." They 
 do not have large families. The husband and wife are 
 deeply attached to one another and to their children. 
 ' The keynote of this harmony is the supremacy of the 
 wife in the home. The house, with all that is in it, is 
 
 1 Mrs. Stevenson, Rep. Bur. Ethn., XXIII. pp. 290, 293. Gushing, 
 Zufii Folk Tales, p. 368, cited by Hartland, op. cit., Vol. II. pp. 73, 74.
 
 138 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 hers, descending to her through her mother from a long 
 line of ancestresses; and her husband is merely her 
 permanent guest. The children at least the female 
 children have their share in the common home; the 
 father has none." Outside the house the husband has 
 some property in the fields, though probably in earlier 
 times he had no possessory rights. " Modern influences 
 have reached the Zuni, and mother-right seems to have 
 begun its inevitable decay." 
 
 The Hopis, another Pueblo tribe, are more conserva- 
 tive, and with them the women own all the property, 
 except the horses and donkeys, which belong to the men. 
 Like the Zunis, the Hopis are monogamists. Sexual 
 licence is, however, often permitted to a woman before 
 marriage. This in no way detracts from her good 
 repute ; even if she has given birth to a child " she will 
 be sure to marry later on, unless she happens to be shock- 
 ingly ugly." Nor does the child suffer, for among these 
 matriarchal people the bastard takes an equal place with 
 the child born in wedlock. The bride lives for the first 
 few weeks with her husband's family, during which time 
 the marriage takes place, the ceremony being performed 
 by the bridegroom's mother, whose family also provides 
 the bride with her wedding outfit. The couple then 
 return to the home of the wife's parents, where they 
 remain, either permanently, or for some years, until they 
 can obtain a separate dwelling. The husband is always 
 a stranger, and is so treated by his wife's kin. The 
 dwelling of his mother remains his true home, in sickness 
 he returns to her to be nursed, and stays with her until 
 he is well again. Often his position in his wife's home
 
 THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY IN AMERICA 139 
 
 is so irksome that he severs his relation with her and 
 her family and returns to his old home. On the other 
 hand, it is not uncommon for the wife, should her hus- 
 band be absent, to place his goods outside the door : an 
 intimation which he well understands, and does not 
 intrude himself upon her again. 1 
 
 Lastly, among the Pueblo peoples we may consider 
 the Sai. Like the other tribes they are divided into 
 exogamous totem clans; descent is traced only through 
 the women. The tribe through various reasons has been 
 greatly reduced in numbers, and whole clans have died 
 out, and under these circumstances exogamy has ceased 
 to be strictly enforced. This has led to other changes. 
 The Sai are still at least normally monogamous. When 
 a young man wishes to marry a girl he speaks first to 
 her parents; if they are willing, he addresses himself to 
 her. On the day of the marriage he goes alone to her 
 home, carrying his presents wrapped in a blanket, his 
 father and mother having preceded him thither. When 
 the young people are seated together the parents address 
 them in turn enjoining unity and forbearance. This 
 constitutes the ceremony. Tribal custom requires the 
 bridegroom to reside with the wife's family. 2 
 
 Now I submit to the judgment of my readers what 
 do these examples of mother-right among the aboriginal 
 tribes of America show, if not that, speaking broadly, 
 women were the dominant force in this early stage of 
 
 1 Rep. Bur. Ethn., XIII. p. 340. Solberg, Zeits. /. Ethnol.. XXXVII. 
 p. 269. Voth, Traditions of the Hopi, pp. 67, 96, 133. Hartland, 
 op. cit., Vol. II. pp. 74-76. 
 
 1 Rep. Bur. Ethn., IX. p. 19. Hartland, Ibid., pp. 76-77. It would 
 seem in some cases, the husband, after a period of residence with his 
 wife's family, provides a separate house.
 
 140 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 civilisation? In some instances, it is true, their power 
 was shared, or even taken from them, by their brothers 
 or other male relatives. This I believe to have been a 
 later development a first step in the assertion of male- 
 force. In all cases the alien position of the father, with- 
 out tribal rights in his wife's clan and with no recognised 
 authority over her children, is evident. If this is denied, 
 the only conclusion that suggests itself to me is, that 
 those who seek to diminish the importance of mother- 
 rule have done so in reinforcement of their preconceived 
 idea of male superiority as the natural and unchanging 
 order in the relationship between the sexes. I have no 
 hesitation as the result of very considerable study, in 
 believing that it is the exact opposite of this that is true. 
 The mother, and not the father, was the important 
 partner in the early stages of civilisation; father-right, 
 the form we find in our sexual relationships, is a later 
 reversal of this natural arrangement, based, not upon 
 kinship, but upon property. This we shall see more 
 clearly later. 
 
 Thomas * suggests another reason for the general 
 tendency among many investigators to lessen the import- 
 ance of the mother-age civilisations. He thinks it due 
 to dislike in acknowledging the theory of promiscuity 
 (notably Westermark in his History of Human Marriage). 
 This view would seem to be connected with the mistaken 
 opinion that womb-kinship arose through the uncertainty 
 of paternity. But this was not the sole reason, or indeed 
 the chief one, of descent being traced through the mother. 
 We have found mother-rule in very active existence 
 
 1 Sex and Society, pp. 65-66.
 
 THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY IN AMERICA 141 
 
 among the Pueblo peoples, who are monogamists, and 
 where the paternity of the child must be known. The 
 modern civilised man cannot easily accustom himself to 
 the idea that in the old matriarchal family the dominion 
 of the mother was accepted as the natural, and, there- 
 fore, the right order of society. It is very difficult for 
 us to accept a relationship of the sexes that is so exactly 
 opposite to that to which we are accustomed. 
 
 After I had written the foregoing account of mother- 
 rule as it exists in the continent of America, I had the 
 exceeding good fortune to attend a lecture given by a 
 native Iroquois. I wish it were possible for me to write 
 here those things that I heard; but I could not do this, 
 I know, without spoiling it all. This would destroy for 
 me what is a very beautiful and happy memory. For to 
 hear of a people who live gladly and without any of 
 those problems that are rotting away our civilisation 
 brings a new courage to those of us who sometimes grow 
 hopeless at this needless wastage of life. 
 
 The lecturer told us much of the high status and power 
 of women among the Iroquoian tribes. What he said, 
 not only corroborated all I have written, but gave a 
 picture of mother-rule and mother-rights far more com- 
 plete than anything I had found in the records of 
 investigators and travellers. The lecturer was a cultured 
 gentleman, and I learnt how false had been my view 
 that the race to which he belonged was uncivilised. I 
 learnt, too, that the Iroquoian tribes were now increasing 
 in numbers, and must not be looked upon as a diminish- 
 ing people. They have kept, against terrible difficulties, 
 and are determined to keep, their own civilisation and
 
 142 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 customs, knowing these to be better for them than those 
 of other races. The lecturer astonished me by his 
 familiarity with, and understanding of, our social 
 problems. He spoke, in particular, of the present revo- 
 lution among women. This, in his opinion, was due 
 wholly to the unnatural arrangement of our family 
 relationship, with the father at the head instead of the 
 mother. There seem to be no sex-problems, no difficul- 
 ties in marriage, no celibacy, no prostitution among the 
 Iroquoians. All the power in the domestic relationship 
 is in the hands of women. I questioned the lecturer on 
 this point. I asked him if the women did not at times 
 misuse their rights of authority, and if men did not rebel ? 
 He seemed surprised. His answer was : " Of course the 
 men follow the wishes of the women ; they are our 
 mothers." To him there seemed no more to be said. 
 
 III. Further Examples of the Matriarchal Family 
 in Australia, India, and other countries 
 
 It is only fair to state that the question of the posi- 
 tion of women during the mother-age is a disputed one. 
 Bachofen * was the first to build up in his classical works 
 of Matriarchy, the gynaecocratic theory which places the 
 chief social power under the system of mother-descent 
 in the hands of women. This view has been disputed, 
 
 1 Bachofen's work was foreshadowed by an earlier writer. Father 
 Lafiteau, who published his Mceurs des sauvages americains in 1721. 
 Das Mutterrecht was published in 1861. McLennan, ignorant of 
 Bachofen's work, followed immediately after with his account of the 
 Indian Hill Tribes. He was followed by Morgan, with his knowledge 
 of Iroquois, and many other investigators.
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES 143 
 
 especially in recent years, and many writers who acknow- 
 ledge the widespread existence of maternal descent deny 
 that it carries with it, except in exceptional cases, mother- 
 rights of special advantage to women; even when these 
 seem to be present they believe such rights to be more 
 apparent than real. 1 
 
 One suspects prejudice here. To approach this ques- 
 tion with any fairness it is absolutely essential to clear 
 the mind from our current theories regarding the family. 
 The order is not sacred in the sense that it has always 
 had the same form. It is this belief in the immutability 
 of our form of the sexual relationship which accounts 
 for the prejudice with which this question is so often 
 approached. I fully admit the dark side of the mother- 
 age among many peoples ; its sexual licence, often brutal 
 in practice, its cruelties and sacrifice of life. But these 
 are evils common to barbarism, and are found existing 
 under father-right quite as frequently as under mother- 
 right. I concede, too, that mother-descent was not neces- 
 sarily or universally a period of mother-rule. It was not. 
 But that it did in many cases and these no exceptional 
 ones carry with it power for women, as the transmitters 
 of inheritance and property I am certain that the known 
 facts prove. 2 Nor do I forget that cruel treatment of 
 women was not uncommon in matriarchal societies. I 
 have shown how in many tribes the power rested in the 
 
 1 Lord Avebury, for example, says : " I believe that communities in 
 which women have exercised supreme power were quite exceptional," 
 Marriage, Totemism and Religion, p. 51. See also Letourneau, Evolution 
 of Marriage, pp. 281-282. 
 
 * In this opinion I am glad to have the support of so high an authority 
 as Mr. Havelock Ellis. See his admirable summary of this question, 
 Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. pp. 390-393; also the essay already referred 
 to, " Changing Status of Women," Westminster Review, Oct. 1886.
 
 144 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 woman's brother or male relations, and in all such cases 
 mother-descent was really combined with a patriarchal 
 system, the earlier authority of the mother persisting 
 only as a habit. But to argue from the cases of male 
 cruelty that mother-descent did not confer special advan- 
 tages upon women is, I think, as absurd as it would be 
 to state that under the fully developed patriarchal rule 
 (as also in our society to-day) the authority was not in 
 the hands of men, because cases are not infrequent in 
 which women ill-treat their husbands. And, indeed, 
 when we consider the position of the husband and father 
 under this early system, without rights of property and 
 with no authority over his children, and subject to the 
 rule either of his wife or of her relatives, no surprise can 
 be felt if sometimes he resorted to cruelties, asserting 
 his power in whatever direction opportunity permitted. 
 I may admit that for a long time I found it difficult to 
 believe in this mother-power. The finding of such 
 authority held by primitive woman is strange, indeed, 
 to women to-day. Reverse the sexes, and in broad state- 
 ment the conditions of the mother-age would be true of 
 our present domestic and social relationship. Little 
 wonder, then, that primitive men rebelled, disliking the 
 inconveniences arising from their insecure and depend- 
 ent position as perpetual guests in their wives' homes. 
 It is strange how history repeats itself. 
 
 Women, from their association with the home, were 
 the first organisers of all industrial labour. A glance 
 back at the mother-age civilisation should teach men 
 modesty. They will see that woman was the equal, if 
 not superior, to man in productive activity. It was not
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES 145 
 
 until a much later period that men supplanted women 
 and monopolised the work they had started. Through 
 their identification with the early industrial processes 
 women were the first property owners; they were almost 
 the sole creators of ownership in land, and held in 
 respect of this a position of great advantage. In the 
 transactions of North American tribes with the colonial 
 government many deeds of assignment bear female 
 signatures. 1 A form of divorce used by a husband in 
 ancient Arabia was : " Begone, for I will no longer drive 
 thy flocks to pasture." 2 In almost all cases the house- 
 hold goods belonged to the woman. The stores of roots 
 and berries laid up for a time of scarcity were the 
 property of the wife, and the husband would not touch 
 them without her permission. In many cases such 
 property was very extensive. Among the Menomini 
 Indians, for instance, a woman of good circumstances 
 would own as many as from 1200 to 1500 birch-bark 
 vessels. 3 In the New Mexican pueblo what comes from 
 outside the house, as soon as it is inside is put under the 
 immediate control of the women. Bandelier, in his 
 report of his tour in Mexico, tells us that "his host at 
 Cochiti, New Mexico, could not sell an ear of corn or a 
 string of chilli without the consent of his fourteen-year- 
 old daughter Ignacia, who kept house for her widowed 
 father." 4 
 
 The point we have now reached is this : while mother- 
 
 1 Ratzel, History of Mankind, Vol. II. p. 130; see Thomas, op. cit., 
 chapter on " Sex and Primitive Industry. 
 * Robertson Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, p. 65. 
 
 3 Hoffman, " The Menomini Indians," Fourteenth Rep. of the Bur. 
 of Am. Ethon., p. 288. 
 
 4 Papers of the Arch. Inst. of Am., Vol. II. p. 138. 
 
 L
 
 146 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 descent did not constitute or make necessary rule by 
 women, under this system they enjoyed considerable 
 power as the result (i) of their position as property- 
 holders, (2) of their freedom in marriage and the social 
 habits arising from it. This conclusion will be strength- 
 ened if we return to our examination of mother-right 
 customs, as we shall find them in all parts of the world. 
 I must select a few examples from as various countries 
 as is possible, and describe them very briefly ; not because 
 these cases offer less interest than the matrilenial tribes 
 of America, but because of the length to which this part 
 of my inquiry is rapidly growing. 
 
 Let us begin with Australia, where the aboriginal 
 population is in a more primitive condition than any 
 other race whose institutions have been investigated. In 
 certain tribes the family has hardly begun to be dis- 
 tinguished from kin in general. The group is divided 
 into male and female classes, in addition to the division 
 into clans. 1 This is so among the tribes of Mount 
 Gambier, of Darling River, and of Queensland. Mar- 
 riage within the clan is strictly forbidden, and the male 
 and female classes of each clan are regarded as brothers 
 and sisters. But as every man is brother to all the sisters 
 of his clan, he is husband to all the women of the other 
 clans of his tribe. Marriage is not an individual act, 
 it is a social condition. The custom is not always carried 
 out in practice, but any man of one clan has the right, 
 if he wishes to exercise it, to call any woman belonging 
 to another clan of his tribe his wife, and to treat her 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, Native Tribes of Australia; also Kamilaroi and 
 Kurnai, pp. 33, 65, 66. See also Hartland, op. cit., Vol. I. p. 294.
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES 147 
 
 as such. 1 The children of each group belong naturally 
 to the clan of the mother, and there is no legal parent- 
 hood between them and their father. In the case of war 
 the son must join the maternal tribe. But this is not the 
 universal rule, and in many tribes the children now 
 belong to the paternal clan. The paternal family is 
 beginning to be established in Australia, and varied 
 artifices are used to escape from the tribal marriage and 
 to form unions on an individual basis. 
 
 Mother-right is still in force in parts of India, though 
 owing to the influence of Brahmanism on the aboriginal 
 tribes the examples are fewer than might be expected. 
 This change has brought descent through the fathers, 
 and has involved, besides, the more or less complete 
 subjugation of women, with insistence on female chastity, 
 abolition of divorce, infant marriage, and perpetuation 
 of widowhood. 2 Not every tribe is yet thus revolution- 
 ised. Among the Kasias of south-east India the husband 
 lives with the wife or visits her occasionally. 
 
 "Laws of rank and property follow the strictest maternal rule; 
 when a couple separate the children remain with the mother, the 
 son does not succeed his father, but a raja's neglected offspring 
 may become a common peasant or a labourer; the sister's son 
 succeeds to rank and is heir to the property." 8 
 
 This may be taken as an extreme example of the 
 conditions among the unchanged tribes. The Garos 
 tribe have an interesting marriage custom. 4 The girl 
 
 1 Letourneau, op. cit., pp. 44, 271-274. Thomas, op. cit., p. 61. 
 1 Hartland. Primitive Paternity, Vol. II. pp. 155-156, 39-41. 
 
 3 Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal, p. 54 ; also Tylor, " The Matriarchal 
 System," Nineteenth Century, July 1896, p. 89. 
 
 4 Dalton, op. cit., p. 63, cited by Hartland. I would suggest that 
 Mr. Bernard Shaw may have had this marriage custom in his mind 
 when he created Ann. See p. 66. 
 
 L2
 
 148 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 chooses her lover and invites him to follow her; any 
 advance made on his side is regarded as an insult to 
 the woman's clan, and has to be expiated by presents. 
 This marriage is very similar to the ceremony of capture, 
 only the actors change parts; it is here the bridegroom 
 who runs away, and is conducted by force to his future 
 wife amidst the lamentations of his relations. 
 
 Even tribes that have adopted paternal descent pre- 
 serve numerous customs of the earlier system. The 
 husband still remains in the wife's home for a probation- 
 ary period, working for her family. 1 Women retain 
 rights which are inconsistent with father-rule. The 
 choice of her lover often remains with the girl. If a 
 girl fancies a young man, all she has to do is to give 
 him a kick on the leg at the tribal dance of the Karama, 
 and then the parents think it well to hasten on a wedding. 
 Among Ghasiyas in United Provinces a wife is permitted 
 to leave her husband if he intrigues with another woman, 
 or if he become insane, impotent, blind or leprous, 
 while these bodily evils do not allow him to put her 
 away. 2 We find relics of the early freedom enjoyed by 
 women in the licence frequently permitted to girls before 
 marriage. Even after marriage adultery within the tribal 
 rules is not regarded as a serious offence. Divorce is 
 often easy, at the wish of either the woman or the man. 3 
 This is the case among the Santal tribes, which are 
 
 1 This custom prevails, for instance, among the Kharwars and 
 Parahiya tribes, and is common among the Ghasiyas, and is also prac- 
 tised among the Tipperah of Bengal. Among the Santdls this service- 
 marriage is used when a girl is ugly or deformed and cannot be married 
 otherwise, while the Badagas of the Nil'giri Hills offer their daughters 
 when in want of labourers. 
 
 2 Crooke, Tribes and Castes, iii. p. 242. 
 
 8 Hartland, op. cit., Vol. II. pp. 156, 157.
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES 149 
 
 found in Western Bengal, Northern Orissa, Bhagulpur 
 and the Santal Parganas. 1 It seems probable that 
 fraternal polyandry must formerly have been practised. 
 
 Polyandry must have been common at one time in 
 southern India. It will be sufficient to give a few 
 examples. The interesting Todas tribe of the Nil'giri 
 Hills practise fraternal polyandry. The husbands of the 
 women are usually real brothers, but sometimes they are 
 clan brothers. The children belong to the eldest brother, 
 who performs the ceremony of giving the mother a minia- 
 ture bow and arrow; all offspring, even if born after his 
 death, are counted as his until one of the other brothers 
 performs this ceremony. It is also allowed sometimes 
 for the wife to be mistress to another man besides her 
 husbands, and any children born of such unions are 
 counted as the children of the regular marriage. There 
 is little restriction in love of any kind. In the Toda 
 language there is no word for adultery. It would even 
 seem that " immorality attaches rather to him who 
 grudges his wife to another man." 2 
 
 Similarly among a fine tribe of Hindu mountaineers at 
 the source of the Djemmah fraternal polyandry has been 
 proved to have existed. A woman of this tribe, when 
 asked how many husbands she had, answered, " Only 
 four!" "And all living?" "Why not?" This tribe 
 had a high standard of social conduct; they held lying 
 in horror, and to deviate from the truth even quite inno- 
 cently was almost a sacrilege. 3 To-day the Kammalaus 
 
 1 Risley, The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, Vol. I. pp. 228, 231. 
 1 Rivers, The Todas ; Schrott, Tras. Ethno. Soc. (New Series), 
 Vol. VIII. p. 261. 
 * Letourneau, quoting Skinner, Evolution of Marriage, p. 78.
 
 150 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 (artisans) of Malabar practise fraternal polyandry. The 
 wives are said to greatly appreciate the custom ; the more 
 husbands they have the greater will be their happiness. 1 
 
 At another extremity of India, in Ceylon, the poly- 
 andric rule is still common, 2 but it is particularly in 
 lamaic Thibet that fraternal polyandry is in full vigour, 
 for in this country religion sanctions the custom, and it 
 is practised by the ruling classes. 3 Its customs are too 
 well known to need description. ' The tyranny of man 
 is hardly known among the happy women of Thibet; 
 the boot is perhaps upon the other leg," writes Hartland. 4 
 
 Polyandry is a survival of the group-marriage of the 
 mother-age. 5 It is not really dependent on, though in 
 many cases it occurs in connection with, the economic 
 causes of poverty and a scarcity of women, due to the 
 practice of female infanticide. This form of sexual 
 association has evident advantages for women when com- 
 pared with polygamy. That freedom in love carried 
 
 1 Thurston, Ethnographic Notes in Southern India, p. 114. Polyandry 
 has flourished not only among the primitive races of India. The 
 Hindoo populations also adopted it, and traces of the custom may 
 be found in their sacred literature. Thus in the Mahabharata the 
 five Panda va brothers marry all together the beautiful Druaupadi, with 
 eyes of lotus blue (Mahabharata, trad. Fauche, t. II. p. 148). For an 
 account of polyandry in ancient India the reader should consult Jolly, 
 Gundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Alter turns kunde. 
 
 2 Davy, Ceylon, p. 286; Sachot, L'ile de Ceylon, p. 25. 
 
 3 Turner, Thibet, p. 348, and Hist. Univ. des. Voy., Vol. XXXI. p. 434 ; 
 Dalton, Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, p. 36. 
 
 4 Hartland, op. cit., Vol. II. p. 164. 
 
 5 This is the opinion of Bernhoft, quoted by I wan Bloch. Marshall 
 points out that among the Todas group-marriages occur side by side 
 with polyandry. Bloch also notes that in the common cases where 
 the husband has a claim on his wife's sister, and even her cousins 
 and aunts, we find polygamy developed out of group-marriage. The 
 practice of wife lending and wife exchange is also connected with the 
 early communal marriage (Sexual History of Our Times, pp. 193-194). 
 It is possible that prostitution may be a relic of this early sexual freedom. 
 What is moral in one stage of civilisation often becomes immoral in 
 another, when the reasons for its existing have changed.
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES 151 
 
 with it domestic and social rights and privileges to 
 women I have no longer to prove. 1 
 
 The case of the Nayars of Malabar, where polyandry 
 exists with the early system of maternal filiation, is 
 specially instructive. It is impossible to give the details 
 of their curious customs. The young girls are married 
 when children by a rite known as tying the tali; but this 
 marriage serves only the purpose of initiation, and is 
 often performed by a stranger. On the fourth day the 
 fictitious husband is required to divorce the girl. After- 
 wards any number of marriages may be entered upon 2 
 without any other restrictions than the prohibitions rela- 
 tive to caste and tribe. These later unions, unlike the 
 solemn initial rite, have no ceremony connected with 
 them, and are entered into freely at the will of the women 
 and their families. As a husband the man of the Nayars 
 cannot be said to exist; he does not as a rule live with 
 his wife. 3 It is said that he has not the right to sit down 
 by her side or that of her children, he is merely a passing 
 guest, almost a stranger. He is, in fact, reduced to the 
 primitive role of the male, and is simply progenitor. 
 " No Nayar knows his father, and every man looks upon 
 
 1 Havelock Ellis writing on this subject ("Changing Status of 
 Women," Nineteenth Century, Oct. 1886) says: "It seems that in the 
 dawn of the race an elaborate social organisation permitted a more or 
 less restricted communal marriage, every man in the tribe being at 
 the outset the husband of every woman, first practically, then theoreti- 
 cally, and that the social organisation which had this point of departure 
 was particularly favourable to women." 
 
 1 It is a matter of dispute whether a woman may have more than one 
 husband at a time. The older accounts state this, while later it lias 
 been denied. The probability is that this was the custom, but that 
 it is dying out under modern influences. Hartland, op. cit., Vol. I. p. 267. 
 
 1 In north Malabar a custom has arisen by which after a special 
 ceremony the bridgroom is allowed to take the bride to live in his 
 house, but in the case of his death she must at once return to her own 
 family.
 
 152 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 his sister's children as his heirs. A man's mother 
 manages his family; and after her death his eldest sister 
 assumes the direction." The property belongs to the 
 family and is enjoyed by all in common (though personal 
 division is coming into practice under modern influences). 
 It is directed and administered by the maternal uncle or 
 the eldest brother. 1 
 
 The Malays of the Pedang Highlands of Sumatra 
 have institutions bearing many points of similarity with 
 the Nayars. On marriage neither husband nor wife 
 changes abode, the husband merely visits the wife, 
 coming at first by day to help her work in the rice-fields. 
 Later the visits are paid by night to the wife's house. 
 The husband has no rights over his children, who belong 
 wholly to the wife's suku, or clan. Her eldest brother 
 is the head of the family and exercises the rights and 
 duties of a father to her children. 2 The marriage, based 
 on the ambel-anak, in which the husband lives with the 
 wife, paying nothing, and occupying a subordinate posi- 
 tion, may be taken as typical of the former conditions. 8 
 
 1 /. A. I., XII. p. 292; Hartland, op. cit., p. 288. Letourneau, 
 apparently quoting Bachpfen, says that the women control property. 
 This was probably an earlier custom, when the power was more truly in 
 the hands of women, and had not passed to their male relatives. 
 
 2 Wilken, V erwantschap , p. 678 ; Bijdragen, XXXI. p. 40. 
 
 3 Havelock Ellis, Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. p. 291. A second form 
 of marriage, known as Jujur, was also practised. It was much more 
 elaborate, and shows very instructively the rise of father-right. By 
 it the authority of the husband over his wife is asserted by a very 
 complicated system of payments ; his right to take her to his home, 
 and his absolute property in her depending wholly on these payments. 
 If the final sum is paid (but this is not commonly claimed except in the 
 case of a quarrel between the families) the woman becomes to all intents 
 the slave of the man ; but if on the other hand, as is not at all uncommon, 
 the husband fails or has difficulty in making the main payment, he 
 becomes the debtor of his wife's family and is practically a slave, all 
 his labour being due to his creditor without any reduction in the debt, 
 which must be paid in full, before he regains liberty. (See Marsden, 
 History of Sumatra, pp. 225, 235, 257, 262, for an account of both 
 marriages.)
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES 158 
 
 But among other tribes who have come in contact with 
 outside influences this custom of the husband visiting 
 the wife, or residing in her house, is modified. 
 
 From a private correspondent, a resident in the Malay 
 States, I have received some interesting notes about the 
 present condition of the native tribes and the position of 
 the women. In most of the Malay States exogamous 
 matriarchy has in comparatively modern times been 
 superseded by feudalism (i. e. father-right). But where 
 the old custom survives the women are still to a large 
 extent in control. The husband goes to live in the wife's 
 village; thus the women in each group are a compact 
 unity, while the men are strangers to each other and enter 
 as unorganised individuals. This is the real basis of the 
 woman's power. In other tribes where the old custom 
 has changed women occupy a distinctly inferior position, 
 and under the influence of Islam the idea of secluding 
 adult women has been for centuries spreading and 
 increasing in force. 
 
 Male kinship prevails among the Arabs, but the late 
 Professor Robertson Smith discovered abundant evi- 
 dence that mother-right was practised in ancient Arabia. 1 
 We find a decisive example of its favourable influence 
 on the position of women in the custom of beena a mar- 
 riage. Under such a system the wife was not only freed 
 from any subjection involved by the payment of a bride- 
 price (which always places her more or less under the 
 authority of her husband), but she was the owner of the 
 tent and household property, and thus enjoyed the liberty 
 which ownership always entails. This explains how she 
 
 1 Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia. 
 
 * Havelock Ellis, op. cit., pp. 391-392, quoting Robertson Smith.
 
 154 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 was able to free herself at pleasure from her husband, 
 who was really nothing but a temporary lover. 1 Ibn 
 Batua in the fourteenth century found that the women 
 of Zebid were perfectly ready to marry strangers. The 
 husband might depart when he pleased, but his wife in 
 that case could never be induced to follow him. She 
 bade him a friendly adieu and took upon herself the 
 whole charge of any child of the marriage. The women 
 in the Jahiliya 2 had the right to dismiss their husbands, 
 and the form of dismissal was this : " If they lived in 
 a tent they turned it round, so that if the door faced east 
 it now faced west, and when the man saw this he knew 
 that he was dismissed and did not enter." The tent 
 belonged to the woman ; the husband was received there 
 and at her good pleasure. 3 
 
 A further striking example of mother-right is furnished 
 by the Mariana Islands, where the position of women 
 was distinctly superior. 
 
 " Even when the man had contributed an equal share of property 
 on marriage, the wife dictated everything and the man could 
 undertake nothing without her approval ; but if the woman com- 
 mitted an offence, the man was held responsible and suffered the 
 punishment. The women could speak in the assembly, they held 
 property, and if a woman asked anything of a man, he gave it up 
 
 1 Barlow, Semitic Origins, p. 45. 
 
 2 Robertson Smith, op. cit., p. 65. 
 
 3 This kind of union for a term is said to have been recognised by 
 Mahommed, though it is irregular by Moslem law. The cases of beena 
 marriage are very frequent among widely different peoples. (See 
 Hartland, Primitive Paternity, Vol. II. pp. n, 13, 14, 19, 20, 24, 27, 
 30-36, 38, 41-43, 51, 53, 55, 60-63, 67-72, 76, 77.) Frazer (Academy, 
 March 27, 1886) cites an interesting example among the tribes on the 
 north frontier of Abyssinia, partially Semitic peoples, not yet under 
 the influence of Islam, who preserve a system of marriage closely 
 resembling the beena marriage, but have as well a purchase marriage, 
 by which a wife is acquired by payment of a bride-price and becomes 
 the property of her husband. (Quoted by Ellis, op. cit., p. 392 note.)
 
 THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 155 
 
 without a murmur. If a wife was unfaithful, the husband could 
 send her home, keep her property and kill the adulterer; but if 
 the man was guilty, or even suspected of the same offence, the 
 women of the neighbourhood destroyed his house and all his 
 visible property, and the owner was fortunate if he escaped with 
 a whole skin ; and if the wife was not pleased with her husband, 
 she withdrew and a similar attack followed. On this account 
 many men were not married, preferring to live with paid women." * 
 
 A similar case of the rebellion of men against their 
 position is recorded in Guinea, where religious symbolism 
 was used by the husband as a way of escape. The 
 maternal system held with respect to the chief wife. 
 
 " It was customary, however, for a man to buy and take to wife 
 a slave, a friendless person with whom he could deal at pleasure, 
 who had no kindred that could interfere for her, and to consecrate 
 her to his Bossum or god. The Bossum wife, slave as she had 
 been, ranked next to the chief wife, and was exceptionally treated. 
 She alone was very jealously guarded, she alone was sacrificed at 
 her husband's death. She was, in fact, wife in a peculiar sense. 
 And having, by consecration, been made of the kindred and wor- 
 ship of her husband, her children could be born of his kindred 
 and worship." 2 
 
 This practice of having a slave-wife who was the 
 property of the husband became more and more 
 common; and was one of the causes that led to the 
 establishment of father-right. How this came we have 
 now to see. 
 
 IV. The Transition to Father-right 
 
 In the preceding sections of this chapter I have col- 
 lected together, with as much exactitude as I could, many 
 
 1 Thomas, Sex and Society, pp. 73-74. Quoting Waitz-Gerland , 
 Anthropologie der Naturvolker, Vol. V. p. 107. 
 * McLennan, The Patriarchal Theory, p. 235.
 
 156 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 examples of the maternal family. I want now to refer 
 briefly to a few further cases, which will make clearer the 
 causes which led to the adoption of father-right. 
 
 Many countries where the patriarchal system is firmly 
 established retain practices which can only be explained 
 as survivals of the earlier custom of mother-descent. 1 
 It must suffice to mention one or two examples. In 
 Burma, which offers in this respect a curious contrast to 
 India, the women have preserved under father-right most 
 of the privileges of mother-right. This is the more 
 remarkable as the law of marriage and the relationship 
 of the sexes is founded on the code of Manu, which pro- 
 claims aloud the inferiority of woman. It is interesting, 
 however, to note that the code recognises only three 
 kinds of men : the good man, the indifferent man, and 
 the bad man. Women, though recognised solely in their 
 relation as wives, are placed in seven classes : the mother- 
 wife, the sister-wife, the daughter-wife, the friend-wife, 
 the master-wife, the servant-wife, and the slave-wife. 
 Manu holds that the last of these, the slave-wife, is the 
 best wife. It is, however, certain that the interpretation 
 of the code in Burma was entirely opposed to any sub- 
 jection of the wife. That mother-right must have been 
 once practised and was very firmly established is proved by 
 the occurrence of brother-sister marriages. The queens of 
 the last rulers of the country, Minden-Min and Thebaw, 
 were either their own or their half-sisters, and the power 
 of government seems to have been almost wholly in the 
 
 1 Thomas, op. cit., p. 75, points out that this survival of woman's 
 power after the rise of father-right is similar to the assertion of male- 
 power under mother-right in the person of the woman's brother or male 
 relative.
 
 THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 157 
 
 hands of these queens. The patriarchal custom, so far 
 as the position of women was concerned, is but a thread, 
 binding them in their marriage, but leaving them entirely 
 free in other respects. The Burmese wife is much more 
 the master than the slave of her husband, though she is 
 clever enough as a rule not to let him feel any incon- 
 venience from her power, which, therefore, he accepts. 
 The exceptional position of the women is clearly indi- 
 cated by the fact that they enter freely into trade, and, 
 indeed, carry out most of the business of the country. 
 Nearly all the shops are kept by women. In the markets, 
 where everything that any one could posibly want is sold, 
 almost all the dealers are women. All classes of the 
 Burmese girls receive their training in these markets ; the 
 daughters of the rich sell the costly and beautiful stuffs, 
 the poorer girls sell the cheaper wares. It is this training 
 which accounts for the business capacity shown by the 
 women. The boys are trained by the priests, as every 
 boy is required, "in order to purify his soul, to acquire 
 a knowledge of sacred things." This explains a great 
 deal. It would seem that religion enforces the same 
 penalties on men that in most countries fall upon women. 
 The Burmese women are very attractive, as is testified 
 by all who know them. The streets of the towns are 
 thronged with women at all hours of the day, and they 
 show the greatest delight in everything that is lively 
 and gay. 
 
 Given such complete freedom of women, it is self- 
 evident that the sexual relationships will also be free. 
 Very striking are the conditions of divorce. The mar- 
 riage contract can be dissolved freely at the wish of both,
 
 158 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 or even of one, of the partners. In the first case the 
 family property is divided equally between the wife and 
 the husband, while if only one partner desires to be freed 
 the property goes to the partner who is left. The chil- 
 dren of the marriage remain with the mother while they 
 are young; but the boys belong to the father. I wish it 
 were possible for me to give a fuller account of the 
 Burmese family. The freedom and active work of the 
 women offer many points of special interest. One thing 
 further must be noted. The Burmese women would 
 seem not to be wholly satisfied with their power, disliking 
 the work and responsibility which their freedom entails. 
 For this reason many of them prefer to marry a Chinese 
 husband; he works for them, while with a husband of 
 their own country they have to work for him. This is 
 very instructive. It points to what I believe to be the 
 truth. The loss of her freedom by woman is often the 
 result of her own desire for protection and her dislike of 
 work, and is not caused by man's tyranny. Woman's 
 own action in this matter is not sufficiently recognised. 
 I must not enter upon this here, as I shall return to the 
 subject later in this chapter. We must now consider the 
 traces left by mother-descent in Japan and China. 
 
 In Japan, as among the Basques, filiation is subordi- 
 nated to the transmission of property. It is to the first- 
 born, whether a boy or a girl, that the inheritance is 
 transmitted, and he or she is forbidden to abandon it. 
 At the time of marriage the husband or wife must take 
 the name of the heir or heiress who marries and per- 
 sonifies the property. Filiation is thus sometimes 
 paternal and sometimes maternal. The maternal uncle
 
 THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 159 
 
 still bears the name of " second little father." l The 
 children of the same father, but not of the same mother, 
 were formerly allowed to marry, a decisive proof of 
 mother-descent. The wife remained with her own rela- 
 tives, and the husband had the right of visiting her by 
 night. The word commonly used for marriage signified 
 to slip by night into the house. It was not until the 
 fourteenth century that the husband's residence was the 
 home of the wife, and marriage became a continued 
 living together by the married pair. Even now when a 
 man marries an only daughter he frequently lives with 
 her family, and the children take her name. There is 
 also a custom by which a man with daughters, but no son, 
 adopts a stranger, giving him one of his daughters in 
 marriage; the children are counted as the heirs of the 
 maternal grandfather. 2 Similar survivals are frequent 
 in China. The patriarchate is rigidly established, but 
 there is evidence to show that the family in this ancient 
 civilisation has passed through the usual stages of 
 development, having for its starting-point the familial 
 clan, and passing from this through the stage of mother- 
 right. 3 The Chinese language itself attests the ancient 
 existence of the earliest form of marriage, contracted by 
 a group of brothers having their wives in common, but 
 not marrying their sisters. Thus a Chinaman calls the 
 sons of his brothers "his sons," but he considers those 
 of his sisters as his nephews. 4 Certain of the aboriginal 
 
 1 Letourneau. op. cit., p. 323, who quotes Lubbock, Orig. Civil., p. 177. 
 
 1 Hartland, op. cit.. Vol. II, p. 14, citing Morgan, Systems of Con- 
 sanguinity. 
 
 * Letourneau, op. cit., t>. 323. 
 
 4 Morgan, Systems of Consanguinity (" Smithsonian Contributions "), 
 Vol. XVII. pp. 416-417.
 
 160 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 tribes still require the husband to live with his wife's 
 family for a period of seven or ten years before he is 
 allowed to take her to his home. The eldest child is 
 given to the husband, the second belongs to the family 
 of the wife. 1 The authority which the Chinese mother 
 exercises over her son's marriage and over his wife can 
 only be explained by mother-right customs. There are 
 many other examples which I must pass over. 
 
 In the Island of Madagascar, with whose interesting 
 civilisation, as it existed before the unfortunate conquest 
 of the country by the French, I am personally acquainted, 
 mother-right has left much more than traces. 2 Great 
 freedom in sexual relations was permitted to the men, 
 and in certain cases to women also. There was no word 
 in the native language for virgin; the word mpitovo, 
 commonly used, means only an unmarried woman. On 
 certain festive ceremonies the licence was very great. 
 The hindrances to marriage were much more stringent 
 with the mother's relations than with the father's. 
 Divorce was frequent and easy; the power to exercise 
 it rested with the husband ; but the wife could, and often 
 did, run away, and thus compel a divorce. A Malagasy 
 proverb compared marriage to a knot so lightly tied that 
 it could be undone by a touch. Such freedom was due 
 to the great desire for children; every child was welcome 
 in the family, whatever its origin. 3 The children 
 
 1 Hartland, Vol. II. p. 45, quoting Gray, China, Vol. II. p. 304. 
 
 2 This is the opinion of Hartland. He quotes Ellis, History of Mada- 
 gascar, and Sibree, The Great African Island. I am able to speak as to 
 the truths of the facts given in their books from my knowledge of 
 the Malagasy before the French occupation of the island. Madagascar is 
 my birth-place, and my father was a missionary in the country at the 
 same time as Mr. Ellis and Mr. Sibree. 
 
 3 As an instance of the importance attached to children, I may
 
 THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 161 
 
 belonged to the husband, and so complete was this pos- 
 session, that in the case of a divorce not only the children 
 previously born, but any the wife might afterwards bear, 
 were counted as his. 
 
 Among the ruling classes mother-right remained in 
 its early force. The royal family and nobility traced their 
 descent, contrary to the general practice, through the 
 mother, and not through the father. The rights of an 
 unmarried queen were great. She was permitted to have 
 a family by whomsoever she wished, and her children 
 were recognised as legitimately royal through her. 
 Among the Hovas not only wealth, but political digni- 
 ties, and even sacerdotal functions, were transmitted to 
 the nephew, in preference to the son. 
 
 In the adjacent continent of Africa we find similar 
 privileges enjoyed by royal women. A delightful 
 example is given by Frazer * in Central Africa, where 
 a small state, near to the Chambezi river, is governed 
 by a queen, who belongs to the reigning family of 
 Ubemba. She bears the title Mamfumer, " Mother of 
 Kings." The privileges attached to this dignity are 
 numerous ; the husbands may be chosen at will and from 
 among the common people. 
 
 "The chosen man becomes prince consort, without sharing in 
 the government of affairs. He is bound to leave everything to 
 follow his royal and often little accommodating spouse. To show 
 that in these households the rights are inverted and that a man 
 may be changed into a woman, the queen takes the title of Mon- 
 
 mention the fact that, after my birth my father was not announced to 
 preach under his own name, but as " the father of Keteka," the Malagasy 
 equivalent of my name. 
 
 1 Frazer, Golden Bough, Pt. I. The Magical Art, Vol. II. p. 277. 
 
 M
 
 162 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 sieur and the husband that of Madame." A visitor to this state, 1 
 who had an interview with the queen, reports that, "she was a 
 woman of gigantic stature, wearing many amulets." 
 
 Battle reported that " Loango was ruled by four 
 princes, the sons of a former king's sister, since the sons 
 of a king never succeed. 2 Frazer gives an account of 
 the tyrannical authority of the princesses in this state. 3 
 
 "The princesses are free to choose and divorce their husbands 
 at pleasure, and to cohabit at the same time with other men. The 
 husbands are nearly always plebeians. The lot of a prince consort 
 is not a happy one, for he is rather the slave and prisoner than the 
 mate of his imperious princess. In marrying her he engages never 
 more to look at a woman ; when he goes out he is preceded by 
 guards whose duty it is to drive all females from the road where 
 he is to pass. If, in spite of these precautions, he should by ill- 
 luck cast his eyes on a woman, the princess may have his head 
 chopped off, and commonly exercised, or used to exercise, the 
 right. This sort of libertinism, sustained by power, often carries 
 the princesses to the greatest excesses, and nothing is so much 
 dreaded as their anger." 
 
 In Africa descent through women is the rule, 4 though 
 there are exceptions, and these are increasing. The 
 amusing account given by Miss Kingsley 5 of Joseph, a 
 member of the Batu tribe in French Congo, strikingly 
 illustrates the prevalence of the custom. When asked 
 by a French official to furnish his own name and the 
 name of his father, Joseph was wholly nonplussed. " My 
 fader?" he said. "Who my fader?" Then he gave 
 the name of his mother. 
 
 1 Father Guillem6, Missiones Catholiques, XXXIV. (1902), p. 16. 
 
 a Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation, p. 151. 
 
 8 Frazer, Ibid., p. 276. 
 
 4 " Birth," we are told by a keen observer, who has lived for many 
 years in intimate converse with the natives, " sanctifies the child ; birth 
 alone gives him status as a member of his mother's family " (Dennett, 
 Jour. Afr. Soc., I. p. 265). 8 Travels, p. 109.
 
 THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 163 
 
 The case is the same among the Negroes. The Fanti 
 of the Gold Coast may be taken as an example. Among 
 them an intensity of affection (accounted for partly by the 
 fact that the mothers have exclusive care of the children) 
 is felt for the mother, while the father is hardly known, 
 or disregarded, notwithstanding that he may be a wealthy 
 and powerful man and the legal husband of the mother. 1 
 The practice of the Wamoima, where the son of a sister 
 is preferred in legacies, " because a man's own son is only 
 the son of his wife," is typical. 2 The Bush husband does 
 not live with his wife, and often has wives in different 
 places. The maternal uncle supplies his place in the 
 family. 
 
 Wherever mother-right has progressed towards father- 
 right, as is the condition, broadly speaking, in the African 
 continent, the supreme authority is vested in the maternal 
 uncle. The tribal duty of blood-revenge falls to him, 
 even against the father. Thus, in some cases, if a woman 
 is murdered, the duty of revenge is undertaken by her 
 kinsman. 3 In the state of Loango among the common 
 people the uncle is addressed as tate (father). He has 
 even the power to sell his sister's children. 4 The child 
 is so entirely the property of the kin that he may be given 
 in pledge for their debts. Among the Bavili the mother 
 has the right to pawn the child, but she must first consult 
 the father, so that he may have a chance of giving her 
 
 1 Hartland, quoting Mr. Sarbah, a native barrister, op. cit., Vol. I. 
 p. 286. 
 
 * Lippert, Kulturgeschichte, Vol. II. p. 57. 
 
 3 This is done among the Beni A me r on the shores of the Red Sea and 
 in the Barka valley, which is the more remarkable as mother-descent 
 has fallen into desuetude under the influence of Islamism. (Hartland, 
 Vol. I. p. 274, quoting Munzinger, Osta/rikanische studien.) 
 
 * Bastian, Loango- Kustc, I. p. 166. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 goods to save the pledging. 1 This is very plainly a step 
 towards father-right. There is no distinction between 
 legitimate and illegitimate children. Similar conditions 
 prevail among the Alladians of the Ivory Coast, but here 
 the mother cannot pledge her children without the con- 
 sent of her brother or other male head of the family. 
 The father has the right to ransom the child. 2 An even 
 stronger example of the property value of children is 
 furnished by the custom found among many tribes, by 
 which the father has to make a present to the wife's kin 
 when a child dies : this is called " buying the child." 
 
 These cases, with the inferences they suggest, show 
 that though mother-descent may be strongly established 
 in Africa, this does not confer (except to the royal prin- 
 cesses) any special distinction upon women. This is 
 explained if we recognise that a transitional period has 
 been reached, when, under the pressure of social, and 
 particularly of military activities, the government of the 
 tribe has passed to the male kindred of the women. It 
 wants but a step further for the establishment of father- 
 right. 
 
 There are many cases pointing to this new father- 
 force asserting itself and pushing aside the earlier order. 
 Again I can give one or two examples only. Among 
 
 1 Dennett, Jour. Afr. Soc., I. p. 266. 
 
 * Jour. Afr. Soc., I. p. 412. See Hartland, op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 275-288. 
 
 3 A similar custom prevails among Maori people of New Zealand. 
 When a child dies, or even meets with an accident, the mother's rela- 
 tions, headed by her brother, turn out in force against the father. He 
 must defend himself until wounded. Blood once drawn the combat 
 ceases; but the attacking party plunders his house and appropriates 
 the husband's property, and finally sits down to a feast provided by 
 him (Old New Zealand, p. no). This case is the more extraordinary 
 as the Maori reckon descent through the father ; it is doubtless a custom 
 persisting from an earlier time.
 
 THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 165 
 
 Wayao and Mang'anja of the Shire highlands, south of 
 Lake Nyassa, a man on marrying leaves his own village 
 and goes to live in that of his wife ; but, as an alternative, 
 he is allowed to pay a bride-price, in which case he takes 
 his wife away to his home. 1 Whenever we find the pay- 
 ment of a bride-price, there is sure indication of the decay 
 of mother-right : woman has become property. Among 
 the Bassa Komo of Nigeria marriage is usually effected 
 by an exchange of sisters or other female relatives. The 
 women are supposed to be faithful to their husbands. 
 If, however, as frequently happens, there is a preliminary 
 courtship period, during which the marriage is considered 
 as provisional, considerable licence is granted to the 
 woman. Chastity is only regarded as a virtue when the 
 woman has become the property of the husband. The 
 men may marry as many wives as they have sisters or 
 female relatives to give in exchange. In this tribe the 
 women look after the children, but the boys, when four 
 years old, go to work and live with their fathers. 2 The 
 husbands of the Bambala tribe (inhabiting the Congo 
 states between the rivers Inzia and Kwilu) have to 
 abstain from visiting their wives for a year after the birth 
 of each child, but they are allowed to return to her on the 
 payment to her father of two goats. 3 Among the Basanga 
 on the south-west of Lake Moeru the children of the wife 
 belong to the mother's kin, but the children of slaves are 
 the property of the father. 4 
 
 1 Macdonald, Africana, Vol. I. p. 136. 
 
 * Jour. Afr. Soc., VIII. pp. 15-17. This tribe now traces descent 
 through the father. 
 
 Torday and Joyce, /. A. I., XXXV. p. 410. 
 4 Arnot, Garenganze, p. 242.
 
 166 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 It is rendered clear by such cases as these, that the 
 rise of father-right was dependent on property and had 
 nothing to do with blood relationship. The payment of 
 a bride-price, the giving of a sister in exchange, as also 
 marriage with a slave, gained for the husband the control 
 over his wife and ownership of her children. I could 
 bring forward much more evidence in proof of this fact 
 did the limits of my space allow me to do this ; such cases 
 are common in all parts of the world where the transi- 
 tional stage from mother-right to father-right has been 
 reached. But I believe that the causes by which the 
 father gained his position as the dominant partner in 
 marriage must be clear to every one from the examples 
 I have given. I will, therefore, quote only one final and 
 most instructive case. It illustrates in a curious way the 
 conflict between the old rights of the woman and the 
 rising power of the male force in connection with mar- 
 riage. It occurs among the Hassanyeh Arabs of the 
 White Nile, where the wife passes by contract for only 
 a portion of her time under the authority of her husband. 
 
 "When the parents of the man and the woman meet to settle 
 the price of the woman, the price depends on how many days in 
 the week the marriage tie is to be strictly observed. The woman's 
 mother first of all proposes that, taking everything into considera- 
 tion, with due regard to the feelings of the family, she could not 
 think of binding her daughter to a due observance of that chastity 
 which matrimony is expected to command for more than two days 
 in the week. After a great deal of apparently angry discussion, 
 and the promise on the part of the relations of the man to pay 
 more, it is arranged that the marriage shall hold good as is 
 customary among the first families of the tribe, for four days in 
 the week, viz. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 
 in compliance with old established custom, the marriage rites 
 during the three remaining days shall not be insisted on, during
 
 THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 167 
 
 which days the bride shall be perfectly free to act as she may 
 think proper, either by adhering to her husband and home, or by 
 enjoying her freedom and independence from all observance of 
 matrimonial obligation." 1 
 
 We have at length concluded our investigation of this 
 first period of organised society, and have ascertained 
 many facts that we can use as a touchstone to try the truth 
 of the various theories that are put forward with regard 
 to woman and her position in the family and in the State. 
 The importance of the mother-age to women is evident. 
 Thus I offer no apology for the length at which I have 
 treated the subject. It has seemed to me after careful 
 revision that no one of the examples given can be omitted. 
 Facts are of so much more importance than opinions if 
 we are to come to the truth. 
 
 Without attempting to trace exhaustively the history 
 or even to enumerate the peoples living, or who have 
 lived, under mother-right customs, we have examined 
 many and varied cases of the actual working of this 
 system, with special reference to the position held by 
 women. The examples have been chosen from all parts 
 of the world, so as to prove (what is sometimes denied) 
 that mother-right has not been confined to any one race, 
 that it is not a local custom under special conditions, but 
 that it has been a necessary stage of growth of human 
 societies. My aim has been to illustrate the stages 
 through which society passed from mother-right to father- 
 right. It has not been possible to arrange the evidence 
 in any exact progressive sequence, but I hope the cases 
 
 1 Spencer, Descriptive Sociology, Vol. V. p. 8, citing Petherick, Egypt, 
 the Soudan, and Central Africa, pp. 140-144. This case is quoted by 
 Thomas, op. cit., pp. 85, 86.
 
 168 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 given will make clear what I believe to have been the 
 general trend of growth : at first the power in the hands 
 of the women, but this giving way to the slow but steady 
 usurping of the mother's authority by the ever-assertive 
 male. 
 
 I shall now conclude this study of the mother-age by 
 attempting to formulate the general truths, which, it 
 seems to me, may be drawn from the examples we have 
 examined. 
 
 I. The first effort of primitive society was to establish 
 some form of order, and in that order the women of the 
 group were the more stable and predominant partners in 
 the family relationship. 
 
 II. Impelled by the conditions of motherhood to a 
 more settled life than the men of the tribe, women were 
 the first agriculturists, weavers, dyers and dressers of 
 skins, potters, the domesticators of animals, the first 
 architects, and sometimes the primitive doctors in a 
 word, the inventors and organisers of the peaceful art of 
 life. 1 Primitive women were strong in body 2 and capable 
 
 1 For fuller information on this important subject the reader is 
 referred to Professor Otis Mason, who gives a picturesque summary of 
 the work done by women among the primitive tribes of America (Ameri- 
 can Antiquarian, January 1889, " The Ulu, or Woman's Knife of the 
 Eskimo," Report of the United States National Museum, 1890). H. Ellis, 
 Man and Woman, pp. 1-17, and Thomas, Sex and Society, pp. 123-146, 
 give interesting accounts of the division of labour among primitive 
 people, showing the important part women took in the start of indus- 
 trialism. For direct examples from primitive peoples, the works of 
 Fison and Howit, James Macdonald, Professor Haddow, Hearn, Morgan, 
 Bancroft, Lubbock, Ratzel, Schoolcroft and other anthropologists 
 should be consulted. 
 
 * It is an entirely mistaken view, founded on insufficient knowledge, 
 that in early civilisations women vere a source of weakness to the men 
 of the tribe or group, and, thus, liable to oppression. The very reverse 
 is the truth. Fison and Howit, who discuss the question, say of the 
 Australian women, " In time of peace they are the hardest workers and 
 the most useful members of the community." In time of war, " they
 
 THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 169 
 
 in work. The power they enjoyed as well as their mani- 
 fold activities were a result of their position as mothers, 
 this function being to them a source of strength and not 
 a plea of weakness. 
 
 III. Moral ideas, as we understand them, hardly 
 existed. The oldest form of marriage was what is known 
 as " group marriage," which was the union of two tribal 
 groups or clans, the men of one totem group marrying 
 the women of another, and vice versa, but no man or 
 woman having one particular wife or husband. 
 
 IV. The individual relationship between the sexes 
 began with the reception of temporary lovers by the 
 woman in her own home. But as society progressed, a 
 relationship thus formed would tend under favourable 
 circumstances to be continued, and, in some cases, per- 
 petuated. The lover thus became the husband, but he 
 was still without property right, with no or very little 
 control over the woman, and none over her children, 
 occupying, indeed, the position of a more or less perma- 
 nent guest in her hut or tent. 
 
 V. The social organisation which followed this custom 
 was in most cases and always, I believe, in their primi- 
 tive form favourable to women. Kinship was recog- 
 nised through the mother, and the continuity of the 
 
 are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves at all times, and so 
 far from being an encumbrance on the warriors, they will fight, if need 
 be, as bravely as the men, and with even greater ferocity " (Kamilaroi 
 and Kurnai, pp. 133-147, 358). This is no exceptional case, and is 
 confirmed by the reports of investigators of widely different peoples. 
 I may mention the ancient Iberian women of Northern Spain, whose 
 bravery in battle is testified to by Strabo : the descendants of these 
 women still carry on the greater part of the active labour connected 
 with agriculture (Spain Revisited, pp. 191-292). In our own day we 
 have the witness to the same truth in the heroic part taken by women 
 in the Balkan army.
 
 170 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 family thus depending solely on the woman, it followed 
 she was the holder of all property. Her position and 
 that of her children was, by this means, assured, and in the 
 case of a separation it was the man who departed, leaving 
 her in possession. The woman was the head of the 
 household, and in some instances held the position of 
 tribal chief. 
 
 VI. This early power of women, arising from the 
 recognition alone of womb-kinship, with the resulting 
 freedom in sexual relationships permitted to women, 
 could not continue. It was no more possible for 
 society to be built up on mother-right alone than it is 
 possible for it to remain permanently based on father- 
 right. 
 
 VII. It is important to note that the causes which led 
 to the change in the position of the sexes had no direct 
 connection with moral development; it was not due, as 
 many have held, to the recognition of fatherhood. The 
 cause was quite different and was founded on property. 
 It arose, in the first instance, through a property value 
 being connected with women themselves. As soon as 
 the women's kin began to see in their women a means 
 by exchange of obtaining wives for themselves, and also 
 the possibility of gaining worldly goods, both in the 
 property held by women, and by means of the service 
 and presents that could be claimed from their lovers, we 
 find them exercising more or less strict supervision over 
 the alliances of their female relatives. 
 
 VIII. At first, and for a long time, the early freedom 
 of women persisted in the widely spread custom of a pre- 
 liminary period before marriage of unrestricted sexual
 
 THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 171 
 
 relationships. But permanent unions became subject to 
 the consent of the woman's kindred. 
 
 It was in this way, I am certain, and for no moral con- 
 siderations that the stringency of the sexual code was 
 first tightened for women. 
 
 IX. At a much later date virginity came to have a 
 special market-value, from which time a jealous watch 
 began to be kept upon maidenhood. 
 
 It seems to me of very great importance that women 
 should grasp firmly this truth : the virtue of chastity owes 
 its origin to property. Our minds fall so readily under 
 the spell of such ideas as chastity and purity. There is 
 a mass of real superstition on this question a belief in 
 a kind of magic in purity. But, indeed, chastity had at 
 first no connection with morals. The sense of ownership 
 has been the seed-plot of our moral code. To it we are 
 indebted for the first germs of the sexual inhibitions 
 which, sanctified by religion and supported by custom, 
 have, under the unreasoned idealism of the common 
 mind, filled life with cruelties and jealous exclusions, 
 with suicides and murders and secret shames. 
 
 X. This intrusion of economics into the sexual rela- 
 tionships brought about the revolution in the status of 
 women. As soon as women became sexually marketable, 
 their early power was doomed. First came what I hold 
 to have been the transitional stage of the mother-age. 
 This will explain how it is that, even where matrilineal 
 descent is in full force, we may find the patriarchal sub- 
 jection of women. The mother's authority has been 
 usurped by her male kindred, usually her brother. 
 
 XI. We have noted the alien position of the father
 
 172 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 even among peoples at a stage of development where 
 paternity was fully established. This subjection, which, 
 perhaps, would not be felt in the earlier stage of mother- 
 right, must have been increased by the intrusion of the 
 authority of the wife's male kindred. The impulse to 
 dominate by virtue of strength or of property possessions 
 has manifested itself in every age. As society advanced 
 property would increase in value, and the social and 
 political significance of its possession would also increase. 
 It is clear that such a position of insecurity for the 
 husband and father would tend to become impossible. 
 
 XII. One way of escape which doubtless took place 
 at a very early stage was by the capture of women. 
 Side by side with the customary marriages in which the 
 husband resided in the home of the wife, without rights 
 and subject to her clan-kindred, we find the practice of 
 a man keeping one or more captive wives in his own 
 home for his use and service. It will be readily seen 
 that the special rights in the home over these owned 
 wives (rights, moreover, that were recognised by the 
 tribe) would come to be desired by other men. But the 
 capture of wives was always difficult as it frequently led 
 to a quarrel and even warfare with the woman's tribe, and 
 for this reason was never widely practised. It would, 
 therefore, be necessary for another way of escape to be 
 found. This was done by changing the conditions of the 
 customary marriage. Nor do I think it unlikely that such 
 change may have been received favourably by women. 
 The captive wives may even have been envied by the 
 regular wife. An arrangement that would give a more 
 individual relationship to marriage and the protection
 
 THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 173 
 
 of a husband for herself and the children of their union 
 may well have been preferred by woman to her position 
 of subjection that had now arisen to the authority of her 
 brother or other male relative. The alteration from the 
 old custom may thus be said to have been due, in part, 
 to the interests of the husband, but also, in part, to the 
 inclination of the wife. 
 
 XIII. The change was gained by elopement, by simu- 
 lated capture, by the gift or exchange of women, and 
 by the payment of a bride-price. The bride-price came 
 to be the most usual custom, gradually displacing the 
 others. As we have seen, it was often regarded as a con- 
 dition, not of the marriage itself, but of the transfer of 
 the wife to the home of the husband and of the children 
 to his kin. 
 
 XIV. It was in this way, for economic reasons, and 
 the personal needs of both the woman and the man, and 
 not, I believe, specially through the fighting propensities 
 of the males, and certainly not by any unfair domination 
 or tyranny on the part of the husband that the position 
 of the sexes was reversed. 
 
 XV. But be this as it may, to woman the result was 
 no less far-reaching and disastrous. She had become the 
 property of one master, residing in her husband's tribe, 
 which had no rights or duties in regard to her, where she 
 was a stranger, perhaps speaking a different language. 
 And her children kept her bound to this alien home in 
 a much closer way than the husband could ever have 
 been bound to her home under the earlier custom. 
 Woman's early power rested in her organised position 
 among her own kin : this was now lost.
 
 174 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 XVI. The change was not brought about quickly. For 
 long the mother's influence persisted as a matter of habit. 
 We have its rather empty shadow with us to-day. 
 
 XVII. But, under the pressure of the new conditions, 
 the old custom of tracing descent and the inheritance 
 of property in the female line (so favourable to women) 
 died. Mother-right passed away, remaining only as a 
 tradition, or practised in isolated cases among primitive 
 peoples. The patriarchal age, which still endures, suc- 
 ceeded. Women became slaves, who of old had been 
 dominant. 
 
 One final word more. 
 
 The opinion that the subjection of women arose from 
 male mastery, or was due to any special cruelty, must be 
 set aside. To me the history of the mother-age does 
 not teach this. I believe this charge could not have 
 arisen, at all events it would not have persisted, if women, 
 with the power they then enjoyed, had not desired the 
 gaining of a closer relationship with the father of their 
 children. With all the evils that father-right has brought 
 to woman, we have got to remember that woman owes 
 the individual relation of the man to herself and her 
 children to the patriarchal system. The father's right 
 in his children (which, unlike the right of the mother, 
 was not founded on kinship, but rested on the quite differ- 
 ent and insecure basis of property) had to be established. 
 Without this being done, the family in its full and per- 
 fect development was impossible. We women need to 
 remember this, lest bitterness stains our sense of justice. 
 It may be that progress social and moral could not have 
 been accomplished otherwise; that the cost of love's
 
 THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 175 
 
 development has been the enslavement of woman. If 
 so, then women will not, in the long account of Nature, 
 have lost in the payment of the price. They may be 
 (when they come at last to understand the truth) better 
 fitted for their refound freedom. 
 
 Neither mother-right alone, nor father-right alone, can 
 satisfy the new ideals of the true relationship of the 
 sexes. The spiritual force, slowly unfolding, that has 
 uplifted, and is still uplifting, womanhood, is the founda- 
 tion of woman's claim that the further progress of 
 humanity is bound up with her restoration to a position 
 of freedom and human equality. But this position she 
 must not take from man that, indeed, would be a step 
 backwards. No, she is to share it with him, and this for 
 her own sake and for his, and, more than all, for the sake 
 of their children and all the children of the race. 
 
 This replacement of the mother side by side with the 
 father in the home and in the larger home of the State 
 is the true work of the Woman's Movement.
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER VII 
 
 WOMAN'S POSITION IN THE GREAT CIVILISATIONS OF 
 ANTIQUITY 
 
 I. In Egypt 
 
 The importance of estimating woman's position in the great civilisations 
 of the ancient world The Egyptian civilisation Women more 
 free and more honoured than in any country to-day The account 
 given by Herodotus The Egyptian woman never confined to the 
 home No restraint upon her actions She entered into commerce 
 in her own right and made contracts for her own benefit Abundant 
 material in proof of the high status of Egyptian women Marriage 
 contracts Their importance and interest Numerous examples 
 The proprietary rights of the wife An early period of mother-rule 
 Property originally in the hands of women The marriage con- 
 tracts a development of the early system The Egyptians solved 
 the difficult problem of the fusion of mother-right with father- 
 right The statement of Dioderus that among the Egyptians the 
 woman rules over the man The conditions of marriage dependent 
 on the birth of children M. Paturet's view the Egyptian woman 
 the equal of man The high status of woman proved by the fact that 
 her child was never illegitimate The position of the mother secure 
 in every relationship between the sexes This made possible by the 
 free conditions of the marriage contracts Polygamy allowed 
 This practice in Egypt very different from polygamy in a patri- 
 archal society The husband a privileged guest in the home of the 
 wife The high ideal of the domestic relationship Illustrations 
 from the inscriptions of the monuments Reasons which explain 
 this civilised and human organisation The Egyptians an agri- 
 cultural and a conservative people They were alco a pacific race 
 The significance of the Maxims of the Moralists Honour to the wife 
 and the mother strongly insisted on The health and character of 
 the Egyptian mother Some reflections in the Egyptian Galleries 
 of the British Museum. 
 
 II. In Babylon 
 
 Traces of mother-right in primitive Babylon The honour paid to 
 women The position of women in later Babylonian history, 
 though still at an early period Their rights more circumscribed 
 The marriage code of Hammurabi Polygamy permitted, though 
 restricted, by the code The exacting conditions of divorce The 
 position of the wife as subject to her husband The later Neo- 
 Babylonian periods The position of women continuously im- 
 proving They obtain a position equal in law with their husbands 
 Their freedom in all social relations They conduct business trans- 
 actions in their own right Illustrations from the contract tablets 
 Remarks and conclusion. 
 
 N I 77
 
 178 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 III. In Greece 
 
 Traces of mother-right traditions in Greek literature and history The 
 women of the Homeric period Dangers arising from the patri- 
 archal subjection of women Illustrations and various reflections 
 Historic Greece The social organisation of Sparta Their marriage 
 system The laws of Lycurgus The freedom of the Spartan girls 
 The wise care for the health of the race Plato's criticism of the 
 Spartan system He accuses the women of ruling their husbands 
 The Athenian women Their subjection under the strict patri- 
 archal rule The insistence on chastity Reasons for this The 
 degraded position of the wife The hetairee They the only edu- 
 cated women in Athens Aspasia She leads the movement to 
 raise the position of the Athenian women Plato's estimate of 
 women Remarks on the sexual penalties for women that are always 
 found under a strict patriarchal regime The ideal relationship 
 between the wife and the husband Euripides voices the sorrows 
 of women He foreshadows their coming triumph. 
 
 IV. In Rome 
 
 Little known of the position of women in Rome in prehistoric times 
 Indications of an early period of mother-rule The patriarchal 
 system formerly established when Roman history opens The 
 Roman marriage law The woman regarded as the property first 
 of her father and afterwards of her husband The patrician 
 marriage of confarreatio The form known as coemptio Marriage 
 by usus The inequality of divorce The subjection of the woman 
 The terrible right of the husband's manus The way of escape 
 The development of the early marriage by usus The new free 
 marriage by consent Free divorce A revolution in the position 
 of women The patriarchal rule of women dwindled to a mere 
 thread They gained increasingly greater liberty until at last they 
 gained complete freedom The public entry of women into the 
 affairs of State Illustrations to show the fine use made by the 
 Roman matrons of their freedom An examination into the sup- 
 posed licentiousness of Roman women This opinion cannot be 
 accepted The effect of Christianity The view of Sir Henry 
 Maine Some concluding remarks on the position of women in the 
 four great civilisations examined in this chapter.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 WOMAN'S POSITION IN THE GREAT CIVILISATIONS 
 OF ANTIQUITY 
 
 I. In Egypt 
 
 " If we consider the status of woman in the great empires of antiquity, 
 we find on the whole that in their early stage, the stage of growth, as 
 well as in their final stage, the stage of fruition, women tend to occupy 
 a favourable position, while in their middle stage, usually the stage 
 of predominating military organisation on a patriarchal basis, women 
 usually occupy a less favourable position. This cyclic movement seems 
 to be almost a natural law of development of great social groups." 
 HAVELOCK ELLIS. 
 
 THE civilisations through which I am now going to 
 follow the history of woman, in so far as they offer any 
 special features of interest to our inquiry into woman's 
 character and her true place in the social order, belong 
 to the great civilisations of the ancient world, civilisa- 
 tions, moreover, that have deeply influenced human 
 culture. It forms the second part of our historical in- 
 vestigation. There can be no doubt of its interest to 
 us, for if we can prove that women have exercised 
 unquestioned and direct authority in the family and in 
 the State, not only among primitive peoples, but in stable 
 civilisations of vital culture, we shall be in a position to 
 answer those who wish to set limits to women's present 
 activities. 
 
 It is necessary to enter into this inquiry with caution : 
 the difficulties before me are very great. Again, it is 
 
 N2 179
 
 180 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 not in any scarcity of evidence, but in its superabundance 
 that the trouble rests. It is hard to condense the social 
 habits of peoples into a few dozen pages. Nothing 
 would be easier than from the mass of material available 
 to pile up facts in furnishing a picture of the high status 
 of woman that would unnerve any upholders of female 
 subordination. It is just possible, on the other hand, 
 to interpret these facts from a fixed point of thought, and 
 then to argue that, in spite of her power, woman was 
 still regarded as the inferior of man. 1 I wish to do 
 neither. It is my purpose to outline the domestic rela- 
 tionships and the family law and customs as they existed 
 in Egypt and in Babylon, in Greece and in Rome; to 
 touch the features of social life only in so far as they 
 illustrate this, and so to discover to what extent the 
 mother was still regarded as the natural transmitter of 
 property and head of the household. The subject is an 
 immensely complicated and seductive one, so that I must 
 keep strictly to the path set by this inquiry. 
 
 Let us turn first to Egypt. 
 
 We have so rich a collection of the remains of the 
 ancient Egyptian civilisation, and so careful and indus- 
 trious a scholarship has been given to interpret them, 
 that we can with confidence reconstruct in outline the 
 legal status and proprietary rights enjoyed by women, 
 which gave them a position more free and more honoured 
 than they have in any country of the world to-day. This 
 is not an overestimate of the facts. The security of her 
 proprietary rights made the Egyptian woman the legal 
 
 1 This is the position taken up, for instance, by Letourneau, Evolution 
 of Marriage, p. 176.
 
 IN EGYPT 181 
 
 head of the household, she inherited equally with her 
 brothers, and had full control of her own property. She 
 was juridically the equal of man, having the same rights, 
 with the same freedom of action, and being honoured in 
 the same way. 
 
 The position of woman in Egypt is, indeed, full of 
 surprises to the modern believer in woman's subjection. 
 Herodotus, who was a keen observer, was the first to 
 record his astonishment. He writes 
 
 " They have established laws and customs opposite for the most 
 part to those of the rest of mankind. With them the women go 
 to market and traffic ; the men stay at home and weave. . . . The 
 men carry burdens on their heads, the women on their shoulders. 
 . . . The boys are never forced to maintain their parents unless 
 they wish to do so, the girls are obliged to, even if they do not 
 wish it." 1 
 
 There is probably some exaggeration in this account, 
 but it is certain that the wide activities of the free 
 Egyptian women were never confined to the home. An 
 important part was taken by her in industrial and com- 
 mercial life. In these relations and in social intercourse 
 it is allowed on all hands woman's position was remark- 
 ably free. 2 The records of the monuments show her to 
 have been as actively concerned in all the affairs of her 
 day, war alone excepted, as her father, her husband, or 
 her sons. 3 No restraint was placed upon her actions, 
 she appears eating and also drinking freely, and taking 
 her part in equal enjoyment with men in social scenes 
 and religious ceremonies. She was able to enter into 
 
 1 Herodotus, Bk. II. p. 35. 
 
 * Hobhouse, Morals in Evolution, Vol. I. p. 189. 
 
 * Maspero, Preface to Queens of Egypt, by J. R. Buttles, q. v.
 
 182 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 commerce in her own right and to make contracts for 
 her own benefit. She could bring actions, and even 
 plead in the courts. She practised the art of medicine. 
 As priestess she had authority in the temples. Fre- 
 quently as queen she was the highest in the land. One 
 of the greatest monarchs of Egypt was Hatschepsut, 1 
 B.C. 1550. "The mighty one!" "Conqueror of all 
 Lands ! " Queen in her own right by the will of her 
 father, Thothmes I. 
 
 The material in proof of this high status of Egyptian 
 women is abundant. It consists partly of the descrip- 
 tions of Greek travellers, partly of the numerous and 
 interesting marriage contracts, and partly of inscriptions 
 and passages in the writings of the moralists, all of which 
 testify to the beautiful and happy family relationships 
 and usual honour in which women were held, which is 
 further illustrated by incidents in the ancient stories. 
 Of these the marriage contracts are the most important 
 for our purpose. 
 
 The fullest information relates to the latest period of 
 independent Egyptian history, when the position of 
 women stood highest, but some of the contracts reach 
 back to the time of King Bocchoris, and there are a few 
 of an even earlier date. I wish that I had space to quote 
 some of these marriage contracts in full : they are very 
 instructive, and open out many paths of new suggestion. 3 
 
 1 For an account of the reign of Hatschepsut, as well as of the other 
 queens who ruled in Egypt, I must refer the reader to the excellent 
 and careful work of Miss Buttles. It is worth noting that the temple 
 built by Queen Hatschepsut is one of the most famous and beautiful 
 monuments of ancient Egypt. On the walls are recorded the history 
 of her prosperous reign, also the private events of her life : " Ra hath 
 selected her for protecting Egypt and for rousing bravery among men." 
 
 a We owe our knowledge of the Egyptian marriage contracts chiefly
 
 IN EGYPT 183 
 
 I would commend their study to all those who are ques- 
 tioning the institution of marriage as it stands to-day 
 on the rights of the patriarchal family system, by which 
 the woman is considered the inferior, and submits her- 
 self and is subordinate to the man as the ruler of the 
 family. The issue really rests at its root upon this 
 is the mother or the father to be regarded as the natural 
 transmitter of property and head of the family. Our 
 decision here will affect our outlook on the entire relation 
 of the sexes. The Egyptians decided on the right of the 
 mother. Their marriage contracts seem to have been 
 entirely in favour of women. There was no sale of the 
 bride by her parents, but the bride-price went to her; 
 her own property also remained in her own charge and 
 was at her own disposal. The husband stipulates in the 
 contracts how much he will give as a yearly allowance 
 for her support, and the entire property of the husband 
 is pledged as security for these payments, whilst the wife 
 is further protected by a dowry l or charge on the 
 husband, to be paid to her in the event of his sending 
 her away. 
 
 It will readily be seen how advantageous these pro- 
 prietary rights must have been to the wife. She was 
 
 to M. Revillout, whose works should be consulted. See also Paturet 
 (the pupil of Revillout), La Condition juridique de la femme dans I'ancienne 
 Egypte ; Nietzold, Die Ehe in Aegypten; Greenfel, Greek Papyri ; Ameli- 
 ncau. La Morale Egyptienne ; Miiller, Liebespoesie der alten Aegypten, 
 
 pp. 204- 
 Evolution, Vol. I. p. 182, et seq. 
 
 1 Hobhouse regards this dowry as being the original property of the 
 wife in the forms of the bride-price. Revillout and Miiller accept the 
 much more probable view, that the dowry was fictitious, and was 
 really a charge on the property of the husband to be paid to the wife if 
 he sent her away.
 
 184 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 able to claim either the fidelity of her husband or freedom 
 for herself to leave him and in some cases for both 
 together, her property being secured to her and her 
 children. In one contract by which the husband gives 
 his wife one-third of all his property, present and to 
 come, he values the movables she brought with her, and 
 promises her the equivalent in silver. " If thou stayest, 
 thou stayest with them, if thou goest away, thou goest 
 away with them." The importance of this right of free 
 separation to women can hardly be over-estimated. 
 Nietzold says the wife has absolutely nothing to lose, 
 even when she is the guilty party. 2 Some of the 
 marriage contracts are even more favourable to women ; 
 in these the husband literally endows his wife with all 
 his worldly goods, " stipulating only that she is to main- 
 tain him while living, and provide for his burial when 
 dead." M. Paturet distinguishes two forms of 
 marriage settlements, one which secures to the wife an 
 annual pension of specified amount usually one-third 
 of the property of the husband and the other, probably 
 the older custom, which established a complete com- 
 munity of goods. The earlier contracts are much less 
 detailed, due probably to the fact that the position of 
 the established wife was then fixed by custom ; but there 
 seems no doubt that the equal lawful wife, she whose 
 proper title is "lady of the house," was also joint ruler 
 and mistress of the family heritage. 4 There is a very 
 
 1 Paturet, La Condition juridique de la fentme dans I'ancienne gypte, 
 p. 69. 
 
 8 Nietzold , Die Ehe in Aegypten, p. 79. 
 
 3 Etudes tgyptologiques, livre XIII. pp. 230, 294 ; quoted by Simcox, 
 op. cit., Vol. I. p. 210. 
 
 * Simcox, op. cit., Vol. I. p. 204.
 
 IN EGYPT 185 
 
 curious early contract of the time of Darius I, in which 
 the usual stipulation of latter contracts are reversed, 
 the wife speaking of the man being established as her 
 husband, acknowledging the receipt of a sum of money 
 as dowry, and undertaking that if she deserts or disposes 
 of him, a third part of all her goods, present and to 
 come, shall be forfeited to him. 1 
 
 The high honour, freedom and proprietary rights 
 enjoyed by the Egyptian wife can only be explained as 
 being traceable to an early period of mother-right. Here 
 the ancient privileges of women have persisted, not as 
 an empty form, but would seem to have been adopted 
 because of their advantage in the family relationship, 
 and been incorporated with father-right. This would 
 account for the last-named contract. Its very ancient 
 date seems clearly to point to this. It is unlikely that, 
 if it were an exceptional form, it should have chanced 
 to be one of the very few early contracts that have been 
 preserved. 2 It would rather seem that property was 
 originally entirely in the hands of women, as is usual 
 under the matriarchal system. The Egyptian marriage 
 law was simply a development of this, enforcing by 
 agreement what would occur naturally under the earlier 
 custom. The interests of the children's inheritance was 
 the chief object of the settlement of property on the wife. 
 In the earlier stage, the daughter inheriting property 
 from her parents, would marry the husband would then 
 become its joint administrator, but not its owner; it would 
 
 1 Simcox. op. cit., Vol. I. pp. 210-211, citing Revillout, Cours de 
 droit^p. 285. 
 
 1 This is the view of Simcox, op. cit., pp. 210-211.
 
 186 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 pass by custom to the children with the eldest as adminis- 
 trator, but if the wife dismissed the husband, as under 
 this system she could and often did, she would of right 
 retain the family property in control for the children. 1 
 As society advanced this older custom would tend to 
 break up in favour of individual ownership, property 
 would come to belong to the husband and father, and 
 it would then be necessary to ensure the position of the 
 wife and children by contract. The Egyptian marriage 
 may thus be regarded as a development of the individual 
 relationship arising from father-right modified to con- 
 form with the mother-right custom of transmitting pro- 
 perty through the woman. Under the earlier system the 
 inheritance of the husband would pass to the children 
 of his sister, and not to his own children. The contract 
 was, therefore, made to prevent this. The husband's 
 property was passed over to the wife (at first entirely 
 and later in part) to secure its inheritance by the children 
 of the marriage. Hence the formula common to these 
 contracts by which the husband declares to the wife, " My 
 eldest son, thy eldest son, shall be the heir to all my 
 property present and to come." The only difference to 
 the earlier custom was the prominence given to the eldest 
 child (a son) in the contract. 
 
 This gift by the husband of his property to the wife, 
 which made her a joint partner with him in all the family 
 transactions, while at the same time she retained com- 
 plete control over her own property, clearly placed the 
 woman and her children in the same position of security 
 as she had held during the mother-age ; and added to this 
 
 1 Hobhouse, Vol. I. p. 185 (Note).
 
 IN EGYPT 187 
 
 she gained the individual protection and support of the 
 father in the family relationship. Doubtless it was this 
 freedom and right over property, which explains the 
 frequent cases in which the Egyptian women conducted 
 business transactions, and also their active participation 
 in the administration of the social organisation. Equal 
 partners with their husbands in the administration of the 
 home, they became partners with men in the wider 
 administration of the State. It was in such wise way 
 that the Egyptians arranged the difficult problem of the 
 fusion of mother-right with father-right. 
 
 One result of these marriage contracts, giving appar- 
 ently great power to the wife, arose out of the mortgage 
 on the husband's property as security for the wife's 
 settlement; her consent became necessary to all his acts. 
 Thus it is usual for the husband's deeds to be endorsed 
 by the wife, while he did not endorse hers. In some 
 cases the wife's consent seems to have been necessary 
 even in the case of the initial mortgage, when the only 
 possible explanation is that the wife was regarded as co- 
 proprietor with the husband, and therefore had to be 
 party to any act disposing of the joint estate. 1 
 
 Such a custom was apparently so wholly in favour of 
 the wife, reversing the customary position of the man 
 and the woman in the marriage partnership, that in the 
 light of these contracts we understand the statement of 
 Diodorus, when he says that " among the Egyptians the 
 woman rules over the man " ; though plainly he has not 
 understood their true significance, when he goes on to 
 
 1 Les obligations en droit egyptien, p. 82 ; quoted by Simcox, op. cit., 
 Vol. I. pp. 209-210.
 
 188 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 say that " it is stipulated between married couples, by 
 the terms of the dowry-contract that " the man shall obey 
 the woman." 
 
 If the view is accepted, as I think it must be, that 
 these contracts were made to add the advantages of 
 father-right to the natural privileges of mother-right, and 
 thus to secure the enjoyment of the family property to 
 all its members, it will become evident that, however 
 surprising such an agreement might seem from the 
 one-sided patriarchal view (which always accepts the 
 subjection of the woman), it was entirely a wise and just 
 arrangement. It was certainly one that was entered into 
 voluntarily by both partners of the marriage ; there was 
 no compulsion of law. All the evidence that has come 
 down to us is witness to the success in practice of these 
 marriage contracts. No other nation has yet developed 
 a family relationship so perfect in its working as the 
 Egyptians. The reason is not far to seek. It was based 
 on the equal freedom and responsibility of the mother 
 with the father. There was no question, it seems to me, 
 of one sex ruling or obeying the other, rather it was 
 the co-operation of the two for the welfare of both and 
 of the children. 
 
 1 Diodorus, bk. i. p. 27. The whole passage is : " Contrary to 
 the received usage of other nations the laws permit the Egyptians to 
 marry their sisters, after the example of Osiris and Isis. The latter, 
 in fact, having cohabited with her brother Osiris, swore, after his 
 death, never to surfer the approach of any man, pursued the murderer, 
 governed according to the laws, and loaded men with benefits. All 
 this explains why the queen receives more power and respect than the 
 king, and why, among private individuals, the woman rules over the 
 man, and that it is stipulated between married couples by the terms of 
 the dowry-contract that the man shall obey the woman." The 
 brother-sister marriages, referred to by Diodorus, which were common, 
 especially in early Egyptian history, are further witness to the persistence 
 among them of the customs of the mother-age.
 
 IN IEGYPT 139 
 
 So far we have dealt only with the position of the 
 established wife. All the written marriage contracts 
 refer to the " taking " and " establishing " a wife as two 
 distinct steps, and in some cases the second stage, which 
 seems to have conveyed the proprietary rights, was not 
 taken until after the birth of children. There would 
 thus be wives not necessarily holding the position of 
 " lady of the house," but capable of being raised to such 
 rank by later contract. 1 It is probable, as M. Revillout 
 suggests, 2 that " the taking to wife " was a comparatively 
 informal matter, but needing ratification by contract for 
 any lasting establishment, which commonly would be 
 done after the birth of a child to ensure the rights of 
 the father's inheritance, passing through the mother to 
 the children. All the evidence is in favour of this wise 
 arrangement. There are many examples of contracts 
 being entered into by the husband for the benefit of a 
 woman, who had been "with him as a wife to him." 
 Relations between the sexes of an even less binding 
 character than this were not ignored. 3 It seems clear 
 that little regard was paid to pre-nuptial chastity for 
 women, and in no marriage contract is any stress laid 
 on virginity, which, as Havelock Ellis 4 says, clearly 
 indicates the absence of any idea of women as property. 
 " It is the glory of Egyptian morality to have been the 
 first to express the dignity of woman." 
 
 M. Paturet takes the view that it was not so much as 
 the mother, but as woman, and being the equal of man, 
 
 1 Simcox. op. cit., Vol. I. p. 205. * Revue (gyptologique, I. p. no. 
 
 Revillout, Cours de droit, Vol. I. p. 222. 
 
 * Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. p. 393. 
 
 1 Am<Hincuu, La morale egyptienne, p. 194.
 
 190 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 that the Egyptians honoured their women. Perhaps the 
 truth rather is that there was no separation between the 
 woman and the mother. This is the view that I would 
 take ; to me it is the right and natural one. But be this 
 as it may, Egyptian morality placed first the rights of 
 the mother. No religious or moral superiority seems to 
 have attached to the established wife. Even when there 
 had been no betrothal, and no intention of marriage, law 
 or custom recognises the claim of any mother of children 
 to some kind of provision at their father's expense. 
 " Nothing proves the high status of woman so clearly as 
 this : her child was never illegitimate ; illegitimacy was 
 not recognised even in the case of a slave woman's 
 child." * 
 
 There is a curious deed of the Ptolemaic period by 
 which a man cedes to a woman a number of slaves ; and 
 in the same breath recognises her as his lawful wife, 
 and declares her free not to consider him as her husband. 2 
 A byssus worker at the factory of Amon promises to the 
 wife he is about to establish, one-third of all his acquisi- 
 tions thenceforward : " my eldest son, thy eldest son, 
 among the children born to thee previously and those 
 thou shalt bear to me in future shall be master of all I 
 possess now or shall hereafter acquire." Even when 
 such arrangements were not entered into voluntarily, 
 public opinion seems always to have been in favour of 
 the woman. A case is recorded where four villagers 
 of the town of Arsinoe pledged themselves to the priest, 
 scribe, and mayor that a fellow villager of theirs will 
 
 1 Ellis, citing Donaldson, Woman, p. 196. This is also the opinion 
 of Muller. 
 
 * Revillout, Revue tgyptologique, Vol. I. p. 113. 

 
 IN EGYPT 191 
 
 become the friend of the woman who has been as his 
 wife, and will love her as a woman ought to be loved. 1 
 
 Most significant of all is the well-known precept of 
 Petah Hotep, which refers to the expected conduct of a 
 man to a prostitute or outcast 
 
 " If thou makest a woman ashamed, wanton of heart, whom her 
 fellow townspeople know to be under two laws " (i. e. in an am- 
 biguous position), " be kind to her for a season, send her not away, 
 let her have food to eat. The wantonness of her heart appreciateth 
 guidance." 
 
 I know of nothing finer than this wide understanding 
 of the ties of sex. It is an essential part of morality, 
 as I understand it, that it accepts responsibility, not 
 alone in the regular and permanent relationships between 
 one man and one woman, but also in those that are 
 temporary and are even considered base. Only in this 
 way can the human passions be unified with love. 
 
 The freedom of the Egyptian marriage made this 
 possible. Law, at least as we understand it, did not 
 interfere with the domestic relationships; there was no 
 one fixed rule that must be followed. Marriage was 
 a matter of mutual agreement by contract. All that was 
 required (and this was enforced by custom and by public 
 opinion) was that the position of the woman and the 
 children was made secure. Each party entered on the 
 marriage without any constraint, and each party could 
 cancel the contract and thereby the marriage. No legal 
 judgment was required for divorce. It is a significant 
 fact that in all the documents cancelling the marriage 
 contracts that have come down to us, no mention is made 
 
 1 Simcox, op. cit., Vol. I. p. 207.
 
 192 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 of the reason which led to the annulling of the contract, 
 only in one case it is suggested that " some evil daimon " 
 may be at the bottom of it. 1 
 
 Polygamy was allowed in Egypt, though, as in all 
 polygamous countries, its practice was confined to the 
 rich. This has been thought by some to exclude the 
 idea of the woman's power in the family. 2 But such an 
 opinion seems to me to arise from a want of understand- 
 ing of the Egyptian conception of the sexual tie. Under 
 polygamy each wife had a house, her proprietary rights 
 and those of her children were established, the husband 
 visiting her there as a privileged guest on equal footing. 3 
 This is very different from polygamy in a patriarchal 
 society, and would carry with it no social dishonour to 
 the woman. It would seem, too, in later Egyptian 
 history that polygamy, though legal in theory, in practice 
 died out, the fidelity of the husband, as we have seen, 
 being claimed by the wife in the conditions of the 
 marriage contract. 4 
 
 That the Egyptians had a high ideal of the domestic 
 relations and had this, let it be remembered, more than 
 four thousand years ago is abundantly illustrated by 
 their inscriptions. In one epitaph of the Hykos period, 
 the speaker, who boasts a family of sixty children, says 
 of himself, " I loved my father, I honoured my mother, 
 my brothers and my sisters loved me." The com- 
 monest formula, which continued in use as long as 
 
 1 Donaldson, Woman, pp. 244-245, citing Nietzold, p. 79. 
 * Letourneau (Evolution of Marriage, p. 1 76) takes this view. 
 8 This is, of course, a survival of the old matriarchal custom. 
 4 Hobhouse, op. cit., Vol. L. pp. 5-186. Herodotus (Bk. II. p. 42) 
 states that many Egyptians, like the Greeks, had adopted monogamy. 
 6 Burgsch, Hist., vol. I. p. 262, quoted by Simcox.
 
 IN EGYPT 198 
 
 Egyptian civilisation survived, was one describing the 
 deceased as " loving his father, reverencing his mother, 
 and being beloved by his brothers," and there can be no 
 doubt that this sentiment represented thfe maturest con- 
 victions of the Egyptians as to the sentiments necessary 
 for the felicitous working of the family relationships. 1 
 It is, indeed, significant to find this reversal of the usual 
 sentiments towards the father and the mother the 
 former to be loved and the latter to be reverenced. It 
 would seem as if "they assumed that fathers would be 
 sufficiently reverenced if they were loved, and mothers 
 loved if they were honoured." How true here is the 
 understanding of affection and of the sexes ! 
 
 If we pause for a moment to seek the reason why the 
 Egyptians had, as Herodotus so strikingly states, estab- 
 lished in their domestic relationships laws and customs 
 different from the rest of mankind the answer is easy 
 to find. The Egyptians were an agricultural and a 
 conservative people. They were also a pacific race. 
 They would seem not to have believed in that illusion 
 of younger races the glory of warfare. I have seen it 
 stated that in battle they were known for the habit of 
 running away. This may, of course, be thought to count 
 against them as a people. It depends entirely on the 
 point of view that is taken. But if, as I believe, the 
 fighting activities belong to an early and truly primitive 
 stage of social development, then the view would be 
 very different. Races begin with the building up of 
 
 1 Simcox, Vol. I. p. 198-199. I take this opportunity of acknowledging 
 the help I have received from this writer's careful and interesting 
 chapter on " Domestic Relationships and Family Law " among the 
 Egyptians. 
 O
 
 194 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 society, then there follows the period of warfare the 
 patriarchal period which leads on to a later stage, much 
 nearer in its working to the first a final period, as 
 Havelock Ellis says, " the stage of fruition." Woman's 
 place and opportunity for the true expression of the 
 powers that are hers belong to the first and last of these 
 stages; in the middle stage she must tend to fall into a 
 position of more or less complete dependence on the 
 fighting male. Here is, I think, the explanation of 
 the power and privilege of the Egyptian women. The 
 Egyptians, due to their pacific and conservative tem- 
 perament, seem to have escaped the patriarchal stage, 
 and passed on from the first to final stage. Through 
 the long centuries of their civilisation they devoted their 
 energies to the building up and preserving of their social 
 organisation. Thus, it may be, came about that solving 
 of the problem of the sexes, which they among all races 
 seem to have accomplished. The relationships of their 
 family life and domestic administration were entirely 
 civilised and humane. 
 
 Nowhere, except in Egypt, is so much stress laid upon 
 the truth, that authority is sustained by affection. Their 
 monuments and the inscriptions that have come down to 
 us abundantly testify the value set upon affection : it is 
 always the love of the husband for the wife, the wife for 
 the husband, or the parent for the child, that is recorded. 
 The frequency and detail with which such affections are 
 described, prove the high estimation in which the purely 
 domestic virtues were held, as forming the best and chief 
 title of the dead to remembrance and honour. It is 
 clear, moreover, that these affectionate relations between
 
 IN EGYPT 195 
 
 the members of a family are counted among the pleasures 
 and joy of life. The inscriptions urge and warn the 
 survivors to miss none of the joys of life, since the dis- 
 embodied dead sleep in darkness, and this is the worst 
 of their grief, "they know neither father nor mother, 
 they do not awake to behold their brethren, their heart 
 yearns no longer after wife and child." 1 There is a 
 delightful inscription on the sepulchral tablet of the wife 
 of a high priest of Memphis, 2 in which she urges the 
 duty of happiness for her husband. It says 
 
 " Hail, my brother, husband, friend, ... let not thy heart cease 
 to drink water, to eat bread, to drink wine, to love women, to 
 make a happy day, and to suit thy heart's desire by day and by 
 night. And set no care whatsoever in thy heart : are the years 
 which (we pass) upon the earth so many (that we need do this) ? " 
 
 Such a conception, with its clear idea of the right of 
 happiness, stands as witness to the high ideal of love 
 which regulated the Egyptian family relationships. 
 
 It is necessary to remember, in this connection, that 
 the domestic ties of the Egyptians were firmly based 
 on proprietary considerations. No surprise need be felt 
 that this was so, when we recall the wise arrangements 
 of the marriage contracts, whereby both parties of the 
 union secured equal freedom and an equal share in the 
 family property. The antagonism between ownership 
 and affection which so frequently destroys domestic 
 happiness must thus have been unknown. ' There was 
 no marriage without money or money's worth, but to 
 marry for money, in the modern sense, was impossible 
 
 1 Maspero, Hist. (German tr.), p. 41 ; see Simcox, op. cit., p. 199. 
 1 This tablet is in the British Museum, London. S. Egyptian Gallery, 
 Bay 29, No. 1027. 
 O 2
 
 196 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 where individual ownership was abolished by the act of 
 marriage itself." l 
 
 This in itself explains the fact, proved by these in- 
 scriptions, that the Egyptian woman remained to the end 
 of life, " the beloved of her husband and the mistress 
 of the house." " Make glad her heart during the time 
 that thou hast," was the traditional advice given to the 
 husband. To this effect runs the precept of Petah 
 Hotep 3 - 
 
 "If thou wouldst be a wise man, rule thy house and love thy 
 wife wholly and constantly. Feed her and clothe her, love her 
 tenderly and fulfil her desires as long as thou livest, for she is an 
 estate which conferreth great reward upon her lord. 3 Be not hard 
 to her, for she will be more easily moved by persuasion than by 
 force. Observe what she wisheth, and that on which her mind 
 runneth, thereby shalt thou make her to stay in thy house. If 
 thou resisteth her will it is ruin." 
 
 The maxims of Ani, 4 written six dynasties later, give 
 the same advice with fuller detail 
 
 " Do not treat rudely a woman in her house when you know her 
 perfectly ; do not say to her, ' Where is that ? bring it to me ! ' 
 when she has set it in its place where your eye sees it, and when 
 you are silent you know her qualities. It is a joy that your hand 
 should be with her. The man who is fond of heart is quickly 
 master in his house." 
 
 1 Simcox, Vol. I. pp. 218, 219. 
 
 1 Petah Hotep was a high official in the reign of Assa, a king of the 
 IVth Dynasty, about 3360 B.C. His precepts consist of aphorisms of 
 high moral worth; there is a late copy in the British Museum. I 
 have followed the translation given in the Guide to the Egyptian 
 Collection p. 77. 
 
 3 This passage in other translations reads : " she is a field profitable 
 to its owner." 
 
 * The Maxims of Ani are preserved in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo. 
 The work inculcates the highest standard of practical morality and 
 gives a lofty ideal of the duty of the Egyptians in all the relations of 
 life.
 
 IN EGYPT 197 
 
 Honour to the mother was strongly insisted on. The 
 sage Kneusu-Hetep l thus counsels his son 
 
 "Thou shalt never forget thy mother and what she has done for 
 thee. From the beginning she has borne a heavy burden with 
 thee in which I have been unable to help her. Wert thou to forget 
 her, then she might blame thee, lifting up her arms unto God, 
 and he would hearken to her. For she carried thee long beneath 
 her heart as a heavy burden, and after thy months were accom- 
 plished she bore thee. Three long years she carried thee upon 
 her shoulder and gave thee her breast to thy mouth, and as thy 
 size increased her heart never once allowed her to say, ' Why 
 should I do this? ' And when thou didst go to school and wast 
 instructed in the writings, daily she stood by thy master with bread 
 and beer from the house." 
 
 I would note in passing that in this passage we have 
 a conclusive testimony to health and character of the 
 Egyptian mother. The importance of this is undoubted, 
 when we remember the active part taken by women in 
 business and in social life. It is, I am sure, an entirely 
 mistaken view to hold that motherhood is a cause of 
 weakness to women. In a wisely ordered society this 
 is not so. It is the withdrawal of one class of women 
 from labour the parasitic wives and daughters of the 
 rich (which of these women could feed and carry her 
 child for three years?), as the forcing of other women 
 into work under intolerable conditions that injures 
 motherhood. But on these questions I shall speak in 
 the final part of my inquiry. 
 
 When I had written thus far in this chapter, I went 
 from the reading-room of the British Museum, where 
 
 1 From the Boulak Papyrus (1500 B.C.). I have followed in part the 
 translation given by Griffiths, The World's Literature, p. 5340, and in 
 part that of Maspero given in Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria 
 (trans, by Alice Morton, p. 16).
 
 198 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 all day I had been working, to spend a last quiet hour 
 in the Egyptian Galleries. I knew one at least of these 
 galleries well, but as a rule I had hurried through it, as 
 so many of the reading-room students do, to reach the 
 refreshment-room which is placed there. I found I had 
 never really seen anything. This time it was different, 
 for my thoughts were aflame with the life of this people, 
 whose wonderful civilisation speaks in all these sculp- 
 tured remains through the silence of the centuries. 
 Some fresh thought came to me as I waited to look at 
 first one statue and then another. I sought for those 
 which represented women. There is a small statue in 
 green basalt of Isis holding a figure of Osiris Un-nefer, 
 her son. 1 The goddess is represented as much larger 
 than the young god, who stands at her feet. The mar- 
 riage of Isis with her brother Osiris did not blot out 
 her independent position, her importance as a deity 
 remained to the end greater than his. Think for a 
 moment what this placing of the goddess, rather than 
 the god, in the forefront of Egyptian worship signifies; 
 very clearly it reflects the honour in which the sex to 
 whom the supreme deity belongs was held. In the third 
 Egyptian room is a seated statuette of Queen Teta- 
 Khart, a wife of Aahmes I (1600 B.C.), whose title was 
 " Royal Mother," and another figure of Queen Amen- 
 artas of the XXVth Dynasty 700 B.C.; near by is 
 a beautiful head of the stone figure of a priestess. 2 
 There is something enigmatic and strangely seductive 
 in the Egyptian faces; a joy and calmness which are 
 
 1 Southern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 28, No. 964. This statue belongs 
 to later Egyptian history. It was dedicated by Shashanq, a high official 
 of the Ptolemaic period. 
 
 * Wall case 102, Nos. 187, 38, and 430.
 
 IN EGYPT 199 
 
 implicit in freedom. And the impression is helped by 
 the fixed attitudes, usually seated and always facing the 
 spectator, and also by the great size of many of the 
 figures ; one seems to realise something of the simplicity 
 and strength of the tireless enduring power of these 
 women and men. 
 
 But I think what interested me most of all was the 
 little difference manifested in the representations of the 
 two sexes. The dress which each wears is very much the 
 same ; the attitudes are alike, and so often are the faces, 
 even in the figures there seems no accentuation of the 
 sexual characters. Often I did not know whether it was 
 at a man or a woman, a god or a goddess, I was looking, 
 until the title of the statue told me. How strange this 
 seemed to me, and yet how significant of the beautiful 
 equality of partnership between the woman and the man. 
 It is in the statues which represent a husband and wife 
 together, seated side by side, that this likeness is most 
 evident. There are several of these domestic groups. 
 One very interesting one is of early date, and belongs 
 to the IVth Dynasty 3750 B.C. 1 It is in painted lime- 
 stone, and shows the portrait figures of Ka-tep, "a royal 
 kinsman " and priestly official, and his wife Hetep-Heres, 
 " a royal kinswoman." The figures are small and of the 
 same size; the faces are clearly portraits. The one, 
 which I take to be the woman, though I am uncertain 
 whether I am right, has her arm around the man, embrac- 
 ing him. There is another group 2 in white limestone of 
 very fine work, portraits of a high official and his wife. 
 The figures resemble each other closely, but that of the 
 
 1 Vestibule of North Egyptian Gallery, East doorway, No. 14. 
 South Gallery, No. 565.
 
 200 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 man is a little larger, showing his rank. The man holds 
 the hand of the woman. This statue belongs to the 
 XlXth Dynasty. On the right-hand side of the North 
 Gallery is a second group of an earlier period. 1 The 
 husband and wife are seated, and the figures are of the 
 same size, showing that their rank was equal ; their arms 
 are intertwined, and between them, standing at their feet, 
 is a small figure of their son. It was before this family 
 group I waited longest : it pleased me by its complete- 
 ness and its sincerity. Once more I should have had 
 difficulty in identifying which figure was the father and 
 which the mother, but the man wears a small beard. In 
 all these statue groups there is this great resemblance 
 between the sexes. 
 
 Were the sexes, then, really alike in Egypt? I do not 
 know. Such a conception opens up biological con- 
 siderations of the deepest significance. It is so difficult 
 to be certain here. Is the great boundary line which 
 divides the two halves of life, with the intimate woman's 
 problems that depend upon it, to remain for ever fixed ? 
 In sex are we always to be faced with an irresolvable 
 tangle of disharmonies? Again, I do not know. Yet, 
 looking at these seated figures of the Egyptian husband 
 and wife, I felt that the answer might be with them. 
 Do they not seem to have solved that secret which we 
 are so painful in our search of? The statues thus took 
 on a kind of symbolic character, which eloquently spoke 
 of a union of the woman and the man that in freedom 
 
 1 No. 375. This group belongs to the XVIIIth Dynasty : the husband 
 was a warden of the palace and overseer of the Treasury ; the wife a 
 priestess of the god Amen.
 
 IN BABYLON 201 
 
 had broken down the boundaries of sex, and, therefore, 
 of life that was in harmony with love and joy. And the 
 beautiful words of the Egyptian Song of the Harper 
 came to my memory, and now I understood them 
 
 " Make (thy) day glad ! Let there be perfumes and sweet odours 
 for thy nostrils, and let there be flowers and lilies for thy beloved 
 sister (i. e. wife) who shall be seated by thy side. Let there be 
 songs and music of the harp before thee, and setting behind thy 
 back unpleasant things of every kind, remember only gladness, 
 until the day cometh wherein thou must travel to the land which 
 loveth silence." 
 
 II. In Babylon 
 
 " The modern view of marriage recognises a relation that love has 
 known from the outset. But this is a relation only possible between 
 free self-governing persons." HOBHOUSE. 
 
 If we turn now to the very ancient civilisation of Baby- 
 lon we shall find women in a position of honour similar 
 in many ways to what we have seen already in Egypt : 
 there are ever indications that the earliest customs may 
 have gone beyond those of the Egyptians in exalting 
 women. The most archaic texts in the primitive lan- 
 guage are remarkable for the precedence given to the 
 female sex in all formulas of address : " Goddess " and 
 gods, women and men, are mentioned always in that 
 order, which is in itself a decisive indication of the high 
 status of women in this early period. 1 
 
 There are other traces all pointing to the conclusion 
 that in the civilisation of primitive Babylon mother-right 
 was still very much alive. It is significant that the first 
 
 1 Simcox, Primitive Civilisation, Vol. I. pp. 9, 271.
 
 202 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 rulers of Sumer and Akkad the oldest Babylonian cities 
 frequently made boast of their unknown parentage, 
 which can only be explained by the assumption that 
 descent through the father was not recognised. Thus 
 Sargon, 1 one of the earlier rulers, says : " My mother 
 was a princess, my father I know not ... my mother, 
 the princess, conceived me, in a secret place she brought 
 me forth." A little monument in the Hague museum has 
 an inscription which has been translated thus : " Gudea 
 patesi of Sirgulla dedicates thus to Gin-dung-nadda- 
 addu, his wife." The wife's name is interpreted "maid 
 of the god Nebo." It is thought that Gudea reigned in 
 her right. The inscription goes on to say : " Mother I 
 had not, my mother was the water deep. A father I had 
 not, my father was the water deep." The passage is 
 obscure, but it is explained if we regard this as one of 
 the legends of miraculous birth so frequent in primitive 
 societies under mother-descent. 2 Another relic of some 
 interest is an ancient statue of a Babylonian woman, not 
 a goddess or a queen, who is presented alone and not 
 with her husband, as was common in Egypt; such a 
 monument may suggest, as is pointed out by Simcox, 
 that women at this period possessed wealth in their own 
 right. 
 
 As in Egypt, the mother, the father, and the eldest son 
 seem to have been the essential members of the family. 
 We find that the compound substantive translated 
 " family " means literally " children household." This 
 is very interesting and may betoken a conception of 
 
 1 Hommcl, Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens, p. 271. 
 1 Simcox, who quotes Hommel, op. cit., p. 320.
 
 IN BABYLON 203 
 
 marriage and the family like that of the Egyptians, in 
 which the union of the wife and the husband is only 
 fully established by the birth of children. 1 In the house 
 the wife is " set in honour," " glad and gladdening like 
 the mid-day sun." The sun-god Merodach is thus 
 addressed : " Like a wife thou behavest thyself, cheerful 
 and rejoicing." The sun-god himself is made to say, 
 " May the wife whom thou lovest come before thee with 
 joy." These examples, and also many others, such, for 
 instance, as the phrase, " As a woman fashioned for a 
 mother made beautiful," show that the Babylonians 
 shared the Egyptian idealism in their conception of the 
 wife and mother and her relation to the family. Many 
 of the Summerian expressions throw beautiful light on 
 the happiness of the domestic relationships. The union 
 of the wife and husband is spoken of as " the undivided 
 half," the idiogram for the mother signifies the elements 
 " god " and " the house," she is " the enlarger of the 
 family," the father is " one who is looked up to." 
 
 The information that has come down to us is not so 
 full as our knowledge of the Egyptian family, or, at 
 least, the facts which relate to women have not yet been 
 so firmly established. We may, however, accept the 
 statement of Havelock Ellis when he says that " in the 
 earliest times a Babylonian woman enjoyed complete 
 independence and equal rights with her brothers and 
 husband." a 
 
 Later in Babylonian history though still at an early 
 
 ^JUJH-WA, V \J1. i. p. \J L , 
 
 * Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. p. 393. Ellis quotes Revillout, " La 
 mme dans I'antiquite," Journal Asiatique, 1906. Vol. ^
 
 204 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 period women's rights were more circumscribed, and 
 we find them in a position of some subordination. How 
 the change arose is not clear, but it is probable that in 
 Babylon civilisation followed the usual order of social 
 development, and that with the rise of military activities, 
 bringing the male force into prominence, women fell to 
 a position of inferior power in the family and in the 
 State. 
 
 That this was the condition of society in Babylon in the 
 time of Hammurabi (i. e. probably between 2250 B.C. and 
 1950 B.C.) is proved by the marriage code of this ruler, 
 which in certain of its regulations affords a marked con- 
 trast with the Egyptian marriage contracts, always so 
 favourable to the wife. Marriage, instead of an agree- 
 ment made between the wife and the husband, was now 
 arranged between the parents of the woman and the 
 bridegroom and without reference to her wishes. The 
 terms of the marriage were a modified form of purchase, 
 very similar to the exchange of gifts common among 
 primitive peoples. It appears from the code that a sum 
 of money or present was given by the bridegroom to the 
 woman's father as well as to the bride herself, but this 
 payment was not universal ; and, on the other side of 
 the account, the father made over to his daughter on her 
 marriage a dowry, which remained her own property in 
 so far that it was returned to her in the case of divorce 
 or on the death of her husband, and that it passed to 
 her children and, failing them, to her father. 1 
 
 Polygamy, though permitted, was definitely restricted 
 
 1 I quote these facts from Hobhouse, Morals in Evolution, Vol. I. 
 p. 179.
 
 IN BABYLON 205 
 
 by the code. Thus a man might marry a second wife 
 if "a sickness has seized" his first wife, but the first 
 wife was not to be put away. This is the only case in 
 which two equal wives are recognised by the code. But 
 it was also possible as the contracts prove for a man 
 to take one or more secondary wives or concubines, who 
 were subordinate to the chief wife. In some cases this 
 appears to have been done to enable the first wife to 
 adopt the children of the concubine " as her children." l 
 It is worth while to note the exact conditions of divorce 
 in the reference to women as given in the clauses of 
 Hammurabi's code 
 
 "137. If a man has set his face to put away his concubine, who 
 has granted him children, to that woman he shall return his 
 marriage portion, and shall give her the usufruct of field, garden, 
 and goods, and shall bring up her children. From the time that 
 her children are grown up, from whatever is given to her children, 
 they shall give her a share like that of one son, and she shall 
 marry the husband of her choice." 
 
 " 138. If a man shall put away his bride, who has not borne him 
 children, he shall give her money as much as her bride-price." 
 
 " 139. If there was no bride-price he shall give her one mina of 
 silver." 
 
 " 140. If he is a poor man he shall give one third of a mina of 
 silver." 
 
 So far the position of the wife is secured in the case 
 of the infidelity of the husband. But if we turn to the 
 other side, when it is the woman who is the unfaithful 
 partner it is evident how strongly the patriarchal idea 
 of woman as property has crept into the family relations. 
 We find that a woman "who has set her face to go out 
 and has acted the fool, has wasted her house or has 
 
 1 Hobhouse, op. cit., Vol. I. p. 181.
 
 206 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 belittled her husband," may either be divorced without 
 compensation or retained in the house as the slave of a 
 new wife. 
 
 I would ask you to contrast this treatment with the 
 free right of separation granted to the Egyptian wife, 
 whose position, as also that of her children, in all circum- 
 stances was secure, and to remember that this difference 
 in the moral code for the two sexes is always present, in 
 greater or lesser force, against woman wherever the 
 property considerations of father-right have usurped the 
 natural law of mother-right. Conventional morality has 
 doubtless from the first been on the side of the supremacy 
 of the male. To me it seems that this alone must dis- 
 credit any society formed on the patriarchal basis. 
 
 The Babylonian wife was permitted to claim a divorce 
 under certain conditions, namely, "if she had been 
 economical and had no vice," and if she could prove that 
 "her husband had gone out and greatly belittled her." 
 But the proof of this carried with it grave danger to 
 herself, for if on investigation it turned out that " she 
 has been uneconomical or a gad-about, that woman one 
 shall throw into the water." Probably such penalty was 
 not really carried out, but even if the expression be taken 
 figuratively its significance in the degradation of woman 
 is hardly less great. The position of the wife as subject 
 to her husband is clearly marked by the manner in which 
 infidelity is treated. The law provides that both partners 
 may be put to death for an act of unfaithfulness, but 
 while the king may pardon " his servant " (the man), the 
 wife has to receive pardon from " her owner " (i.e. the 
 husband). The lordship of the husband is seen also in
 
 IN BABYLON 207 
 
 his power to dispose of his wife as well as his children 
 for debt. 1 The period for debt slavery was, however, 
 confined to the years of Hammurabi. 2 
 
 From this time onwards we find the position of the 
 wife continuously improving, and in the later Neo- 
 Babylonian periods she again acquired equal rights with 
 her husband. The marriage law was improved in the 
 woman's favour. Contracts of marriage by purchase 
 became very rare. It appears from the later contracts 
 that a wife could protect herself from divorce or the 
 taking of another wife by special penalties imposed on 
 the husband by the conditions of the deed, thus giving 
 her a position of security similar to that of the Egyptian 
 wife. 
 
 In all social relations the Babylonian women had 
 remarkable freedom. They could conduct business in 
 their own right. Their power to dispose of property is 
 proved by numerous contract tablets, and, at any rate 
 in later periods, they were held to possess a full legal 
 personality equal in all points with their husbands. In 
 many contracts husband and wife are conjoined as 
 debtors, creditors, and as together taking pledges. The 
 wife, as in Egypt, is made a party to any action of the 
 husband in which her dowry is involved. The wife 
 could also act independently; women appear by them- 
 selves as creditors, and in some contracts we find a wife 
 standing in that relation to her husband. In one case 
 a woman acts as security for a man's debts to another 
 woman. In a suit about a slave a woman, who was 
 
 1 Hobhouse, op. cit.. Vol. I. p. 180. 
 
 1 There is one case as late as the thirteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar 
 in which a wife is bought for a slave for one and a half gold minas.
 
 208 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 proved by witnesses to have made a wrongful claim, 
 was compelled to pay a sum of money equivalent to the 
 value of the slave. We find, too, a married woman join- 
 ing with a man to sell a house. In another case, in which 
 a mother and son had a sum of money owing to them, 
 the debt was cancelled by giving a bill on the mother. 
 The rich woman, by name Gugua, disposes her property 
 among her children, but she reserves the right of taking 
 it back into her own hands if she should so wish, and 
 stipulates that it may not be mortgaged to any one with- 
 out her consent. 1 There is another interesting deed 2 
 by which a father who, it is suggested, was a spendthrift, 
 assigns the remnant of his property to his daughter under 
 the stipulation " thou shalt measure to me, and as long 
 as thou livest give me maintenance, food, ointment and 
 clothing." 
 
 It would be easy to multiply such cases. 3 All these 
 contract tablets have interest for us. The active par- 
 ticipation of the Babylonian women in property trans- 
 actions is the more instructive when we consider that in 
 the development of commercial enterprise the Baby- 
 lonians were in advance of all the rest of the world. 
 One is tempted to suggest that the assistance of women 
 may have brought an element into commerce beneficial 
 to its growth. There is ample evidence to show the 
 administrative and financial ability of women. This 
 quality is noted by Lecky in the chapter on "Woman 
 
 1 Simcox, op. cit. t Vol. I. p. 374, citing Les Obligations, p. 346 ; also 
 Revue d'Assyriologie. 
 
 2 This deed was translated by Dr. Peiser, Keilinschriftliche Aktenstucke 
 aus babylonischen Stadte, p. 19. 
 
 3 See Simcox, Chapters, " Commercial Law and Contract Tablets" 
 and " Domestic Relations and Family Law," op. cit., Vol. I. pp. 320-379.
 
 IN BABYLON 209 
 
 Questions " in his Democracy and Liberty, He says : 
 
 "How many fortunes wasted by negligence or extravagance 
 have been restored by a long minority under female management? " 
 
 He notes, too, the financial ability of the French women. 
 
 "Where can we find in a large class a higher level of business 
 habits and capacity than that which all competent observers have 
 recognised in French women of the middle classes? " 
 
 The estimate of J. S. Mill on this question is too well 
 known to call for quotation. We may recall also the 
 superior ability in trade of the women of Burma. It is 
 not necessary, however, to seek for proof of women's 
 ability in finance. Against one woman who mismanages 
 her income at least six men may be placed who mismanage 
 theirs, not from any special extravagance, but from sheer 
 male inability to adapt expenditure to income. A woman 
 who has had any business training will discriminate better 
 than a man between the essential and the non-essential 
 in expenditure. 
 
 The civilisation of a people is necessarily determined 
 to a large extent by the ideas of the relations of the 
 sexes, and by the institutions and conventions that arise 
 through such ideas. One of the most important and 
 debatable of these questions is whether women are to 
 be considered as citizens and independently respon- 
 sible, or as beings differing in all their capacities from 
 men, and, therefore, to be set in positions of at least 
 material dependence to an individual man. It is the 
 answer to this question we are seeking. The Baby- 
 lonians decided for the civic equality of their women, 
 and this decision must have affected all their actions
 
 210 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 from the larger matters of the State down to the smallest 
 points of family conduct. The wisdom which, by giving 
 a woman full control over her own property, recognised 
 her right and responsibility to act for herself, was not, 
 as we have seen, at once established. This recognition 
 of the equality and fellowship between women and men 
 as the finest working idea for the family relationship was 
 only developed slowly through the long centuries of their 
 civilisation. 
 
 III. In Greece 
 
 " Of all things upon earth that breathe and grow 
 A herb most bruised is woman. We must pay 
 Our store of gold, hoarded for that one day 
 To buy us some man's love, and lo, they bring 
 A master of our flesh. There comes the sting 
 Of the whole shame, and then the jeopardy 
 For good or ill, what shall that master be ? 
 Reject she cannot, and if she but stays 
 His suit, 'tis shame on all that woman's days. 
 So thrown amid new laws, new places, why, 
 'Tis magic she must have to prophesy. 
 Home never taught her that how best to guide 
 Towards peace this thing that sleepeth at her side, 
 And she, who, labouring long, shall find some way 
 Whereby her lord may bear with her, nor fray 
 His yoke too fiercely, blessed is the breath 
 That woman draws ! Else let her pray for death. 
 Her lord, if he be wearied of her face 
 Within doors, gets him forth; some merrier place 
 Will ease his heart; but she waits on, her whole 
 Vision enchained on a single soul. 
 And then, forsooth, 'tis they that face the call 
 Of war, while we sit sheltered, hid from all 
 Peril. False mocking. Sooner would I stand 
 Three times to face their battles, shield in hand, 
 Than bear our child." EURIPIDES. 
 
 If we turn now from eastern civilisation to ancient 
 Greece, the picture there presented to us is in many 
 ways in sharp contrast to anything we have yet examined. 
 The Greeks founded western civilisation, but their rapid
 
 IN GREECE 211 
 
 advance in general culture was by no means accompanied 
 by a corresponding improvement in the position of 
 women. The fineness of their civilisation and their 
 exquisite achievement in so many directions makes it the 
 more necessary to remember this. 
 
 At one time there would seem to have been in pre- 
 historic Greece a period of fully developed mother- 
 rights, as is proved by numerous survivals of the older 
 system so frequently met with in Greek literature and 
 history. This was at an earlier stage of civilisation, 
 before the establishment of the patriarchal system. 
 There is little doubt, however, that the influence of 
 mother-right remained as a tradition for long after the 
 actual rights had been lost by women. 1 It will be remem- 
 bered how great was the astonishment of the Greek 
 travellers at the free position of the Egyptian women, 
 in particular the apparent subjection of the husband to 
 his wife. Now, such surprise is in itself sufficient to 
 prove a different conception of the relation of the sexes. 
 
 1 To give a few examples, Plutarch mentions that the relations 
 between husband and wife in Sparta were at first secret (Plutarch, 
 Lycurgas). The story told by Pausanias about Ulysses' marriage 
 points to the custom of the husband going to live with his wife's family 
 (Pausanias, III. 20 (10), Frazer's translation). The legend of the 
 establishment of monogamy by Cecrpps, because, before his time, " men 
 had their wives in common and did not know their fathers," points 
 clearly to a confused tradition of a period of mother-descent. (A Ihenceus, 
 XIII. 2). Herodotus reports that mother-descent was practised by the 
 Lycians, and states that " if a free woman marry a man who is a slave 
 their children are free citizens ; but if a free man marry a foreign woman 
 or cohabit with a concubine, even though he be the first person in the 
 state, the children forfeit all rights of citizenship (Herodotus, Bk. I. 173). 
 The wife of Intaphernes, when granted by Darius permission to claim the 
 life of a single man of her kindred, chose her brother, saying that both 
 husband and brother and children could be replaced (Herodotus, Bk. III. 
 119). Similarly the declaration of Antigone in Sophocles (line 905 ff.) 
 that neither for husband nor children would she have performed the toil 
 she undertook for Polynices clearly shows that the tie of the common 
 womb was held as closer than the tie of marriage. 
 
 p a
 
 212 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 The patriarchal view whereby the woman is placed 
 under the protection and authority of the man was 
 already clearly established in the Hellenic belief. Yet, 
 in spite of this fact, the position of the woman was 
 striking and peculiar, and in some directions remarkably 
 free, and thus offering many points of interest not less 
 important in their significance to us than what we have 
 seen already in Egypt and in Babylon. 
 
 In speaking of the Hellenic woman I can select only 
 a few facts; to deal at all adequately with so large a 
 subject in briefest outline is, indeed, impossible. I shall 
 not even try to picture the marriage and family rela- 
 tionships, which offer in many and varied ways a wide 
 and fascinating study; all that I can do is to point to 
 some of the conditions and suggest the conclusions which 
 seem to arise from them. Glancing first at the women 
 of the Homeric l period we find them represented as 
 holding a position of entire dependence, without rights 
 or any direct control over property; under the rule of 
 the father, and afterwards of the husband, and even in 
 some cases humbly submissive to their sons. Tele- 
 machus thus rebukes his mother : " Go to thy chamber ; 
 attend to thy work ; turn the spinning wheel ; weave the 
 linen; see that thy servants do their tasks. Speech 
 belongs to men, and especially to me, who am the master 
 here." And Penelope allows herself to be silenced and 
 obeys, " bearing in mind the sage discourse of her son." a 
 
 1 For a full account of the Homeric woman the reader is referred to 
 Lenz, Geschichte des Weiber im Heroischen Zeitalter, an admirable work. 
 The fullest English account will be found in Mr. Gladstone's Homeric 
 Studies, Vol. II. See also Donaldson, Woman, pp. 11-23, where an 
 excellent summary of the subject is given. 
 
 * Odyssey, I. 2.
 
 IN GREECE 218 
 
 This is the fully developed patriarchal idea of the duties 
 of the woman and her patient submission to the man. 
 
 Now, if we look only at the outside of such a case as 
 this it would appear that the position of the Homeric 
 woman was one of almost complete subjection. Whereas, 
 as every one knows, the facts are far different. The pro- 
 tection of the woman was a condition made necessary in 
 an unstable society of predominating military activity. 
 Apart from this wardship, women very clearly were not 
 in a subordinate position and, moreover, never regarded 
 as property. The very reverse is the case. Nowhere 
 in the whole range of literature are women held in deeper 
 affection or receive greater honour. To take one in- 
 stance. Andromache relates how her father's house has 
 been destroyed with all who were in it, and then she 
 says : " But now, Hector, thou art my father and gracious 
 mother, thou art my brother, nay, thou art my valiant 
 husband." 1 It is easy to see in this speech how the early 
 ideas of relationships under mother-right had been trans- 
 ferred to the husband, as the protector of the woman, 
 conditioned by father-right. 
 
 Again and again we meet with traces of the older 
 customs of the mother-age. The influence of woman 
 persists as a matter of habit; even the formal elevation 
 of woman to positions of authority is not uncommon, with 
 an accompanying freedom in action, which is wholly at 
 variance with the patriarchal ideal. Thus it is common 
 for the husband to consult his wife in all important con- 
 cerns, though it was her special work to look after the 
 affairs of the house. " There is nothing," says Homer, 
 
 1 Iliad, VI. 429-430.
 
 214 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 " better and nobler than when husband and wife, being 
 of one mind, rule a household." * Penelope and Clytem- 
 nestra are left in charge of the realms of their husbands 
 during their absence in Troy ; the beautiful Chloris ruled 
 as queen in Pylos. 2 Arete, the beloved wife of Alcinous, 
 played an important part as peacemaker in the kingdom 
 of her husband. It is to her Nausicaa brings Ulysses 
 on his return, bidding him kneel to her mother if he would 
 gain a welcome and succour from her father. 3 
 
 We find the Homeric women moving freely among 
 men. They might go where they liked, and do what 
 they liked. 4 As girls they were educated with their 
 brothers and friends, attending together the classes 
 of the bards and dancing with them in the public 
 dancing-places which every town possessed. Homer 
 pictures the youths and the maidens pressing the vines 
 together. They mingled together at marriage feasts and 
 at religious festivals. Women took part with men in 
 offering the sacrifices to the gods; they also went alone 
 to the temples to present their offerings. 5 Nor did 
 marriage restrict their freedom. Helen appears on the 
 battlements of Troy, watching the conflict, accompanied 
 only by her maidens. 
 
 This freedom insured to the Homeric women that 
 vigour of body and beauty of person for which they are 
 renowned. Health was the first condition of beauty. 
 The Greeks wanted strong men, therefore the mothers 
 
 1 Odyssey, VI. 182. 
 
 2 Gladstone, Homeric Studies, Vol. II. p. 507. 
 
 3 Odyssey, VII. 142 ff. 
 
 4 Donaldson, Woman, p. 18-19. 
 
 6 Odyssey, III. 450; Iliad, VI. 301.
 
 IN GREECE 215 
 
 must be strong, and this, as among all peoples who have 
 understood the valuation of life more clearly than others, 
 made necessary a high physical development of woman. 
 Yet, I think, that an even more prominent reason was 
 the need by the woman herself for the protection of the 
 male, which made it her first duty to charm the man 
 whom destiny brought to be her companion. This is a 
 point that must not be overlooked. To me it is very 
 significant that in all the records of the Egyptians, show- 
 ing so clearly the love and honour in which woman was 
 held, we find no insistence on, and, indeed, hardly a 
 reference to, the physical beauty of woman. It is love 
 itself that is exalted; a husband wishing to honour his 
 lost wife says : " she was sweet as a palm tree in her 
 love," he does not tell us if she were beautiful. 1 I can- 
 not follow this question further. Yet it is clear that 
 danger lurks for woman and her freedom, when to safe- 
 guard her independence, she has no other resources than 
 the seduction of her beauty to gain and to hold the love 
 she is able to inspire. Sex becomes a defensive weapon, 
 and one she must use for self-protection, if she is to live. 
 It seems clear to me that this economic use of sex is the 
 real cancer at the very root of the sexual relationship. 
 It is but a step further and a perfectly logical one, that 
 leads to prostitution. At a later period of Hellenic 
 civilisation we find Aristotle warning the young men of 
 Athens against "the excess of conjugal tenderness and 
 feminine tyranny which enchains a man to his wife." a 
 
 1 Simcox, Primitive Civilisation, Vol. I. p. 199. Reference may also 
 be made to the love-charm translated by M. Revillout in his version of 
 the Tales of Selna, p. 37. 
 
 1 2 Nic. Ethics, VIII. 14; Econom. I. p. 94.
 
 216 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 Can any surprise be felt ; does one not wonder rather at 
 the blindness of man's understanding? That such warn- 
 ing against women should have been spoken in Egypt 
 is incredible. Woman's position and liberty of action 
 was in no way dependent on her power of sex-fascination, 
 not even directly on her position as mother, and this 
 really explains the happy working of their domestic 
 relationships. Nature's supreme gifts of the sexual 
 differences among them were freed from economic neces- 
 sities, and woman as well as man was permitted to turn 
 them to their true biological ends the mutual joy of 
 each other and the service of the race. For this is what 
 I want to make clear; it is men who suffer in quite as 
 great a degree as women, wherever the female has to 
 use her sexual gifts to gain support and protection from 
 the male. It is so plain one thing makes the relations 
 of the sexes free, that both partners shall themselves be 
 free, knowing no bondage that is outside the love-passion 
 itself. Then, and then only, can the woman and the 
 man the mother and father, really love in freedom and 
 together carry out love's joys and its high and holy 
 duties. 
 
 The conditions that meet us when we come to examine 
 the position of women in historic Greece are explained 
 in the light of this valuation of the sexual relationship. 
 We are faced at once by a curious contrast ; on one hand, 
 we find in Sparta, under a male social organisation, the 
 women of JEolian and Dorian race carrying on and 
 developing the Homeric traditions of freedom, while the 
 Athenian women, on the contrary, are condemned to an 
 almost Oriental seclusion. How these conditions arose
 
 IN GREECE 217 
 
 becomes clear, when we remember that the prominent 
 idea regulating all the legislation of the Greeks was to 
 maintain the permanence and purity of the State. In 
 Sparta the first of these motives ruled. The conditions 
 in which the State was placed made it necessary for the 
 Spartans to be a race of soldiers, and to ensure this a 
 race of vigorous mothers was essential. They had the 
 wisdom to understand that their women could only effect- 
 ively discharge the functions assigned to them by Nature 
 by the free development of their bodies, and full cultiva- 
 tion of their mental faculties. Sappho, whose "lofty 
 and subtle genius " places her as the one woman for 
 whose achievement in poetry no apology on the grounds 
 of her sex ever needs to be made, was of ^olian race. 
 The Spartan woman was a huntress and an athlete and 
 also a scholar, for her training was as much a care of 
 the State as that of her brothers. Her education was 
 deliberately planned to fit her to be a mother of men. 
 
 It was the sentiment of strict and zealous patriotism 
 which inspired the marriage regulations that are attri- 
 buted to Lycurgus. The obligation of marriage was 
 legal, like military service. 1 All celibates were placed 
 under the ban of society. 3 The young men were 
 attracted to love by the privilege of watching (and it is 
 also said assisting in) the gymnastic exercise of naked 
 young girls, who from their earliest youth entered into 
 contests with each other in wrestling and racing and in 
 throwing the quoit and javelin. 3 The age of marriage was 
 also fixed, special care being taken that the Spartan girls 
 
 1 Letourneau, Evolution of Marriage, p. 195. 
 
 Lycurgus, XXXVII. Ibid., XXVI.
 
 218 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 should not marry too soon; no sickly girl was permitted 
 to marry. 1 In the supreme interest of the race love was 
 regulated. The young couple were not allowed to meet 
 except in secret until after a child was born. 2 Brothers 
 might share a wife in common, and wife lending was 
 practised. It was a praiseworthy act for an old man 
 to give his wife to a strong man by whom she might 
 have a child. 3 The State claimed a right over all 
 children born ; each child had to be examined soon after 
 birth by a committee appointed, and only if healthy 
 was it allowed to live. 4 
 
 Such a system is no doubt open to objections, yet no 
 other could have served as well the purpose of raising 
 and maintaining a race of efficient warriors. The 
 Spartans held their supremacy in Greece through sheer 
 force and bravery and obedience to law; and the women 
 had equal share with the men in this high position. 
 Necessarily they were remarkable for vigour of char- 
 acter and the beauty of their bodies, for beauty rests 
 ultimately on a biological basis. 
 
 Women took an active interest in all that concerned 
 the State, and were allowed a freedom of action even 
 in sexual conduct equal and, in some directions, greater 
 than that of men. The law restricted women only in 
 their function as mothers. Plato has criticised this as 
 a marked defect of the Spartan system. Men were under 
 
 1 Donaldson, Woman, pp. 28-29. 
 
 1 Plutarch, Apophthegms of the Lacedemonians. Demandes Romaines, 
 LXV. 
 
 3 Lycurgus, Polybius, XII. 6. Xenophon, Rep. Laced. I. Aristotle, 
 Pol. II. 9. Aristotle notes especially the sexual liberty allowed to 
 women. 
 
 4 Donaldson, op. cit., p. 28.
 
 IN GREECE 219 
 
 strict regulation to the end of their days; they dined 
 together on the fare determined by the State ; no licence 
 was permitted to them; almost their whole time was 
 occupied in military service. No such regulations were 
 made for women, they might live as they liked. One 
 result was that many wives were better educated than 
 their husbands. We find, too, that a great portion of 
 land passed into the hands of women. Aristotle states 
 that they possessed two-fifths of it. He deplores the 
 Spartan system, and affirms that in his day the women 
 were " incorrigible and luxurious " ; he accuses them of 
 ruling their husbands. "What difference," he says, 
 " does it make whether the women rule or the rulers are 
 ruled by women, for the result is the same ? " * This 
 gynaecocracy was noticed by others. ' You of Lace- 
 daemon," said a strange lady to Gorgo, wife of Leonidas, 
 "are the only women in the world that rule the men." 
 " We," she answered, " are the only women who bring 
 forth men." 3 Such were the Spartan women. 
 
 In Athens the position of women stands out in sharp 
 contrast. Athens was the largest of the city-states of 
 Greece, and, for its stability, it was ruled that no stranger 
 might enter into the rights of its citizens. Restrictions 
 of the most stringent nature and punishments the most 
 terrible were employed to keep the citizenship pure. As 
 is usual, the restrictions fell most heavily upon women. 
 It would seem that the sexual virtue of the Athenian 
 women was not trusted it was natural to women to love. 
 Doubtless there were many traces of the earlier sexual 
 
 1 Polit. II. 9. 
 
 * Plutarch, Life of Agis; Donaldson, Woman, pp. 34, 35.
 
 220 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 freedom under mother-right. Women must be kept in 
 guard to ensure that no spurious offspring should be 
 brought into the State. This explains the Athenian mar- 
 riage code with its unusually strict subordination of the 
 woman to her father first, and then to her husband. It 
 explains also the unequal law of divorce. In early times 
 the father might sell his daughters and barter his sisters. 
 This was abolished by Solon, except in the case of 
 unchastity. There could, however, be no legitimate 
 marriage without the assignment of the bride by her 
 guardian. 1 The father was even able to bequeath his 
 unmarried daughters by will. 2 The part assigned by the 
 Athenian law to the wife in relation to her husband was 
 very similar to that of the married women under ancient 
 Jewish law. 
 
 Women were secluded from all civic life and from all 
 intellectual culture. There were no regular schools for 
 girls in Athens, and no care was taken by the State, as 
 in Sparta, for the young girls' physical well-being. The 
 one quality required from them was chastity, and to 
 ensure this women were kept even from the light of the 
 sun, confined in special apartments in the upper part of 
 the house. One husband, indeed, Ischomachus, recom- 
 mends his wife to take active bodily exercise as an aid 
 to her beauty ; but she is to do this " not in the fresh air, 
 for that would not be suitable for an Athenian matron, 
 but in baking bread and looking after her linen." 3 So 
 strictly was the seclusion of the wife adhered to that she 
 
 J Hobhouse, Morals in Evolution, Vol. I. p. 208. 
 
 * Thus Demosthenes bequeathed his two daughters, aged seven and 
 five years, and also their mother, to his nephews, classing them with 
 his property in the significant phrase " all these things " (Letourneau, 
 op. cit., p. 196). 
 
 3 Xenophon, Economicus, VII.-IX.
 
 IN GREECE 221 
 
 was never permitted to show herself when her husband 
 received guests. It was even regarded as evidence of 
 the non-existence of a regular marriage if the wife had 
 been in the habit of attending the feasts * given by the 
 man whom she claimed as husband. 
 
 The deterioration of the Athenian citizen-women fol- 
 lowed as the inevitable result. It is also impossible to 
 avoid connecting the swift decline of the fine civilisation 
 of Athens with this cause. Had the political power of 
 her citizens been based on healthier social and domestic 
 relationships, it might not have fallen down so rapidly 
 into ruin. No civilisation can maintain itself that 
 neglects the development of the mothers that give it 
 birth. 
 
 As we should expect we find little evidence of affec- 
 tion between the Athenian husband and wife. The 
 entire separation between their work and interests would 
 necessarily preclude ideal love. Probably Sophocles 
 presents the ordinary Greek view accurately, when he 
 causes one of his characters to regret the loss of a brother 
 or sister much more than that of a wife. " If a wife dies 
 you can get another, but if a brother or sister dies, and 
 the mother is dead, you can never get another. The one 
 loss is easily reparable, the other is irreparable." 2 We 
 could have no truer indication than this as to the 
 degradation into which woman had fallen in the sexual 
 relationship. 
 
 That once, indeed, it had been far otherwise with the 
 
 1 Isaeus de Pyrrhi Her., 14. 
 
 1 Aniig. 905-13. These verses are probably interpolated, but the 
 interpolation was as early as Aristotle. The same views are placed by 
 Herodotus in the mouth of the wife of Intarphernes (3. 119). See 
 Donaldson, Woman, pp. 53, 54 and note.
 
 222 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 Athenian women the ancient legends witness. Athens 
 was the city of Pallas Athene, the goddess of strength 
 and power, which in itself testifies to a time when women 
 were held in honour. The Temple of the Goddess, high 
 on the Acropolis, stood as a relic of matriarchal worship. 
 Year by year the secluded women of Athens wove a robe 
 for Athene. Yet, so complete had become their sub- 
 jection and their withdrawal from the duties of citizens, 
 that when in the Theatre of Dyonysus men actors person- 
 ated the great traditional women of the Greek Heroic 
 Age, no woman was permitted to be present. 1 What 
 wonder, then, that the Athenian women rebelled against 
 the wastage of their womanhood. That they did rebel 
 we may be certain on the strength of the satirical state- 
 ments of Aristophanes, and even more from the pathos 
 of the words put here and there into the mouths of women 
 by Euripides 
 
 " Of all things upon earth that breathe and grow 
 A herb most bruised is woman. We must pay 
 Our store of gold, hoarded for that one day 
 To buy us some man's love, and lo, they bring 
 A Master of our flesh. There comes the sting 
 Of the whole shame." a 
 
 The debased position of the Athenian citizen woman 
 becomes abundantly clear when we find that ideal love 
 and free relationship between the sexes were possible 
 only with the hetairce. Limitation of space forbids my 
 giving any adequate details of these stranger-women, 
 who were the beloved companions of the Athenian men. 
 Prohibited from legal marriage by law, these women were 
 in all other respects free ; their relations with men, either 
 
 1 "The Position of Women in History " ; Essay in the volume The 
 Position of Woman, Actual and Ideal, p. 37. 
 
 2 Medea.
 
 IN GREECE 223 
 
 temporary or permanent, were openly entered into and 
 treated with respect. For the Greeks the hetaira was 
 in no sense a prostitute. The name meant friend and 
 companion. The women to whom the name was applied 
 held an honourable and independent position, one, 
 indeed, of much truer honour than that of the wife. 
 
 These facts may well give us pause. It was not the 
 women who were the legal wives, safeguarded to ensure 
 their chastity, restricted to their physical function of 
 procreation, but the hetairce, says Donaldson, "who 
 exhibited what was best and noblest in woman's nature." 
 Xenophon's ideal wife was a good housekeeper like her 
 of the Proverbs. Thucydides in the famous funeral 
 oration which he puts in the mouth of Pericles, exhorts 
 the wives of the slain warriors, whose memory is being 
 commemorated, " to shape their lives in accordance with 
 their natures," and then adds with unconscious irony, 
 " Great is the glory of that woman who is least talked 
 of by men, either in the way of praise or blame." Such 
 were the barren honours granted to the legal wife. The 
 hetairce were the only educated women in Athens. It 
 was only the free-companion who was a fit helpmate for 
 Pericles, or capable of sustaining a conversation with 
 Socrates. We know that Socrates visited Theodota 1 
 and the brilliant Diotima of Mantinea, of whom he 
 speaks " as his teacher in love." 2 Thargalia, a Milesian 
 stranger, gained a position of high political importance. 3 
 
 1 Theodota, Xen. 'Mem.,' III. n. Socrates conversed with Theodota 
 on art and discussed with her how she could best find true friends. 
 
 1 Symposium. 
 
 3 Pericles, 24. Thargalia used her influence over the Greeks to win 
 them over to the cause of the King of Persia.
 
 224 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 When Alcibiades had to flee for his life, it was a " com- 
 panion" who went with him, and being present at his 
 end performed the funeral rites over him. 1 Praxiteles 
 carved a statue of Phryne in gold, and the work stood in 
 a place of honour in the temple of Apollo at Delphi. 
 Apelles painted a portrait of Lais, and, for his skill as 
 an artist, Alexander rewarded him with the gift of his 
 favourite concubine; Pindar wrote odes to the hetairce; 
 Leontium, one of the order, sat at the feet of Epicurus 
 to imbibe his philosophy. 2 
 
 Among all these free women Aspasia of Miletus 3 
 stands forward as the most brilliant the most remark- 
 able. There is no doubt as to the intellectual distinc- 
 tion of the beloved companion of Pericles. 4 Her house 
 became the resort of all the great men of Athens. 
 Socrates, Phidias and Anaxagoras were all frequent 
 visitors, and probably also Sophocles and Euripides. 
 Plato, Xenophon and ^schines have all testified to the 
 cultivated mind and influence of Aspasia. ^schines, 
 
 1 Timandra, Plut., Alcib., c. 39. 
 
 2 Geoffrey Mortimer (W. M. Gallichan), Chapters on Human Love, 
 p. 152. 
 
 3 We do not know the circumstances which induced Aspasia to come 
 to Athens. Plutarch suggests that she was led to do so by the example 
 of Thargalia. For full accounts of the career of Aspasia see Gomperz, 
 Greek Thinkers, Vol. III.; Ivo Bruns, Frauenemancipation in A then ; 
 the fine monograph, Aspasie de Milet, by Becq Fouquieres; Donaldson's 
 Woman, pp. 60-67; ^ so Ellis, Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. p. 308. 
 
 4 Pericles at the time of his meeting Aspasia was married, but there 
 was incompatibility of temper between him and his wife. He therefore 
 made an agreement with his wife to have a divorce and get her remarried. 
 Aspasia then became his companion and they remained together until 
 the death of Pericles. Their affection for one another was considered 
 remarkable. Plutarch tells us, as an extraordinary trait in the habits 
 of a statesman who was remarkable for his imperturbability and control, 
 that Pericles regularly kissed Aspasia when he went out and came in. 
 When Pericles died Aspasia is said to have formed a friendship with 
 Lysicles, and through her influence raised him to the position of foremost 
 politician in Athens (Donaldson, op. cit., pp. 60, 61 and 63).
 
 IN GREECE 225 
 
 in his dialogue entitled 4 ' Aspasia," puts into the mouth 
 of that distinguished woman an incisive criticism of the 
 mode of life traditional for her sex. 1 
 
 The high status of the hetaira is proved conclusively 
 from the fact that the men who visited Aspasia brought 
 their wives with them to her assemblies, that they might 
 learn from her. 3 This breaking through the accepted 
 conventions is the more significant if we consider the 
 circumstances. Here, indeed, is your contrast the free 
 companion expounding the dignity of womanhood to the 
 imprisoned mothers ! Aspasia points out to the citizen 
 women that it is not sufficient for a wife to be merely a 
 mother and a good housekeeper ; she urges them to culti- 
 vate their minds so that they may be equal in mental 
 dignity with the men who love them. Aspasia may thus 
 be regarded, as Havelock Ellis suggests, as "a pioneer 
 in the assertion of woman's rights." " She showed that 
 spirit of revolt and aspiration " which tends to mark " the 
 intellectual and artistic activity of those who are un- 
 classed or dubiously classed in the social hierarchy." 
 
 It is even probable that the movement to raise the 
 status of the Athenian women, which seems to have taken 
 place in the fourth century B.C., was led by Aspasia, and 
 perhaps other members of the hetairce. Ivo Bruns, 
 whom Havelock Ellis quotes, believes that " the most 
 certain information we possess concerning Aspasia bears 
 a strong resemblance to the picture which Euripides and 
 Aristophanes present to us of the leaders of the woman's 
 movement." 8 
 
 1 Gomperz, Greek Thinkers, Vol. III. p. 124. 
 
 1 Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. p. 308 ; Donaldson, op. cit., p. 62. 
 
 3 Frauenemancipation in A then, p. 19. 
 
 Q
 
 226 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 It was this movement of awakening which throws light 
 on the justice which Plato accords to women. He may 
 well have had Aspasia in his thoughts. Contact with her 
 cultivated mind may have brought him to see that " the 
 gifts of nature are equally diffused in both sexes," and 
 therefore " all the pursuits of man are the pursuits of 
 woman also, and in all of these woman is only a weaker 
 man." Plato did not believe that women were equally 
 gifted with men, only that all their powers were in their 
 nature the same, and demanded a similar expression. 
 He insists much more on woman's duties and responsi- 
 bilities than on her rights; more on what the State loses 
 by her restriction within the home than on any loss 
 entailed thereby to herself. Such a fine understanding 
 of the need of the State for women as the real ground 
 for woman's emancipation, is the fruitful seed in this 
 often quoted passage. May it not have arisen in Plato's 
 mind from the contrast he saw between Aspasia and the 
 free companions of men and the restricted and ignorant 
 wives? A vivid picture would surely come to him of 
 the force lost by this wastage of the mothers of Athens ; 
 a force which should have been utilised for the well- 
 being of the State. 
 
 Sexual penalties for women are always found under a 
 strict patriarchal regime. The white flower of chastity, 
 when enforced upon one sex by the other sex, has its 
 roots in the degradation of marriage. Men find a way 
 of escape; women, bound in the coils, stay and waste. 
 There is no escaping from the truth wherever women 
 are in subjection it is there that the idols of purity and 
 chastity are set up for worship.
 
 IN ROME 227 
 
 The fact that Greek poets and philosophers speak so 
 often of an ideal relationship between the wife and the 
 husband proves how greatly the failure of the accepted 
 marriage was understood and depreciated by the noblest 
 of the Athenians. The bonds of the patriarchal system 
 must always tend to break down as civilisation advances, 
 and men come to think and to understand the real needs 
 and dependence of the sexes upon each other. Aristotle 
 says that marriage besides the propagation of the human 
 race, has another aim, namely, " community of the entire 
 life." He describes marriage as " a species of friend- 
 ship," one, moreover, which " is most in accordance with 
 Nature, as husband and wife mutually supply what is 
 lacking in the other." Here is the ideal marriage, the 
 relationship between one woman and the one man that 
 to-day we are striving to attain. To gain it the wife 
 must become the free companion of her husband. 
 
 It is Euripides who voices the sorrows of women. He 
 also foreshadows their coming triumph. 
 
 " Back streams the waves of the ever running river, 
 Life, life is changed and the laws of it o'ertrod. 
 
 ********* 
 And woman, yea, woman shall be terrible in story ; 
 The tales too meseemeth shall be other than of yore; 
 For a fear there is that cometh out of woman and a glory, 
 And the hard hating voices shall encompass her no more." l 
 
 IV. In Rome 
 
 "The character of a people is only an eternal becoming . . . 
 They are born and are modified under the influence of innumerable 
 causes." JEAN FINOT. 
 
 Of the position of women in Rome in the pre-historic 
 period we know almost nothing. We can accept that 
 
 1 Medea, Mr. Gilbert Murray's translation. 
 Q 2
 
 228 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 there was once a period of mother-rule. 1 Very little 
 evidence, however, is forthcoming; still, what does exist 
 points clearly to the view that woman's actions in the 
 earliest times were entirely unfettered. Probably we 
 may accept as near to reality the picture Virgil gives to 
 us of Camilla fighting and dying on the field of battle. 
 
 In the ancient necropolis of Belmonte, dating from the 
 iron age, Professor d'Allosso has recently discovered two 
 very rich tombs of women warriors with war chariots over 
 their remains. ' The importance of this discovery is 
 exceptional, as it shows that the existence of the Amazon 
 heroines, leaders of armies, sung by the ancient poets, 
 is not a poetic fiction, but an historic reality." Professor 
 d'Allosso states that several details given by Virgil 
 coincide with the details of these tombs. 3 
 
 From the earliest notices we have of the Roman women 
 we find them possessed of a definite character of remark- 
 able strength. We often say this or that is a sign of 
 some particular period or people; when nine times out 
 of ten the thing we believe to be strange is in reality 
 common to the progress of life. In Rome the position 
 of woman would seem to have followed in orderly 
 
 1 Frazer thinks that the Roman kingship was transmitted in the 
 female line; the king being a man of another town or race, who had 
 married the daughter of his predecessor and received the crown through 
 her. This hypothesis explains the obscure features of the traditional 
 history of the Latin kings; their miraculous birth, and the fact that 
 many of the kings from their names appear to have been of plebeian 
 and not patrician families. The legends of the birth of Servius Tullius 
 which tradition imputes to a look, or that Coeculus the founder of 
 Proneste was conceived by a spark that leaped into his mother's bosom, 
 as well as the rape of the Sabines, may be mentioned as traces pointing 
 to mother-descent (Golden Bough, Pt. I. The Magic Art, Vol. II. pp. 
 270, 289, 312). 
 
 2 Quoted from Position of Woman, Actual and Ideal ; Essay on " The 
 Position of Woman in History," p. 38.
 
 IN ROME 229 
 
 development that cyclic movement so beautifully defined 
 by Havelock Ellis in the quotation I have placed at the 
 beginning of the first section of this chapter. 
 
 The patriarchal rule was already strongly established 
 when Roman history opens; it involved the same strict 
 subordination of woman to the one function of child- 
 bearing that we have found in the Athenian custom. 
 The Roman marriage law developed from exactly the 
 same beginning as did the Greek; the woman was the 
 property of her father first and then of her husband. 
 The marriage ceremony might be accomplished by one 
 or two forms, but might also be made valid without any 
 form at all. For in regard to a woman, as in regard to 
 other property, possession or use continued for one year 
 gave the right of ownership to the husband. This 
 marriage without contract or ceremony was called usus. J 
 The form confarreatio, or patrician marriage, was a 
 solemn union performed by the high Pontiff of Jupiter 
 in the presence of ten witnesses, in which the essential 
 act was the eating together by both the bride and bride- 
 groom of a cake made of flour, water and salt. 2 The 
 religious ceremony was in no way essential to the mar- 
 riage. The second and most common form, was called 
 coemptio, or purchase, and was really a formal sale 
 between the father or guardian of the bride and the future 
 
 1 Letourneau, Evolution of Marriage, pp. 120, 201. The usus was 
 similar to the Polynesian marriage, and was the consecration of the 
 free union after a year of cohabitation. By it the wife passed as 
 completely under the manum mariti as if she had eaten of the sacred 
 cake. 
 
 2 Hobhouse, Morals in Evolution, Vol. I. p. 210. The eating of the 
 cake would seem to the ancient mind to have been connected with 
 magic, and was regarded as actually effacious in establishing a unity 
 of the man and the woman.
 
 230 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 husband 1 Both these forms transferred the woman 
 from the potestas (power) of her father into the manus 
 (hand) of her husband to whom she became as a daughter, 
 having no rights except through him, and no duties except 
 to him. The husband even held the right of life and 
 death over the woman and her children. It depended 
 on his will whether a baby girl were reared or cast out to 
 die and the latter alternative was no doubt often chosen. 
 As is usual under such conditions, the right of divorce 
 was allowed to the husband and forbidden to the wife. 
 "If you catch your wife," was the law laid down by 
 Cato the Censor, " in an act of infidelity, you would kill 
 her with impunity without a trial ; but if she were to catch 
 you she would not venture to touch you with a finger, 
 and, indeed, she has no right." It is true that divorce 
 was not frequent. 2 Monogamy was strictly enforced. 
 At no period of Roman history are there any traces of 
 polygamy or concubinage. 3 But such strictness of the 
 moral code seems to have been barren in its benefit to 
 women. The terrible right of manus was vested in the 
 husband and gave him complete power of correction over 
 the wife. In grave cases the family tribunal had to be 
 consulted. " Slaves and women," says Mommsen, " were 
 
 1 Coemption became in time purely symbolic. The bride was de- 
 livered to the husband, who as a formality gave a few pieces of silver 
 as payment ; but the ceremony proves how completely the woman was 
 regarded as the property of the father. 
 
 2 Romulus, says Plutarch, gave the husband power to divorce his 
 wife in case of her poisoning his children, or counterfeiting his keys, 
 or committing adultery (Romulus, XXXVI.). Valerius Maximus 
 affirms that divorce was unknown for 520 years after the foundation 
 of Rome. 
 
 3 Hobhouse, op. cit., Vol. I. p. 211 (note). He states, " The concubinate 
 we hear of in Roman Law is a form of union bereft of some of the civil 
 rights of marriage, not the relation of a married man to a secondary 
 wife or slave-girl."
 
 IN ROME 231 
 
 not reckoned as being properly members of the com- 
 munity," and for this reason any criminal act committed 
 by them was judged not openly by the State, but by the 
 male members of the woman's family. The legal right 
 of the husband to beat his wife was openly recognised. 
 Thus Egnatius was praised when, surprising his wife in 
 the act of tasting wine, 1 he beat her to death. And St. 
 Monica consoles certain wives, whose faces bore the mark 
 of marital brutality, by saying to them : " Take care to 
 control your tongues. ... It is the duty of servants to 
 obey their masters . . . you have made a contract of 
 servitude." 2 Such was the marriage law in the early 
 days of Rome's history. 
 
 Now it followed almost necessarily that under such 
 arbitrary regulations of the sexual relationship some way 
 of escape should be sought. We have seen how the 
 Athenian husbands found relief from the restrictions of 
 legal marriage with the free hetaira. But in Rome the 
 development of the freedom of love, with the correspond- 
 ing advancement of the position of woman, followed a 
 different course. The stranger-woman never attained a 
 prominent place in Roman society. It is the citizen- 
 women alone who are conspicuous in history. Here, 
 relief was gained for the Roman wives as well as for the 
 husbands, by what we may call a clever escape from 
 marriage under the right of the husband's manus. This 
 is so important that I must ask the reader deeply to con- 
 sider it. The ideal of equality and fellowship between 
 
 1 Donaldson, op. cit., p. 88. He remarks in a note, " The story may 
 not be historical, but the Romans regarded it as such." Wives were 
 prohibited from tasting wine at the nsk of the severest penalties. 
 
 St. Augustine, Confessions, Bk. IX. Ch. IX.
 
 232 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 women and men in marriage can be realised only among 
 a people who are sufficiently civilised to understand 
 the necessity for the development and modification of 
 legal restrictions that have become outworn and use- 
 less. Wherever the laws relating to marriage and divorce 
 are arbitrary and unchanging there woman, as the weaker 
 partner, will be found to remain in servitude. It can 
 never be through the strengthening of moral prohibitions, 
 but only by their modification to suit the growing needs 
 of society that freedom will come to women. 
 
 The history of the development of marriage in Rome 
 illustrates this very forcibly. Even in the days of the 
 Twelve Tables a wholly different and free union had 
 begun to take the place of the legally recognised marriage 
 forms. It was developed from the early marriage by 
 usus. We have seen that this marriage depended on 
 the cohabitation of the man and the woman continued 
 for one. year, which gave the right of ownership to the 
 husband in exactly the same way as possession for a year 
 gave the right over others' property. But in Rome, if 
 the enjoyment of property was broken for any period 
 during the year, no title to it arose out of the usufruct. 
 This idea was cleverly applied to marriage by usus. The 
 wife by passing three nights in the year out of the con- 
 jugal domicile broke the manus of the husband and did 
 not become his property. 
 
 When, or how, it became a custom to convert this 
 breach of cohabitation into a system and establish a form 
 of marriage, which entirely freed the wife from the manus 
 of the husband, we do not know. What is certain is that 
 this new form of free marriage by consent rapidly
 
 IN ROME 233 
 
 replaced the older forms of the coemptio, and even the 
 solemn confarreatio of the patricians. 
 
 It will be readily seen that this expansion of marriage 
 produced a revolution in the position of woman. The 
 bride now remained a member of her own family, and 
 though nominally under the control of her father or 
 guardian, she was for all purposes practically free, having 
 complete control over her own property, and was, in fact, 
 her own mistress. 
 
 The law of divorce evolved rapidly, and the changes 
 were wholly in favour of women. Marriage was now a 
 private contract, of which the basis was consent; and, 
 being a contract, it could be dissolved for any reason, with 
 no shame attached to the dissolution, provided it was 
 carried out with the due legal form, in the presence of 
 competent witnesses. Both parties had equal liberty of 
 divorce, only with certain pecuniary disadvantages, con- 
 nected with the forfeiting of the wife's dowry, for the 
 husband whose fault led to the divorce. 1 It was expressly 
 stated that the husband had no right to demand fidelity 
 from his wife unless he practised the same himself. " Such 
 a system," says Havelock Ellis, "is obviously more in 
 harmony with modern civilised feeling than any system 
 that has ever been set up in Christendom." a 
 
 Monogamy remained imperative. The husband was 
 bound to support the wife adequately, to consult her 
 
 1 Letourneau, Evolution of Marriage, pp. 244, 245. In the ancient 
 law, when the crime of the woman led to divorce she lost all her dowry. 
 Later, only a sixth was kept back for adultery, and an eighth for other 
 crimes. In the last stages of the law the guilty husband lost the whole 
 dowry, while if the wife divorced without a cause, the husband retained 
 a sixth of the dowry for each child, but only up to three-sixths. 
 
 * Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. p. 396.
 
 234 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 interests and to avenge any insult inflicted upon her, 
 and it is expressly stated by the jurist Gaius that the 
 wife might bring an action for damages against her hus- 
 band for ill-treatment. 1 The woman retained complete 
 control of her dowry and personal property. A Roman 
 jurist lays it down that it is a good thing that women 
 should be dowered, as it is desirable they should re- 
 plenish the State with children. Another instance of the 
 constant solicitude of the Roman law to protect the 
 wife is seen in the fact that even if a wife stole from 
 her husband, no criminal action could be brought 
 against her. All crimes against women were punished 
 with a heavy hand much more severely than in modern 
 times. 
 
 Women gained increasingly greater liberty until at 
 last they obtained complete freedom. This fact is 
 stated by Havelock Ellis, whose remarks on this point 
 I will quote. 
 
 "Nothing is more certain than that the status of women in 
 Rome rose with the rise of civilisation exactly in the same way 
 as in Babylon and in Egypt. In the case of Rome, however, the 
 growing refinement of civilisation and the expansion of the Empire 
 were associated with the magnificent development of the system 
 of Roman law, which in its final forms consecrated the position 
 of women. In the last days of the Republic women already begar 
 to attain the same legal level as men, and later the great Antonine 
 jurisconsults, guided by their theory of natural law, reached the 
 conception of the equality of the sexes as the principle of the code 
 of equity. The patriarchal subordination of women fell into com- 
 plete discredit, and this continued until, in the days of Justinian, 
 under the influence of Christianity the position of women began 
 to suffer." 2 
 
 1 Hecker, History of Women's Rights, p. 12. 
 1 Ellis, op. cit., p. 395.
 
 IN ROME 285 
 
 Hobhouse gives the same estimate as to the high status 
 of women. 
 
 "The Roman matron of the Empire," he says, "was more fully 
 her own mistress than the married woman of any earlier civilisa- 
 tion, with the possible exception of a certain period of Egyptian 
 history, and, it must be added, the wife of any later civilisation 
 down to our own generation." 1 
 
 It is necessary to note that this freedom of the Roman 
 woman was prior to the introduction of Christianity, and 
 that under its influence their position began to suffer. 2 I 
 cannot follow this question, and can only say how entirely 
 mistaken is the belief that the Jewish religion, with its 
 barbaric view of the relationship between the sexes, was 
 beneficial to the liberty of women. 
 
 The Roman matrons had now gained complete free- 
 dom in the domestic relationship, and were permitted 
 a wide field for the exercise of their activities. They 
 were the rulers of the household; they dined with their 
 husbands, attended the public feasts, and were admitted 
 to the aristocratic clubs, such as the Gerousia is supposed 
 to have been. We find from inscriptions that women 
 had the privilege of forming associations and of electing 
 women presidents. One of these bore the title of Soda- 
 litas Pudicitice Servandrce, or " Society for Promoting 
 Purity of Life." At Lanuvium there was a society 
 known as the " Senate of Women." There was an inter- 
 esting and singular woman's society existing in Rome, 
 with a meeting-place on the Quirinal, called Conventus 
 Matronarum, or " Convention of Mothers of Families." 
 This seems to have been a self-elected parliament of 
 
 1 Hobhouse, op. cit., Vol. I. p. 213. 
 1 Maine, Ancient Lava, Ch. V.
 
 236 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 women for the purpose of settling questions of etiquette. 
 It cannot be said that the accounts that we have of this 
 assembly are at all edifying, but its existence shows the 
 freedom permitted to women, and points to the important 
 fact that they were accustomed to combine with one 
 another to settle their own affairs. The Emperor Helio- 
 gabalus took this self-constituted Parliament in hand 
 and gave it legal powers. 1 
 
 The Roman women managed their own property; 
 many women possessed great wealth : at times they lent 
 money to their husbands, at more than shrewd interest. 
 It appears to have been recognised that all women were 
 competent in business affairs, and, therefore, the wife 
 was in all cases permitted to assume complete charge 
 of the children's property during their minority, and to 
 enjoy the usufruct. We have instances in which this 
 capacity for affairs is dwelt on, as when Agricola, the 
 general in command in Britain, shows such confidence 
 in his wife as a business woman that he makes her co-heir 
 with his daughter and the Emperor Domitian. Women 
 were allowed to plead for themselves in the courts of 
 law. The satirists, like Juvenal, declare that there were 
 hardly any cases in which a woman would not bring a 
 suit. 
 
 There are many other examples which might be 
 brought forward to show the public entry of women into 
 the affairs of the State. There would seem to have 
 been no limits set to their actions; and, moreover, they 
 acted in their own right independently of men. On one 
 occasion, when the women of the city rose in a body 
 
 1 McCabe, The Religion of Women, p. 26 et seq.
 
 IN ROME 237 
 
 against an unfair taxation, they found a successful leader 
 in Hortensia, the daughter of the famous orator Hor- 
 tensus, who is said to have argued their case before the 
 Triumvirs with all her father's eloquence. We find the 
 wives of generals in camp with their husbands. The 
 grafjitti found at Pompeii give several instances of 
 election addresses signed by women, recommending 
 candidates to the notice of the electors. We find, too, 
 in the municipal inscriptions that the women in different 
 municipalities formed themselves into small societies 
 with semi-political objects, such as the support of some 
 candidate, the rewards that should be made to a local 
 magistrate, or how best funds might be collected to 
 raise monuments or statues. 
 
 It is specially interesting to find how fine a use many 
 of the Roman women made of their wealth and oppor- 
 tunities. They frequently bestowed public buildings 
 and porticoes on the communities among which they 
 lived; they erected public baths and gymnasia, adorned 
 temples, and put up statues. Their generosity took 
 other forms. In Asia Minor we find several instances 
 of women distributing large sums of money among each 
 citizen within her own district. Women presided over 
 the public games and over the great religious festivals. 
 When formally appointed to this position, they paid 
 the expenses incurred in these displays. In the pro- 
 vinces they sometimes held high municipal offices. Ira 
 Flavia, an important Roman settlement in Northern 
 Spain, for instance, was ruled by a Roman matron, Lupa 
 by name. 1 The power of women was especially great in 
 1 Santiago (Mediaeval Towns Series), p. 21.
 
 238 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 Asia Minor, where they received a most marked distinc- 
 tion, and were elected to the most important magis- 
 tracies. Several women obtained the highest Priesthood 
 of Asia, the greatest honour that could be paid to any 
 one. 1 
 
 There is one final point that has to be mentioned. We 
 have seen how the liberty and power of the Roman 
 women arose from, and may be said to have been depend- 
 ent on, the substituting of a laxer form of marriage with 
 complete equality and freedom of divorce. In other 
 words it was the breaking down of the patriarchal system 
 which placed women in a position of freedom equal in 
 all respects with men. Now, it has been held by many 
 that, owing to this freedom, the Roman women of the 
 later period were given up to licence. There are always 
 many people who are afraid of freedom, especially for 
 women. But if our survey of these ancient and great 
 civilisations of the past has taught us anything at all, it 
 is this: the patriarchal subjection of women can never 
 lead to progress. We must give up a timid adherence 
 to past traditions. It is possible that the freeing of 
 women's bonds may lead in some cases to the foolishness 
 of licence. I do not know; but even this is better than 
 the wastage of the mother-force in life. The child when 
 first it tries to walk has many tumbles, yet we do not for 
 this reason keep him in leading strings. We know he 
 must learn to walkj, how to do this he will find out by his 
 many mistakes. 
 
 The opinion as to the licentiousness of the Roman 
 woman rests mainly on the statements of two satirical 
 
 1 Donaldson, Woman, pp. 124-125.
 
 IN ROME 239 
 
 writers, Juvenal and Tacitus. Great pains have been 
 taken to refute the charges they make, and the old view 
 is not now accepted. Dill, 1 who is quoted by Havelock 
 Ellis, seems convinced that the movement of freedom 
 for the Roman woman caused no deterioration of her 
 character ; " without being less virtuous or respected, 
 she became far more accomplished and attractive; with 
 fewer restraints, she had greater charm and influence, 
 even in social affairs, and was more and more the equal 
 of her husband." 2 Hobhouse and Donaldson 3 both 
 support this opinion; the latter writer considers that 
 "there was no degradation of morals in the Roman 
 Empire." The licentiousness of pagan Rome was cer- 
 tainly not greater than the licentiousness of Christian 
 Rome. Sir Henry Maine, in his valuable Ancient Law 
 (whose chapter on this subject should be read by every 
 woman), says, " The latest Roman law, so far as it 
 is touched by the constitution of the Christian Emperors, 
 bears some marks of reaction against the liberal doctrines 
 of the great Antonine jurisconsults." This he attributes 
 to the prevalent state of religious feeling that went to 
 " fatal excesses " under the influence of its " passion for 
 asceticism." 
 
 At the dissolution of the Roman Empire the enlight- 
 ened Roman law remained as a precious legacy to Western 
 civilisations. But, as Maine points out, its humane and 
 civilising influence was injured by its fusion with the 
 customs of the barbarians, and, in particular, by the 
 
 1 Roman Society, p. 163. 
 
 1 Morals in Evolution, Vol. I. p. 216. 
 
 3 Woman, p. 113.
 
 240 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 Jewish marriage system. The legislature of Europe 
 " absorbed much more of those laws concerning the posi- 
 tion of women which belong peculiarly to an imperfect 
 civilisation. The law relating to married women was 
 for the most part read by the light, not of Roman, but of 
 Christian Canon Law, which in no one particular departs 
 so widely from the enlightened spirit of the Roman juris- 
 prudence than in the view it takes of the relations of the 
 sexes in marriage." This was in part inevitable, Sir 
 Henry Maine continues, " since no society which pre- 
 serves any tincture of Christian institutions is likely to 
 restore to married women the personal liberty conferred 
 on them by the middle Roman law." 
 
 It is not possible for me to follow this question further. 
 One thing is incontrovertibly certain, that woman's posi- 
 tion and her freedom can best be judged by the equity 
 of the moral code in its bearing on the two sexes. 
 Wherever a different standard of moral conduct is set 
 up for women from men there is something fundament- 
 ally wrong in the family relationship needing revolution- 
 ising. The sexual passions of men and women must be 
 regulated, first in the interests of the social body, and 
 next in the interests of the individual. It is the institu- 
 tion of marriage that secures the first end, and the remedy 
 of divorce that secures the second. It is the great ques- 
 tion for each civilisation to decide the position of the 
 sexes in relation to these two necessary institutions. In 
 Rome an unusually enlightened public feeling decided 
 for the equality of woman with man in the whole conduct 
 of sexual morality. The legist Ulpian expresses this 
 view when he writes " It seems to be very unjust that
 
 IN ROME 241 
 
 a man demands chastity from his wife while he himself 
 shows no example of it." * Such deep understanding of 
 the unity of the sexes is assuredly the finest testimony 
 to the high status of Roman women. 
 
 I have now reached the end of the inquiry set before 
 us at the opening of this chapter. I am fully aware of 
 the many omissions, probable misjudgments, and the 
 inadequacy of this brief summary. We have covered a 
 wide field. This was inevitable. I know that to under- 
 stand really the position of woman in any country it is 
 necessary to inquire into all the customs that have built 
 up its civilisation, and to gain knowledge upon many 
 points outside the special question of the sexual rela- 
 tionships. This I have not been able even to attempt 
 to do. I have thrown out a few hints in passing that 
 is all. But the practical value of what we have found 
 seems to me not inconsiderable. I have tried to avoid 
 any forcing of the facts to fit in with a narrow and 
 artificial view of my own opinions. To me the truth is 
 plain. As we have examined the often-confused mass 
 of evidence, as it throws light on the position of woman 
 in these four great civilisations of antiquity, we find that, 
 in spite of the apparent differences which separate their 
 customs and habits in the sexual relationships, the evi- 
 dence, when disentangled, all points in one and the same 
 direction. In the face of the facts before us one truth 
 cries out its message : " Woman must be free face to 
 lace with man." Has it not, indeed, become clear that 
 a great part of the wisdom of the Egyptians and the 
 wisdom of the Babylonians, as also of the Romans, and, 
 
 1 Digest, XLVIIl. 13, 5.
 
 242 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 in a different degree, of the Greeks, rested in this, they 
 thought much of the mothers of the race. Do not the 
 records of these old-world civilisations show us the 
 dominant position of the mother in relation to the life of 
 the race? In all great ages of humanity this has been 
 accepted as a central and sacred fact. We learn thus, 
 as we look backwards to those countries and those times 
 when woman was free, by what laws, habits and customs 
 the sons of mothers may live long and gladly in all 
 regions of the earth. The use of history is not alone 
 to sum up the varied experiences of the past, but to 
 enlarge our vision of the present, and by reflections on 
 that past to point a way to the future.
 
 PART in 
 
 MODERN SECTION 
 
 PRESENT-DAY ASPECTS OF THE 
 WOMAN PROBLEM 
 
 R 2
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 
 
 The practical application of the truths arrived at A question to be 
 faced The organic differences between the sexes Resum6 of the 
 facts already established The error in the common opinion of the 
 true relationship of the sexes The male active and seeking 
 The female passive and receiving Is this true ? An examination 
 of the passivity of the female The delusion that man is the active 
 partner in the sexual relationship The economic factor in marriage 
 The conventional modesty of woman Concealments and evasions 
 The feeling of shame in love Woman's right of selection How 
 this must be regained by women The new Ethic The pre-natal 
 claims of the child The question of parenthood as a religious 
 question The responsibility of the mother as the child's supreme 
 parent The mating of the future Another question Woman's 
 superior moral virtue Its fundamental error Woman's impera- 
 tive need of love The maternal instinct Nature's experiments 
 The establishment of two sexes The feminine and masculine 
 characters are an inherent part of the normal man and woman The 
 female as the giver of life The deep significance of this The 
 atrophy of the maternal instinct Modern woman preoccupied with 
 herself The right position of the mother -Sex attraction and sex 
 antagonism Woman's relation to sexuality The duel of the 
 sexes The prostitution of love Man's fear of woman Misogyny 
 The rebellion of woman against man Coercive differentiation of 
 the sexes in consequence of civilisation The ideal of a one-sexed 
 world Woman as the enemy of her own emancipation The 
 attempt to establish a third sex The danger of ignoring sex 
 The future progress of love.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 
 
 " Woman is an integral constituent of the processes of civilisation, 
 which, without her, becomes unthinkable. The present moment is a 
 turning point in the history of the feminine world. The woman of the 
 past is disappearing, to give place to the woman of the future, instead 
 of the bound, there appears the free personality." I WAN BLOCK. 
 
 AT length we are ready, clear-minded and well-prepared, 
 to deal with the question of woman's present position 
 in society. Our minds are clear, for we have freed them 
 from the age-long error that the subjection of the female 
 to the male is a universal and necessary part of Nature's 
 scheme; we are well prepared to support an exact oppo- 
 site view, with a knowledge founded on some at least 
 of the facts that prove this, by the actual position that 
 women have held in the great civilisations of the past 
 and still hold among primitive peoples, as well as by a 
 sure biological basis. We are thus far advanced from 
 the uncertainty with which we started our inquiry; our 
 investigation has got beyond the statement of evidence 
 drawn from the past to a stage whence the status of 
 woman in the social order to-day, and the meaning of 
 her relation to herself, to man, and to the race may 
 be estimated. The point we have reached is this : the 
 primary value of the sexes has to some extent, at least, 
 been reversed under the patriarchal idea, which has 
 pushed the male destructive power into prominence at 
 the expense of the female constructive force. This 
 
 247
 
 248 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 under-valuing of the one-half of life has lost to society 
 the service of a strong unsubjugated motherhood. 
 
 I am now, in this third and last section of my book, 
 going to deal with what seems to me the practical appli- 
 cations of the truth we have arrived at. And the pre- 
 liminary to this is a searching question : To what extent 
 must we accept a different natural capacity for women 
 and men ? or, in other words, How far does the predomi- 
 nant sexual activity of woman separate her from man 
 in the sphere of intellectual and social work ? The whole 
 subject is a large and difficult one and is full of problems 
 to which it is not easy to find an answer. We are brought 
 straight up against the old controversy of the organic 
 differences between the sexes. This must be faced 
 before we can proceed further. 
 
 To attempt to do this we must return to the position 
 we left at the end of the fifth chapter. We had then 
 concluded from our examination of the sexual habits of 
 insects, mammals, and birds that a marked differentiation 
 between the female and the male existed already in the 
 early stages of the development of species, and that 
 such divergence, or sex-dimorphism, to use the biological 
 term, becomes more and more frequent and conspicuous 
 as we ascend to the higher types. The essential 
 functions of females and males become more separate, 
 their habits of life tend to diverge, and to the primary 
 differences there are added all manner of secondary 
 peculiarities. We found, however, especially in our 
 study of the familial habits, that these supplementary 
 differences could not be regarded as fixed and unalter- 
 able in either the female or the male organism ; but rather
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 249 
 
 that the secondary sexual characters must be considered 
 as depending on environmental conditions, among which 
 are included the occupational activities, the scarcity or 
 abundance of the food supply, the relative numbers of 
 the two sexes, and, in particular, the brain development 
 and the strength of the parental emotions. We followed 
 the development of the female element and the male 
 element. The male at first an insignificant addendum 
 to the female, but the long process of love's selection, 
 carrying on the expansion and aggrandisement of the 
 male, led to the reversal of the early superiority of the 
 female, replacing it by the superiority of the male. 
 The female led and the male followed in the evolu- 
 tion process. We saw that there are many curious 
 alternations in the superiority of one sex over the other 
 in size and also in power of function. Below the line, 
 among backboneless animals, there is much greater con- 
 stancy of superiority among the females, and this pre- 
 dominance persists in many higher types. Even among 
 birds, who afford the most perfect examples of sexual 
 development, the cases are not infrequent in which the 
 female equals, and sometimes even exceeds, the male 
 in size and strength and in beauty of plumage. The 
 curious case of the Phalaropes furnished us with a 
 remarkable example of a reversal of the role of the 
 sexes. We found further that (i) an extravagant 
 development of the secondary sexual characters was not 
 really favourable to the reproductive process, the males 
 thus differentiated belonging to a lower grade of sexual 
 evolution, being bad fathers and unsocial in their con- 
 duct; (2) that the most oppressed females are as a rule
 
 250 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 very faithful wives, and (3) that the highest expression 
 of love among the birds must be sought in the beautiful 
 cases in which the sexes, though maintaining the essential 
 constitutional distinctions, are, through the higher in- 
 dividuation of the females more alike, equal in capacity, 
 and co-operate together in the race-work. 
 
 It were well to keep these facts clearly in sight; for, 
 in the light of them, it becomes evident that there is an 
 error somewhere in the common opinion of the true 
 relationship of the sexes. Let us go first to the very 
 start of the matter. It is always held that the sperm 
 male-cell represents the active, and the germ female-cell 
 the passive principle in sexuality, and on this assumption 
 there has been based by many a fixed standard for the 
 supposed natural relation between man and woman he 
 active and seeking, she passive and receiving. 
 
 But is this really a fair statement of the reproduction 
 process? The hunger-driven male-cell certainly seeks 
 the female but what happens then? The female 
 cellule, the ovule, preserves its individuality and absorbs 
 the masculine cellule, or is impregnated by it. Thus, to 
 use the term " passive " in this connection is surely 
 curiously misleading; as well call the snake passive 
 when, waiting motionless, it charms and draws towards 
 it the victim it will devour. Illustrations are apt to 
 mislead, nevertheless they do help us to see straight, 
 and until we have come to find the truth here we shall 
 be fumbling for the grounds of any safe conclusion as 
 to the natural relationship of the female and the male. 
 I think we must take a wider view of the sexual relation- 
 ship, and conclude that the passivity of the female is
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 251 
 
 not real, but only an apparent passivity. We may even 
 go so far as to say that the female element has from 
 the very first to play the more complex and difficult, the 
 more important part. Herein, at the very start of life, 
 is typified in a manner at once simple and convincing 
 that differentiation which divides so sharply the sexual 
 activity of the female from that of the male. The serious 
 part in sex belongs to the one who gives life, while in 
 comparison the activity of the male can almost be re- 
 garded as trifling. And I believe that this view will 
 be found to be amply supported by facts if we turn now 
 to consider the later and human relation of the sexes. 
 In all cases it is the same, the serious business in sex 
 belongs to the woman. As it was in the beginning, so, 
 it seems to me, it continues to the end it is woman who 
 really leads, she who in sex absorbs and uses the male. 
 ' The passivity of the female in love," it has been 
 said wisely by Marro in his fine work La Puberta, "is 
 the passivity of the magnet, which in its apparent im- 
 mobility is drawing the iron towards it. An intense 
 energy lies behind such passivity, an absorbed pre-occu- 
 pation in the end to be attained." 1 In the examples 
 we have studied of the courtships of birds we saw that 
 it is by no means a universal law that the male is eager 
 and the female coy. I need only recall the instance 
 noted by Darwin 2 in which a wild duck forced her love 
 on a male pintail, and such cases, as is well known, are 
 frequent. High-bred bitches will show sudden passions 
 for low-bred or mongrel males. According to breeders 
 
 1 See Havelock Ellis, "The Sexual Impulse in Woman," Psychology 
 of Stx, Vol. III. p. 181, who gives this quotation from Marro. 
 1 See page m.
 
 252 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 and observers it is the female who is always much more 
 susceptible of sentimental selection; thus it is often 
 necessary to deceive mares. Among many primitive 
 peoples it is the woman who takes the initiative in court- 
 ship. In New Guinea, for instance, where women hold 
 a very independent position, " the girl is always regarded 
 as the seducer. ' Women steal men.' A youth who 
 proposed to a girl would be making himself ridiculous, 
 would be called a woman, and laughed at by the girls. 
 The usual method by which a girl proposes is to send 
 a present to the youth by a third party, following this 
 up by repeated gifts of food ; the young man sometimes 
 waits a month or two, receiving presents all the time, in 
 order to assure himself of the girl's constancy before 
 decisively accepting her advances." * 
 
 In the face of this, and many similar cases, it becomes 
 an absurdity to continue a belief in the passivity of the 
 female as a natural law of the sexes. Such openness of 
 conduct in courtship is, of course, impossible except 
 where woman holds an entirely independent position. 
 Still, it would not be difficult to bring forward similar 
 manifestations of the initiative being taken by the woman 
 though often exercised unconsciously as the expression 
 of an instinctive need in the artificial courtships of 
 highly civilised peoples. But enough has perhaps been 
 said; and such examples can, I doubt not, be readily 
 supplied by each of my readers for themselves. I will 
 only remark that the true nature of the passivity of the 
 woman in courtship is made abundantly clear from the 
 
 1 Haddon, " Western Tribes of Torres Straits," Journal of the Anthro- 
 pological Society, Vol. XIX., Feb. 1890; cited by Ellis, op. cit., p. 185.
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 253 
 
 ease with which the pretence is thrown off in every case 
 where the necessity arises. 
 
 Nothing is more astounding to me than this delusion 
 that the man is the active partner in sex. I believe, as 
 I have once before stated, that Bernard Shaw 1 is right 
 here when he says that men set up the theory to save 
 their pride. Having taken to themselves the initiative 
 in all other matters, they claim the same privilege in 
 love ; and women have acquiesced and have helped them, 
 so that the duplicity has become almost ineradicable. 
 Few women are brave enough to admit this even if they 
 have clear sight to see the truth ; they know that it is not 
 permitted to them to exercise openly their right of choice. 
 They understand that the male pride of possession the 
 hunter's and the fighter's joy must be respected. But 
 this makes not the least difference to the result, only to 
 the way in which that result is gained. So the whole of 
 our society is filled with half-concealed sex-snares and 
 pitfalls set by women for the capture of men. The 
 woman waits passive ! Yes, precisely, she often does. 
 But exactly the same may be said of the female spider 
 when she has spun her web, from which she knows full 
 well the victim fly will not escape. 
 
 There is another point that must be noticed. Under 
 our present sexual relationships the price the woman asks 
 from the man for her favours is marriage as the only 
 means of gaining permanent maintenance for herself and 
 for her children. Now that these economic considera- 
 tions have entered into love she has to act with a new 
 and greater caution, for she has to gain her own ends as 
 
 1 Sec page 66.
 
 254 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 well as Nature's ends. In the matriarchal society the 
 girl was allowed openly to pick her lover, and forthwith 
 he went with her. But to the modern woman, under the 
 patriarchal ideals, if she shows the modesty that con- 
 vention requires of her, all that is permitted is the invita- 
 tion of a lowered eyelid, a look, or perchance a touch, 
 at one time given, at another withheld. 
 
 Now, I find it the opinion of most of my men friends 
 that such half -concealed encouragements, such evasions 
 and drawings back are a necessary part of the love-play 
 the woman's unconscious testing of the fussy male. 
 There is one friend, a doctor, who tells me that the 
 woman's dissimulation of her own inclination has come 
 to be a secondary sexual characteristic, a manifestation 
 of the operation of sexual selection, diluted, perhaps, 
 and altered by civilisation, but an essential feature in 
 every courtship, so that the woman follows a true and 
 biologically valuable instinct when she temporises and 
 dissembles, and tests and provokes, and entices and 
 repels. She is proving herself and testing her lovers 
 before she permits that awful " merging " that no after- 
 thought can undo. 
 
 Now, on the face of it this seems true. There is a 
 passionate uncertainty that all true lovers feel. It is, 
 I think, a holding back from the yielding up of the 
 individual ego an unconscious revolt from the sacri- 
 fice claimed by the creative force before which both the 
 woman and the man alike are helpless agents. It is very 
 difficult to find the truth. Throughout Nature love only 
 fulfils its purpose after much expenditure of energy. 
 But dissimulation on the side of the woman is not, I
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 255 
 
 am sure, a true or necessary incitement to love. Love, 
 as I see it, is a breaking down of the boundaries of 
 oneself, the casting aside of reserve and defences, with 
 a necessary throwing off of every concealment. 
 
 In our restricted society, where the sexual instincts 
 are at once both unnaturally repressed and unnaturally 
 stimulated, this openness may not be possible. Conceal- 
 ments and evasions may be an aid at one stage of sex 
 evolution. Just as the half-concealed body is often a 
 more powerful sensual stimulus than nudity; the less 
 one sees, the more does the imagination picture. But 
 the need of such artificial excitants speaks of the poverty 
 of love and not of its fullness. For most of us the 
 strain of sensuality in our loves is very strong. To have 
 lived in the bonds of slavery makes us slaves, and the 
 price that woman has paid is the sacrifice of her purity. 
 The feeling of shame in love, like chastity, arose in the 
 property value of the woman to her owner; it is no more 
 a part of the woman's character than of the man's. 
 Woman must capture her mate because the race must 
 perish without her travail ; she is fulfilling Nature's ends, 
 as well as her own, whatever means she uses. 
 
 So I am certain that, as woman's right of selection 
 is given back to her to exercise without restraint, we 
 shall see a freer and more beautiful mating. With 
 greater liberty of action she will be far better armed 
 with knowledge to demand a finer quality in her lovers. 
 Her unborn children importuning her, her choice will be 
 guided by the man's fitness alone, not, as now it is, by 
 his capacity and power for work and protection. We 
 are only awakening to the terrible evils of these powerful
 
 256 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 economic restraints, which now limit the woman's range 
 of choice. It is this wastage of the Life-force that, as 
 I believe, above all else has driven women into revolt. 
 
 The free power of Selection in Love ! Yes ; that is 
 the true Female Franchise. It must be regained by 
 woman, to be used by her to ennoble the sex relation 
 and thereby to cleanse society of the unfit. The means 
 by which this most important end can be attained will 
 be brought about by giving woman such training and 
 education and civic rights, as well as the framing of such 
 laws and changes in the rights of property inheritance, 
 as shall render her economically independent. Existing 
 marriage is a pernicious survival of the patriarchal age. 
 The " patriarch's " wife was significantly reckoned in the 
 same category with a man's " ox " and his " ass," which 
 any other male was forbidden "to covet." The wife 
 was the husband's her owner's private property and 
 the curse of this dependence and the old ferocious 
 potestas and manus, from which the Roman wife freed 
 herself, are upon women to-day. With the regaining of 
 their economic freedom by women by whatever means 
 this is to be accomplished a truer marriage will be 
 brought within reach of every one, and the sexual rela- 
 tionship will be freed from the jealous chains of owner- 
 ship that cause such bitter mistrusts in the wreckage of 
 our loves. 
 
 Mating will be a much more complex affair, and yet 
 one much more directly in harmony with the welfare of 
 the race. A recognition of the pre-natal claims of the 
 child is the new Ethic that is slowly but surely dawning 
 on womankind and on man. He who destroys human
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 257 
 
 life, however unfit that life may be, is remorselessly 
 punished by society, but the woman and man who beget 
 diseased and imbecile children the necessarily unfit 
 are not only exonerated from sin, but applauded by both 
 Church and State. Could moral inconstancy go further 
 than this ? It is only in the begetting of men that breed- 
 ing from the worst stocks may be said to be the rule. 
 As long as in our ideas on these questions superstition 
 remains the guide there is nothing to hope for and much 
 to fear. The new ideal is only beginning, and beginning 
 with a tardiness that is a reproach to human foresight. 
 But herein lies the glad hope of the future. I place 
 my trust in the enlightened conscience of the economic- 
 ally emancipated mothers, and in the awakened fathers, 
 to work out some scheme of sexual salvation as will 
 ensure a race of sounder limb and saner intelligence than 
 any that has yet appeared in our civilisation. 
 
 It is woman, not man, who must fix the standard in 
 sex. The problems of love are linked on to the needs 
 of the race. Nature has, as we have seen, made various 
 experiments as to which of the sexes was to be the 
 predominant partner in this relation. But the decision 
 has been made in the favour of the mother. She it is 
 who has to play the chief part in the racial life. There 
 is no getting away from this, in spite of the many absurd- 
 ities that man has set up, as, for instance, St. Paul's 
 grandmotherly old Tory dogma, making " man the head 
 of the woman." 
 
 The differences between woman and man are deep 
 and fundamental. And, lest there be any who fear the 
 giving back to woman of her power, let me say that in
 
 258 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 this change there will be no danger of unsexing, least 
 of all of the unsexing of woman. Nature would not 
 permit it, even if she in any foolishness of revolt sought 
 such a result, for it is her body that is the sanctuary of 
 the race. Love and courtship will not, indeed, be robbed 
 of any charm, that would be fatal, but they will be freed 
 from the mockeries of love that have always selfishness 
 in them, jealous resentments and fearing distrusts the 
 man of the woman, not less than the woman of the man. 
 To-day coquetry serves not only as a prelude to marriage, 
 but very often serves as a substitute for it; an escape 
 from the payment of the sacrifices which fulfilled love 
 claims. There is a confusion of motives which now force 
 women and men alike from their service to the race. Sex 
 must be freed from all unworthy necessities. Courtship 
 must be regarded, not as a game of chance, but as the 
 opening act in the drama of life. And the woman who 
 comes to know this must play her part consciously, realis- 
 ing in full what she is seeking for; then, indeed, no longer 
 will her sex be to her a light or a saleable thing. At 
 present economic and social injustices are strangling 
 millions of beautiful unborn babes. 
 
 There is another error that I would wish to clear up 
 now. It is a tenet of common belief that in all matters 
 of sex-feeling and sex-morality the woman is different 
 from, and superior to, the man. I find in the writings of 
 almost all women on sex-subjects, not to speak of popular 
 novels, an insistence on men's grossness, with a great deal 
 in contrast about the soulful character of woman's love. 
 Even so illuminated a writer as Ellen Key emphasises 
 this supposed trait of the woman again and again.
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 259 
 
 Another woman writer, Miss May Sinclair, in a brilliant 
 " Defence of Men " (English Review, July 1912), speaks 
 of "the superior virtue of women" as being "primor- 
 dially and fundamentally Nature's care." And again, 
 woman "has monopolised virtue at man's expense," 
 which the writer, with the most perfect humour and irony, 
 though apparently quite unconscious, regards as " men's 
 tragedy." The woman has received the laurel crown by 
 " Nature's consecration of her womanhood to suffering," 
 the man " has paid with his spiritual prospects as she has 
 paid with her body." 
 
 Now, from this view of the sex relationship I most 
 utterly dissent. I believe that any difference in virtue, 
 even where it exists in woman, is not fundamental, that 
 it is against Nature's purpose that it should be so ; rather 
 it has arisen as a pretence of necessity, because it has 
 been expected of her, nourished in her, and imposed 
 on her by the unnatural prohibitions of religious and 
 social conventions. The female half of life has not 
 been pre-ordained to suffer any more than the male half : 
 this belief has done more to destroy the conscience of 
 woman than any other single error. You have only to 
 repeat any lie long enough to convince even yourself of 
 its truth. But assuredly free woman will have to yield 
 up her martyr's crown. 
 
 I grant willingly that men often talk brutally of sex, 
 but I am certain that few of them think brutally. We 
 women are so easily deceived by the outside appearance 
 of things. The man who calls " a spade a spade " is 
 not really inferior to him who terms it "an agricultural 
 implement for the tilling of the soil." And women also 
 
 s 2
 
 260 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 express their sensuality in orgies of emotion, in hypo- 
 crisies of chastity, and in many other ways that are 
 really nothing but a subtle sensuality disguised. 
 
 I confess that I doubt very much the existence of any 
 special soulful character in woman's love. I wish that 
 I didn't. But my experience forces me to admit that 
 this is but another of those delusions which woman has 
 wrapped around herself. Of course I may be wrong. 
 I find Professor Forel and other distinguished psycho- 
 logists lending their support to this idol of the woman's 
 superior sexual virtue. Krafft Ebing goes much further, 
 holding " that woman is naturally and organically frigid." 
 It may be then that some difference does exist in the 
 driving force of passion in men and women. I do not 
 know the exact character of men's love to compare it 
 with my own, and I hesitate to write with that assurance 
 of the passions of the other sex with which they have 
 written of mine. Yet I believe that the male receiving 
 life from the female is not more mindful of the physical 
 needs of love than the woman, though possibly she has 
 less understanding of its joys. For the woman with a 
 much more complex sexual nature is carried by passion 
 further than the male; the continuance of life rests with 
 her. Under this imperative compulsion woman, if needs 
 be, will break every commandment in the Decalogue 
 and suffer no remorse for having done so. I think this 
 seeking to give life remains a necessary element in the 
 loves of all women. At its lowest it will stoop to any 
 unscrupulousness. Bernard Shaw tells us that "if 
 women were as fastidious as men, morally or physically, 
 there would be an end to the race." Perhaps this is true.
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 261 
 
 Yet I think woman's love is always different in its 
 fundamental essence from the excitements of the male. 
 We throw the whole burden of sex-desire on to men, 
 because we have not yet faced the truth that they are our 
 helpless agents in carrying on Nature's most urgent work. 
 It has been so from the beginning, since that first 
 primordial mating when the hungry male-cell gained 
 renewal of life from the female, it is so still, I believe 
 it will be thus to the end. 
 
 It is when we come to the emotions and actions con- 
 nected with the maternal instinct in woman that we reach 
 the real point of the difference between the sexes. In 
 its essential essence this belongs to women alone. The 
 male may be infected with the reproduction energy (we 
 have witnessed this in its finest expression among birds, 
 where the parental duties are shared in and, in some 
 cases, carried out entirely by the male), but man pos- 
 sesses, as yet, its faint analogy only. It is the most 
 primary of all woman's qualities, and, being funda- 
 mental, it is, I believe, unalterable, and any attempt 
 to minimise its action is very unlikely to lead to progress. 
 It is a two-sexed world; women and men are not alike; 
 I hope that they never will be. 
 
 This radical truth is so plain. Yet it seems to me 
 that in the present confusion many women are in danger 
 of overlooking it. We saw in an earlier chapter how very 
 early in the development of life it was found by Nature's 
 slow but certain experiments that the establishment of 
 two sexes in different organisms, and their differentia- 
 tion, was to the immense advantage of progress. This 
 initial difference leads to the functional distinctions
 
 202 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 between the female and the male, but it goes much 
 further than this, finding its expression in many second- 
 ary qualities, not on the physical side alone, but on the 
 mental and psychical, and is, indeed, a saturating in- 
 fluence that determines the entire development of the 
 organism into the feminine or the masculine character. 
 Take again the fact that this dynamic action of sex has 
 manifested itself in a continual progress through the 
 uncounted centuries. Developed by love's selection, the 
 differentiation of the sexes increased in the evolution 
 of species, and as the differentiation increased the 
 attraction also increased, until in all the higher forms 
 we find two markedly different sexes, strongly drawn 
 together by the magnetism of sex, and fulfilling together 
 their separate uses in the reproductive process. These 
 are the natural features of sex-distinction and sex-union. 
 The belief, therefore, is forced upon us that the 
 characteristic feminine and masculine characters are an 
 inherent part of the normal woman and man, a duality 
 that goes back to the very threshold of sexuality. So 
 Nature created them, female and male created she them. 
 To change the metaphor, we have the woman and the 
 man = the unit the race. While there is no fixing of the 
 precise nature of this constitutional difference between the 
 two sexes, we may yet, broadly speaking, reach the truth. 
 The female, as the giver and keeper of life, is relatively 
 more constructive, relatively less disruptive than the 
 male. It is here, I believe, we touch the spring of those 
 sex differences, which do exist, in spite of all efforts to 
 explain them away between the woman and the man. It 
 is a quality that crops up in many diverse directions and
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 263 
 
 penetrates into every expression of the feminine 
 character. 
 
 Now, we cannot get away from a difference so funda- 
 mental, so primordial as this. The consecration of the 
 woman's body as the sanctuary of life that perpetual 
 payment in giving is not safely to be altered. And this 
 I contest against all the Feminists : the real need of the 
 normal woman is the full and free satisfaction of the 
 race-instinct. Do I then accept the subjection of the 
 woman. Assuredly not ! To me it is manifest that it 
 is just because of her sex-needs and her sex-power that 
 woman must be free. To leave such a force to be used 
 without understanding is like giving a weapon to a child, 
 in whose hands a cartridge suddenly goes off, leaving 
 the empty and smoking shell in his trembling hands. 
 
 It is well to remember, however, that for all women 
 there is conceivably no one simple rule. It is quite 
 possible that the maternal instincts may be overlaid and 
 even destroyed, being replaced by others more clearly 
 masculine. In our artificial social state this is indeed 
 bound to be so. It may be regretted, but it cannot be 
 blamed. And each woman must be free to make her own 
 choice; no man may safely decide for her; she must 
 give life gladly to be able to give it well. This is why 
 any effort to force maternity, even as an ideal, upon 
 women is so utterly absurd. To-day woman is coming 
 slowly and hesitatingly to a new consciousness of herself, 
 and this at present is perhaps preoccupying her attention. 
 But the freed woman of to-morrow will have no need to 
 centre her thoughts in herself, for by that time she will 
 understand. There will come a day when women will
 
 264 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 no longer live in a prison walled up with fear of love 
 and life. And when she has done with discovering her- 
 self and playing at conquests, she will come to the most 
 glorious day of all, when she will know herself for what 
 she is. And to those of us who see already the goal 
 the way is surely clear let us work to find how best it 
 can be made easy for all women to love gladly and to 
 bring forth their children in joy. 
 
 Hitherto, dating from the times of the subjection of 
 mother-right to father-right, the woman's insecure posi- 
 tion, with her need of protection during the period of 
 motherhood, has forced her into a state of dependence 
 and subordination to men, which has accentuated and 
 made permanent that physical disadvantage which, apart 
 from motherhood, would scarcely exist, and even with 
 motherhood would not become a source of weakness, 
 under a wiser social organisation, which, understanding 
 the primary importance of the mother, so arranged its 
 domestic and social relationships as to place its women 
 in a position of security. We have seen how this was 
 done in Egypt, and how happy were the results; we 
 have seen, too, that among all primitive peoples women 
 are practically as strong as the men, and as capable in 
 the social duty of work. It is only under the fully estab- 
 lished patriarchal system, with its unequal development 
 of the sexes, that motherhood is a source of weakness to 
 women. From the time that society comes again to 
 recognise the position of mothers and their right as the 
 bearers of strength to the race, not only to protection 
 while they are fulfilling that essential function for the 
 community, but to their freedom after they have fulfilled 
 it the same freedom that men claim for the work they
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 255 
 
 do for the community from that time will arise a new 
 freedom of women which will once again unite mother - 
 right with father-right. This change will touch and 
 vitally affect many of the deepest problems of the sexual 
 relationship and the race. 
 
 We hear much to-day of women, and also men, being 
 over-sexed ; to me it seems much nearer the truth to say 
 we are wrongly sexed. It is unquestionable that the 
 progress of civilisation has resulted in a markedly accen- 
 tuated differentiation between the sexes, which, through 
 inheritance and custom, has become continually more 
 sharply defined. Now, up to a certain point sex differ- 
 ences lead to sex-attraction, but whenever such varia- 
 bility whether initiated by some natural process or by 
 some intentional guidance of the pressure of civilisation 
 is unduly exaggerated, the way is opened up for sex- 
 antagonism. That this, indeed, occurs may be seen from 
 the fact we have already established, that an exaggerated 
 outgrowth of the secondary sexual characters is not 
 really favourable to development; the species thus differ- 
 entiated being bad parents and unsocial in their conduct. 
 The large felines, which are often inclined to commit 
 infanticide in their own interests, the male turkey and 
 other members of the gallinaceae afford examples, and 
 so does the female phalarope, whose maternal instincts 
 are completely atrophied. Another illustration may be 
 drawn from the debased position of the Athenian 
 women, where the sharp separation between the sexes 
 led, without doubt, not only to the debasing of the 
 marriage relationship, but to the establishment of the 
 hetaira, and also to the common practice of homo-sexual 
 love.
 
 266 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 Under our present civilisation, and mainly owing to 
 the unnatural relation of the sexes, which has undulv 
 
 / 
 
 emphasised certain qualities of excessive femininity, sex- 
 feeling has been at once over-accentuated and under- 
 disciplined. Thus, an extreme outward sex-attraction 
 has come to veil but thinly a deep inward sex-antipathy, 
 until it seems almost impossible that women and men 
 can ever really understand one another. Herein lie the 
 roots, as I believe, of much of the brutal treatment of 
 women by men and the contempt in which too often they 
 are held. For what is the truth here? In this so-called 
 " duel of sex," while woman's moral equality has not 
 been recognised, women have employed their sex- 
 differences as the most effective weapon for compassing 
 their own ends, and men in the mass unmindful of the 
 truth that love is an understanding of the contrasted 
 natures, a solution of the riddle have wished to have it 
 so. What significance arises out of this in the so-much- 
 lauded cry, " Woman's influence ! " " By thy submis- 
 sion rule," really means in ninety-nine cases out of a 
 hundred, " Rule by sex-seduction and flattery." Yes, 
 we women cannot burk the truth the seduction and 
 flattery of man by woman is writ large over the face of 
 our present society, it speaks in our literature and in our 
 art. It is to this prostitution of love that sex-differences 
 have carried us. 
 
 There is, of course, nothing new in these conditions; 
 and there have always been times when men have 
 rebelled against this sexual tyranny of woman. Miso- 
 gyny is an old story. It is Euripides who betrays to us 
 the real meaning of such revolt. In a fragment of his 
 we read, The most invincible of all things is a woman !
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 267 
 
 Men are so little sure of themselves that they fear suffer- 
 ing from woman an annihilation of their own personality. 
 There is nothing surprising in this; rather it is one of 
 Nature's laws that may not be overlooked, traceable back 
 to that first coalescence when the female cellule absorbs 
 the male. In one way or another, for Nature's ends or 
 for her own, the female will always absorb the male 
 the woman the man ; she is the river of life, he but the 
 tributary stream. Paracelsus long ago gave utterance to 
 the profound truth, " Woman is nearer to the world than 
 man." Hence the army of misogynists a Schopen- 
 hauer, a Strindberg, a Weininger, even a great Tolstoi, 
 alike moved in a rebellion of disillusion, or satiety, 
 against the power of woman that has been turned into 
 turbid channels of misusage. Thence, too, the hateful 
 Christian doctrine of the fundamentally sinful, evil, 
 devilish nature of woman. 
 
 This rebellion of men, and their efforts to free them- 
 selves from the thrall of women has been of little avail. 
 We have reached now a new stage in the age-long conflict 
 of the sexes the rebellion of the woman. There has 
 come a time when the old cry, " Woman, what have I to 
 do with you ? " is being changed. It is woman who is 
 whispering to herself and to her sisters, and, as she gains 
 in courage, crying it aloud, " Men, what have we to do 
 with you? We belong to ourselves." It is to this 
 impasse in the confusion and antagonism of the present 
 moment of transition that sex-differences are bringing 
 us. 
 
 In face of this we may well pause. 
 
 What to do is another matter. But I am mainly con- 
 cerned just now in trying to see facts clearly. And to
 
 268 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 me it often seems that woman is in grave danger to-day 
 of becoming intoxicated with herself. She stands out 
 self -affirming, postulating her own or what she thinks 
 to be her own nature. In her, perhaps too-sudden, 
 awakening to an entirely new existence of a free person- 
 ality, an over-consciousness of her rights has arisen, 
 causing a confusion of her instincts, so she fails to see 
 the revelation begotten in her inmost self. 
 
 There is no getting away from the truth that there is 
 this vital organic distinction between woman and man ; 
 and further, that this sexual difference does, and it is well 
 that it should, find its expression in a large number of 
 detailed characters of femaleness and maleness, various 
 in value, some, perhaps, trivial, and some important. 
 These characters are natural in origin and natural also in 
 having survived ages of eliminative selection. But the 
 point I want to make clear is that, side by side with these 
 fundamental differences, have arisen in women a number 
 of what may be called coercive differentiations, inconsis- 
 tent with, and absolutely hurtful to the natural distinc- 
 tions, being destructive to the love and understanding 
 of woman and man, and not less destructive to the vigour 
 of the race. This misdifferentiation of women, it is true, 
 is passing, but the progressive gain in this direction is 
 counterbalanced by a new and hardly less grave danger. 
 
 I am dealing here with what seems to me to be a peril- 
 ous quicksand in woman's struggle for free development. 
 To hear many women talk it would appear that the new 
 ideal was a one-sexed world. A great army of women 
 have espoused the task of raising their sex out of subjec- 
 tion. For such a duty the strength and energy of
 
 SEX DIFFERENCES 269 
 
 passion is required. Can this task be performed if the 
 woman to any extent indulges in sex otherwise subjec- 
 tion to man. Sexuality debases, even reproduction and 
 birth are regarded as " nauseating." Woman is not free, 
 only because she has been the slave to the primitive cycle 
 of emotions which belong to physical love. The renun- 
 ciation, the conquest of sex it is this that must be 
 gained. As for man, he has been shown up, women have 
 found him out; his long-worn garments of authority and 
 his mystery and glamour have been torn into shreds- 
 woman will have none of him. 
 
 Now obviously these are over-statements, yet they are 
 the logical outcome of much of the talk that one hears. 
 It is the visible sign of our incoherence and error, and 
 in the measure of these follies we are sent back to seek 
 the truth. Women need a robuster courage in the face 
 of love, a greater faith in their womanhood, and in the 
 scheme of Life. Nothing can be gained from the child's 
 folly in breaking the toys that have momentarily ceased 
 to please. The misogamist type of woman cannot fail 
 to prove as futile as the misogamist man. Not " Free 
 from man" is the watch-cry of women's emancipation 
 that surely is to be, but " Free with man." 
 
 Let us pass to a somewhat different instance the 
 perversion of the natural instincts of woman which has 
 led to the attempt to establish what has been called a 
 " third sex," x a type of woman in whom the sexual 
 
 1 E. von Wolzogen gives this name, The Third Sex, to a romance 
 in which he describes a kind of barren, stunted woman, capable, how- 
 ever, of holding her place in all work in competition with men. The 
 writer compares these types of women to the workers among ants and 
 bees. See p. 62. I have quoted from Iwan Bloch, The Sexual Life of 
 Our Times, p. 13.
 
 270 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 differences are obscured or even obliterated a woman 
 who is, in fact, a temperamental neuter. Economic con- 
 ditions are compelling women to enter with men into 
 the fierce competition of our disordered social State. 
 Partly due to this reason, though much more, as I think, 
 to the strong stirring in woman of her newly-discovered 
 self, there has arisen what I should like to call an over- 
 emphasised Intellectualism. Where sex is ignored there 
 is bound to lurk danger. Every one recognises the 
 significance of the advance in particular cases of women 
 towards a higher intellectual individuation, and the 
 social utility of those women who have been truly the 
 pioneers of the new freedom; but this does not lessen 
 at all the disastrous influence of an ideal which holds 
 up the renunciation of the natural rights of love and 
 activities of women, and thus involves an irreparable loss 
 to the race by the barrenness of many of its finest types. 
 The significance of such Intellectuals must be limited, 
 because for them the possibility of transmission by in- 
 heritance of their valuable qualities is cut off, and hence 
 the way is closed to a further progress. And, thus, we 
 are brought back to that simple truth from which we 
 started; there are two sexes, the female and the male, 
 on their specific differences and resemblances blended 
 together in union every true advance in progress depends 
 on the perfected woman and the perfected man.
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER IX 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING CHAPTER WITH SOME 
 FURTHER REMARKS ON SEX DIFFERENCES 
 
 I. Women and Labour 
 
 A further examination of the sexual differences The knowledge we 
 have gained does not enable us definitely to settle the problem 
 The necessity of considering Nurture Woman's character to 
 some extent the result of circumstance, to some extent organic 
 The difficulties of the problem Standards of comparison Incom- 
 pleteness of our knowledge New researches on sex-differences 
 The confusion of opinions Women and men different, but neither 
 superior to the other The position of women in society to-day 
 The increasing surplus of women How can a remedy be found ? 
 Woman's place in the home The changes in modern conditions 
 Women and labour The damning struggle for life Sweated work 
 Women's wages The marketable value of woman's sex This 
 the explanation of the smallness of women's wages The prostitute 
 better paid than the worker Woman's strength as compared 
 with man's Are women really the weaker sex ? Woman's work 
 capacity equal to man's, but different The Spanish women 
 The intolerable conditions of labour in commercial countries 
 Women more deeply concerned than men The real value of 
 women's work This must be recognised by the State The social 
 service of child-bearing The primary and most important work 
 of women The present revolt of women How far is this justi- 
 fiable ? A caution and some reflections. 
 
 II. Sexual Differences of the Mind and the Artistic 
 Impulse in Women 
 
 The mental and psychical sexual differences Ineradicability of these 
 Can they be modified or disregarded ? The masculine and feminine 
 intellectual qualities Caution necessary in making any com- 
 parison Example, a tenacious memory Is this a feminine char- 
 acteristic ? Woman's intuition Its value Each sex contributes 
 to the thought power of the other The artistic impulse Is genius 
 to be regarded as an endowment of the male ? An examination 
 
 271
 
 272 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 of the grounds for this view Untenability of the opinion of the 
 greater variational tendency of men The question needs re- 
 opening The influence of environment and training on woman's 
 mind What woman can, or can not, do as yet unproved Woman's 
 talent for diplomacy The separation between the mental life of 
 the sexes The result on woman's mind The revolt against re- 
 pression Woman as she is represented in literature The woman 
 of the future Woman the cause of emotion in men Part played 
 by women in early civilisations What men learnt from them 
 Woman's emotional endowment Her affectability and response 
 to suggestion These the qualities essential to success in the arts 
 A comparison between the qualities of genius and the qualities 
 of woman This opens up questions of startling significance 
 What women may achieve in the future Some suggestions as to 
 the effect of the entrance of women into the arts. 
 
 III. The Affectability of Woman Its Connection 
 with the Religious Impulse 
 
 Woman's aptitude for religion Her need for a protection Relation 
 between the sexual and religious emotions Deprivation of love 
 and satiety of love the sources of religious needs Religious pros- 
 titution Religio-erotic festivals Sexual mysticism in Christi- 
 anity The lives of the saints Religious sexual perceptions 
 Their influence on the emotional feminine character A personal 
 experience The association between love and salvation The 
 same sense of the eternal in the religious and the sexual impulse 
 Asceticism Its origin in the sexual emotions Preoccupation of 
 the ascetic with sex needs The transformation of the sex-impulse 
 into spiritual activities Examples The modern ascetic The 
 fear of love This the ultimate cause of the contempt of woman 
 Example of Maupassant's priest In love the way of salvation.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING CHAPTER WITH SOME 
 FURTHER REMARKS ON SEX DIFFERENCES 
 
 I. Women and Labour 
 
 " The fullest ideal of the woman-worker is she who works not merely 
 or mainly for men as the help and instrument of their purpose, but who 
 works with men as the instrument yet material of her purpose." 
 GEDDES AND THOMSON. 
 
 WHEN we come to consider the detailed differences 
 between woman and man, a sharp separation of them 
 into female qualities and male qualities no longer 
 squares with the known facts. Any attempt to lessen the 
 natural differences, as also to weaken at all the attrac- 
 tions arising from this divergence, must be regarded with 
 extreme distrust. There is a real and inherent prejudice 
 against the masculine woman and the feminine man. It 
 is nevertheless necessary very carefully to discriminate 
 between innate qualities of femaleness and maleness and 
 those differences that have been acquired as the direct 
 result of peculiarities of environmental conditions. It 
 is certain that many differences in the physical and 
 mental capacity of women must be referred not to 
 Nature but to Nurture, i. e. the effects of conditions and 
 training. Let me give one concrete case, for one clear 
 illustration is more eloquent than any statement. Long 
 ago Professor Karl Vogt pointed out that women were 
 awkward manipulators. Thomas, in Sex and Society, 
 T 273
 
 274 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 answers this well : " The awkwardness in manual mani- 
 pulation shown by these girls was surely due to lack of 
 practice. The fastest type-writer in the world is to-day 
 a woman ; the record for roping steers (a feat depending 
 on manual dexterity rather than physical force) is held 
 by a woman." I may add to this an example of my own 
 observation. In a recent International Fly and Bait 
 Casting Tournament, held at the Crystal Palace, a 
 woman was among the competitors, and gave an admir- 
 able exhibition of skill in salmon fly-casting. In this 
 competition she threw one cast 34 feet and two of 33 
 feet, making an aggregate of 100 yards, which gained 
 her the prize over the male competitors. It has also 
 been recently stated that women show equal skill with 
 men in shooting at a target. 
 
 It is plain that the more we examine the question of 
 sex-differences the more it baffles us. The only safe- 
 guard against utter confusion and idleness of thought 
 is to fall back on the common-sense view that woman 
 is what she is largely, because she has lived as she has, 
 and further, that in the present transition no arbitrary 
 rules may be laid down by men as to what she should, 
 or should not, can, or cannot do. Even in fear of 
 possible danger to be incurred, woman must no longer 
 be " grandf athered." The scope of this chapter is to 
 make this clear. 
 
 It is no part of my purpose, even if it were possible 
 for me within the limits at my command, to enter into 
 an examination of all the numerous statements and 
 theories with regard to the real or supposed secondary 
 sexual characters of woman. For though the practical
 
 WOMEN AND LABOUR 275 
 
 utility of such detailed knowledge is obvious, while there 
 is no certainty of opinion even among experts to fix the 
 distinctions between the sexes, it is wiser in one who, like 
 myself, can claim no scientific knowledge to avoid the 
 hazard of any conclusion. I confess that a most careful 
 study of the many differing opinions has left me in a 
 state of mental confusion. One is tempted to adopt 
 those views that fit in with one's own observations and 
 to neglect others probably equally right that do not do 
 this. What is wanted is a much larger number of careful 
 experiments and scientific observations. Some of these 
 have been made already, and their value is great, but 
 the basis is still too narrow for any safe generalisations. 
 All kinds of error are clearly very likely to arise. I may, 
 perhaps, be allowed to state my surprise, not to say 
 amusement, at the conviction evidenced by some male 
 writers in their estimate of the character of my sex. 
 I find myself given many qualities that I am sure I have 
 not got, and deprived of others that I am equally certain 
 I possess. Thus, I have found myself wondering, as I 
 sought sincerely to find truth, whether I am indeed 
 woman or man ? or, to be more exact, whether the female 
 qualities in me do not include many others regarded as 
 masculine? This has forced the thought is the differ- 
 ence between the sexes, after all, so complete? 
 
 I am aware that what I am now saying appears to be 
 in contradiction with my other statements. I cannot 
 help it. The fact is, that truth is always more diverse 
 than we suspect. This is a question that reaches so 
 deeply that apparent contradiction is sometimes inevit- 
 able. We find we are rooted into outside things, and 
 
 T 2
 
 276 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 we melt away, as it were, into them, and no woman or 
 man can say, " I consist absolutely of this or that " ; nor 
 define herself or himself so certainly as to be sure where 
 the differences between the sexes end and the points of 
 contact begin. Many qualities of the personality appear 
 no more female than male; no more belonging to the 
 woman than the man. And yet, underlying these com- 
 mon qualities there is a deep under-current in which all 
 our nature finds expression in our sex. 
 
 Science has of late years advanced far in this matter, 
 yet it has not much more than begun. There is, as yet, 
 no approximation to unanimity of decision, though the 
 way has been cleared of many errors. This is all that 
 has really been done by the ablest observers, who seem, 
 however, unwilling, if one may say so without presump- 
 tion, to accept the conclusions to which their own experi- 
 ments and observations would seem to point. Take an 
 illustration. The early certitude on the sex-differences 
 in the weight of the brain and in the proportion of the 
 cerebral lobes has been completely turned upside down. 
 The long believed opinion of the inferiority of the 
 woman in this direction has been proved to be founded 
 on prejudice, fallacies, and over-hasty generalisations, 
 so that now it is allowed that the sexual differences in the 
 brain are at most very small. An even more instructive 
 example arises from the ancient theory that there was a 
 natural difference in the respiratory movements of the 
 sexes. Hutchinson even argued that this costal breath- 
 ing was an adaptation to the child-bearing function in 
 woman. Further investigations, however, with a wider 
 basis and more accurate methods and one may surely
 
 WOMEN AND LABOUR 277 
 
 add more common-sense have changed the whole 
 aspect of the matter. This difference has been proved 
 to be due, not to Nature at all, but wholly to the effect 
 of corset-wearing and woman's conventional dress. 
 There is, it would seem, no limit to the quagmire of 
 superstition and error into which sex-difference have 
 drawn even the most careful inquirers if once they fail 
 to cut themselves adrift from that superficial view of 
 Nature's scheme, by which the woman is considered as 
 being handicapped in every direction by her maternal 
 function. 
 
 Enough has now been said to indicate the complica- 
 tion of the facts, to say nothing of their practical applica- 
 tion. I must refer my readers for further details to 
 convenient summaries of the sexual differences, in Have- 
 lock Ellis's Man and Woman; Geddes and Thomson's 
 Sex and Evolution; Thomas's Sex and Society; and 
 H. Campbell's Differences in the Nervous Organisation 
 of Men and Women: the first of these is a treasure 
 store of facts, and may be regarded as the foundation of 
 all later research; the last is, perhaps, the most generally 
 interesting, certainly it is the most favourable in its 
 estimate of women. Dr. Campbell urges with much 
 force the fallacy of many popular views. He does not 
 seem to believe in the fundamental origin of maleness 
 and femaleness, holding them rather to be secondary and 
 derived, the result, in fact, of selection. 
 
 I have already sufficiently guarded against being sup- 
 posed to have any desire to establish identity between 
 woman and man. I do, however, object to any general 
 conclusion of an arbitrary and excessive sex-separation,
 
 278 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 without the essential preliminary inquiry being made as 
 to the effects of conditions and training ; that is, whether 
 the opportunities of development have been at all equal. 
 But here, to save falling into a misconception, it is neces- 
 sary to point out that I do not say the same opportunities, 
 but equal. This difference is so important that, risking 
 the fear of being tedious, I must restate my belief in 
 the unlikeness of the sexes. As Havelock Ellis says, 
 " A man is a man to his very thumbs, and a woman is a 
 woman down to her little toes." What I do mean, then, 
 is this : Have the opportunities of the woman to develop 
 as woman been equal to the opportunities of the man to 
 develop as man ? It is on this question, it seems to me, 
 that our attention should be fixed. 
 
 Leaving for a little any attempt to find out in what 
 directions this development of woman can be most fully 
 carried out, let us now clear our way by glancing very 
 briefly at certain plain facts of the actual position of 
 women as they present themselves in our society to-day. 
 
 In 1901 there were 1,070,00x3 more women than men in 
 this country ; this surplus of women has increased slowly 
 but steadily in every census since 1841 ! Thus, those who 
 hold (as all who look straight at this matter must) that 
 the essential need for the normal woman are conditions 
 that make possible the fulfilment of her sex-functions, 
 are placed in an awkward dilemma when they wish to 
 restrict her activities to marriage and the home. By such 
 narrowing of the sexual sphere they are not taking into 
 consideration the facts as they exist to-day. In a society 
 where the women outnumber the men by more than a 
 million, it is sufficiently evident that justice can be done
 
 WOMEN AND LABOUR 279 
 
 to these primary needs of woman only by adopting one 
 of two courses, the placing of women in a position which 
 secures to them the possession of property, or, if their 
 dependence on the labours of men is maintained, the 
 recognition of some form of polygamy. Here is no 
 advocacy of any sexual licence or of free-love, but I do 
 set up a claim for free motherhood, and however great 
 the objections that may, and, as I think, must be raised 
 against polygamy, I am unhesitating in stating my belief 
 that any open and brave facing of the facts of the sex 
 relationship is better than our present ignorance or hypo- 
 critical indifference, which is spread like a shroud over 
 our national conditions of concealed polygamy for men, 
 side by side with enforced celibacy and unconcealed pro- 
 stitution for a great number of women. The most hope- 
 ful sign of the woman's movement is a new solidarity 
 that is surely killing the fatalism of a past acquiescing 
 in wrongs, and is slowly giving birth to a fine spiritual 
 apprehension of the great truth that what concerns any 
 woman concerns all women, and, I would add, also all 
 men. This last that there can be no woman's question 
 that is not also a man's question is so essentially a part 
 of any fruitful change in our domestic and social relation- 
 ship that women must not permit themselves for a 
 moment to forget it. It is the very plain things that so 
 often we do overlook. 
 
 So it becomes clear that the parrot cries "Woman's 
 Place!" "Woman's Sphere!" "Her place is the 
 home ! " have lost much, even if not all, their significance. 
 For, in the first place, it is obvious that under present 
 conditions there are not enough homes to go round ; and
 
 280 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 second, even if we neglect this essential fact, women may 
 well answer such demands by saying " much depends on 
 the character and conditions of the home we are to stay 
 in." It was a many-sided home of free and full activity 
 in which woman evolved and wherein for long ages she 
 worked; a home, in fact, which gave free opportunities 
 for the exercise of those qualities of constructive energy 
 that women, broadly speaking, may be said to possess. 
 The woman's so-called natural position in the home is 
 not now natural at all. The conditions of life have 
 changed. Everything is drifting towards separation 
 from worn-out conditions. We are increasingly con- 
 scious of a growing discontent at waste. The home with 
 its old full activities has passed from women's hands. 
 But woman's work is not less needed. To-day the State 
 claims her; the Nation's housekeeping needs the vitalis- 
 ing mother-force more than anything else. 
 
 The old way of looking at the patriarchal family was, 
 from one point of thought, perfectly right and reasonable 
 as long as every woman was ensured the protection of, 
 and maintenance by, some man. Nor do I think there 
 was any unhappiness or degradation involved to women 
 in this co-operation of the old days, where the man 
 went out to work and the woman stayed to do work at 
 least equally valuable in the home. It was, as a rule, 
 a co-operation of love, and, in any case, it was an equal 
 partnership in work. But what was true once is not true 
 now. We are living in a continually changing develop- 
 ment and modification of the old tradition of the relation- 
 ship of woman and man. It is very needful to impress 
 this factor of constant change on our attention, and to
 
 WOMEN AND LABOUR 281 
 
 fix it there. To ignore it, and it is too commonly ignored, 
 is to falsify every issue. " The Hithertos," as Mr. Zang- 
 will has aptly termed them, are helpless. Things are so, 
 and we are carried on ; and as yet we know not whither, 
 and we are floundering not a little as we seek for a way. 
 The women of one class have been forced into labour by 
 the sharp driving of hunger. Among the women of the 
 other class have arisen a great number who have turned 
 to seek occupation from an entirely different cause; the 
 no less bitter driving of an unstimulating and ineffective 
 existence, a kind of boiling-over of women's energy 
 wasted, causing a revolt of the woman-soul against a life 
 of confused purposes, achieving by accident what is 
 achieved at all. Between the women who have the finest 
 opportunities and the women who have none there is this 
 common kinship the wastage not so much of woman as 
 of womanhood. 
 
 Let us consider for a moment the women who have 
 been forced into the cheating, damning struggle for life. 
 There are, according to the estimate of labour experts, 
 5,000,000 women industrially employed in England. 
 The important point to consider is that during the last 
 sixty years the women who work are gaining numerically 
 at a greater rate than men are. The average weekly wage 
 paid is seven shillings. Nine-tenths of the sweated work 
 of this country is done by women. I have no wish to give 
 statistics of the wages in particular trades; these are 
 readily accessible to all. Unfortunately the facts do not 
 allow any exaggeration ; they are saddening and horrible 
 enough in themselves. The life-blood of women, that 
 should be given to the race, is being stitched into our
 
 282 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 ready-made clothes ; is washed and ironed into our linen ; 
 wrought into the laces and embroideries, the feathers and 
 flowers, the sham furs with which we other women bedeck 
 ourselves ; it is poured into our adulterated foods ; it is 
 pasted on our matches and pin-boxes; stuffed into our 
 furniture and mattresses; and spent on the toys we buy 
 for our children. The china that we use for our foods 
 and the tins in which we cook them are damned with the 
 lead-poison that we offer to women as the reward of 
 labour. 
 
 It is these wrongs that the mothers with the fathers of 
 the race have to think out the way to alter. There is no 
 one among us who is guiltless in this matter. Things 
 that are continuously wrong need revolutionising, and not 
 patching up. 
 
 What, then, is the real cause of the lowness of remune- 
 ration offered to women for work when compared with 
 men? Thousands of women and girls receive wages that 
 are insufficient to support life. They do not die, they 
 live; but how? The answer is plain. Woman possesses 
 a marketable value attached to her personality which man 
 has not got. This enables her to live, if she has children, 
 to feed them, and also not infrequently to support the 
 man, forced out of work by the lowness of the wages she 
 can accept. The woman's sex is a saleable thing. Pros- 
 titution is the door of escape freely opened to all women. 
 It is because of the reserve fund thus established that 
 their honest wages suffer. Not all sweated women are 
 prostitutes. Many are legally married, they exist some- 
 how; but the wages of all women are conditioned by this 
 sexual resource. It can be readily seen that this is a
 
 WOMEN AND LABOUR 283 
 
 survival of the patriarchal idea of the property value of 
 woman. To-day it affords a striking example of the con- 
 flict between the old rights of men with the rising power 
 of women. The value of woman is her sexual value ; her 
 value as a worker is as yet unrecognised, except as a 
 secondary matter. You may refuse to be convinced of 
 this. Yet the fact remains that our society is so organised 
 that women are more highly paid and better treated as 
 prostitutes than they are as honest workers. 
 
 I shall say no more on this question here, as I propose 
 to deal with prostitution more fully in a later chapter. 
 I would, however, point out that what I have said in no 
 way implies an opinion that women should be driven out 
 of the labour market. This is as unfair as that they 
 should be driven into it. It is the conditions of labour 
 that must be changed. I am not even able to accept the 
 opinion that the strength of woman is necessarily less 
 than that of man, only that it is different. It is, in fact, 
 just this difference that is so important. If woman's 
 capacity in work was the same as men's no great advan- 
 tage could arise from women's entrance into the work of 
 the State. It might well lead to even worse confusion. 
 It is the special qualities that belong to woman that 
 humanity is waiting for. Just as at the dawn of civilisa- 
 tion society was moulded and in great measure built up 
 by women, then probably unconscious of their power and 
 the end it made towards, so, in the future, our society will 
 be carried on and humanised by women, deliberately 
 working for the race, their creative energy having become 
 self-conscious and organised in a final and fruitful period 
 of civilisation.
 
 284 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 I want to look a little further into this question of the 
 strength of woman as compared with the strength of man. 
 On the whole it seems right to say that the man is the more 
 muscular type, and stronger in relation to isolated feats 
 and spasmodic efforts. But against this may be placed 
 the relative greater tenacity of life in women. They 
 are longer lived, alike in infancy and in old age; they 
 also show a greater power of resisting death. The differ- 
 ence in the incidence of disease, again, in the two sexes 
 is far from furnishing conclusive evidence as to the 
 greater feebleness of women. Their constitution seems to 
 have staying powers greater than the man's. The theory 
 that women are " natural invalids " cannot be accepted. 
 Every care must be taken to guard against any mis- 
 differentiation of function in the kind of work women 
 are to do, but there is no evidence to prove that healthy 
 work is less beneficial to women than to men. Indeed, 
 all the evidence points in the opposite direction. Even 
 in the matter of muscular power it is difficult to make 
 any absolute statement. The muscular development of 
 women among primitive peoples is well known. Japanese 
 women will coal a vessel with a rapidity unsurpassable by 
 men. The pit-brow women of the Lancashire collieries 
 are said to be of finer physical development than any 
 other class of women workers. I have seen the women 
 of Northern Spain perform feats of strength that seem 
 extraordinary. 
 
 It is worth while to wait to consider these Spanish 
 women, who are well known to me. The industrial side 
 of primitive culture has always belonged to women, and 
 in Galicia, the north-west province of Spain, the old
 
 WOMEN AND LABOUR 285 
 
 custom is still in active practice, owing to the widespread 
 emigration of the men. The farms are worked by 
 women, the ox-carts are driven by women, the seed is 
 sown and reaped by women indeed, all work is done 
 by women. What is important is that these women have 
 benefited by this enforced engaging in activities which 
 in most countries have been absorbed by men. The 
 fine physical qualities of these workers can scarcely be 
 questioned. I have taken pains to gain all possible 
 information on this subject. Statistics are not available, 
 because in Galicia they have not been kept from this 
 point of view. I find, however, that it is the opinion of 
 many eminent doctors and the most thoughtful men of 
 the province, that this labour does not damage the health 
 or beauty of the women, but the contrary, nor does it 
 prejudice the life and health of their children. As 
 workers they are most conscientious and intelligent, apt 
 to learn, and ready to adopt improvements. From my 
 personal observations I can bear witness that their 
 children are universally well cared for. What impressed 
 me was that these women looked happy. They are full 
 of energy and vigour, even to an advanced age. They 
 are evidently happy, and the standard of beauty among 
 them will compare favourably with the women of any 
 other nation. I once witnessed an interesting episode 
 during a motor-ride in the country. A robust and comely 
 Gallegan woman was riding a ancas (pillion fashion) with 
 a young caballero, probably her son. The passing of 
 our motor-car frightened the steed, with the result that 
 both riders were unhorsed. Neither was hurt, but it was 
 the woman who pursued the runaway horse. She caught
 
 286 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 it without assistance and with surprising skill. What 
 happened to the man I cannot say. When I saw him he 
 was standing in the road brushing the dust from his 
 clothes. I presume the woman returned with the horse 
 to fetch him. 
 
 Women were the world's primitive carriers. In 
 Galicia I have seen women bearing immense burdens, 
 unloading boats, acting as porters and firemen, and 
 removing household furniture. I saw one woman with a 
 chest of drawers easily poised upon her head, another 
 woman bore a coffin, while another, who was old, carried 
 a small bedstead. A beautiful woman porter in one 
 village carried our heavy luggage, running with it on 
 bare feet, without sign of effort. She was the mother of 
 four children, and her husband was at the late Cuban 
 war. She was upright as a young pine, with the shape- 
 liness that comes from perfect bodily equipoise. I do 
 not wish to judge from trivial incidents, but I saw in the 
 Gallegan women a strength and a beauty that has become 
 rare among women to-day. I recall a conversation with 
 an Englishman I met at La Coruna, of the not uncom- 
 mon strongly patriotic and censorious type. We were 
 walking together on the quay; he pointed to a group of 
 the Gallegan burden-bearers, who were unloading a 
 vessel, remarking in his indiscriminate British gallantry, 
 " I can't bear to see women doing work that ought to be 
 done by men." " Look at the women ! " was the answer 
 I made him. 
 
 It is, of course, impossible to compare the industrial 
 conditions of such a country as Spain with England. 
 We may associate the position of women in Galicia with
 
 WOMEN AND LABOUR 287 
 
 some of the old matriarchal conditions. .Women are 
 held in honour. There is a proverb common over all 
 Northern Spain to the effect that he who is unfortunate 
 and needs assistance should " seek his Gallegan mother." 
 Many primitive customs survive, and one of the most 
 interesting is that by which the eldest daughter in some 
 districts takes precedence over the sons in inheritance. 
 In no country does less stigma fall upon a child born 
 out of wedlock. As far back as the fourth century 
 Spanish women insisted on retaining their own names 
 after marriage. We find the Synod of Elvira trying to 
 limit this freedom. The practice is still common for the 
 children to use the name of the mother coupled with that 
 of the father, and in some cases, alone, showing the 
 absence of preference for the paternal descent. 1 The 
 introduction of modern institutions, and especially the 
 empty forms of chivalry, has lowered the position of 
 women. Yet there can be no question that some feature 
 of the ancient mother-right customs have left the imprint 
 on the domestic life of the people. Spanish women 
 have, in certain directions, preserved a freedom and 
 privilege which in England has never been established 
 and is only now being claimed. 2 
 
 How completely all difficulties vanish from the rela- 
 tionship of the sexes where society is more sanely 
 organised with a wiser understanding of the things that 
 really matter. The question is not : are our women fit 
 for labour ? but this : are the conditions of labour in 
 
 1 Velazquez is known to us only by the name of his mother ; his 
 father's name was de Silva. 
 
 * I have taken these passages from the chapter on " The Women of 
 Galicia," in my Spain Revisited.
 
 288 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 England fit either for women or men? The supply of 
 cheap labour on which the whole fabric of our society is 
 built up is giving way and it has to go. We have to 
 plan out new and more tolerable conditions for the 
 workers in every sort of employment. But first we have 
 to organise the difficult period of transition from the 
 present disorder. 
 
 I will not dwell on this. I would, however, point out 
 that women must be trained and ready to take their part 
 with men in this work of industrial re-organisation. 
 They are even more deeply concerned than men. The 
 conditions of under-payment for woman's work are not 
 restricted to sweated workers; it is the same in skilled 
 work, and in all trades and professions that are open to 
 women. For exactly the same work a lower rate of pay- 
 ment is offered. Female labour is cheap, just as slave 
 labour is cheap, the woman is not considered as belong- 
 ing to herself. 
 
 There is no question here of the real value of woman's 
 labour. The cry of man to woman under the patriarchal 
 system has always been, and still for the most part is, 
 ' Your value in our eyes is your sexuality, for your work 
 we care not." But mark this ! The penalty of this false 
 adjustment has fallen upon men. For women, in their 
 turn, have come to value men first in their capacity as 
 providers for them, caring as little for the man's sex-value 
 as men care for woman's work-value. From the moment 
 when woman had to place the economic considerations in 
 love first, her faculties of discrimination were no more 
 of service for the selection of the fittest man. Here we 
 may find the explanation of the kind of men girls have
 
 WOMEN AND LABOUR 289 
 
 been willing to marry old men, the unfit fathers, the 
 diseased. Yes, any man who was able to do for them 
 what they have not been allowed to do for themselves. 
 And it is the race that suffers and rots; the sins of the 
 mother must be visited on the child. 
 
 It is clear, then, there is one remedy and one alone. 
 This separation of values must cease. All women's 
 work must be paid at a rate based on the quality and 
 quantity of the work done; not upon her sexuality. I 
 do not mean by this that there should be any ignoring 
 of woman's special sex-function; to do this, in my 
 opinion, would be fatal. The bearing of fit children is 
 woman's most important work for the State. The 
 economic stress which forces women into unlimited com- 
 petition with men is, I am certain, harmful. Women do 
 not do this because they like it, but because they are 
 driven to it. 
 
 The true effort of women, I conceive, should be centred 
 on the freeing of the sexual relationship from the 
 domination of a viciously directed compulsion, and from 
 the hardly less disastrous work-struggle of sex against 
 sex. The emancipated woman must work to gain 
 economic recognition, not necessarily the same as the 
 man's, but her own. It is to the direct interest of men 
 to stop under-cutting by women; but the way to do this 
 is not to force women out of labour, compelling their 
 return to the home that is impossible rather it rests 
 in an equal value of service being recognised in both 
 sexes. The fully developed woman of the future is still 
 to be, and first there must be a time of what may well 
 prove to be dangerous experiments. This may be
 
 290 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 regretted, it cannot be avoided. The finding out of new 
 paths entails some losing of the way. 
 
 Women have to find out what work they can best do ; 
 what work they want to do, and what work men want them 
 to do. I must insist, against all the Feminists, on this 
 factor of men's wishes being equally considered with 
 woman's own. It may not safely be neglected. Woman 
 without man at her side, after obtaining her freedom, 
 will advance even less far than man has advanced with 
 his freedom, without her help. To deny this is to show 
 an absurd misunderstanding of the problem. Neither 
 the male-force alone, nor the female-power is sufficient; 
 no theory of sex-superiority shall prevail. The setting 
 up of women against men, or men against women, to the 
 disadvantage of one or the other, belongs to a day that is 
 over. We must recognise that both the work of women 
 and the work of men are in equal measure essential to 
 satisfy the needs of the State; the force of both sexes 
 must be united to plan and carry out those measures of 
 reform now called for by the new ideals of a civilised 
 humanity. It is only by loosening all the chains of all 
 women and all men alike that the inherent energies of the 
 world's workers can be set free for the eventual ennobling 
 of the race. 
 
 There is a fundamental difference in respect to the 
 modes of energy in woman and man. Is it, then, too 
 much to hope for, that in the enlightened civilisation, 
 whose dawn is even now breaking the darkness, we shall 
 recognise and use this difference in work-power and 
 claim from women the kinds of labour they can give best 
 to the State ; and reward them for doing this in such a
 
 WOMEN AND LABOUR 291 
 
 way that their primary social service of child-bearing is 
 in no way impaired ? But as yet the day is not. There 
 is an outlook that causes foreboding. The female sex 
 is in a dangerous state of disturbance. New and strange 
 urgencies are at work amongst us, forces for which the 
 word " revolution " is only too faithfully appropriate. 
 Little is being done to allay these forces, much conspires 
 to exasperate them. Whither are they taking us? To 
 this we women have to find an answer. 
 
 Other questions force themselves as wisely we wait 
 to think. What will women do when they have gained 
 the voice to control the attitude the State shall assume 
 in the regulation of their work ? Will their decisions be 
 founded on wide knowledge, that recognises all the facts 
 and accepts the responsibilities and restrictions that any 
 true freedom for their sex entails, or will it be merely 
 continued revolt, tending to embitter and intensify the 
 struggle of sex against sex ? Will their action reveal the 
 wise patience, the sympathy and understanding of the 
 mother, or will it prove to be the illogical, short-sighted, 
 and bewildered behaviour of the spoilt child? No one 
 can answer these questions. Hitherto, it has seemed 
 that women stand in danger of losing sight of great 
 issues in grasping at immediate gains. Goaded by the 
 wrongs they see so plainly waiting to be righted, they 
 are in such a desperate hurry. But " hurry " should not 
 belong to the woman's nature. There is a " grasp " 
 quality of this age that can bring nothing but harm to 
 women. It is a great thing to be a woman, greater, as I 
 believe, than to be a man. For the first time for long 
 ages women are beginning again to understand this and 
 
 U 2
 
 292 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 all that it signifies. Women and not men are the respon- 
 sible sex in the great things of life that really matter. 
 They are that " Stubborn Power of Permanency " of 
 which Goethe speaks. The female not only typifies the 
 race, she is the race. It is man who constitutes the 
 changing, the experimenting, sex. Thus, woman has to 
 be steadier than man, yes, and more self-sacrificing. 
 She may not safely escape from her work as " the giver," 
 and if she does not give in life, she must give in some- 
 thing. We have got to do more than bear men, we have 
 to carry them with us through life our sons, our lovers, 
 our husbands. We must free them now as well as our- 
 selves, if our freedom is to count for anything. Let us 
 not, then, in any impatience, neglect to pause, to pre- 
 pare, to be ready, that the pregnancy of the present may 
 bring fair birth when the days are fulfilled. For, after 
 all, what shall it profit women if, in gaining the world, 
 they lose themselves? 
 
 II. Sexual Differences in Mind and the Artistic 
 Impulse in Women 
 
 " The most secret elements of woman's nature, in association with 
 the magic mystery of her organisation, indicate the existence in her of 
 peculiar and deep-lying creative ideas." THEODOR MUNDT. 
 
 What is true of the physical differences between women 
 and men is true also of the mental differences. We may 
 readily accept the saturating influence of sex on woman's 
 mind. I mean a deep-lying distinction, not superficial 
 and to be explained away as due to outside things, but 
 based on the essential fact of her womanhood her
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 298 
 
 capacity for maternity. But the impracticability of making 
 any definite statement as to the exact nature or extent 
 of such mental sexual differentiation is evident. First 
 must be cleared up the difficulty of distinguishing between 
 those differences that are fundamental and constitutional 
 as being directly dependent on the woman character and 
 those that have, or seem to have, arisen through distinc- 
 tion of training or environment, which may be termed 
 evolutionary differences, and are likely to be changed 
 by altered conditions. Even the trained biologist is 
 unable to draw an undisputed line of demarcation 
 between the two kinds of differences, and, even if it were 
 drawn, the conclusion would not help us very much. 
 For with regard to these evolutionary differences that 
 are liable to change many questions have to be con- 
 sidered. Can they safely be modified or disregarded? 
 Do we want them changed? Will the alteration really 
 be of benefit to women? Only such qualities as can be 
 proved clearly to be mis-differentiations i. e. directly 
 harmful can be contemptuously dismissed. Thus the 
 problem is an extraordinarily difficult one. I can only 
 touch its outer fringe. 
 
 It is held that men have greater mental variability and 
 more originality, while women have greater stability and 
 more common sense. In this connection may be noticed 
 the characteristic male restlessness; man is probably 
 more inclined to experiment with his body and his mind 
 and with other people, while woman's constitution and 
 temper is relatively more conservative. It is held that 
 women have the greater integrating intelligence, while 
 men are stronger in differentiation. The thinking power
 
 294 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 of woman is deductive, that of man inductive; woman's 
 influence on knowledge is thus held to be indirect rather 
 than direct. But women have greater receptive powers, 
 retain impressions better and have more vivid and surer 
 memories; for which reason women are generally more 
 receptive for facts than for laws, more for concrete than 
 for general ideas. The feminine mind shows greater 
 patience, more open-mindedness and tact, and keener 
 insight into character, greater appreciation of subtle 
 details and, consequently, what we call intuition. The 
 masculine mind, on the other hand, tends to a greater 
 height of sudden efforts, of scientific insight and experi- 
 ment, greater frequency of genius, and this is associated 
 with an unobservant or impatient disregard of details, 
 but a stronger grasp of general ideas. 
 
 Now it is easy to make comparisons of this kind, but 
 to accept them as at all final calls for great caution. Let 
 me take, as an instance, the opinion so continuously 
 affirmed, that women are distinguished by good memories, 
 in particular, for details. Now to regard this as neces- 
 sarily a mental sexual character is entirely to mistake the 
 facts. A tenacious memory for details that are often quite 
 unimportant, belongs to all people of limited impressions 
 and unskilled in thought; it maybe noticed in all children. 
 Without a wide experience of life and practice in con- 
 structive thinking the mind inevitably falls back on 
 fact-memory. I knew an agricultural labourer who could 
 only tell his age by reckoning the years he had been 
 dung-spreading. Thus a good memory for details may 
 be a sign of an untrained mind. It is an entirely different 
 thing from that acuteness of true memory, which ensures
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 295 
 
 the retention of all experiences that have made an impres- 
 sion on the mind, with a corresponding rejection of what 
 has failed to interest. Thus before anything can be said 
 with regard to this memory power of woman, we have 
 to decide on what it depends i. e. is it really a mental 
 quality of woman, or is it simply dependent on, and 
 brought about by, the circumstances of her life and a 
 limited experience ? But to answer this question I shall 
 wait till later in this chapter. 
 
 It would be easy to follow a similar train of argu- 
 ment with regard to each of these mental differences of 
 the sexes. Few women have yet entered even the 
 threshold of the mental world of men, and those who 
 have done this stand in the position of strangers or 
 visitors. To be in it, in any true sense, would be to be 
 born into it and to live in it by right ; to absorb the same 
 experiences, not consciously and by special effort, but 
 unconsciously as a child absorbs words and learns to 
 speak. Whenever this happens, and not till then, shall 
 we be in a position to compare positively the mental 
 efficiency of woman with men. At present no more can 
 be affirmed than that the differences in woman's mental 
 expression are no greater than they must be in view of 
 the existing differences in their experience. And I am 
 not sure, even if such similarity of mental life were pos- 
 sible, that it would be of benefit to women. Indeed, I 
 am almost sure that it would not. What is needed is 
 an ungrudging recognition of the value of the special 
 feminine qualities. This would do much to lessen the 
 regrettable competition that undoubtedly prevails at 
 present, which is due, it seems to me, to the foolish denial
 
 296 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 of the value of any save masculine characteristics in our 
 art, as also in our public and professional life. 
 
 But leaving this point for the present, there is another 
 question arising from this first that also brings me doubt. 
 Few will deny that women are more instinctive than 
 logical; more intuitive than cerebral. Men find their 
 conclusions by searching for and observing facts, while 
 women, to a great extent, arrive at the same end by 
 instinct. They know, rather than know how, or why, they 
 know. Now, too often we hear these qualities of woman 
 treated with contempt. Is this wise? What I doubt is 
 this : when women by education and evolution have been 
 able to learn and to practise the inductive process of 
 reasoning if, indeed, they do come to do this will they 
 lose their present faculty of gaining conclusions by 
 instinct ? I believe that they must do so to a large extent, 
 and I am not convinced that the gain would at all fully 
 make up for the loss. Looking at human conduct, it is 
 regulated quite as much by instinct as by reason. I think 
 it will be impossible to prevent this being so, and if this 
 is true, woman's instinct may remain of greater service 
 to her than the gaining of a higher reasoning faculty. 
 The true distinction between the psychology of woman 
 and man is as the difference between feeling and thought. 
 Woman thinks through her emotions, man feels through 
 his brain. This is obviously an exaggeration, but it will 
 show what I mean by the different process of thought 
 that, broadly speaking, is usual to the two sexes. Mis- 
 takes are, of course, made by both processes, but more 
 often, as I believe, by reasoning than by instinct this 
 is probably because I am a woman. But it is certain
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 297 
 
 that each sex contributes to the thought-power of the 
 other, each is indispensable to the other, on the mental 
 plane no less than on the physical. 
 
 The importance of the above will become obvious 
 when we consider, as we will now do, the artistic impulse 
 in woman. Strange difficulties have been raised on all 
 sides concerning the occurrence of genius among women. 
 It seems to be accepted that in respect of artistic endow- 
 ment the male sex is unquestionably superior to the 
 female. Havelock Ellis, for instance, in dealing with 
 this question says, " The assertion of Mobius l that the art 
 impulse is of the nature of a male secondary sexual char- 
 acter, in the same sense as the beard, cannot be accepted 
 without some qualification, but it may well represent an 
 approximation of the truth." By some it is held that genius 
 is linked with maleness : that it represents an ideal mas- 
 culinity in the highest form ; and from genius the feminine 
 mind must, therefore, be excluded. But in truth it is not 
 easy to credit such assumptions, or to see the strangeness 
 of the difficulties in an exact opposite view, if we under- 
 stand the significance of those qualities of femaleness 
 which are allowed to women by those who most deny to 
 her the possibility of genius. Such a denial serves only 
 to show the absurd presumption of present knowledge 
 of this kind in its hope to solve a problem so difficult. 
 
 Let me try to sift out the facts. And first we must 
 inquire on what grounds this opinion is based. I have 
 already alluded to the general belief in the greater degree 
 of variability in men, which, if established, would on the 
 psychical side involve an accentuated individualism and 
 
 1 Man and Woman, p. 377; Mobius, Stachylogie, 1901.
 
 298 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 hence a greater possibility of genius. This view has been 
 supported by John Hunter, Burdach, Darwin, Havelock 
 Ellis, and others. Ellis, in the chapter on " The Artistic 
 Impulse " in Man and Woman, says, " The rarity of 
 women artists of the first rank is largely due to the 
 greater variational tendency of men." Now, this bio- 
 logical fact is certainly of great importance, if it can be 
 proved. But can it ? It has recently been contested by 
 anthropologists at least as distinguished as those who 
 have given it their support. Manouvrier, Karl Pearson, 
 Frossetto, and especially Guiffrida-Ruggieri have brought 
 forward evidence to prove the fallacy of this belief in 
 the slighter variability and infantile character of woman. 
 Now, it is clearly impossible for me in the space at my 
 command to go into the conclusions brought forward on 
 both sides of this difficult question. What I want to 
 make clear is that this greater variability of man has not 
 been established, and therefore cannot be accepted as a 
 condition of male genius. I am glad to be able to give 
 a statement on this question by Professor Arthur Thom- 
 son, which will sufficiently show that my opinion is not 
 put forward wantonly and without due consideration, but 
 that it coincides with the conclusion of one who is an 
 acknowledged leader in the advanced biological study 
 of the sexes. 
 
 Professor Thomson writes thus * 
 
 "We would guard against the temptation to sum up the con- 
 trast of the sexes in epigrams. We regard the woman as relatively 
 
 1 The passage occurs in a lecture by Prof. Thomson and Mrs. 
 Thomson on " The Position of Woman Biologically Considered," and 
 was one of a series delivered in Edinburgh to consider and estimate the 
 recent changes in the position of woman. The addresses have been 
 published in a book entitled The Position of Woman, Actual and Ideal.
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 299 
 
 more anabolic, man as relatively more katabolic, and whether this 
 biological hypothesis is a good one or not, it certainly does no 
 social harm. But when investigators begin to say that woman 
 is more infantile and man more senile, that woman is "undeve- 
 loped man" and man is "evolved woman," we get among 
 generalisations not only unscientific but practically dangerous. 
 Not the least dangerous of these generalisations is one of the most 
 familiar, that man is more variable than woman, that the raw 
 materials of evolution make their appearance in greatest abund- 
 ance in man. There seems to be no secure basis for this general- 
 isation ; it seems doubtful whether any generalisation of the kind 
 is feasible. Prof. Karl Pearson has made seventeen groups of 
 measurements of different parts of the body, in eleven groups the 
 female is more variable than the male, and in six the male is more 
 variable than the female. Moreover the differences of variability 
 are slight, less than those between members of the same race 
 living in different conditions. Furthermore, an elementary remark 
 may be pardoned. Since inheritance is bi-parental, and since 
 variation means some peculiarity in the inheritance, a greater 
 variability in men, if true, would not mean that men had any credit 
 for varying. The stimulus to variation may have come from the 
 mother as well as the father. // proved it would only mean that 
 the male constitution gives free play to the expression of varia- 
 tions, which are kept latent in the female constitution. But what 
 is probably true is that some variations find expression more 
 readily in man and others more readily in woman." 
 
 The italics in the passage are mine, for they make 
 abundantly clear the falseness of the old view, and show 
 how much the question needs reopening from the 
 common-sense standpoint of opportunity. I shall, there- 
 fore, only restate my opinion that it is impossible to 
 assume a fundamental difference in individuality as 
 existing between woman and man until it can be proved 
 that the same free-play to the expression has been 
 common alike to both sexes. 
 
 To me it seems probable that what Samuel Butler 
 insists upon is true, and that the origin of variations must
 
 800 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 be looked for in the needs and experiences of the creature 
 varying. But let this pass, as it opens up too large and 
 difficult a question to enter upon here. The effects of 
 environment and function must act as a kind of arbiter 
 directing conduct and, in particular, mental expression. 
 It is the very A B C of the question that appropriate 
 training and opportunities of use are essential if any mind 
 is to develop. Supply such mental stimuli to the boy 
 and man, deny them to the girl and woman, and then 
 call " the art impulse of the nature of a male secondary 
 sexual character," because woman has as yet played but 
 a small and secondary part in any of the arts ! The 
 source of error is so plain that one can only wonder at 
 the fallacies that have been accepted as truth. Thus, 
 when one finds so just and careful an investigator as 
 Havelock Ellis saying, " It is unthinkable that a woman 
 should have discovered the Copernician system ! " it can 
 but be regarded as an example of that sex-bias which 
 marks so strikingly men's statements on this subject of 
 mental sex-differences. We may well ask, Why un- 
 thinkable? As answer I will give the finely just acknow- 
 ledgment of Iwan Bloch on this very question. He refers 
 to this statement of Havelock Ellis, and then says, " I 
 need merely call to mind the widely known physical 
 discoveries of Madame Curie, whose thoroughly inde- 
 pendent work qualified her to succeed her husband as 
 professor at the Sorbonne. We cannot, therefore, 
 exclude the possibility that in the sphere of the natural 
 sciences notable discoveries and inventions may be made 
 in the future in consequence of the independent work of 
 women." * To take another instance. We find the fact 
 
 1 Sexual Life of Our Times, p. 74.
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 301 
 
 that so far women have gained very small distinction in 
 music, contrasted with the great number of girls who are 
 trained to play on musical instruments. But this is 
 surely to show a complete misunderstanding of the 
 question. It is like saying that the best preparation for 
 a painter to know the colours reflected on water by a 
 cloudy or sunny sky would be a course of optics. Music 
 is at once the most imaginative and the most severely 
 abstract of the arts, and the absence of women from music 
 must be referred to deeper causes, which yet, it seems to 
 me, are not far to seek. 
 
 Mind, I make no claim for women. I acknowledge 
 fully that in all the arts, except in acting and in dancing, 
 woman's achievement has been infinitely less than man's. 
 There have been a few great women poets notably a 
 Sappho, many good writers of fiction, and some capable 
 painters. But to bring forward these particular women 
 and to try either to exaggerate or belittle their importance 
 can serve nothing. This search for ability among women 
 is absurd. It already exists widely, though unused or 
 directed into channels of waste. Of this I am convinced. 
 The thing that has been rare is opportunity. The fact 
 that some few women have struggled up out of obscurity 
 does not so much show that they possessed a special 
 masculine superiority as that they have been less inex- 
 tricably bound down than others by the conventional 
 bonds of a man-ruled society. I believe that this could 
 be proved in the case of every woman who has attained 
 to fame. And there is another point. The women who 
 have succeeded in bursting these bonds have, in most 
 cases, done so at such great cost of energy and fighting, 
 that their work is rendered crude and often valueless.
 
 802 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 Self-assertion can never be the best preparation for 
 achievement. All this narrows the mental horizon and 
 tends to make the results gained superficial and unendur- 
 ing. We have here the explanation of much that has 
 been, and still is, futile in women's efforts. 
 
 The face of the world, however, is changing for women. 
 It may be that the future will reveal creative ability in 
 them as yet unsuspected. It is not safe to prophesy, and 
 no one can say, as yet, just in what direction women will 
 develop. It may prove that their special qualities will 
 not find expression in the realm of imagination, but 
 will be turned to diplomacy and to administration and 
 financial work. I simply affirm that what women can or 
 cannot do is as yet unproved. Throughout the ages of 
 patriarchal faith one ideal of womanhood has been im- 
 pressed upon the world, which is only now being shaken 
 the ideal of self-repression and submission to the will 
 of man, of society, and of God. Women's minds have 
 reflected only the minds of men. I think that much of 
 the failure of women's work arises from the arrogance 
 of men, who have always preferred the flattering image 
 of woman in their own minds to woman herself. Woman 
 has had to accept this. She could only realise her- 
 self through man, not with man, while he has been 
 able to realise himself, either with her help or without 
 her. 
 
 There is a wide difference between the mental and 
 social attitudes of men and women. Men have been 
 responsible to society at large for their work and conduct, 
 woman's outlook has been much narrower; she has been 
 responsible to men, and has only touched outside life
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 303 
 
 through them. In this way women have developed on 
 wrong lines. It is significant, for instance, how many 
 women have written books under men's names. Women's 
 work and conduct has been largely restricted by this 
 adjustment to men, with the result that not only their 
 mental capacity and work-power has suffered, but their 
 attention has been fixed, for the most part, to the enhan- 
 cing of the attractiveness of their persons as an aid to hold 
 men to their service. The feminine mind and interests 
 have been set so strongly towards personal display that 
 they will not easily be diverted. The clothes-peg woman 
 is familiar to all : she gratifies any whim, well knowing 
 that it is her male protector who will have to pay, not she. 
 She will, on occasions, use her children for such base 
 ends. She knows the game is in her hand. Even if the 
 man resists her for a time, she understands how easily 
 she can break down his objections by a seductive display 
 of silk stockings ! The character of woman as the 
 inherent coquette is very deeply rooted. It is only a 
 little more baneful to the freedom of the sexes than that 
 opposite pernicious side of woman as a sort of angel- 
 child, which we all know to be such a preposterous 
 pretence. 
 
 Nor do I think that the change from these conditions 
 can, or will, be easy. Women may, and do, protest 
 against the triviality of their lives, but emotional interests 
 are more immediate than intellectual ones. Human 
 nature does not drift into intellectual pursuits voluntarily, 
 rather it is forced into them in connection with urgency 
 and practical activities. It is much easier to be kept, 
 dressed, and petted, than to work. Women have not
 
 304 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 participated in the mental activities of men because it has 
 not been necessary for them ; to do this has been, indeed, 
 a hindrance to their success. The contrast between the 
 sexes in this respect has been well compared by Thomas l 
 to the relation of the amateur and the professional in 
 games. "Women may be desperately interested and 
 work to the limit of endurance at times; but, like the 
 amateur, they enter into the work late, and have not 
 had a lifetime of practice. . . . No one will contend 
 that the amateur has a nervous organisation less 
 fitted to the game than the professional; it is admitted 
 that the difference lies in the constant practice." It 
 is only in the case of woman that the obvious con- 
 clusion is passed over for assumptions that cannot be 
 proved. 
 
 The revolt against repression has taken amongst many 
 women another form of abandonment to lives of sexual 
 preoccupation and intrigue. Scan the history of woman 
 as she is presented in our literature and drama, and you 
 will find one expression of her character, one idea alone 
 of her sphere. It is a point of such interest that I would 
 like to linger upon it. Wherever woman enters she is a 
 disturbing influence ; she is the centre of emotional action, 
 it is true, but with no recognised position in life outside 
 of her sex; around her rage seas of stormy passions, 
 which sometimes she calms, sometimes lashes into angrier 
 foam. In a sense it may be said that she has scarcely 
 an individual existence; it is solely in her relation to 
 man that her nature is considered. If she works, or prac- 
 tises one of the arts, she does this only until marriage. 
 
 1 Sex and Society, pp. 306, 307.
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 305 
 
 It does not seem to be conceived as possible that she can 
 follow work, as the artist must, for herself. It is curious 
 how far we have been misled by that giving-power of 
 woman, which, in part, is right and natural to her, but 
 also, in much greater part, has been harmfully forced 
 upon her. The creator's need to find expression is, I 
 am certain, at least as strongly rooted in woman as in 
 man, but no plant can attain to growth unless fitting 
 nourishment is given to it. To ignore this leads very 
 directly to deception. Thus we find Mr. Wells, usually 
 so true in his insight, keeps up an old pretence and affirms 
 in his latest novel, Marriage 
 
 " They don't care for art or philosophy, or literature or any- 
 thing except the things that touch them directly. And the 
 
 work ? It's nothing to them. No woman ever painted for 
 
 the love of painting, sang for the sounds she made, or philo- 
 sophised for the sake of wisdom as men do." 
 
 So it is always. Without question it has been taken 
 for granted by those who have depicted woman that her 
 sole occupation is an emotional one; here alone is she 
 justified in literature, as in life. 
 
 The fully complete woman of the future is still to be 
 created; assuredly she is not to be found among the 
 women who have been portrayed so widely for us by 
 recent writers. These are portraits arising out of the 
 present confusion; as such they are interesting, but they 
 are quite unreal in their relation to life. They show us 
 women, and men too, in revolt. Often these women are 
 really nothing more than feminist stump-orators preach- 
 ing the doctrine of an unconsidered individualism 
 " Free Motherhood," " Free Love " free anything, in
 
 306 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 fact. These portraits are far removed, indeed, from the 
 perfected woman that is to be. We want something 
 much more than this woman with all sides of her nature 
 adequately worked upon and fully developed. 
 
 Now, to look for a moment at the other side of the 
 question. Woman has been the cause of emotion in 
 men, the fine instrument by which the poet has sung and 
 the musician played his exquisite music; the sculptor, 
 the painter, the writer, all have drawn their inspiration 
 from her. Have men, then, any right to pride themselves 
 to such a degree on their achievement in the arts ? Could 
 they without woman have advanced anything like so far ? 
 And this becomes abundantly evident if we look a little 
 deeper and back to the beginning of the arts. " Not," 
 writes Karl Biicher, 1 " upon the steep summits of society 
 did poetry originate, it sprang rather from the depths of 
 the pure, strong soul of the people. Women have striven 
 to produce it, and as civilised man owes to woman's work 
 much the best of his possessions, so also are her thoughts 
 interwoven in the spiritual treasure handed down from 
 generation to generation." 
 
 A glance back at the beginnings of human civilisation 
 show that women were equal, if not superior, to men in 
 productive poetic activity. To a large extent men first 
 learned from women the elements of the various handi- 
 crafts. I have already referred to this fact in the his- 
 torical section, where we see the reasons whereby women 
 lost their early control over the industrial arts. I wish 
 to refer to a point of special importance now, which I 
 find is brought forward, in this connection, by Iwan 
 
 1 Quoted by Bloch, Sexual Life of Our Times, p. 80.
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 307 
 
 Bloch. 1 In the start of the industrial occupations, in 
 sowing and thrashing and grinding the grain, in baking 
 bread, in the preparation of food and drinks, of wine and 
 beer, in the making of pots and baskets, and in spinning, 
 the women worked together; and, as is common still 
 among primitive peoples, these occupations were largely 
 carried on in a rhythmical manner. From this co-opera- 
 tion of the women it resulted that they were the first 
 creators of poetry and music. The men, on the other 
 hand, hunted singly in the forests. The birth of their 
 poetic activity followed only after they had monopolised 
 the labours of material production. Even to-day among 
 many races the influence of woman's poetry can be fol- 
 lowed for a long way into the literary period. I have 
 myself witnessed something similar to this among the 
 peasants in the rural districts of Spain. I have heard 
 women in the evenings relate to one another and to their 
 children the rich legends of their land, carrying on the 
 old traditions that have come down from generation to 
 generation, and thus creating among themselves a com- 
 munion of heroes. Then, again, these Spanish women 
 seem never to cease from singing as they carry on their 
 many and heavy labours. The women sing far more 
 frequently than the men. Music is to them an instinctive 
 means of expression; they do not learn it, it belongs to 
 them, like dancing belongs to the natural child. And 
 these folk songs, where the words are often improvised 
 by the singer, seem to give utterance to natural out-door 
 things a symbol of the people's life, of its action, its 
 work, very strong in its appeal, which blends so strangely 
 
 1 Sexual Life of Our Times, pp. 80, 81. 
 
 X 3
 
 308 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 joy with sadness. A special quality that often surprised 
 me in these songs was the way in which the people trans- 
 late and use the music of other countries. I have heard 
 popular English tunes sung by the women as they work, 
 which have ceased to be common in their sentiment and 
 become full of a tenderness into which passion has 
 fallen; even slangy music-hall tunes take a new char- 
 acter, a lively brilliance that no longer is vulgar. This 
 music is the true singing of the people, and if you would 
 feel all the beauty of its appeal you must be in touch 
 with the spirit that cries in it, with work, and passion, and 
 life. 
 
 It may seem that all this has taken us rather far away 
 from our inquiry into the strength of the artistic impulse 
 in women. The way, however, is largely cleared. We 
 have proved that there is, at least, a possible mistake in 
 the opinion that those experiments in creative expression, 
 which we call variations, are necessarily inherent in the 
 male, rather than in the female. Speaking biologically, 
 we may regard woman, in common with man, as a 
 potentially creative agent with a striving will, and thus 
 able to change under the stimulus of appropriate 
 opportunity. 
 
 Now, to look at the question for a moment in a different 
 light in relation to the special qualities that are facts 
 of actual experience in woman's character as it is to-day. 
 It is proved if scientific determination of such qualities 
 were necessary that women are more sensitive to sug- 
 gestion and receptive of outward influences; that they 
 have keener affectability, and thus tend to be more emo- 
 tional and, within certain limits, more imaginative than
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 309 
 
 men. They react to both physical and psychical stimuli 
 more readily, and it would seem that their brain action 
 is more rapid. Experimental tests have shown that in 
 respect of quickness of comprehension and intellectual 
 mobility women are distinctly superior to men. 
 
 It is, of course, an open question how far all this is due 
 to Nature and how far merely to education. Must we 
 regard this emotional endowment of woman as permanent 
 or alterable? Havelock Ellis has detected a decline in 
 the emotivity of modern women under the influence of 
 new conditions, especially as the result of the more 
 healthy life and out-door games among girls. But he 
 does not believe that any present or future change in 
 activities can lead to a complete abolition of the emo- 
 tional differences between the sexes. These qualities are 
 correlated with the essential physical function of women, 
 and are probably in part of similar deep origin, and are 
 therefore not likely to change. Nietzsche, as is well 
 known, denies this emotional capacity of women, and 
 considers them much more remarkable for their intelli- 
 gence than for their sensitiveness and feeling. I believe, 
 however, the view of Havelock Ellis to be the right one. 
 Throughout Nature it would seem to be indispensable 
 that the mother should have finer and quicker sensibility 
 than the father. The female selects the male that she 
 may use him for the race. Women, for the reasons we 
 have seen, have, as I believe, lost much of the fineness 
 of their selective sensitiveness. But whether this greater 
 emotional power in women has been weakened or not, 
 it is as all nature proves to us an actual quality of the 
 female, and in it we have, therefore, a positive ground
 
 310 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 to start from in estimating the potential artistic endow- 
 ment of women. 
 
 Let us accept, then, this sensitiveness both physical 
 and psychical, as at least the natural character of female- 
 ness. How does it place women in her relation to the 
 arts? 
 
 Consider what are the qualities essential to success in 
 any one of the arts. Are not the most essential of these 
 a quick reception of impressions, added to an acute 
 memory for all that has been experienced? The poet 
 and the writer can reach deeper into the nature of others, 
 the architect, the sculptor, the painter can see more 
 clearly, the musician hear more finely; and so it is with 
 all the arts. Does not the genius, or even the man of 
 talent, take his place as one who understands incompar- 
 ably more than others ; or, to express it a little differently, 
 the genius is he who is conscious of most and of that 
 most acutely. And what is it that enables him to do 
 this, if it is not a greater sensitiveness and a finer 
 response to every outward suggestion ? It would seem, 
 then, that genius must possess the emotional qualities 
 that are the natural endowment of woman ; while woman 
 herself is to be excluded from genius. A conclusion 
 that is plainly absurd. 
 
 The further we follow this the more striking the like- 
 ness between the qualities of genius and the high, nervous 
 affectability of woman becomes. The intuition of woman 
 is really direct vision and may mean only a quicker power 
 of reasoning. Exactly the same quality must be acknow- 
 ledged as distinguishing the genius. He, too, knows, 
 rather than reasons how he knows.
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 311 
 
 Take, again, the alleged superiority of the feminine 
 mind in matter of memory. There is the same difference 
 between the memory of the ordinary man and the man of 
 genius. Mental recognition is proportional to the intensity 
 of consciousness. Because the life of the genius is more 
 continuously emotional nearer, in fact, in its nature 
 to the woman's he is more ready to receive impressions 
 and to keep them. And here we may note the incitement 
 towards autobiography common to gifted men, which 
 would seem to arise from the same psychological condition 
 which forces women so strongly to self-revelations. So 
 also with all the mental qualities we shall find, I believe, 
 the same connection between the special characters of 
 woman and those of genius. Woman's mental mobility, 
 her tendency towards nervous outbursts, with a corre- 
 sponding irritability and greater susceptibility to fatigue, 
 except under the support of excitement, as also in the 
 resulting qualities of her power of ready adaptation to 
 changes of habits and response to new influences, her tact, 
 her keener insight into character, her quickness in pity, 
 her impulsiveness, her finer discrimination, her innate 
 sense of symmetry or fitness each of these qualities may 
 be said to accord also with the character of genius, but 
 no one among them is common to the ordinary man. 
 
 Even in so obvious a point as facial expression the 
 same relation may be traced. It is a matter of constant 
 observation that women's faces are more expressive than 
 men's, showing greater mobility, through the instinctive 
 response to suggestions from without and within. A 
 similar mobility will be readily noted in the appearance 
 of almost all men of special giftedness. The faces of
 
 312 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 such men rarely exhibit the stereotyped expressions that 
 characterise most male countenances. No one mood 
 leaves a permanent imprint on the features, for through 
 the amplitude of feeling a new side of the mind is con- 
 tinuously revealed. Faces with an unchanging expres- 
 sion belong really to people low in artistic endowment. 
 Of some significance, again, is the variability in the 
 mental power of genius, leading to what may be called 
 " a periodicity in production." Goethe has spoken some- 
 where of " the recurrence of puberty " in the artist. This 
 idea may perhaps, without too much straining, be com- 
 pared with the functional periodicity of woman. The 
 periods in the life of a creative artist often assume the 
 character of a crisis a kind of climax of vital energy. 
 Sterile years precede productive periods, to be followed 
 by more barren years. The circle of activity is not broken, 
 it is but interrupted ; the years of apparent sterility really 
 leading up to, and preparing for, the creative periods. 
 I may point out here a thought in passing in connection 
 with the child-bearing functions of women. This is 
 brought forward by many as the most serious objection 
 to women being able to attain success in any of the arts 
 The objection is not really sound. No creative work 
 can be carried on without interruptions. The important 
 part in all such work is not to be uninterrupted, but to be 
 able to begin again. The new experiences gained give 
 new power; a fresh and wider view. And woman has 
 in her supreme function of motherhood an experience 
 denied to men; this should give her greater, and not 
 less, creative capacity. What is really needed is the 
 freedom, the training and the desire that shall direct
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 313 
 
 expression, so that woman may enrich the arts with her 
 own special experience. 
 
 It is useless to argue that woman's past record in the 
 arts holds out no such promise. We know really very 
 little about woman's genius. One thing is, however, 
 certain : the only possible test of it is trial, for without 
 this there is no basis of judgment, no means of deciding 
 whether there be genius or no. If, as I believe, woman's 
 creative capacity arises out of, and is essentially con- 
 nected with, her sexual functions, how can it have been 
 possible to employ such power in the arts in a society 
 where the natural use of her sex has been restricted and 
 not allowed a free expression? a society, moreover, in 
 which the pregnant woman has been regarded as an 
 object of shame or ridicule. 
 
 To look at this question of woman's achievement in the 
 arts in the old way is no longer possible. We have 
 proved that the natural emotional endowment of woman 
 is rich and varied. But there are two things necessary 
 for achievement : inherent aptitude and opportunity 
 that is, a favourable environment for expression, in which 
 power may be directed into useful channels and saved 
 from wastefully expending itself. To deny genius to 
 women when the opportunity for its development has 
 been absent is obviously unjust. The influence of educa- 
 tion, and the stronger driving of habit and social opinion, 
 must be taken into the account. Women have up till now 
 been without two essential qualities necessary for creating 
 subjectivity and initiative. In practice they have not 
 been able, or only very rarely, to get beyond imitation. 
 Through the circumstances of their lives they have lacked
 
 314 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 the courage and conviction, even if opportunity had 
 arisen, necessary for creative work. For the highest 
 achievement in the arts they have missed the concentra- 
 tion, the severe devotion to work, the control of thought 
 and complete self-restraint, which can come only from 
 discipline, from long training, and freedom. Yet I make 
 the claim that woman, from her constitutional femininity, 
 is a compound of all those qualities that genius demands. 
 The channels of woman's energy have been everywhere 
 choked. No great creative art has ever been produced 
 by a subjugated class. Art comes with freedom, with 
 the strong incentive of the communal spirit, and with the 
 sense of power. For centuries woman has been arti- 
 ficially individualised. Her special function of mother- 
 hood has remained unacknowledged as a communal 
 work. Her emotional and mental capacities have been 
 turned back upon herself and her immediate belongings, 
 with the result that her social usefulness has been sup- 
 pressed or thwarted. The emotional feelings of woman 
 are ever pressing, and only need to be brought into 
 stricter command in order to achieve. What women will 
 accomplish no man can say. 
 
 One word more. Let us look in this new direction, 
 the direction of the future, because it is there that this 
 possible future entrance of women into the arts becomes 
 important. We stand in the first rush of a new move- 
 ment. It is the day of experiments. The extraordinary 
 enthusiasm now sweeping through womanhood reveals 
 behind its immediate fevered expression a great power 
 of emotional and spiritual initiative. Wide and radically 
 sweeping are the changes in woman's social outlook.
 
 SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN MIND 315 
 
 So much stronger is the promise of a vital force, when 
 they are free to enter and to work in the various depart- 
 ments of the arts. It is the commonest error to think 
 of art as if it stood outside the other activities of life. 
 Under the cloak of art much self-amusement and vulgar 
 self-display tries to justify itself, and many mercenary 
 interests are concerned in stinting its vitality. All living 
 and valuable art is really communal. It must fit into 
 its right place with all phases of human activities, and 
 to do this it must have somewhere in it the social citizen 
 spirit. 
 
 You see how women stand in this matter. The social 
 ideal is becoming a very near ideal to women. And this 
 quickening in her of the citizen spirit may well come to 
 revive our art to a more true and social service. This 
 is no idle fancy. Throughout the ages of patriarchal 
 faith women have been confined in the home, so that an 
 understanding of the needs of the home is in their blood. 
 May not the old ideals remain for service and find expres- 
 sion in the new work? Much that has passed with us as 
 art has to be swept away. Let women bring this sense 
 of home into our civic life, and surely it will be reflected 
 in the arts. It is the sense of fitness to the common use 
 and needs of the larger family of the State that has been 
 almost wholly eliminated from our architecture, our 
 statues, our paintings, our music, and much of our liter- 
 ature. The arts have withered and lost their vitality in 
 our narrow and blighting commercial society. 
 
 I do not want to weary the reader with what can only 
 be suggestions. I am certain, however, that this vital 
 factor of the home cannot safely be excluded from the
 
 316 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 State. Consider any one of the old mediaeval towns, with 
 its buildings, its cathedral, its churches, its halls, its 
 homes all that it contains a splendid witness to the civic 
 life of its people. Contrast this with what we have been 
 willing to accept as art in our industrial towns. In the 
 old days the city was in a very literal sense the home of 
 its citizens, now it is merely a centre of trade. Is it 
 unfair to connect this with the subjection of women and 
 the rush of male activities, that has destroyed the need 
 of beauty and fitness which once was the possession of 
 all? For art you must have human qualities, and you 
 must have emotion. The time has come when we are 
 yielding to the new forces, that yet are old. This age 
 will leave its own track behind it, and those, who are 
 beating out the way now, must start on the right path- 
 freeing for the service of the future all the intellectual 
 and emotional forces of women as well as men. 
 
 To think boldly, untrammelled by conventions from 
 the past, to search sedulously for the truth within them- 
 selves and follow it fearlessly, this should be the faith 
 of all those women who love art. Let them have the 
 courage of their own deep emotions. Let them look for- 
 ward into the future, instead of clinging timorously to 
 the stone wall of their past imitation of men. Then, 
 indeed, woman may be freed able to give expression to 
 those creative ideas which are wrapped up with the 
 elements of her nature. But women must beware of 
 sham emotion and lachrymose sentimentality. It is her 
 own feelings she must voice, not the feelings that have 
 been supposed to belong to her. Then, indeed, the work 
 of women will begin to count. The two things most
 
 THE AFFECTABILITY OF WOMAN 317 
 
 peculiar to woman her pursuing-love of man and her 
 need of a child, will find their expression in women's art. 
 It is an appalling commentary on the condition of our 
 thoughts on this subject that the pregnant woman was 
 but recently considered unfit to be represented in the 
 statues placed on one of our public buildings. How 
 convincingly this speaks to women, " Be not ashamed of 
 anything, but to be ashamed." 
 
 III. The Affectability of Woman Its Connection 
 with the Religious Impulse 
 
 " Religion shares with the sexual impulse the unceasing yearning, 
 the sentiment of everlastingness, the mystic absorption into the depths 
 of life, the longing for the coalescence of individualities in an eternally 
 blessed union, free from earthly fetters." IWAN BLOCH. 
 
 Now, this affectability, that we have found to be a char- 
 acteristic feminine feature, leads us directly to an inquiry 
 into the part religion has played in the lives of women, 
 and to the wider consideration of the religious impulse 
 in general, and its close connection with the sexual 
 instinct. I had intended to treat this subject in some 
 detail, especially in relation to religious hypnotic pheno- 
 mena, a matter of very deep significance in estimating 
 woman's character. I should have liked, too, to have 
 traced the influence of the early and late Christian teach- 
 ing upon woman's mind, to have examined her position 
 in the social and domestic relationship, and then to have 
 contrasted this with the almost complete liberty and dis- 
 tinction enjoyed by women in Pagan culture. But the 
 field opened up by these inquiries is too wide. The
 
 318 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 previous sections of this chapter have grown to such 
 length that all that is possible to me now, if I am to 
 have space for the matters I want still to investigate, 
 are a few scattered remarks and suggestions which seem 
 to me to throw some light on this important side of 
 woman's life. 
 
 No one will question woman's aptitude for religion, 
 whatever the opinion held as to what the organic basis 
 of that aptitude may be. If we accept that woman is 
 more sensitive to suggestion, more emotional, and more 
 imaginative in her nature, it is plain why religion affects 
 her more deeply than men. The extraordinary way in 
 which woman can be influenced by religious suggestion 
 is similar in its nature to that saturation of her innermost 
 thoughts with love, which is due in part, as I believe, 
 to the special qualities of her sex-functions, but also, 
 in part, to the over-emphasised sexuality produced in 
 her by an artificial existence. Women have accepted 
 religious beliefs as they have accepted man's valuation 
 of temporal things, even although these may be utterly 
 at variance with their nature and their desires. 
 
 It has been said that the disposition of woman makes 
 her peculiarly conservative and uncritical of religious 
 beliefs. Others suggest that there is a " specific religious 
 sense " in women related with a higher standard of char- 
 acter. This I do not believe : it is part of the fiction 
 of woman's superior morality. I think in most women 
 is hidden an immense appetite for life, an immense 
 capacity for expenditure of force. She does not often 
 dare to listen to these deeps within her soul; yet the 
 insurgent voices fill her. There is in the life of most
 
 THE AFFECTABILITY OF WOMAN 319 
 
 women something wanting, some general idea, some aim 
 to hold life together. The effort of woman often 
 unconscious, but always present to realise herself in 
 love has forced her to practise duplicity and to accept 
 dependence. And this sense of dependence in her on 
 a protector, not always forthcoming, and, even when 
 present, not always able to protect, has sent her in search 
 of something outside and beyond the known and fallible, 
 and has prepared her to accept with eagerness any 
 professed revelation of the infallible unknown. 
 
 We have seen again and again in the course of our 
 inquiry how deep and natural the sex impulse is in 
 woman, and this, combined with the much greater com- 
 plexity of her sexual life, renders her position peculiarly 
 liable to be affected disastrously by any failure of love. 
 It must be recognised that unbounded piety is often no 
 more than a sex symptom, proceeding from deprivation 
 or from satiety of love, as also from love's failure in 
 loveless marriage. It seems to me that this connection 
 of the religious impulse with sexuality is a very important 
 thing for women to understand. In our achievement of 
 facing the truth in the place of evasions about funda- 
 mental things, lies the path, I believe along which woman 
 can escape, if ever she is to escape, from the confusion 
 of purposes that distract her at present. 
 
 The intimate association between religious ideas and 
 feelings and the sexual life is abundantly proved by 
 the history of all peoples. We first meet it in the wide- 
 spread early practice of religious prostitution, which has 
 aptly been called " lust sacrifice." It is even more mani- 
 fest in the ancient religious erotic festivals. Of these
 
 320 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 we have examples in the festivals of Isis in Egypt, in 
 the Dionysian and Eleusinian festivals of the Hellenes, 
 in the Roman Bacchanalia and festival of Flora, and 
 among the Jews in the feast of Baal-peor. In these 
 festivals the frenzy of religious mysticism merges with 
 the wildest sexual licence. Sexual mysticism found its 
 way also into Christianity, a fact to which the lives of 
 the saints furnish an illuminating witness. And down 
 to the present day we may notice its manifestations in 
 the most diverse sects during any period of religious 
 revival. We still meet with sexual excesses under the 
 shadow of faith, as, for instance, occurred in the late 
 revival in Wales. 
 
 Havelock Ellis has laid stress on the leading signifi- 
 cance of religious sexual perceptions, and their special 
 importance on the emotional feminine character. This 
 subject is so deeply connected with women that I shall, 
 I hope, be pardoned if I pause for a moment to relate 
 a personal experience which may help to make this truth 
 more clear. 
 
 In my girlhood I was strongly drawn to religion, 
 partly through training and example, but more, as I now 
 know, by the affectability of my strongly feminine tem- 
 perament. My religious enthusiasm was so intense that 
 often I was in a condition which must have been closely 
 connected with erotic religious ecstasy. Salvation was 
 the essential fact of my life; seeking for it brought me 
 the excitement I unconsciously craved of conflicts and 
 fulfilled desires. I sought for God as the passionate 
 woman seeks her lover. I recall a period I was 
 approaching womanhood during which I prayed con-
 
 THE AFFECTABILITY OF WOMAN 321 
 
 tinuously and earnestly that it might be granted to me, 
 as to the saints of old, to see God and the Risen Christ. 
 For long I received no answer. This did not weaken 
 my faith, but the great trouble of my mind became for 
 long a consciousness of my own unworthiness. I began 
 an absurd and childish system of self-punishments, and 
 what I thought would lead to purification. Then there 
 came a night it was summer and I was looking from 
 my window out at the beautiful evening sky when my 
 prayer was answered. I seemed, in very truth, to see 
 God. From that time, and for long, I lived in extra- 
 ordinary happiness. I am sure that I must have become 
 hysterical. I felt that I was set apart by God; I con- 
 ceived the idea of founding a new religious sect. That 
 I made no attempt to do this was due to circumstances, 
 which forced me into active work to gain my own living. 
 Religion continued very largely in my life, but I was 
 too healthily occupied to be favoured with any more 
 visions. But the essential point in all this is its close 
 connection with my sexual development. So far I had 
 never been in love. I believe that the natural sex desires 
 awakened consciously in me much later than is common. 
 My need for religion lasted until my sex needs were 
 fully satisfied, then, little by little, it faded. I want to 
 state the truth. I did not then trace, nor should I have 
 understood, this connection. The knowledge came to 
 me long years afterwards; how it does not matter, but 
 I am certain that in me the religious impulse and the 
 sex impulse are one. 
 
 Love has in it much of the same supernatural element 
 as religion. Both the sex-act and the act of finding
 
 322 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 salvation come into intimate association with woman's 
 need of dependence; hence arises the remarkable rela- 
 tion between the two, and that easy transition of sexual 
 emotion into religious emotion which is manifest in so 
 many women. In both cases the surrender, the renuncia- 
 tion of personal will, is an experience fraught with 
 passionate pleasure. " Love," as H. G. Wells has said, 
 "is the individualised correlation of salvation, like that 
 it is a synthetic consequence of conflict and confusions." 
 It is true that few women render love the compliment of 
 taking it seriously. To many it is merely this : a little 
 amusement, clothes, a home, money to buy new toys; 
 some mild pleasure, a little chagrin, a little weariness, 
 and then the end. They do not realise or ever desire 
 love in its full joy of personal surrender. So, too, many 
 women never, save in some time of personal bewilder- 
 ment, desire or seek salvation. But such aimlessness 
 brings its own emptiness, and women strain and seek 
 towards the god-head. For the truth remains, woman's 
 need of love is greater than man's need, and for this 
 reason, where love fails her, her desire for salvation is 
 deeper than man's desire. And here again, and once 
 again, we see the difference between the sexes. The 
 woman pays the higher price for her implicit, unquestion - 
 ing, and unconscious obedience to Nature. And society 
 has made the payment still heavier. Let us for this last 
 pity women ! The dice they have had to throw in the 
 game of life is their sex, and they have only been allowed 
 one throw, and when they have thrown wastefully yes, 
 it is here that religion has entered into the game. It 
 may almost be said to measure the failures and false
 
 THE AFFECTABILITY OF WOMAN 323 
 
 boundaries in women's loves. The songs of love and 
 the songs of faith are alike; and women act worship as 
 also they are often driven to act love. The woman who 
 knows her own heart must know that this is true. And 
 one cannot wish to see the opium of religion taken from 
 women until the game is made a fairer one for them 
 to play. 
 
 There is another point to consider. 
 Many great thinkers have striven against this profound 
 and primitive connection between the bodily and spiritual 
 impulses, which has seemed to them an intrusion of evil, 
 impairing their pure spirituality by the sexual life. They 
 have thus recommended and followed asceticism in order 
 to arrive at a heightened spirituality. The error here is 
 obvious. The spiritual activities cannot be divided from 
 the physical ; as well cut the flower off from its roots, and 
 then expect to gather the fruit. This is why sex-denial 
 
 > and sex-excesses so often go together. Hence the un- 
 deniable unchastity of the mediaeval cloisters. Nor need 
 the manifestations of sex be physical. Erotic imagina- 
 tion and voluptuous revelations are expressions of sex- 
 passion. The monstrous sexual visions of the saints 
 
 ireflect in a typical manner the incredible violence of 
 the sexual perception of ascetics. 
 
 We observe it, then, as a fact of wide experience that 
 
 'the ascetic life is rooted really in the functional impulses; 
 and further, that it is only through sexual perception 
 
 'that the spiritual and imaginative can be grasped and 
 
 reached. What the ascetic has done is to fear overmuch. 
 It must not be overlooked that this continual battle with 
 
 'the primary force of life is necessarily futile in accom- 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 plishing its own aim. For the woman or man who, for 
 the religious or any other ideal, wishes to overcome the 
 sex-needs must keep the subject always before her, on 
 his, consciousness. Thus it comes about that the ascetic 
 is always more occupied with sex than the normal in- 
 dividual. It seems to me that this is a truth few women 
 have learnt to face. 
 
 I am not for a moment denying that the potential 
 energy of the sexual impulse may be transformed with 
 benefit into productive spiritual activities, finding its vem 
 in religion, as also in poetry, in art, and in all creative 
 work. Plato must have had this in his mind when h* 
 speaks of " thought as a sublimated sexual impulse.' 
 Schopenhauer, and many other thinkers, lay stress on the 
 connection between the work of productive genius anc 
 the modification of the sexual impulse. This may b( 
 illustrated if examples are needed in proof by th< 
 power that has been exercised so conspicuously by 
 women throughout the world in religious movements 
 Two of the greater festivals of the Catholic Church, fo: 
 instance, owe their origin to the illumination of women 
 the mystic writings of Santa Teresa of Avila give classic 
 expression to the highest powers of the spirit. Tak( 
 again the part played by women as religious leaders o: 
 the convents in the early Middle Ages. In them womei 
 of spirit and capacity found a wide and satisfying career 
 many of them showing great administrative ability anc 
 a quite remarkable power for government. In recen 
 times mention may be made of the Theosophists, the 
 most important modern religious movement establishec 
 in this country and led by women; and of Christiar
 
 THE AFFECTABILITY OF WOMAN 825 
 
 Science, which, under the able guidance of Mrs. Eddy, 
 has sprung up and flourished. It is instructive to note 
 that both these religions are connected with, and largely 
 established on, magical faith and esoteric doctrines and 
 practices. In almost all the religions founded by women 
 we may trace a similar relation with hypnotic phenomena 
 which must be regarded as closely dependent on sexual 
 sources. The proof is wider even than these particular 
 instances. It is without doubt the transformation of 
 suppressed sexual instincts that has made women the 
 chief supporters of all religions. 
 
 It may be said that the religious impulse has to a 
 large extent lost its hold upon women. This is true. 
 A new age must expect to see a new departure. As 
 women take active participation in the work of the world 
 their sense of dependence and need for protection will 
 diminish, and we may look for a corresponding decrease 
 in that display of excessive religious emotion that de- 
 pendence has fostered. But the needs of woman can 
 never be satisfied alone with* work. The natural desires 
 remain imperative; deny these, and there will be left 
 only the barren tree robbed of its fruits. Sexuality first 
 breathes into woman's spiritual being warm and blooming 
 life. 
 
 The religious ascetic is not common among us to-day. 
 Yet the old seeking for something is there. The impulse 
 towards asceticism has, I think, rather changed its form 
 than passed from women. The place of the female saint 
 is being taken by the social ascetic. Desire is not now 
 set to gain salvation, but is turned towards a heightened 
 intellectual individuation, showing itself in nervous
 
 326 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 mental activity. No one can have failed to note the 
 immense egoism of the modern woman. Women are 
 still in fear of life and love. They have been made 
 ascetics through the long exercise of restraint upon their 
 explosively emotional temperament. They have re- 
 strained their natures to remain pure. This false ideal 
 of chastity was in the first place forced upon them, but 
 by long habit it has been accentuated and has been 
 backed up by woman's own blindness and fear. Thus 
 to-day, in their new-found freedom, women are seeking 
 to bind men up in the same bonds of denial which have 
 restrained them. In the past they have over-readily 
 imbibed the doctrine of a different standard of purity 
 for the sexes, now they are in revolt indeed, they are 
 only just emerging from a period of bitterness in relation 
 to this matter. Men made women into puritans, and 
 women are arising in the strength of their faith to enforce 
 puritanism on men. Is this malice or is it revenge? In 
 any case it is foolishness. Bound up as the sexual 
 impulse is with the entire psychic emotional being, there 
 would be left behind without it only the wilderness of a 
 cold abstraction. The Christian belief in souls and 
 bodies separate, and souls imprisoned in vile clay, has 
 wrought terrible havoc to women. I believe the two- 
 soul and body are one and indivisible. Women have 
 yet this lesson to learn : the capacity for sense-experi- 
 ence is the sap of life. The power to feel passion is in 
 direct ratio to the strength of the individual's hold upon 
 life ; and may be said to mark the height of his, or her, 
 attainment in the scale of being. It is only another out 
 of many indications of the strength of sexual emotion
 
 THE AFFECTABILITY OF WOMAN 327 
 
 in women that so many of them are afraid of the beauty 
 and the natural joys of love. 
 
 There is one thing more I would wish to point out 
 in closing this very insufficient survey of an exceedingly 
 complicated and difficult subject. To me it seems that 
 here, in this finer understanding of love, we open the 
 door to the only remedy that will wipe out the hateful 
 fear of women, which has wrought such havoc in the 
 relationship between the sexes. Woman, restrained to 
 purity, has of necessity fallen often into impurity. And 
 men, knowing this better than woman herself, have 
 feared her, though they have failed in any true under- 
 standing of the cause. Let me give you the estimate of 
 woman which Maupassant, in Moonlight, has placed in 
 the mouth of a priest. It is the most illuminating passage 
 in one of the most exquisite of his stories 
 
 " He hated woman, hated her unconsciously and instinctively 
 despised her. He often repeated to himself the words of Christ : 
 ' Woman, what have I to do with thee? ' And he would add, ' It 
 seems as if God Himself felt discontented with that particular 
 creation.' For him was that child of whom the poet speaks, 
 impure, through and through impure. She was the temptress who 
 had led away the first man, and still continued her work of per- 
 dition ; a frail creature but dangerous, mysteriously disturbing. 
 And even more than their sinful bodies he hated their loving souls. 
 . . . God, in his opinion, had created woman solely to tempt man, 
 to put him to the proof." 
 
 One lesson women and men have to learn : so easy 
 to be put into words, so difficult to carry out by deeds. 
 To get good from each other the sexes must give love the 
 one to the other. The human heart in loneliness eats 
 out itself, causes its own emptiness, creates its own
 
 828 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 terrors. Nature gives lavishly, wantonly, and woman is 
 nearer to Nature than man is, therefore she must give 
 the more freely, the more generously. There can be no 
 such thing as the goodness of one-half of life without 
 the goodness of the other half. Love between woman 
 and man is mutual ; is continual giving. Not by storing 
 up for the good of one sex or in waste for the pleasure 
 of the other, but by free bestowing is salvation. Where- 
 fore, not in the enforced chastity of woman, but in her 
 love, will man gain his new redemption.
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER X 
 
 THE SOCIAL FORMS OF THE SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP 
 
 I. Marriage 
 
 The difficulty of the problem of marriage Facts to be considered 
 Marriage and the family among the animals Among primitive 
 peoples Progress from lower to higher forms of the sexual associa- 
 tion An examination of the purpose of marriage The fear of 
 hasty reforms Practical morality Marriage an institution older 
 than mankind The practical moral ends of marriage The racial 
 and individual factors No real antagonism between the two 
 What is good for the individual must react also for the benefit of 
 the race Various systems of marriage Monogamy the form that 
 has prevailed The higher law of the true marriage Conventional 
 monogamic marriage Its failure in practical morality Co- 
 existence with polygamy and prostitution Chief grounds for the 
 reform of marriage An indictment by Mr. Wells Our marriage 
 system based upon the rights of property This not necessarily 
 evil The Egyptian marriage contracts The Roman marriage 
 The influence of Christianity Asceticism and the glorification 
 of virginity Confusions and absurdities The failure of our 
 sexual morality Mammon marriages Sins against the race Two 
 examples from my own experience The iniquity of our bastardy 
 laws The waste of love Free-love Its failure as a practical solu- 
 tion The reform of marriage The tendency to place the form of 
 the sexual relationship above the facts of love The dependence of 
 the consciousness of duty upon freedom The sexual responsibility 
 of women. 
 
 II. Divorce 
 
 Traditional morality Practical conditions of divorce The moral 
 code This must be modified to meet new conditions The enforced 
 continuance of an unreal marriage This the grossest form of 
 immorality The barbarism of our divorce laws The action of 
 the Church and State Confusion and absurdities Divorce relief 
 from misfortune, not a crime Personal responsibility in marriage 
 A recognition of the equality of the mother with the father 
 Sanction by the State of free divorce The example of Egypt and 
 Babylon The Roman divorce by consent The condemnation of 
 free divorce not the outcome of true morality The immorality 
 of indissoluble marriage Loyalty and duty in love The claims 
 of the child One advantage of free divorce Adoption of children 
 under the State Growing disinclination against coercive marriage 
 The waste to the race Our responsibility to the future. 
 
 329
 
 330 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 III . Prostitution 
 
 The dependence of prostitution upon marriage The extent and difficul- 
 ties of the problem involved Prostitution essentially a woman's 
 question Women's past attitude towards it The diffusion of disease 
 by means of prostitution Apathy and ignorance of women 
 This changing What action will women take in the future? 
 Grounds for fear The White Slave Bill Its absurd futility The 
 opinion of Bernard Shaw Poverty as a cause of prostitution 
 This not the only factor The real evil lies deeper -The economic 
 reformer The moral crusade Men's passions Seduction 
 These causes need careful examination Lippert's view Idleness, 
 frivolity, and love of finery as causes The desire for excitement 
 The need for personal knowledge of the prostitute What I have 
 learnt from different members of this profession The prostitute's 
 attitude towards her trade The sale of sex very profitable to 
 the expert trader The sexual frigidity of the prostitute Im- 
 portance and significance of this A further examination into the 
 causes of the evil Poverty seldom the chief motive for prosti- 
 tution The influence of inheritance upon the sexual life The 
 degradation of our legitimate loves the ultimate cause of prosti- 
 tution The demand for the prostitute by men Causes of this 
 demand Repression of the primitive sexual instincts by civilisa- 
 tion The foolishness of casting blame upon men The duplex 
 morality of the sexes Its influence on the degradation of passion 
 Woman's unprofitable service to chastity The connection with 
 prostitution My belief in passion as the only source of help.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE SOCIAL FORMS OF THE SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP 
 
 /. Marriage 
 
 " The race flows through us, the race is the drama and we are the 
 incidents. This is not any sort of poetical statement ; it is a statement 
 of fact. In so far as we are individuals, in so far as we seek to follow 
 merely individual ends, we are accidental, disconnected, without signifi- 
 cance, the sport of chance. In so far as we realise ourselves as experi- 
 ments of the species for the species, just in so far do we escape from the 
 accidental and the chaotic. We are episodes in an experience greater 
 than ourselves." H. G. WELLS. 
 
 " THERE is no subject," says Bernard Shaw in his 
 delightful preface to Getting Married, "on which more 
 dangerous nonsense is talked and thought than mar- 
 riage." And, in truth, it is not easy to avoid such fool- 
 ishness if we understand at all the complexity of the 
 relationship of the sexes. Sentiment rules our actions 
 in this connection, whereas our talk on the subject is 
 directed by intellect. And the demands of the emotions 
 are at once more imperious and tyrannical, and more 
 fastidious and more critical, than are the demands of the 
 mind. Thus the more firmly reason checks the riot of 
 imagination the greater the danger of error. Of all of 
 which what is the moral ? This : It is useless to talk 
 or to think unless it is also possible and expedient to act. 
 
 Be it noted, then, first that our marriage customs and 
 laws are founded and have been framed not for, or by, 
 the personal needs that is, the likes and dislikes of 
 
 33
 
 882 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 men and women, but by the exigencies of social and 
 economic necessities. Now, from this it will be readily 
 seen that individual inclinations are very likely, even if 
 not bound, to clash with, as they seek to conform to, the 
 usages of society. Always there will tend to be prevalent 
 everywhere a hostility at times latent, at others active 
 between these two forces; against the special desires 
 of women and men on the one hand, and the laws en- 
 forced by a social and economic community on the other. 
 Always there will tend to arise some who will desire to 
 change the accepted marriage form, those who, consider- 
 ing first the personal needs, will advocate the loosening 
 or the breaking of the marriage-bond ; while others, look- 
 ing only to the stability which they believe to be founded 
 in law and custom, will seek to keep and to make the 
 tie indissoluble. 
 
 This perpetual conflict is, it seems to me, the greatest 
 difficulty that has to be faced in any effort to readjust the 
 conditions of marriage. In our contemporary society 
 there is a deep-lying dissatisfaction with the existing 
 relations of the sexes, a yearning and restless need for 
 change. In no other direction are the confusions and 
 uncertainty of the contemporary mind more manifest. 
 The change that has taken place so rapidly in the atti- 
 tudes of women and men has brought with it a very 
 strong and, what seems to be a new, revolt against the 
 ignominious conditions of our amatory life as bound by 
 coercive monogamy. We are questioning where before 
 we have accepted, and are seeking out new ways in which 
 mankind will go will go because it must. 
 
 Yet just because of this imperative urging the greater
 
 MARRIAGE 333 
 
 caution is called for in introducing any changes in the 
 laws or customs affecting marriage. Present social and 
 economic conditions are to a great extent chaotic. It 
 would be a sorry thing if in haste we were to establish 
 practices that must come to an end, when we have freed 
 ourselves from the present transition ; changes that would 
 not be for the welfare of generations still unborn. It 
 will, however, hardly be denied by any one that reform 
 is needed. All will admit that a change must be made 
 in some direction, and an attempt to say where it should 
 be tried must therefore be faced. 
 
 Does Nature give us any help in solving the problem ? 
 None whatever. It would seem, indeed, that Nature 
 has in some ways arranged the love relation in regard 
 to the needs of the two sexes very badly. But putting 
 this aside for the present, it is clear that in regard to the 
 form of marriage Nature has no preference; all ways 
 are equal to her, provided that the race profits by them, 
 or at least does not suffer too much from them. We 
 found abundant proof of this in our examination of 
 marriage and the family as established already in the 
 animal kingdom; the modes of sexual association offer 
 great variety, no species being of necessity restricted to 
 any one form of union. Polygamy, polyandry, and 
 monogamy all are practised. The family is sometimes 
 patriarchal, though more often it is matriarchal, with the 
 female the centre of it, and her love for the young 
 infinitely stronger and more devoted than the male, 
 though even in this direction there are many and notable 
 exceptions. When we came to study the history of man- 
 kind we found similar conditions persisting. Separate
 
 334 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 groups living as they best could without caring about 
 theories; their sexual conduct ordered by a compromise 
 between the procreative needs on the one hand, and the 
 necessities of the social conditions on the other. Mar- 
 riage forms, as we understand them, were for long un- 
 known, the relations of the sexes slowly evolving from a 
 more or less restricted promiscuity to a family union at 
 first merely temporary, and only later becoming fixed and 
 permanent. Thus very gradually the primitive instinc- 
 tive sex impulses underwent expansion, and always in 
 the direction of the control of the individual desires in 
 the interest of the family. 
 
 The unit of the group or state is the family, therefore 
 sex-customs arise and laws are made not to suit the con- 
 venience of the woman or the man, but for the preserva- 
 tion and good of the family. In a word, the children 
 they are the pivot about which all regulations of marriage 
 should turn. 
 
 It is certain, however, that such control and such laws 
 have never in the past, and never in the future can be 
 fixed to one unchanging form. In proof of this I must 
 refer the reader back to the historical section of this 
 book, where nothing stands out clearer than that the most 
 diverse morality and customs prevail in matters of sex. 
 Wherever for any reason there arises a tendency towards 
 any form of sexual association, such form is likely to be 
 established as a habit, and, persisting, it comes to be 
 regarded as right, and is enforced by custom and later 
 by law, and also sometimes sanctified by religion. It 
 comes to be regarded as moral, and other forms become 
 immoral.
 
 MARRIAGE 385 
 
 Now, all this may seem to be rather far away from 
 the matter we are discussing the present dissatisfaction 
 with our marriage system. But the point I want to make 
 clear is this : there is no rigid and unchangeable code of 
 right or wrong in the sexual relationship. Our opinions 
 here are based for the most part on traditional morality, 
 which accepts what is as right because it is established. 
 A small but growing minority, looking in an exact oppo- 
 site direction, turn to an ideal morality, considering the 
 facts of sex not as they are, but as they think they ought 
 to be. Both these attitudes are alike harmful. The one 
 refuses to go forward, the other rushes on blindly, goaded 
 by sentiment or by personal desires. And to-day the 
 greater danger seems to me to rest with the hasty re- 
 formers. It is an essentially feminine crusade. By this 
 I do not mean that it is advocated alone by women, but 
 that in itself it must be regarded as feminine; a view 
 which elevates a subjective ideal relationship of sex 
 above all objective facts. The desires and feelings and 
 sentiments are set up in opposition to historical experi- 
 ence and communal tradition. We hear much, and 
 especially in the writings and talk of women, of such 
 vapid phrases as " Self-realisation in love," " The en- 
 hancement of the individual life," and " The spiritualis- 
 ing of sex." Such personal views, which exalt the 
 passing needs of the individual above the enduring in- 
 terests of the race, are in direct opposition to progress. 
 What is rather needed is an examination of marriage 
 and other forms of our sexual relationships by prac- 
 tical morality, by which I mean the estimating of 
 their merits and defects in relation to the vital needs
 
 386 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 of the community under the circumstances of the 
 present. 
 
 To do this we must first clear our minds from the 
 belief that regards our present form of monogamic mar- 
 riage as ordained by Nature and sanctified by God. He 
 who accepts the development of the love of one man for 
 one woman from other and earlier forms of association 
 may well look forward in faith to a future progress from 
 our existing marriage : yet, though eager for reform, he 
 will, remembering the slowness of this steady upward 
 progress in love's refinement in the past, refrain from 
 acting in haste, understanding the impossibility of 
 forcing any Utopia of the sexes. No change can be 
 made in a matter so intimate as marriage by a mere 
 altering of the law. Only such reforms as are the natural 
 outgrowth of an enlightened public feeling can be of 
 benefit, and thus permanent in their result. I must go 
 further than this and say that what may very possibly 
 be right for the few cannot be regarded as practically 
 moral and good until it can be accepted and acted upon 
 by the people at large. In sex more than in any other 
 department of life we are all linked together; we are 
 our brother's keeper, and the blood of the race will be 
 required at our hands. Many women, and some men, 
 do not realise at all the immense complications of sex 
 and the claims passion makes on many natures. I am 
 sure that this is the explanation of much of the foolish 
 talk that one hears. I tried to make clear in the first 
 chapters of this book the irresistible elemental power of 
 the uncurbed sexual instincts. And this force is at least 
 as strong now as it was in the beginning of life. For
 
 MARRIAGE 337 
 
 in sex we have, as yet, learnt very little. We who are 
 living among the sophistication of aeroplanes, the in- 
 heritors of the knowledge of all the ages, have still to 
 pass in wonder along the paths of love, entering into it 
 blindly and making all the old mistakes. 
 
 Am I, then, afraid that I plead thus for caution? No, 
 I am not. I rest my faith in the development of the racial 
 element in love side by side with its personal ends of 
 physical and spiritual joy. For the sex impulses, which 
 have ruled women and men, will assuredly come to be 
 ruled by them. Just as in the past life has been moulded 
 and carried on by love's selection, acting unconsciously 
 and ignorant of the ends it followed, so in the future 
 the race will be developed and carried onwards by de- 
 liberate selection, and the creative energy of love will 
 become the servant of women and men. The mighty 
 dynamic force will then be capable of further and, as 
 yet, unrealised development. This is no vain hope. It 
 has its proof in the past history of the selective power 
 of love. The problems of our individual loves are 
 linked on to the racial life. The hope for improve- 
 ment rests thus in a growing understanding of the 
 individual's relation to the race, and in an expansion 
 of our knowledge and practice of the high duties love 
 enforces. 
 
 Let us look now at the practical direction of the 
 present. We have reached these conclusions as a 
 starting-point 
 
 (1) We have inherited marriage as a social, nay more, 
 a racial institution. 
 
 (2) The practical moral end of marriage, whether we
 
 838 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 regard it from the wider biological standpoint or from 
 the narrower standpoint of society, is a selection of the 
 sexes by means of love, having as its social object the 
 carrying on of the race, and as its personal object a 
 mutual life of complete physical, mental, and psychical 
 union. 
 
 (3) The first of these, the racial object, is the concern 
 of the State ; the second, the personal need of love, is the 
 concern of the individual woman and man. 
 
 (4) It is the business of the State to make such laws 
 that the interests of the race, z. e. the children, are 
 protected. 
 
 From this it would seem to follow that beyond such 
 care the State has nothing to do with the sexual relation- 
 ship. Here I am placed in a difficulty. I cannot accept 
 this view. I do not believe that the loves of women and 
 men, even apart from children being born from such 
 union, can ever be merely a personal matter between 
 the two individuals concerned. For this reason any 
 woman and man is a potential mother or father, and 
 may become so in a later union. We cannot break the 
 links which bind the individual to the race. I am very 
 clear in my mind, however, of the need of recognising 
 this perpetual duality in the objects of love. It is not 
 necessary to bring forward any proof of the profound 
 significance of the individual side of the sexual passion 
 in the progress of civilisation. We may accept what 
 is really proved by all of us in our acts, that love and 
 love's embrace are not exercised only, or indeed chiefly, 
 for the purpose of procreation, but are of quite equal 
 importance to the parents, necessary for the complete
 
 MARRIAGE 389 
 
 life the physical and mental development and the joy 
 of the woman and the man. 
 
 It may seem, then, that we are thus faced by two 
 opposing forces. That is not the case. There is real 
 harmony underlying the apparent opposition of these 
 two interests, and each is, indeed, the indispensable com- 
 plement of the other. Both the personal and the further- 
 reaching racial objects of love alike belong to the great 
 synthesis of life. I do not, of course, deny, what every 
 one knows, that there is at present an opposition and 
 even conflict in certain individual cases. This is but 
 one sign of chaos and the wastage of love. But this 
 does not change the truth; there can be no gain for the 
 individual in the personal ends of love unless there is 
 also a corresponding gain to the wider racial end. The 
 element of self-assertion in our loves must be brought 
 into correlation with the universal and immortal develop- 
 ment of life. This is so evident that I will not wait to 
 elaborate it further. I will only point out that all the 
 good, as also all the evil, that the individual is able to 
 gain from love must ultimately react also for the benefit, 
 or the wastage, of the race. Thus we have to get ever)' 
 good that we can out of our sexual experiences for our- 
 selves for this very reason that we do not stand alone. 
 It is because the race flows through us that we have to 
 make the utmost of our individual opportunities and 
 powers, so that, understanding our position as guardians 
 to the generations yet unborn, we may use to the very 
 full, but refrain from any misuse of love's possibilities 
 of joy. We know that all we gain for ourselves we gain 
 
 in trust for the race, and what we lose for ourselves we 
 
 z a
 
 340 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 waste for the life to come. This has, of course, been 
 said before by numberless people, but it seems to me 
 it has been realised by very few, and until it is realised 
 to the fullest extent it will never begin to be practised. 
 We shall continue at a crossed purpose between our own 
 interests and desires and the interests of the race, and 
 shall go on wasting the forces of love needlessly and 
 riotously. 
 
 Armed with these conclusions I shall now attempt 
 to examine our existing marriage in its relation (i) 
 to the needs of the children, (2) to the individual 
 needs apart from parentage. The extent of the prob- 
 lems involved is almost illimitable, thus all that I can 
 do is to touch very briefly and insufficiently on a few 
 facts. 
 
 As we question in turn the various systems of marriage 
 it becomes clear that monogamy is the form which has 
 most widely prevailed, and will be likely to be main- 
 tained, because of its superior survival value. In other 
 words, because it best serves the interests of the race by 
 assuring to the woman and her children the individual 
 interest and providence of the father. I believe further 
 that monogamy of all the sexual associations serves best 
 the personal needs of the parents; and, moreover, that 
 it represents the form of union which is in harmony with 
 the instincts and desires of the majority of people. The 
 ideal of permanent marriage between one woman and 
 one man to last for the life of both must persist as an 
 ideal never to be lost. I wish to state this as my belief 
 quite clearly. The higher love in true marriage is the 
 veritable law of the life to be; and beside it all experi-
 
 MARRIAGE 341 
 
 ments in sensation will rot in their emptiness and their 
 self-love. 
 
 But this faith of mine in an ideal and lasting union 
 does not lessen at all my scepticism in the moral in- 
 efficacy of our present marriage system. It is not the 
 particular form of marriage practised that, after all, is 
 the main thing, but the kind of lives people live under 
 that form. The mere acceptance of a legally enforced 
 monogamy does not carry us very far in practical 
 morality; we must claim something much deeper than 
 this. 
 
 And this brings us to the base counterfeit of mono- 
 gamy that is accepted and practised by many among us 
 to-day ; base because it is a monogamy largely mitigated 
 by clandestine transitory loves tipplings with sensation 
 and snackings at lust which betray passion. Facts of 
 daily observation may not be shuffled out of consideration 
 by any hypocrisy. They must be faced and dealt with. 
 Our marriage system is buttressed with prostitution, 
 which thus makes our moral attitude one of intolerable 
 deception, and our efforts at reform not only ineffective, 
 but absurd. Without the assistance of the prostitution 
 of one class of women and the enforced celibacy of 
 another class our marriage in its present form could not 
 stand. It is no use shirking it; if marriage cannot be 
 made more moral and by this I mean more able to 
 meet the sex needs of all men and all women then we 
 must accept prostitution. No sentimentalism can save 
 us; we must give our consent to this sacrifice of women 
 as necessary to the welfare and stability of society. But 
 with this question I shall deal in a later section of this
 
 842 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 chapter. There is, however, more than this to be said. 
 Marriage is itself in many cases a legalised form of 
 prostitution. From the standpoint of morals, the woman 
 who sells herself in marriage is on the same level as the 
 one who sells herself for a night, the only difference is 
 in the price paid and the duration of the contract. Nay, 
 it is probably fair to say that at the lowest such sale- 
 marriage results in the greater evil, for the prostitute 
 does not bear children. If she has a child it has, as a 
 rule, been born first; such is our morality that mother- 
 hood often drives her on to the streets ! 
 
 Any woman who marries for money or position is 
 departing from the biological and moral ends of mar- 
 riage. A child can be born gladly only as the fruit of 
 love. It is in this direction, rather than in maintaining 
 a barren virginity, that woman's chastity should be 
 guarded. We may excuse women on the grounds of 
 possible ignorance, but, none the less, have the con- 
 ditions of marriage been unfavourable to the develop- 
 ment of a fine moral feeling in women or in men. No 
 one can have failed to feel surprised at the men many 
 girls are content to marry; it is one thing that must be 
 set against the claim women make as the morally superior 
 sex. Mr. Wells, whom I have already quoted in this 
 matter, places in the mouth of one of his characters, in 
 his recent book, Marriage, a true and terrible indictment 
 of women. 
 
 " If there was one thing in which you might think woman would 
 show a sense of some divine purpose in life it is in the matter of 
 children, and they show about as much care in the matter oh, 
 as rabbits ! Yes, rabbits. I stick to it. Look at the things a
 
 MARRIAGE 343 
 
 nice girl will marry; look at the men's children she'll submit to 
 bring into the world. Cheerfully ! Proudly ! For the sake of 
 the home and the clothes ! " 
 
 The fact is our marriage in its present legal form is 
 primarily an arrangement for securing the rights of pro- 
 perty. This in itself is not necessarily evil. Economic 
 necessities cannot be ignored in any form of the sexual 
 relationship; it is rather a readjustment that is called for 
 here. We have seen how admirably a marriage system 
 based upon property in the form of free contracts worked 
 in Egypt, and how happy were the family relationships 
 under this system of equal partnership between the wife 
 and husband. I would again recommend the careful 
 study of these marriage contracts to all those interested 
 in marriage reform. The contracts were never fixed in 
 one form; all that was required being that the interests 
 of the woman and the children were in all cases pro- 
 tected. Take again the Roman marriage which, in its 
 latest fine developments, has special interest, as the 
 history of modern marriage systems may be traced back 
 to it. The Romans came, like the Egyptians, to regard 
 marriage as a contract rather than a legal form. In the 
 custom of usus, which supplanted the earlier and sacred 
 confarreatio, there was no ceremony at all. I would 
 recall to the memory of my readers the significant fact 
 that in both these great countries this freedom in 
 marriage was associated with the freedom of woman. 
 It must be recognised that these two forces tac 
 together. 
 
 Traditional customs in marriage, as in all other de- 
 partments of life, tend to become worn out, and whenever
 
 344 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 any form presses too heavily on a sufficient number of 
 individuals acting against, instead of for, the interests 
 of those concerned, there arises a movement towards 
 reform. This happened in Rome, and led to the estab- 
 lishment of marriage by usus, which was further modified 
 by the practice known as conventio in manus, whereby 
 the wife by passing three nights in the year from her 
 husband was able to break through the terrible right of 
 the husband's mantis. It is possible that by some such 
 simple way of escape we may come to change the pressure 
 of our coercive marriage. 
 
 The briefest glance at our marriage system proves it 
 to be founded on the patriarchal idea of woman as the 
 property of man, which is sufficiently illustrated by the 
 fact that a husband can claim sums of money as com- 
 pensation from any man who sexually approaches his 
 wife, while a woman, on her side, is granted compensa- 
 tion in the case of a breach of promise of marriage. If 
 we seek to find how this condition has arisen we must 
 look backwards into the past. To the fine legacy left 
 by the Roman law (which, regarding marriage as a con- 
 tract, placed the two sexes in a position of equal freedom) 
 was added the customs of the barbarians and the base 
 Jewish system, giving to the husband rights in marriage 
 and divorce denied to the wife. Later, in the twelfth cen- 
 tury, came the capture of marriage by the Church and the 
 establishment of Canon law, whereby the property-value 
 of marriage became inextricably mingled with the sancti- 
 fication of marriage as a sacrament, which, strengthened 
 by Christian asceticism and the glorification of virginity, 
 involved a corresponding contempt cast on all love
 
 MARRIAGE 345 
 
 outside of legal marriage. 1 The action of this double 
 standard of sexual morality has led on the one side to 
 the setting-up of a theoretical ideal, which, as few are 
 able to follow it, tends to become an empty form, and 
 this, on the other side, leads to a hidden laxity that 
 rushes to waste love out to a swift finish. The puritan 
 view has left us an inheritance of denials. It is small 
 wonder, under such circumstances, that marriage is often 
 immoral, so often ending in repulsion and weariness. 
 " Our sexual morality," it has been said with fine truth 
 by Havelock Ellis, " is in reality a bastard born of the 
 union of property-morality with primitive ascetic moral- 
 ity, neither in true relationship to the vital facts of life." 
 It may, indeed, be doubted if apart from property 
 considerations we have left any sexual morality at all. 
 How else were it possible for marriage (which, if it is to 
 fulfil its moral biological ends, must be based on physical 
 and mental affinity and fitness) to be contracted, as it 
 often is, without knowledge or any true care of these 
 essential factors, and, moreover, to guarantee a per- 
 manence of a relationship thus entered into blindly. 
 At least it should be considered necessary that a cer- 
 tificate of the health of the partners be obtained before 
 marriage. What is required to ensure our individual life 
 ought to be demanded before we create new life. Here, 
 as I believe, is one direction in which the State should 
 take action. Parentage on the part of degenerate human 
 
 1 I would refer my readers to the Chapters on " Sexual Morality " and 
 " Marriage " in Havelock Ellis's Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. The only 
 way to estimate aright the value of our present marriage system is to 
 examine the history of that system in the past. I had hoped to have 
 space in which to do this, and it is with real regret I am compelled to 
 omit the section I had written on this subject.
 
 346 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 beings is a crime, and as such it ought to be prevented. 
 It may be, and is, argued that any action of the State 
 in this direction entails an interference with the rights 
 of the individual. Just the same may be said of all laws. 
 The man who wishes to steal or to kill either another 
 or himself may, with equal reason, hold that it is an 
 interference of the law that he is not permitted to follow 
 his inclinations in these matters. The sins that he may 
 wish to commit are assuredly less evil in their results 
 than the sin of irresponsible parentage. You see what 
 I mean. For if this unceasing crime against the unborn 
 could somehow be stopped there would be so great a 
 reduction of all other sins that we might well be freed 
 from many laws. As an example I would refer the 
 reader back to the wise Spartans, to consider how great 
 was the gain to them as individuals by their strict and 
 unceasing care for the welfare of the race. 
 
 There are many who attribute to mammon-marriages 
 all the terrible evils of our disordered love-life of to-day. 
 It is, therefore, well to remember that such conditions 
 are not really a new thing, and cannot be regarded as 
 the result of our commercialised civilisation. The in- 
 trusion of economics into marriage is of very ancient 
 origin, and may be found among peoples who are almost 
 primitive. But there is this important difference. 
 In earlier and more vigorous societies such property- 
 based marriages occur side by side with other forms of 
 sexual associations, on a more natural basis, which are 
 openly accepted and honoured. Our marriage system 
 by its rigorous exclusions closes this way of escape. 
 Morality may be outraged to any extent provided
 
 MARRIAGE 347 
 
 that law and religion have been invoked in legal 
 marriage. 
 
 Let me give my readers two cases from my own experi- 
 ence ; facts speak more forcibly than any mere statements 
 of opinion. In a village that I know well a woman, 
 legally married, bore five idiot children one after the 
 other ; her husband was a confirmed drinker and a mental 
 degenerate. One of the children fortunately died. The 
 text that was chosen as fitting for his funeral card was, 
 "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." About the 
 same time in the same village a girl gave birth to an 
 illegitimate child. She was a beautiful girl; the father, 
 who did not live in the village, was strong and young; 
 probably the child would have been healthy. But the 
 girl was sent from her situation and, later, was driven 
 from her home by her father. At the last she sought 
 refuge in a disused quarry, and she was there for two days 
 without food. When we found her her child had been 
 born and was dead. Afterwards the girl went mad. I 
 will add no comment, except to record my belief that 
 under a saner social organisation such crimes against 
 love would be impossible. 
 
 As was said years ago by the wise Senancour, " The 
 human race would gain much if virtue were made less 
 laborious." Let us view these large questions in the 
 light of their results to the individual and the race. This 
 practical morality will serve us better than any tradi- 
 tional code. So only shall we learn to see if we cannot 
 rid love of stress and pain that is unendurable. We 
 force women and men into rebellion, into fearing con- 
 cealments, and the dark and furtive ways of vice. For
 
 348 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 this reason we must, I believe, make the regulations of 
 law as wide as possible, taking care only that mothers 
 and all children must be safeguarded, whether in legal 
 marriage or outside. All of which forces the conclusion : 
 the same act of love cannot be good or bad just because 
 it is performed in or out of marriage. To hold such an 
 opinion is really as absurd as saying that food is more 
 or less digestible according to whether grace is, or is not, 
 said before the meal. All marriage forms are only 
 matters of custom and expediency. 
 
 In face of the iniquity of our bastardy laws we may 
 well pause to doubt the traditional ideas of our sexual 
 code and conventional morality. It seems to me that 
 in these questions of sex we have receded further and 
 further from the reality of things, and become blinded 
 and baffled by the very idols to love that men have set 
 up. One thing renders love altogether and incurably 
 wrong, and that is waste. The terribly high death-rate 
 among illegitimate children alone suffices to illustrate 
 the actual conditions, to say nothing of the greater waste 
 often carried on in those children who live. The ques- 
 tion of the maintenance of such unfathered children is 
 a scandal of our time. We may surely claim that the 
 birth of any child, without exception, must be preceded 
 by some form of contract which, though not necessarily 
 binding the mother and the father to each other, will 
 place on both alike the obligation of adequate fulfilment 
 of the duties to their child. This, I believe, the State 
 must enforce. If inability on the part of the parents to 
 make such provision is proved, the State must step in 
 with some wide and fitting scheme of insurance of child-
 
 MARRIAGE 849 
 
 hood. The carrying out of even these simple demands 
 will lead us a great step forward in practical morality. 
 It will open up the way to a saner and more beautiful 
 future. 
 
 But here, in case I am mistaken and thought to be 
 desiring the loosening of the bonds between the sexes, 
 I must repeat again how firmly I accept marriage as the 
 best, the happiest, and the most practical form of the 
 sexual association. The ideal union is, I am certain, 
 an indestructible bond, trebly woven of inclination, duty, 
 and convenience. Marriage is an institution older than 
 any existing society, older than mankind, and reaches 
 back, as Fabre's study of insects has so beautifully shown 
 us, to an infinitely remote past. Its forms are, there- 
 fore, too fundamentally blended with human and, 
 further back, with animal society for them to be shaken 
 with theories, or even the practices of individuals or 
 groups of individuals. Thus I accept marriage : I 
 believe that its form must be regulated and cannot be 
 left to the development of individual desires against 
 the needs of the race. 
 
 There are some who, in seeking liberation from the 
 ignominious conditions of our present amatory life, are 
 wishing to rid marriage from all legal bonds, and are 
 pointing to Free-love as the way of escape. To me 
 this seems a very great mistake. I admit the splendid 
 imaginative appeal in the idea of Love's freedom as it 
 is put forward, for instance, by the great Swedish 
 feminist, Ellen Key; I am unable to accept it as 
 
 practical morality. This, I believe, should be the only 
 sound basis for reform. The real question is not what
 
 350 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 people ought to do, but what they actually do and are 
 likely to go on doing. It is these facts that the idealist 
 fails to face. Love is a very mixed game indeed. And 
 all that the wisest reformer has ever been able to do 
 is to make bad guesses at the solution of its problems. 
 
 The fundamental principle of the new ideal morality 
 is that love and marriage must always coincide, and, 
 therefore, when love ceases the bond should be broken. 
 This in theory is, of course, right. I doubt if it is, or 
 ever will be, possible in practice. Experience has forced 
 the knowledge that the most passionate love is often the 
 most likely to end in disaster. Nor do I think that the 
 evil is much lessened when no legal bond is entered 
 into. Those few people who have made a success of 
 Free-love would probably have made an equal success 
 of marriage. I know personally several cases in which 
 the same woman, and many in which the same man, has 
 tried in succession legal marriage and free unions and 
 has been equally unhappy in both. 
 
 All the facts seem to me to point in another direction 
 for reform. I do not think that life's great central pur- 
 pose of carrying on the race (not alone giving birth to 
 fit children, but the equally necessary work of both 
 parents uniting in caring for and bringing them up) can 
 be left safely to be confused and wasted by its depend- 
 ence on the gratification of personal desires. I wish that 
 I thought otherwise. It would make it all so much easier. 
 It is useless to point back here to the action of love's 
 selection in the past history of life. As civilisation 
 progresses, and as individual needs become elaborated 
 and wealth increases, we tend to get further and further
 
 MARRIAGE 351 
 
 away from the realities of love. We choose our partners 
 without understanding, and think very little of the needs 
 of the future. What I want is to free marriage from 
 those bonds that can be proved to act against practical 
 morality. I do not wish at all to lessen its binding, only 
 to defend it against the conventions of a false and narrow 
 traditional morality. In love, as in every human relation- 
 ship, it is character that avails and prevails nothing 
 else. Marriage is, or ought to be, the most practically 
 moral institution that any civilisation is able to produce. 
 Women and men are likely to get out of any form of 
 the sexual association results in proportion to that which 
 they put into it. A great many people put nothing into 
 marriage, and they are disappointed when they get out 
 of it nothing. We shall put more into marriage, and 
 not less, in proportion as we come to understand it and 
 to value its enduring importance. 
 
 After all it is the people of any race who make mar- 
 riage, not marriage the people. The form of union is 
 but a symbol of the people's character, their desires, and 
 capacities. If we have evolved the wrong women and 
 men, then any reform of marriage is vain. Have we in 
 our weakened civilisation drifted so far from life that 
 the inherent attributes of loyalty and discipline to the 
 future are no longer with us in sufficient measure ade- 
 quately to respond to the enduring realities of love? 
 The answer is with women. We must demand from the 
 fathers of our children, as we demand from ourselves, 
 loyalty to the well-being of the race; the discipline of 
 our personal desires and loves that we may maintain 
 ourselves fit as the bearers and protectors of those wider
 
 352 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 interests, which belong not to ourselves, not to this 
 generation alone, but to the life and the future history 
 of our race. Woman must again assert, as she did in 
 the past, that she is the maker of men. She must reclaim 
 her right, held by the female from the beginning of life, 
 as the director of love's selective power. And more even 
 than this. Woman with man must be the framer of the 
 law, and the guide and director of all the relations of 
 the sexes. But it is not sufficient to do this by mere 
 proclamation. Virile nations are not made by theories 
 or by the blast of the trumpet. They are reared in the 
 bonds of marriage, and what we incorporate in that bond 
 will be manifest in our children. 
 
 II. Divorce 
 
 " The result of dissolving the formal stringency of the marriage rela- 
 tionship, it is sometimes said, would be a tendency to an immoral 
 laxity. Those who make this statement overlook the fact that laxity 
 tends to reach a maximum as the result of stringency, and that where the 
 merely external authority of a rigid marriage law prevails then the ex- 
 treme excesses of licence must flourish. It is also undoubtedly true, 
 and for the same reason, that any sudden removal of restraints neces- 
 sarily involves a reaction to the opposite extreme of licence. A slave is 
 not changed in a stroke into an autonomous free man." HAVELOCK 
 ELLIS. 
 
 In putting forward a practical morality for marriage 
 we have to remember that we are not really uprooting 
 traditional morality. There is no necessity. Of its own 
 decay the old morality has fallen in a confusion of ruin. 
 The ideal marriage is the union of one woman with one 
 man for life. This we have established. We have now 
 to look at the question from another side and ask, How 
 far is this ideal monogamy possible in practice ? I think 
 the answer must be that, as we stand at present, it is
 
 DIVORCE 353 
 
 possible to very few. For marriage is essentially a state 
 of bondage there is no getting away from this a state 
 which calls upon the individual to surrender his personal 
 freedom in the interests of the race and the stability of 
 social structure. I have proved that this bondage acts 
 really for the benefit and happiness of the individual, but 
 this deep truth I must now leave. Marriage is, thus, a 
 concession of the individual to the general welfare of the 
 future and of the State. Now, with human nature as it 
 is in its present development, it is clearly claiming the 
 impossible to demand indissoluble marriage. Divorce 
 is really implicit in the conditions of marriage itself, and 
 the firmest believers in monogamy must be the supporters 
 of practical and moral conditions of divorce. 
 
 The moral code of any society represents the experi- 
 ence of its members. But experience is continually 
 changing and enlarging, and moral codes must also 
 change and enlarge, or they become worn-out and useless. 
 Those people who are unable to modify their moral code 
 to fit new conditions and growth are doomed to extinction, 
 while the people who adjust their customs and laws to 
 meet new requirements open up the way to move on, and 
 still onwards, in continual progress. 
 
 It were well to remember this as we come to question 
 the conditions of our law of divorce. There can be no 
 possible doubt that if marriage is to remain and become 
 moral there must be an easier dissolution of its bonds. 
 The enforced continuance of an unreal marriage is really 
 the grossest form of immorality, harmful not only to the 
 individuals concerned, but to the children. The pre- 
 judices handed down to us by past tradition have twisted 
 
 AA
 
 354 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 morals into an assertion that a husband or wife who have 
 ceased to love must continue to share the rites of marriage 
 in mutual repugnance, or live in an unnatural celibacy. 
 
 The question as to how this condition arose may be 
 answered very briefly. The Church ordained that mar- 
 riage is indissoluble, but, this being found impossible to 
 maintain in practice, the State stepped in with a way of 
 escape a kind of emergency exit. But what a make- 
 shift it is ! how flagrantly indecent ! how inconsistent ! 
 Adultery must be committed. To escape the degrada- 
 tion of an unworthy partner another partner must first 
 be sought, and love degraded in an act of infidelity. 
 Adultery is, in fact, a State-endowed offence against 
 morality, just as the indissolubility of marriage is a theo- 
 logical perversion of the plainest moral law, that the true 
 relationship between the sexes is founded on love. This 
 bastard-born morality of Church and State is as immoral 
 in theory as it is evil in practice. 
 
 For if we look deeper it becomes clear that the test 
 to be applied here is the same as in every relation between 
 the sexes : the conditions of divorce, like the conditions 
 of marriage, must be such as best serve the interests of 
 the race. This means, in the first place, that both part- 
 ners in a marriage must have the assurance that when the 
 moral conditions of the contract are broken, or through 
 any reason become inefficient, they can be liberated, 
 without any shame or idea of delinquency being attached 
 to the dissolution. " Divorce is relief from misfortune 
 and not a crime," to quote from the admirable statute- 
 book of Norway, a saying which should be one of uni- 
 versal application in divorce. This must be done not
 
 DIVORCE 355 
 
 merely as an act of justice to the individual; it is called 
 for equally in the interests of the race. The woman or 
 man from whom a divorce ought to be obtained is in 
 almost all cases the woman or man who ought not to be 
 a parent. We may go further than this. Divorce cannot 
 be considered on the physical side alone, there is a 
 psychological divorce which is far deeper, and also far 
 more frequent. The woman or man who for any reason 
 is unhappy in marriage is unfitted to be a parent in that 
 marriage, and the way should be opened to them, if they 
 desire, to have other children born in love in a new 
 marriage with a more fitting mate. Our eyes are shut 
 to the damning facts which confront us on every side. 
 Take, for instance, the case of the drunkard, the insane, 
 the syphilitic, the consumptive, parent bound in marriage. 
 On biological and economic grounds it is folly to leave 
 in such hands the protection of the race. It is the busi- 
 ness of the State, as I believe, to regulate the law to 
 prevent, as far as possible, the birth of unfit children; 
 at least we may demand that Church and State cease to 
 grant their sanction to this flagrant sin. 
 
 It is of the utmost importance to realise that Divorce 
 Law Reform is needed to bring our jurisprudence up to 
 the level of the modern civilised State. Our law in this 
 respect lags far behind that of other countries, and is 
 only one example out of many of our hide-bound attach- 
 ment to ancient abuses. The opposition shown against 
 the splendid and fearless recommendations for the exten- 
 sion of the grounds of divorce, voiced by the Majority 
 Report in the recent Divorce Law Commission, prove 
 how far we are still from understanding the higher 
 
 AA 2
 
 356 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 morality of marriage. The recent Commission and the 
 strong movement in favour of reform will, without doubt, 
 lead to a change in the glaring injustice and inconsist- 
 encies of our law. It is, however, certain that an enlight- 
 ened divorce law must go much further than providing 
 ways of escape from marriage. Such exits tend to 
 destroy the true sanctity of marriage ; also they are unable 
 to meet the needs of all classes, no matter how wide and 
 numerous they are. They can never form the ultimate 
 solution. They tend to make marriage ridiculous, and 
 there are real grounds in the objections raised against 
 them. There must be no special exits; the door of 
 marriage itself must be left open to go out of as it is open 
 to enter. This will come. When personal responsi- 
 bility in marriage is developed, when all the relationships 
 of sexes are founded on the recognition of the equality 
 of the mother with the father the woman with the man, 
 then will come divorce by mutual consent. 
 
 Whenever divorce is difficult, there woman's lot is hard 
 and her position low. It is a part of the patriarchal 
 custom which regards women as property. It would be 
 easy to prove this by the history of marriage in the 
 civilisations of the past, as also by an examination of the 
 present divorce laws in civilised countries. I cannot do 
 this, but I make the assertion without the least shadow 
 of doubt. I would point back in proof to the Egyptian 
 and Babylonian divorce law, and to the splendid develop- 
 ment of Roman Law in this direction. Consent is 
 accepted as necessary to marriage; it should be the con- 
 dition of divorce. This, I believe, is the only solution 
 which women will be content to accept, when once they
 
 DIVORCE 357 
 
 are awakened to their responsibilities in marriage. And 
 here I would quote the wise dictum of Mr. Cunninghame 
 Graham : " Divorce is the charter of Woman's Freedom/' 
 
 The condemnation of divorce and the pillorying of 
 divorced persons are not really the outcome of any 
 concern for true morality, though most people deceive 
 themselves that they are. They are predominantly the 
 outcome of ignorance, of prejudices and false values, 
 based, on the one hand, on the primitive patriarchal view 
 of the wife (hence the insistence on woman's chastity and 
 the inequality of the law), and, on the other, on the 
 ecclesiastical doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage 
 and the sin of all relationships outside its bonds. It is 
 only when we realise how deeply and terribly these worn- 
 out views have saturated and falsified our judgments that 
 we come to understand the barbarism of our present laws 
 of divorce. 
 
 It is significant that those who talk most of the sanctity 
 of marriage are the very people who fear most the exten- 
 sion of divorce, seeming to believe that any loosening 
 of its chains would lead to a dissolution of the institution 
 of marriage. One marvels at the weakness of faith 
 shown in such a view. It is not possible to hold the 
 argument both ways. If the partners in marriage are 
 happy, why lock them in? if not, why pretend that they 
 are? The best argument I ever heard for divorce was 
 a remark made to me in a conversation with a working 
 man. He said, " When two people are fighting it is not 
 very safe to lock the door." After all, what you do is 
 this : you give occasion for the locks to be broken. 
 
 I have already spoken of loyalty and duty in relation
 
 358 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 to marriage, and nothing that I say now must be thought 
 to lessen at all my deep belief in the personal responsi- 
 bility of the individual in every relationship of the sexes. 
 Living together even after the death of love may, indeed, 
 be right if this is done in the interests of the children. 
 But it can never be right to compel such action by law. 
 For then in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred what 
 is regarded as duty is really a question of expediency. 
 It is very easy to deceive ourselves. And it requires 
 more courage than most people possess to face the fact 
 that what has perhaps been a happy and fruitful marriage 
 has died a slow and bitter death. But the higher morality 
 claims that a child must be born in love and reared in 
 love, or, at the lowest, in an atmosphere from which all 
 enmity is absent. Only the parent who is strong enough 
 to subordinate the individual right to the rights of the 
 child can safely remain in a marriage without love. 
 
 One great advantage of free divorce is that the wife 
 and husband would not part, as is almost inevitable under 
 present conditions, in hatred, but in friendship. This 
 would enable them to meet one another from time to time 
 and unite together in care of any children of the marriage. 
 If such reasonable conduct was for any reason impossible 
 on the part of either or both parents, then the State must 
 appoint a guardian to fill the place of one parent or both. 
 No child should be brought up without a mother and a 
 father. The adoption of children under the State might 
 in this way open up fruitful opportunities whereby child- 
 less women and men might gain the joys of parenthood. 
 
 This condition of safety by free-divorce once estab- 
 lished, would do much to mitigate the hostility against
 
 PROSTITUTION 359 
 
 marriage which is so unfortunately prevalent among us 
 to-day. Practical morality is teaching us the immorality 
 of indissoluble marriage. In Spain, a country that I 
 know well, where marriage is indissoluble, an increasing 
 number of men and these the best and most thoughtful 
 are refraining from marriage for this very reason. It 
 follows, as a result, that in Spain the illegitimate birth- 
 rate is very high. The difficulty of divorce is also a 
 strong factor that upholds prostitution. 
 
 Many women and men of exceptional gifts and char- 
 acter, conscious of an increasing intolerance against the 
 makeshift morality imposed upon our sexual life, are 
 standing outside of marriage and evading parentage. 
 For this waste we are responsible to the future. Thus, 
 finally, we find this truth : the principle of divorce reform 
 forms the most practical foundation and one waiting 
 ready to our hands for the reformation of marriage and 
 the re-establishment of its sanctity. It also has direct 
 and urgent bearing on many of the problems of 
 womanhood. 
 
 Ill . Prostitution 
 
 " Nought so vile that on the earth doth live 
 But to the earth some special good doth give; 
 Nor nought so good but strained from that fair use, 
 Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse : 
 Virtue itself turns vice being misapplied, 
 And vice sometimes by action dignified." Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 " In nature there's no blemish but the mind, 
 None can be called deformed but the unkind." Twelfth Night. 
 
 A brief and final section of this chapter on the sexual 
 relationships must be devoted to the question of the con- 
 ditions of prostitution, which are really part of the
 
 360 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 conditions of marriage, being correlated with that institu- 
 tion in its present coercive form, in fact, part of it and 
 growing out of it. 
 
 The extent of the problems involved here are so 
 immense, the difficulties so great and the issues so in- 
 volved that I hesitate at making any attempt to treat 
 so wide a subject briefly and necessarily inadequately 
 in the short space at my disposal. Yet it seems to me 
 impossible to take the easy way and pass it over in 
 silence, and I may be able to contribute a word or two 
 of worth to this very complex social phenomenon. I 
 shall limit myself to the aspects of the question that seem 
 to me important, choosing in preference the facts about 
 which I have some little personal knowledge. 
 
 Essentially this is a woman's question. What do 
 women know about it? Almost nothing. We are 
 really as ignorant of the character, moral, mental and 
 physical of "the fallen woman," as if she belonged to 
 an extinct species. We know her only to pity her or to 
 despise her, which is, in result, to know nothing that is 
 true about her. To deal with the problem needs women 
 and men of the finest character and the widest sympathy. 
 There are some of them at work now, but these, for the 
 most part, are engaged in the almost impossible task of 
 rescue work, which does not bring, I think, a real under- 
 standing of the facts in their wider social aspect. 
 
 Women are, however, realising that they cannot con- 
 tinue to shirk this part of their civic duties. These 
 " painted tragedies " of our streets have got to be recog- 
 nised and dealt with ; and this not so much for the sake 
 of the prostitute, but for all women's safety and the
 
 PROSTITUTION 361 
 
 health of the race. The time is not far distant when 
 the mothers of the community, the sheltered wives of 
 respectable homes, must come to understand that their 
 own position of moral safety is maintained at the expense 
 of a traffic whose very name they will not mention. For 
 the prostitute, though unable to avenge herself, has had 
 a mighty ally in Nature, who has taken her case in hand 
 and has avenged it on the women and their children, 
 who have received the benefits of our legal marriage 
 system. M. Brieux deals with this question in Les 
 Avaries: it is a tragedy that should be read by all women. 
 For this reason, if for no other, the existence of pro- 
 stitution has to be faced by women. Apathy and ignor- 
 ance will no longer be accepted as excuse, in the light of 
 the sins against the race slowly piled up through the 
 centuries by vice and disease. But what will be the 
 result of women's action in this matter? What will 
 they do? What changes in the law will they demand? 
 The importance of these questions forces itself upon all 
 those who realise at all the difficulties of the problem. 
 What we see and hear does not, I think, give great hopes. 
 Every woman who dares to speak on this great burked 
 subject seems to have "a remedy" ready to her hand. 
 What one hears most frequently are unconsidered de- 
 nunciations of "the men who are responsible." For 
 example, I heard one woman of education state publicly 
 that there was no problem of prostitution ! I mention 
 this because it seems to me a very grave danger, an 
 instance of the feminine over-haste in reform, which, 
 while casting out one devil, but prepares the way for 
 seven other devils worse than the first. Women seem
 
 362 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 to expect to solve problems that have vexed civilisation 
 since the beginnings of society. This attitude is a little 
 irritating. Every attempt hitherto to grapple with pro- 
 stitution has been a failure. Women have to remember 
 that it has existed as an institution in nearly all historic 
 times and among nearly all races of men. It is as old 
 as monogamic marriage, and maybe the result of that 
 form of the sexual relationship, and not, as some have 
 held, a survival of primitive sexual licence. The action 
 of women in this question must be based on an educated 
 opinion, which is cognisant with the past history of 
 prostitution, recognises the facts of its action to-day in 
 all civilised countries, and understands the complexity 
 of the problem from the man's side as well as the 
 woman's. Nothing less than this is necessary if any fruit- 
 ful change is to be effected, when women shall come to 
 have a voice to direct the action the State should assume 
 towards this matter. The one measure which has 
 recently been brought forward and passed, largely aided 
 by women, especially the militant Suffragists I refer 
 to the White Slave Traffic Bill is just the most useless, 
 ill-devised and really preposterous law with which this 
 tremendous problem could be mocked. As Bernard 
 Shaw has recently said 
 
 "The act is the final triumph of the vice it pretends to repress. 
 There is one remedy and one alone, for the White Slave Traffic. 
 Make it impossible, by the enactment of a Minimum Wage law 
 and by the proper provision of the unemployed, for any woman 
 to be forced to choose between prostitution and penury, and the 
 White Slaver will have no more power over the daughters of 
 labourers, artisans and clerks than he (or under the New Act she) 
 will have over the wives of Bishops."
 
 PROSTITUTION 363 
 
 Now all this is true, but is not all the truth. Remove 
 the economic pressure and no woman will be driven, or 
 be likely to be trapped, into entering the oldest pro- 
 fession in the world ; but this does not say that she will 
 not enter it. The establishment of a minimum wage 
 will assuredly lighten the evil, but it will not end pro- 
 stitution. The economic factor is by no means the only 
 factor. It is quite true that poverty drives many women 
 into the profession that this should be so is one of the 
 social crimes that must, and will, be remedied. 
 
 The real problem lies deeper than this. Want is not 
 the incentive to the traffic of sex in the case of the dancer 
 or chorus girl in regular employment, of the forewoman 
 in a factory or shop who earns steady wages, or among 
 numerous women belonging to much higher social posi- 
 tions. These women choose prostitution, they are not 
 driven into it. It is necessary to insist upon this. The 
 belief in the efficacy of economic reform amounts almost 
 to a disease a kind of unquestioning fanatical faith. 
 Again and again I have been met by the assurance, made 
 by men who should know better, as well as by women, 
 that no woman would sell herself if economic causes 
 were removed. Such opinion proves a very plain ignor- 
 ance of the history and facts of prostitution. It is only 
 a little more scientific than the view of the woman moral 
 crusader, who believes that the " social evil " can easily 
 be remedied by self-control on the part of men. One 
 of the worst vices common to women at present is 
 spiritual pride. One wonders if these short-cut re- 
 formers have ever .been acquainted with a single member 
 of this class they hope to repress by legal enactments or
 
 364 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 other measures, such as early marriage, better wages for 
 women, moral education, the censorship of amusements, 
 and so forth. It is not so simple. You see, what is 
 needed is an understanding of the conditions, not from 
 the reformer's standard of thought, but from that of the 
 prostitute, which is a very different matter. How can 
 any one hope to reform a class whose real lives, thoughts, 
 and desires are unknown to them? 
 
 My effort to reach bed-rock facts had led me to seek 
 first-hand information from these women, many of whom 
 I have come to know intimately, and to like. I have 
 learnt a great deal, much more than from all my close 
 study of the problem as it is presented in books. 
 Problems are never so simple in the working out as they 
 appear in theories. Moral doctrines fall to pieces ; even 
 statistics and the estimates of expert investigators are 
 apt to become curiously unreal in the light of a very 
 little practical knowledge. I have learnt that there is 
 no one type of prostitute, no one cause of the evil, no 
 one remedy that will cure it. 
 
 And here, before I go further, I must in fairness state 
 that I have been compelled to give up the view held by 
 me, in common with most women, that men and their 
 uncontrolled passions are chiefly responsible for this 
 hideous traffic. It is so comfortable to place the sins 
 of society on men's passions. But as an unbiassed 
 inquirer I have learnt that seduction as a cause of 
 prostitution requires very careful examination. We 
 women have got to remember that if many of our fallen 
 sisters have been seduced by men, at least an equal 
 number of men have received their sexual initiation at
 
 PROSTITUTION 365 
 
 the hands of our sex. This seduction of men by women 
 is often the starting-point of a young man's association 
 with courtesans. It is time to assert that, if women 
 suffer through men's passion, men suffer no less from 
 women's greed. I am inclined to accept the estimate of 
 Lippert (Prostitution in Hamburg) that the principal 
 motives to prostitution are "idleness, frivolity, and, 
 above all, the love of finery." This last is, as I believe, 
 a far more frequent and stronger factor in determining 
 towards prostitution than actual want, and one, moreover, 
 that is very deeply rooted in the feminine character. I 
 do not wish to be cynical, but facts have forced on me 
 the belief that the majority of prostitutes are simply 
 doing for money what they originally did of their own 
 will for excitement and the gain of some small personal 
 gift. 
 
 There are, of course, many types among these un- 
 classed women, as many as there are in any other class, 
 probably even more. Yet, in one respect, I have found 
 them curiously alike. Just as the members of any other 
 trade have a special attitude towards their work, so pro- 
 stitutes have, I think, a particular way of viewing their 
 trade in sex. It is a mistake of sentiment to believe 
 they have any real dislike to this traffic. Such distaste 
 is felt by the unsuccessful and by others in periods of 
 unprofitable business, but not, I think, otherwise. To 
 me it has seemed in talking with them as I have done 
 very freely that they regard the sexual embraces of 
 their partners exactly in the light that I regard the process 
 of the actual writing down of my books as something, 
 in itself unimportant and tiresome, but necessary to the
 
 366 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 end to be gained. This was first made clear to me in a 
 conversation with a member of the higher demi-monde, 
 a woman of education and considerable character. 
 " After all," she said, " it is really a very small thing to 
 do, and gives one very little trouble, and men are almost 
 always generous." 
 
 This remarkable statement seems to me representative 
 of the attitude of most prostitutes. They are much 
 better paid, if at all successful, than they ever could be 
 as workers. The sale of their sex opens up to them the 
 same opportunities of gain that gambling on the stock- 
 exchange or betting on the racecourse, for instance, 
 opens up to men. It also offers the same joy of excite- 
 ment, undoubtedly a very important factor. There are 
 a considerable number of women who are drawn to and 
 kept in the profession, not through necessity, but through 
 neurosis. 
 
 There is no doubt that prostitution is very profitable 
 to the clever trader. I was informed by one woman, 
 for instance, that a certain country, whose name I had 
 perhaps better withhold, " Is a Paradise for women." 
 Quite a considerable fortune, either in money or jewels, 
 may be reaped in a few months and sometimes in a few 
 weeks. But the woman must keep her head ; cleverness 
 is more important even than beauty. I learnt that it was 
 considered foolish to remain with the same partner for 
 more than two nights, the oftener a change was made the 
 greater the chance of gain. The richest presents are 
 given as a rule by young boys or old men : some of these 
 boys are as young as fifteen years. 
 
 Now the really extraordinary thing to me was that my
 
 PROSTITUTION 367 
 
 informant had plainly no idea of my moral sensibility 
 being shocked at these statements. Of course, if I had 
 shown the least surprise or condemnation, she would at 
 once have agreed with me but I didn't. I was trying 
 to see things as she saw them, and my interest caused 
 her really to speak to me as she felt. I am certain of 
 this, as was proved to me in a subsequent conversation, 
 in which I was told the history of a girl friend, who had 
 got into difficulties and been helped by my informant. 
 (These women are almost always kind and generous to 
 one another. I know of one case in which a woman who 
 had been trapped into a bogus marriage and then 
 deserted, afterwards helped with money the girl and 
 bastard child, also left by the man who had deceived 
 her.) The story was ended with this extraordinary 
 remark, "It was all my friend's own fault, she was not 
 particular who she went with; she would go with any man 
 just because she took a fancy to him. I often told her 
 how foolish she was, but she always said she could not 
 help it." 
 
 It was then that I realised the immensity of the gulf 
 which separated my outlook from that of this successful 
 courtesan. To her to be not particular was to give one- 
 self without a due return in money : to me ! Well, 
 
 I needed all my control at that moment not to let her 
 see what I felt. I have never been conscious of so deep 
 a pity for any woman before, or felt so fierce an anger 
 against social conditions that made this degradation of 
 love possible. For, mark you, I know this woman well, 
 have known her for years, and I can, and do, testify that 
 in many directions apart from her trade, her virtue, her
 
 368 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 refinement and her character are equal, even if not 
 superior, to my own. This is the greatest lesson I have 
 learnt. The degradation of prostitution rests not with 
 these women, but on us, the sheltered, happy women who 
 have been content to ignore or despise them. Do you 
 come to know these women (and this is very difficult) you 
 are just as able to like them and in many ways to respect 
 them, as you are to like and to respect any "straight" 
 woman. You may hate their trade, you cannot justly 
 hate them. 
 
 I would like here to bring forward as a chief cause of 
 prostitution a factor which, though mentioned by many 
 investigators, 1 has not, I think, been sufficiently recog- 
 nised. To me it has been brought very forcibly home 
 by my personal investigations. I mean sexual frigidity. 
 This is surely the clearest explanation of the moral in- 
 sensibility of the prostitute. I have not enough know- 
 ledge to say whether this is a natural condition, or 
 whether it is acquired. I am certain, however, that it is 
 present in those courtesans whom I have known. These 
 women have never experienced passion. I believe that 
 the traffic of love's supreme rite means less to them than 
 it would do to me to shake hands with a man I disliked. 
 
 Now, if I am right, this fact will explain a great deal. 
 I believe, moreover, that here a way opens out whereby 
 in the future prostitution may be remedied. This is no 
 fanciful statement, but a practical belief in passion as a 
 
 1 Lombroso mentions the prevalence of sexual frigidity among 
 prostitutes (La Donna Delinquents, p. 401). See also Havelock Ellis, 
 Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. pp. 268-272. This writer does not support 
 the view of the sexual frigidity of prostitutes, but in this, I believe, he 
 is influenced by statistics and outward facts, rather than personal 
 knowledge gained from the women themselves.
 
 PROSTITUTION 369 
 
 power containing all forces. To any one who shares the 
 faith I have been developing in this book, what I mean 
 will be evident. If we consider how large a factor 
 physical sex is in the life of woman, it becomes clear that 
 any atrophy of these instincts must be in the highest 
 degree hurtful. Moral insensibility is almost always 
 combined with economic dependence. If all mating was 
 founded, as it ought to be, on love, and all children born 
 from lovers, there would follow as an inevitable result a 
 truer insistence on reality in the relationships of the 
 sexes. With a strengthening of passion in the mothers 
 of the race, sex will return to its right and powerful pur- 
 pose; love of all types, from the merest physical to the 
 highest soul attraction, will be brought back to its true 
 biological end the service of the future. 
 
 I know, of course, as I have said already, that, just as 
 there are many different forms of prostitution, there are 
 many and varied types of prostitutes, and that, therefore, 
 it is foolishness to hold fast in a one-sided manner to 
 a single theory. There are undoubtedly voluptuous 
 women among prostitutes. These I have not considered. 
 For one thing I have not met them. I have preferred 
 to speak of the women I have known personally. In the 
 light of what I have learnt from them, I have come to 
 believe that only in comparatively few cases does sexual 
 desire lead any woman to adopt a career of prostitution, 
 and in still fewer cases does passion persist. The in- 
 sistence so often made on this factor as a cause of 
 prostitution is due, in part, to ignorance as to the real 
 feelings of these women, and also, in part, to its moral 
 plausibility. We are so afraid of normal passion that 
 
 B B
 
 370 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 we readily assume abnormal passion to be the cause of 
 the evil. But far truer causes on the women's side are 
 love of luxury and dislike of work. I think the 
 estimates given by men on this subject have to be 
 accepted with great caution. It must be remembered 
 that it is the business of these women to excite passion, 
 and, to do this, they must have learnt to simulate passion ; 
 and men, as every woman who is not ignorant or a fool 
 knows, are easy to deceive. It may also be added that 
 to the woman of strong sexuality the career of prostitu- 
 tion is suited. It is possible that in the future and under 
 wiser conditions such women only will choose this 
 profession. 
 
 For the same reason I have passed very lightly over 
 the economic factor as a cause of prostitution. I believe 
 that this will be changed. I do not under-estimate the 
 undoubted importance of the driving pressure of want. 
 But, as I have tried to make clear, it does not take us to 
 the root of the problem. Poverty can only be regarded 
 as probably the strongest out of many accessory causes. 
 The socialists and economic apostles have to face this : 
 no possible raising of women's wages can abolish 
 prostitution. 1 
 
 We must hold firmly to the fact that characterlessness, 
 which is incapable of overcoming opposition and takes 
 the path that is easiest, is the result of the individual's 
 inherited disposition, with the addition of his, or her, 
 own experience; and of these it is the former that, as a 
 rule, determines to prostitution. Every kind of moral 
 and intellectual looseness and dullness can, for the most 
 
 1 Women in marriage have been for so long protected by men from 
 the necessity of doing work, that why should we expect the prostitute 
 to prefer uncongenial work ?
 
 PROSTITUTION 371 
 
 part, be traced to this cause. At all events it is the 
 strongest among many. Not alone for the prostitute's 
 sake must this subject be seriously approached, but for 
 society's sake as well. As things stand with us at 
 present, moral sensitiveness has a poor chance of being 
 cultivated, and those who realise that this is the case are 
 still very few. Women have yet to learn the responsi- 
 bilities of love, not only in regard to their duties of child- 
 bearing and child-rearing, but in its personal bearing on 
 their own sexual needs and the needs of men. I believe 
 that the degradation of our legitimate love-relationships 
 is the ultimate cause of prostitution, to which all other 
 causes are subsidiary. 
 
 If we look now at the position for a moment from the 
 other side the man's side a very difficult question 
 awaits us. It is a question that women must answer. 
 What is the real need of the prostitute on the part of 
 men? This demand is present everywhere under civil- 
 isation ; what are its causes ? and how far are these likely 
 to be changed ? Now it is easy to bring forward answers, 
 such as the lateness of marriage, difficulty of divorce, 
 and all those social and economic causes which may be 
 grouped together and classed as " lack of opportunity 
 of legitimate love." Without question these causes are 
 important, but, like the economic factor which drives 
 women into prostitution, they are not fundamental ; they 
 are also remediable. They do not, however, explain 
 the fact, which all know, that the prostitute is sought out 
 by numberless men who have ample opportunity of un- 
 priced love with other women. Here we have a prefer- 
 ence for the prostitute, not the acceptance of her as a 
 substitute taken of necessity. It is, of course, easy to
 
 372 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 say that such preference is due to the lustful nature of 
 the male. There was a time when I accepted this view 
 it is, without doubt, a pleasant and a flattering one for 
 women. I have learnt the folly of such shallow con- 
 demnations of needs I had not troubled to understand. 
 Possibly no woman can quite get to the truth here ; but 
 at least I have tried to see facts straight and without 
 feminine prejudice. 
 
 This is what seems to me to be the explanation. 
 
 We have got to recognise that there are primitive in- 
 stincts of tremendous power, which, held in check by 
 our dull and laborious, yet sexually-exciting, civilisation, 
 break out at times in many individuals like a veritable 
 monomania. In earlier civilisations this fact was frankly 
 recognised, and such instincts were prevented from 
 working mischief by the provision of means wherein they 
 might expend themselves. Hence the widespread 
 custom of festivals with the accompanying orgy; but 
 these channels have been closed to us with a result that 
 is often disastrous. No woman can have failed to feel 
 astonishment at the attractive force the prostitute may, 
 and often does, exercise on cultured men of really fine 
 character. There is some deeper cause here than mere 
 sexual necessity. But if we accept, as we must, the 
 existence of these imperatively driving, though usually 
 restrained impulses, it will be readily seen that prostitu- 
 tion provides a channel in which this surplus of wild 
 energy may be expended. It lightens the burden of the 
 customary restraints. There are many men, I believe, 
 who find it a relief just to talk with a prostitute a woman 
 with whom they have no need to be on guard. The 
 prostitute fulfils that need that may arise in even the
 
 PROSTITUTION 373 
 
 most civilised man for something primitive and strong : 
 a need, as has been said by a male writer, better than 
 I can express it, " for woman in herself, not woman with 
 the thousand and one tricks and whimsies of wives, 
 mothers and daughters." 
 
 This is a truth that it seems to me it is very necessary 
 for all women to realise. It is in our foolishness and 
 want of knowledge that we cast our contempt upon men. 
 Women flinch from the facts of life. These women 
 who, regarded by us as " the supreme types of vice," are 
 yet, from this point of view," the most efficient guardians 
 of our virtue." Must we not then rather see if there is 
 no cause in ourselves for blame ? 
 
 It has been held for generations that woman must 
 practise principles of virtue to counteract man's example. 
 This has led to an entirely false standard. A solving 
 compromise has been found in the ideal of purity in one 
 set of women and passion in another. And this state of 
 things has continued indefinitely until it has become to 
 some extent true. Numberless women have withered 
 in this unprofitable service to chastity. The sexual cold- 
 ness of the modern woman, which sociologists continually 
 refer to, exists mainly in consequence of this constant 
 system of repression. Female virtue has been over- 
 cultivated, the flower has grown to an enormous size, 
 but it has lost its scent. A hypocritical and a lying 
 system has been set up professing disbelief in that which 
 it knows is necessary to the needs of the individual 
 woman and to the larger needs of the race. Physical 
 love is only inglorious when it is regarded ingloriously. 
 Why this horror of passion? The tragedy of woman it 
 seems is this, that with such power of love as she has in
 
 374 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 her there should be so little opportunity for its use so 
 much for its waste. Those of us who believe in passion 
 as the supreme factor in race-building, must know that 
 this view of its shamefulness is weakening the race. 
 
 I, therefore, hold firmly as my belief that the hateful 
 traffic in love will flourish just as long, and in proportion, 
 as we regard passion outside of prostitution with shame. 
 Each one of us women is responsible. Do we not know 
 that there is not this difference between our sexual needs 
 and those of men? Let us tear down the old pretence. 
 Do not instincts arise in us, too, that demand expression, 
 free from all coercion of convention? And if we stifle 
 them are we really the better the more moral sex? I 
 doubt this, as I have come to doubt so many of the lies 
 that have been accepted as the truth about women. 
 
 The true hope of the future lies in the undivided recog- 
 nition of responsibility in love, which alone can make 
 freedom possible. Freedom for all women the women 
 of the home and the women of the streets. The prosti- 
 tute woman must be freed from all oppression. We, her 
 sisters, can demand no less than this. If we are to 
 remain sheltered, she must be sheltered too. She must 
 be freed from the oppression of absurd laws, from the 
 terrible oppression of the police and from all economic 
 and social oppression. But to make this possible, these 
 women, who for centuries have been blasted for our sins 
 against love, must be re-admitted by women and men 
 into the social life of our homes and the State. Then, 
 and then alone, can we have any hope that the prostitute 
 will cease to be and the natural woman will take her 
 place.
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE END OF THE INQUIRY 
 
 The future of Woman Indications of progress The re-birth of 
 woman Woman learning to believe in herself The sin of 
 sterility The waste of womanhood The change in woman's 
 outlook The quickening of the social conscience A criticism of 
 militancy It does not correspond with the ideal for women 
 The new free relationship of the sexes The conditions which 
 make this possible The recognition of love as the spiritual force 
 in life The importance of woman's freedom to the vital advance 
 of humanity The end brings us back to the beginning The 
 supreme importance of Motherhood Woman the guardian of the 
 Race-life and the Race-soul This the ground of her claim for 
 freedom.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE END OF THE INQUIRY 
 
 " Among the higher activities and movements of our time, the 
 struggle of our sisters to attain an equality of position with the strong, 
 the dominant, the oppressive sex, appears to me, from the purely human 
 point of view, most beautiful and most interesting : indeed, I regard it 
 as possible that the coming century will obtain its historical characterisa- 
 tions, not from any of the social and economical controversies of the 
 world of men, but that this century will be known to subsequent history 
 distinctively as that in which the solution of the ' woman's question ' 
 was obtained." GEORGE HIRTH. 
 
 LOOKING back over the long inquiry which lies behind 
 us, we have come by many and various paths to seek 
 that standpoint from which we started the Truth about 
 Woman. We must now try to give a brief answer to a 
 difficult question. What is the future of woman? Are 
 we able to recognise in the present upward development 
 of the sex signs of real progress towards better con- 
 ditions? Is it within the capacity of the female half of 
 human-kind to acquire and keep that position of essential 
 usefulness held by the females of all other species? 
 Will women learn to develop their own nature and to 
 express their own genius? Can their present character- 
 istic weakness, vices, and failings be really overcome 
 under different and freer conditions of domestic and 
 social life? Are we of to-day justified in looking for- 
 ward to the new woman of the future, with saner aspira- 
 tions and wider aims, who lives the whole of her life; 
 
 377
 
 378 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 who will restore to humanity harmony between the sexes, 
 and transform the miseries of love back to its rightful 
 joys? Can these things, indeed, be? 
 
 The answer is a confident and joyful " Yes ! " 
 
 The re-birth of woman is no dream. 
 
 We have become accustomed to listen to the opinion 
 voiced by men. We have heard that belief in women 
 is a symptom of youth or of inexperience of the sex, 
 which a riper mind and wider knowledge will invariably 
 tend to dissipate. So woman has come to regard herself 
 as almost an indiscretion on the part of the Creator, 
 necessary indeed to man, but something which he must 
 try to hide and hush up. We have, in fact, put into 
 practice Milton's ideal : " He, for God only, she, for 
 God in him." Some such arguments from the lips of 
 disillusioned men have been possible, perhaps, with some 
 measure of reason. But the time has come for men to 
 hold their peace. 
 
 Woman is learning to believe in herself. 
 
 Now, so far, the great result of the long years of 
 repression has been the sterility of women's lives. 
 Sterility is a deadly sin. To-day so many of our 
 activities are sterile. The women of our richer classes 
 have been impotent by reason of their soft living; the 
 women of our workers have had their vitality sweated 
 out of them by their filthy labours ; they could bear only 
 dead things. Life ought to be a struggle of desire 
 towards adventures of expression, whose nobility will 
 fertilise the mind and lead to the conception of new 
 and glorious births. Women have been forced to use 
 life wastefully. They have been spiritually sterile;
 
 THE END OF THE INQUIRY 379 
 
 consuming, not giving : getting little from life, giving 
 back little to life. 
 
 But woman is awakening to find her place in the eternal 
 purpose. She is adding understanding to her feeling 
 and passion. 
 
 Never before throughout the history of modern 
 womankind has her own character evoked so earnest and 
 profound an interest as to-day : never has she considered 
 herself from so truly a social standpoint as now. It is 
 true that the change has not yet, except in very few 
 women, reached deep enough to the realities of the 
 things that most matter. Women have to learn to utilise 
 every advantage of their nature, not one side only. They 
 will do this; because they will come to have truer and 
 stronger motives. They are beginning even now to be 
 sifted clean through the sieve of work. The waste of 
 womanhood cannot for long continue. 
 
 One great and hopeful sign is a new consciousness 
 among all women of personal responsibility to their own 
 sex. The most fruitful outgrowth from the present 
 agitation for the rights of citizens the Vote ! the symbol 
 of this awakening is a solidarity unknown among 
 women before, which now binds them in one common 
 purpose. Yet there is a possible danger lurking in this 
 enthusiasm. Women will gain nothing by snatching at 
 reform. Many have no eyes to see the beyond; they 
 are hurried forward by a cry of wrongs, while others 
 are held back by fear of change. Woman is by her 
 temperament inclined to do too much or to do nothing. 
 Looked at from this standpoint of the immediate present, 
 when only the semi-hysterical and illogical aspects of the
 
 880 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 struggle are manifest, the future may appear dark. The 
 revolution is accompanied by much noise and violence. 
 Perhaps this is inevitable. I do not know. There is, 
 what must seem to many of us who stand outside the 
 fight, a terrible wastage, a straining and a shattering of 
 the forces of life and love. To earn salvation quickly 
 and riotously may not, indeed, be the surest way. It 
 may be only a further development of the sin of woman, 
 the wastage of her womanhood. 
 
 Women say that the fault rests with men. Again I do 
 not know. Certainly it is much easier and pleasanter to 
 see the mote in our brother's eye than it is to recognise 
 a possible beam as clouding our own sight. One of the 
 worst results of the protection of woman by man is that 
 he has had to bear her sins. Women have grown accus- 
 tomed to this; they do not even know how greatly their 
 sex shields them. They will not readily yield up their 
 scapegoat or sacrifice their privileges. But the personal 
 responsibility that is making itself felt among women, 
 must teach them to be ready to answer for their own 
 actions, and, if need be, to pay for them. Freedom 
 carries with it the acceptance of responsibility. Women 
 must accept this : they are working towards it. 
 
 In a new and free relationship of the sexes women 
 have at least as much to learn as men. The possession 
 of the vote is not going to transform women. Changes 
 that matter are never so simple as that. Women estimat- 
 ing their future powers tend to become presumptuous. 
 One is reminded sometimes of the people Nietzsche 
 describes as " those who ' briefly deal ' with all the real 
 problems of life." It frequently appears as if the modern
 
 THE END OF THE INQUIRY 381 
 
 woman expects to hold tight to her old privileges as the 
 protected child, as well as to gain her new rights as the 
 human woman. In a word, to stay on her pedestal when 
 it is convenient, and to climb down whenever she wants 
 to. This cannot be. And the grasping of both sides of 
 the situation leads to what is worse than all else strife 
 between women and men. Just in measure as the sexes 
 fall away from love and understanding of each other, 
 do they fall away from life into the mere futility of 
 personal ends. It is to go on with man, and not to get 
 from man, that is the goal of Woman's Freedom. There 
 are other conditions of change that women have to be 
 ready to meet. This must be. For however much some 
 may sigh for the ease and the ignorant repose of the 
 passing generation, we cannot go back. It is as impos- 
 sible to live behind one's generation as before it. We 
 have to live our lives in the pulse of the new knowledge, 
 the new fears, the new increasing responsibilities. 
 Women must train themselves to keep pace with men. 
 There is a price to be paid for free womanhood. Are 
 women ready and willing to pay it? If so, they must 
 cease to profit and live by their sex. They must come 
 out and be common women among common men. This, 
 as I believe, is a better solution than to bring men up 
 to women's level. For, as I have said before, I doubt, 
 and still doubt, if women are really better than men. 
 
 If the constructive synthetic purpose of life, which I 
 have tried to make the ruling idea of my book, is that 
 all growth is a succession of upward development 
 through the action of love between the two sexes, then 
 not only must woman in her individual capacity
 
 382 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 physically as wife and mother, and mentally as home- 
 builder and teacher contribute to the further progress 
 of life by a nobler use of her sex; but the collective work 
 of women in their social and political activities must all 
 be set towards the same purpose. It is in this light, the 
 welfare of the lives of the future and the building up of 
 a finer race that the individual and collective conduct 
 of women must be judged. Women have talked and 
 thought too much about their sex, and all the time they 
 have totally under-estimated the real strength of the 
 strongest thing in life. I think the force, the power, the 
 driving intensity of love will come as a surprise and a 
 wonder to awakened women. I think they will come to 
 realise, as they have never realised before, the tremend- 
 ous force sex is. 
 
 The Woman's movement is inextricably bound up with 
 all the problems of our disorganised love-relationships; 
 and although politicians with their customary blindness 
 have chosen to treat it as a side issue, it is, for this 
 reason, the most serious social question that has come 
 to the front during the century. Woman's position and 
 her efforts to regain her equality with man can never be 
 a thing apart a side issue to a responsible State. 
 Love and the relationship of the sexes is the foundation 
 of the social structure itself; it forms the real centre of 
 all the social and economic problems of the population 
 problem, of the marriage problem, of the problems of 
 education and eugenics, of the future of labour, of the 
 sweating question, and the problem of prostitution. As 
 the Woman's Movement presses forward each and all 
 of these questions will press forward too. All women
 
 383 
 
 and men have got to be concerned with sex and its 
 problems until some at least of these wrongs are righted. 
 That any woman can ever regard love as merely a 
 personal matter, "an incident in life," that can be set 
 aside in the rush of new activities, makes one wonder 
 if the delusions of women about themselves can ever end. 
 This misunderstanding of love ought never to be possible 
 to any woman or any man : it is going to be increasingly 
 difficult for it to be possible for the new woman and her 
 mate that is to be. In love all things rest. In love has 
 gathered the strength to be, growing into conscious need 
 of fuller life, growing into completer vision of the larger 
 day. 
 
 My faith in womanhood is strong and deep. The 
 manifestations of the present, many of which seem to 
 give cause for fear, are, after all, only the superficial 
 evidence of a deep undercurrent of awakening. The 
 ultimate driving force behind is shaping a social under- 
 standing in the woman's spirit. So surely from out of 
 the wreckage and passion a new woman will arise. 
 
 For this Nature will see to. Woman, both by physio- 
 logical and biological causes is the constructive force of 
 life. Nothing that is fine in woman will be lost, nothing 
 that is profitable will be sacrificed. No, the essential 
 feminine in her will be gathered in a more complete, a 
 more enduring synthesis. Woman is the predominant 
 partner in the sexual relationship. We cannot get away 
 from this. It is here, in this wide field, where so many 
 wrongs wait to be righted, that the thrill of her new 
 passion must bring well-being and joy. The female was 
 the start of life, and woman is the main stream of its
 
 384 THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN 
 
 force. Man is her agent, her helper : hers is the supreme 
 responsibility in creating and moulding life. It is thus 
 certain that woman's present assertion of her age-long 
 rights and claim for truer responsibilities has its cause 
 rooted deep in the needs of the race. She is treading, 
 blindly, perhaps, and stumblingly, in the steps laid down 
 for her by Nature ; following in a path not made by man, 
 one that goes back to the beginning of life and is surer 
 and beyond herself; thus she has time as well as right 
 upon her side, and can therefore afford to be patient as 
 well as fearless. 
 
 " I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou 
 shalt not go over hither." 
 
 From the height of Pisgah there is revealed to women 
 to-day a glimpse of the promised land. But shall we 
 enter therein to take possession ? I believe not. It will 
 be given to those who follow us and carry on the work 
 which our passion has begun. For our children's children 
 the joys of reaping, the feast, and the songs of harvest 
 home. 
 
 What matter ? We shall be there in them. 
 
 Shall we, then, complain if for us is the hard toil, the 
 doubts, and the mistakes, the long enduring patience, 
 and the bitter fruits of disappointment? We have 
 opened up the way. 
 
 And is not this one with the very purpose of life? 
 We are obeying Nature's law in dedicating ourselves and 
 our work to those who follow us. We have made our 
 record, we can do nothing more. The race flows through 
 us. All our effort lies in this the giving of all that we
 
 THE END OF THE INQUIRY 385 
 
 have been able to gain. And it is sufficient. This is the 
 end and the beginning. 
 
 Thus we are brought back to the truth from which we 
 started. Women are the guardians of the Race-life and 
 the Race-soul. There is no more to be said. It is 
 because we are the mothers of men that we claim to be 
 free. We claim this as our right. We claim it for the 
 sake of men, for our lovers, our husbands, and our sons ; 
 we claim it even more for the sake of the life of the 
 race that is to come. 
 
 " Then comes the statelier Eden back to men ; 
 Then ring the world's great bridals, chaste and calm ; 
 Then springs the crowning race of human-kind. 
 May these things be." 
 
 c c
 
 -
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 N.B. This bibliography is intended as a guide to the student; 
 it is merely representative, not in any way exhaustive. 
 
 The books to which direct reference is made are marked with 
 an asterisk. 
 
 BIOLOGICAL PART 
 
 *AUDUBON : Scenes de la nature dans les Etats Unis (French 
 
 trans.). 
 
 Ornithological Biography : an Account of the Habits of the 
 Birds of the United States of America. 
 
 BATESON, W. : Materials for the Study of Variation. 
 
 Mendel's Principles of Heredity. 
 *BONHOTE, J. LEWIS : Birds of Britain. 
 
 BREHM : Tierleben. 
 
 Ornithology, or the Science of Birds. (From the text of 
 Brehm.) 
 
 BROOKS, W. K. : The Law of Heredity. 
 
 The Foundations of Zoology. 
 *BUCHNER : Mind in Animals (Eng. trans.). 
 
 Liebe und Liebesleben in der Tierwelt. 
 *BUTLER, SAMUEL : Life and Habit. 
 
 Evolution Old and New. 
 *DARWIN, CHARLES : The Descent of Man. 
 
 The Origin of Species. 
 
 The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. 
 
 The Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals. 
 
 *DARWIN, FRANCIS : Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. 
 *LLIS, HAVELOCK : Psychology of Sex. Vol. III. 
 
 *ESPINAS : Socie'te's animales. 
 
 c c 2 3 8 7
 
 888 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 FABRE, J. HENRI : Moeurs des insectes. 
 Life and Love of Insects (trans.). 
 Insect Life (trans.). 
 
 Social Life in the Insect World (trans.). 
 *FORBES, H. O. : A Naturalist's Wanderings. 
 *GALTON, FRANCIS : Natural Inheritance. 
 
 Average Contribution of Each Several Ancestor to the Total 
 Heritage of the Offspring. Pro. Roy. Soc., London, LXI. 
 *GEDDES, PATRICK: Articles: "Reproduction," "Sex," "Varia- 
 tion " and " Selection " : Encycl. Brit. 
 *GEDDES AND THOMSON, J. A. : The Evolution of Sex. (Cont. Sci. 
 
 Series.) Rev. ed. 
 Problems of Sex. 
 
 *H ACKER : Der Gesang der Vogel. 
 *HAECKEL : Generelle Morphologic der Organismen. 
 
 Evolution of Man (trans, by J. McCabe). 
 HERTWIG : The Biological Problem of To-day (trans, by P. 
 
 Chalmers Mitchell). 
 
 HOUZEAU : Etudes sur les facult^s mentales des animaux com- 
 parts a celles de l'homme. 
 *HuosoN, W. H. : Argentine Ornithology. 
 The Naturalist in La Plata. 
 Birds and Man. 
 
 *HUXLEY, T. H. : A Manual of Invertebrate Animals. 
 KELLOGG : Studies of Variation in Insects. 
 
 Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature. 
 LETOURNEAU : Evolution of Marriage. (Cont. Sci. Series.) 
 *MILNE-EDWARDS, HERNI : Le9ons sur la physiologic et 1'anatomie 
 
 compared de l'homme et des animaux. 
 A Manual of Zoology (trans.). 
 Histoire naturelle des insectes. 
 
 MIVART, ST. GEORGE : Lessons from Nature as manifested in 
 
 Mind and Matter. 
 
 The Common Frog. (Nat. Series.) 
 Man and Apes : an Exposition of Structural Resemblance 
 
 upon the Questions of Affinity and Origin. 
 On the Genesis of Species. 
 
 *MORGAN, C. LLOYD : Animal Life and Intelligence. 
 Habit and Instinct. 
 Animal Behaviour.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 889 
 
 POULTON, E. B. : The Colours of Animals. 
 
 PUNNETT, R. C. : On Nutrition and Sex-determination in Man. 
 
 (Proc. Cambridge Phil Soc., XII.) 
 RIBOT, TH. : Heredity (Eng. trans.}. 
 ROMANES, G. J. : Darwin and after Darwin. 
 Animal Intelligence. (Int. Sci. Series.) 
 Mental Evolution in Animals. 
 
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 Environment upon the Organism. (Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc., 
 Edinburgh, IX.) 
 Heredity. (Pro. Sci. Series.) 
 The Science of Life. 
 
 VARIGNY, DE : Experimental Evolution. (Nat. Series.) 
 VERNON, H. M. : Variation in Animals and Plants. (Int. Sci. 
 
 Series.) 
 
 VREIS, HUGO DE : Species and Varieties (trans.). 
 *WALLACE, A. R. : Darwinism. 
 *WARD, LESTER : Pure Sociology. 
 *WEISSMANN : Essays upon Heredity (trans.). 
 
 The Germ-plasma Theory of Heredity (trans.). 
 
 The Effect of External Influences on Development. Romanes 
 
 Lecture, Oxford. 
 
 The Evolution Theory (trans, by A. J. Tompson). 
 WILSON, E. B. : The Cell in Development and Inheritance. 
 
 HISTORICAL PART 
 
 *AME"LINEAU : La Morale e"gyptienne. 
 
 *ARNOT, F. S. : Garenganzas. 
 
 *BACHOFEN : Das Mutterrecht. (French trans, of Intro, by Giraud- 
 
 Teulon.) 
 
 BACKER, Louis DE : Le Droit de la femme dans I'antiquite". 
 BADER, MLLE. C. : La femme grecque : e'tude de la vie antique. 
 
 La femme romaine : tude de la vie antique. 
 BANCROFT, H. H. : The Native Races of the Pacific States of 
 
 North America. 
 
 *BECQ DE FOUQUI^RES : Aspasie de Milet. 
 *BONWICK, J. : Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians.
 
 890 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
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 BKUGSCH, E. : Histoire d'Egypte. 
 *BRUNS, Ivo : Frauenemancipation in Athen. 
 *BUDGE, E. A. WALLIS : Book of the Dead (trans.). 
 *BURTON, SIR R. F. : First Footsteps in East Africa. 
 *BUTTLES, J. R. : The Queens of Egypt : with a preface by 
 
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 CHARLEVOIX, LE P. DE : Histoire et description ge*n6rale de la 
 
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 *CUSHING, F. H. : Zunie Folk Tales. 
 *DALTON, E. J. : Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal. 
 
 DARGUN, L. VON : Mutterrecht und Vaterrecht. 
 *DAVY, J. : An Account of the Interior of Ceylon and its Inhabitants. 
 
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 *DENNETT, R. S. : "At the Back of the Black Man's Mind." 
 
 Journal of the African. Vol. I. 
 *DiLL : Roman Society. Three volumes. 
 ^DONALDSON, J. : Woman ; Her Position and Influence in Greece 
 
 and Rome and among the Early Christians. 
 *ELLIS, HAVELOCK : Man and Woman. 
 
 Psychology of Sex. Vol. VI. 
 *ELLIS, W. : History of Madagascar. 
 
 FEATHERMAN, A. : A Social History of the Races of Mankind. 
 FINK : Primitive Love and Love Stories. 
 *FisoN AND HOWITT : Kamilaroi and Kurnia ; Group Marriage and 
 
 Relationship, etc. 
 
 *FRAZER, J. G. : The Golden Bough : The Magic Art, 3rd ed. 
 *GIRAUD~TEULON, A. : Les Origines de manage et de la famille. 
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 *GOMPERZ : Greek Thinkers. 
 *GRAY, J. H. : China, a History of the Laws, Manners and Customs 
 
 of the People. 
 
 *GRIFFITH : The World's Literature. 
 *HARTLAND, E. S. : Primitive Paternity. 
 *HECKER, E. A. : History of Woman's Rights.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 391 
 
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 *HOBHOUSE, L. T. : Morals in Evolution. 
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 to Charlemagne. 
 
 LEFEVRE, M. : La Femme a travers 1'histoire. 
 LEGOUVE, E. : Histoire morale des femmes. 
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 La Condition de la femme dans les diverses races et civilisa- 
 tions. 
 *LIPPERT, J. : Kulturgeschichte, etc. 
 
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 *LUBBOCK, LORD AVEBURY : Origin of Civilisation. 
 
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 *MACDONALD, D. : Africana. 
 
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 Woman's Share in Primitive Culture. Anthro. Series.
 
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 *MOMMSEN : History of Rome. 
 *MORGAN, L. H. : Ancient Society ; or Researches in the Lines of 
 
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 *PATURET, G. : La condition juridique de la femme dans 1 'ancienne 
 
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 *PEARSON, KARL : The Chances of Death. 
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 the Antonines. 
 *SACHOT : L'lle de Ceylon. 
 
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 *SIBREE, J. : The Great African Island. 
 *SIMCOX, E. J. : Primitive Civilisations. 
 
 *SPENCER AND GILLEN : The Native Tribes of Central Australia. 
 *SPENCER, H. : Descriptive Sociology. 
 
 STARCKE, C. N. : The Primitive Family. 
 *THOMAS, W. J. : Sex and Society. 
 *TURNER : Thibet. 
 
 *TYLOR, ED. B. : Researches into the Early History of Mankind. 
 Primitive Culture. 
 The Matriarchal Family System. Nineteenth Century, 
 
 July, 1896. 
 *WAITZ~GERLAND, F. : Anthropologie der Naturvolker (Eng. 
 
 trans.). 
 
 Introduction to Anthropology. 
 WAKE : Evolution of Morality. 
 *WESTERMARK : The History of Human Marriage. 
 
 Origin and Development of Moral Ideas. 
 WHITE, R. E. : Women in Ptolemaic Egypt. 
 WIESE, L. : Zur Geschichte und Bildung der Frauen. 
 *VOTH, H. R. : Traditions of the Hopi. 
 
 MODERN PART 
 
 ALBERT, C. : Free Love. 
 
 BEBEL, H. : Woman in the Past, Present, and Future (trans.). 
 
 BLACKWELL, ELIZ. : The Human Element in Sex. 
 
 BLASCHKO, A. : Prostitution in the Nineteenth Century.
 
 894 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 *BLEASE, W. L. : The Emancipation of English Women. 
 BOUCHACOURT : La Grossesse. 
 BRAUN, LILY : Die Frauenfrage. 
 
 " BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL " : "The Unborn Child : Its Care and 
 its Rights," Aug. 1907; "The Influences of Antenatal 
 Conditions on Infantile Mortality," Aug. 1904; "Physical 
 Deterioration," Oct. 1905 ; " Infant Mortality. Hudders- 
 field Scheme," Dec. 1907. 
 FERE, C. S. : La Pathologic des Emotions. (Eng. trans., The 
 
 Pathology of the Emotions.) 
 L'Instinct sexuel. 
 FREUD, S. : Contributions to the Sexual Theory (trans.). 
 
 Article on Sex abstinence, Sexual Problem, March 1908. 
 *GALTON, F. : Restrictions in Marriage and Eugenics as a Factor 
 
 in Religion. 
 
 GODFREY, J. A. : The Science of Sex. 
 
 GROSS-HOFFINGER, A. J. : The Fate of Woman and Prostitu- 
 tion, etc. 
 
 HALL, STANLEY : Adolescence. 
 HAYNES, E. S. P. : Our Divorce Law. 
 HINTON, JAMES: MS., written 1870, and left unpublished. 
 
 Quoted by H. Ellis, Psychology of Sex, Vol. VI. 
 HIRSCHFELD, M. : Sexual Stages of Transition. 
 *HIRTH, GEORGE, Wege zur Liebe. 
 
 Wege zur Heimat. 
 
 HOWARD : History of Matrimonial Institutions. 
 JEANNEL, J. : Prostitution in Large Towns in the Nineteenth 
 
 Century. 
 
 KEY, ELLEN : On Love and Marriage. 
 The Century of the Child. 
 The Woman Movement. 
 KISCH : Sexual Life of Women. 
 KRAFFT-EBING : Psychopathia Sexualis. 
 LAPIE, PAUL : La Femme dans la famille. 
 *LEA : History of Sacerdotal Celibacy. 
 *LIPPERT, H. : Prostitution in Hamburg. 
 LOMBROSO E FERRERO : La donna delinquente, la prostituta, e la 
 
 donna normale. 
 
 (Incom. Eng. trans.) The Female Offender. (Eng. Crimino- 
 logy Series.)
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 395 
 
 LOWENFELD : Sexuelleben und Nervenleiden. 
 *MANTEGAZZA, P. L'Amore. (French trans., L 'amour dans 
 
 1 'humanit^.) 
 
 The Art of Choosing a Wife (trans.). 
 The Art of Choosing a Husband (trans.). 
 MARCUSE, MAX: Unmarried Mothers. (Vol. XVII. of Documents 
 
 of Great Towns.) 
 
 *MARRO, A. : La Puberte" chez 1'homme et chez la femme. 
 MAYREDER, ROSA : Zur Kritik der Weiblichkeit. 
 MILL, J. S. : Subjection of Women. 
 *MOIBUS, P. J. : Stachyologie. 
 
 MOLL, A. : Hypnotism. (Trans., Cont. Sci. Series.) 
 MORRISON, W. D. : Crime and its Causes. 
 *MORTIMER, GEOFFREY (W. M. GALLICHAN) : Chapters on Human 
 
 Love. 
 
 NEWMAN, G. : Infant Mortality. 
 NORTHCOTE, H. : Christianity and Sex Problems. 
 PARENT-DUCHATELET, A. J. B. : De la prostitution dans la ville 
 
 de Paris. 
 
 PARSONS, C. E. : The Family. 
 *PEARSON, KARL : The Chances of Death. 
 Ethics of Free Thought. 
 The Groundwork of Eugenics. 
 PE"CHIN : La PueViculture avant la naissance. 
 RYAN, M. : Prostitution in London, with a Comparative View of 
 
 that of Paris and New York (in 1839). 
 SANGER, W. M. : The History of Prostitution. 
 SCHMID, MARIE VON : Mutterdienst. 
 *SCHREINER, OLIVE : Woman and Labour. 
 
 The Woman Movement of our Day. (Harper's Bazaar, 
 
 Jan. 1902.) 
 
 SENANCOUR : De 1'amour. 
 *SHAW, G. B. : Man and Superman. 
 
 Getting Married. 
 *STETSON (Mrs. Perkins Gilman) : Woman and Economics. 
 
 The Man-made World. 
 
 STOCKER, HELEN : Die Liebe und die Frauen. 
 TARDE : La Morale sexuelle. (Archives d'anthropologie 
 criminelle.)
 
 396 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 THOMPSON, HELEN B. : The Mental Traits of Sex. 
 TILT : Elements of Health and Principles of Female Hygiene. 
 TOPINARD : Anthropologie g6neVale. 
 WARDLAW, R. : Lectures on Female Prostitution ; its Nature, 
 
 Extent, Effects, Guilt, Causes, and Remedy. 
 *WEININGER, OTTO : Sex and Character. 
 * WELLS, H. G. : First and Last Things. 
 A Modern Utopia. 
 Marriage. 
 
 WOLLSTONECRAFT, MARY : Vindication of the Rights of Women.
 
 INDEX 
 
 ADOPTION of children, 205, 358 
 Adultery, 279, 341 
 
 among primitive peoples, 132, 
 
 136, 148, 149, 160, 165 
 
 in Babylon, 206 
 
 in Egypt, 189, 191 
 
 in Greece, 218, 219-220 
 
 in Rome, 230, 238 
 
 /Eschines, his dialogue on Aspasia, 
 
 224-225 
 Affectability of women, 296, 308- 
 
 399. 317 
 Africa, the maternal family in, 
 
 162-164 
 power of Royal Princesses in, 
 
 161-162 
 
 Alladians of Ivory Coast, 164 
 Amazons, 228 
 
 Ambel anak marriage, 152 
 American Indians. See Iroquois 
 Amphibians, 56 
 Animals, courtship and love 
 
 among, 77, 78-79, 80, 81, 82, 
 
 88-99 
 the family among, 78, 102, 103 
 
 varied forms of the sexual 
 
 association among, 55, 82, 87-88, 
 in, 113 
 
 variation in parental care of 
 
 offspring among, 57, 80, 82, 108- 
 iii 
 
 Arabs, divorce among the ancient, 
 
 MS. '54 
 
 traces of the mother-age 
 
 among the, 153-154 
 
 Argus pheasant, courtship of, 97 
 Arrogance of modern woman, 270, 
 
 305, 326, 362 
 Art in relation to the sexual 
 
 impulse, 324 
 
 Artistic impulse in women, 308- 
 
 3 J 4 
 Arts, woman's entrance into the, 
 
 3H-3.I7 
 
 Asceticism among early Chris- 
 tians, 239, 323-324 
 
 - later change in, 325-326 
 
 - evils of, 324, 327 
 
 - value of, 324 
 
 Ascetics' attitude towards sexual 
 
 love, 327 
 
 Asexual reproduction, 36-39 
 Aspasia, 224-226 
 Athens. See Greece 
 Australia, communal marriage in, 
 
 146-147 
 Australians, West, 122 
 
 B 
 
 Babylon, position of women in 
 
 ancient, 201-210 
 
 marriage and divorce in, 204- 
 
 207 
 - traces of the mother-age in, 
 
 201-202 
 
 - trade in, 207-210 
 Bachofen on the mother-age, 142 
 Bambala tribe, 165 
 Basanga tribe, 165 
 Basques, 158 
 Basso Komo tribe, 165 
 Bastardy laws, 348-349 
 Bavili tribe, 163 
 Beauty-tests, 91, 95, 98-100, 104, 
 
 o 105 
 
 Beena marriage, 153 
 
 Bees, 43 et seq., 59 
 
 Biology, importance of, 13, 14, 
 
 33-35 
 
 Birds, love amongst, 59, 87, 91, 
 in, 114 
 
 397
 
 .398 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Birds, amorous preference of 
 females, HI 
 
 aesthetic perception of, 88, 89 
 
 family amongst, 59, 87, 88, 
 
 102-103, 107, no, 113 
 
 female superiority amongst, 
 
 58, 90, 95, 105, 249 
 
 love battles 87, 90 
 
 love dances, parades and 
 
 songs, 91, 92-99 
 
 monogamy amongst, 91 
 
 secondary sexual characters 
 
 of, 88, 92, loo-ioi, 104 et seq. 
 
 sex equality amongst, 59, 90, 
 
 105 et seq., 249 
 Bloch, Iwan, on promiscuity, 120 
 
 (note) 
 
 on the discoveries of M. 
 Currie, 300 
 
 on woman's influence on the 
 arts, 307 
 
 Borneo native tribes, 123 
 Botocudos tribe, 122 
 Brain, sexual differences in, 276 
 Bride-price, 154 (note), 165, 173, 
 
 183, 204, 229 
 Britain, traces of the mother-age 
 
 in, 127 
 Budding, 38 
 Biicher, Karl, on woman's early 
 
 poetic activity, 306 
 Burma, high status of women in, 
 
 I56-IS7 
 
 marriage system and divorce 
 
 in, 157-158 
 
 Canon law, 240, 344, 354 
 
 Canute ; his marriage as evidence 
 
 of mother-right, 127 
 Celibacy, 324, 326, 328, 341, 382 
 Cell-division, 35-39 
 Certificate of health before mar- 
 riage, 345 
 
 Ceylon, polyandry in, 150 
 Chastity, 165, 171, 189, 206, 219, 
 
 223, 226, 255, 323, 324, 326, 327- 
 
 328, 342, 373-374 
 as the foundation of marriage, 
 
 334. 338 
 Child, relation to the mother, 23, 
 
 2 7, 103, 168, 170 
 rights of the, 9, 17, 255, 256- 
 
 2 58, 340. 342, 345-346, 352, 355 
 
 Child, need of two parents, 42, 95, 
 
 "'. 35o. 358 
 
 China, traces of mother-age in, 159 
 Christianity, its influence on 
 
 women, 234, 267, 317-328 
 in connection with marriage 
 
 and divorce, 239, 240, 344, 354 
 Cirripedes, complemental males 
 
 among the, 52 
 
 Civilisation and sex, 113, 265-266 
 Clandestine transitory loves, 341 
 Clothing; effect of, on women, 277, 
 
 303-304 
 
 Cocotte, the, 253, 303 
 Concubinage, 189-191, 205, 230 
 Connection between bodily and 
 
 spiritual impulses, 323-324, 326 
 Contract marriage. See Marriage 
 Conventional lies of the present 
 
 day, 254 et seq., 258-261, 278, 
 
 281 
 Co-operation among animals, 82, 
 
 IO2, III 
 
 Coquetry, 254, 255, 258 
 Courtship : its importance, IOO-IH, 
 
 252, 234-256 
 Cruelty in relation to sex, 67, 266- 
 
 267, 327 
 
 Darwin on sexual selection, 100- 
 
 101 
 
 Demi-monde, 366 
 Differentiation between the sexes : 
 
 its importance, 101, 248-249, 257, 
 
 261-263, 268, 273-276, 284, 290, 
 
 293, 295-297 
 Diotima, 223 
 Disease and marriage, 345, 355, 
 
 360-361 
 Disinclination for marriage, 61-63, 
 
 225-226, 267, 268-270, 335, 359 
 Disproportion in numbers between 
 
 the sexes, 278 
 Divorce among primitive peoples, 
 
 132, 137, 148, 160 
 
 in Babylon, 205-207 
 
 in Burma, 157-158 
 
 in Egypt, 191-192, 356 
 in Greece, 220 
 
 in Rome, 233, 356 
 
 attitude of Church and State 
 towards, 354 
 
 causes for, 353, 354 et seq.
 
 INDEX 
 
 399 
 
 Divorce by mutual consent, 356, 
 
 358. 
 
 importance of, for women, 
 
 35 6 359 
 
 psychical, 355 
 
 reform of, 355-356 
 
 Donaldson on high character of 
 
 Roman women, 239 
 Duplex sexual morality, 171, 206, 
 219, 226, 357 
 
 riage as evidence of mother- 
 right, 127 
 
 Ethelbald, King of W. Saxons, his 
 marriage as evidence of mother- 
 right, 127 
 
 Eugenics, 18-19, l6 5 218, 283, 
 
 3457346, 350. 355 
 
 Euripides on women, 227 
 
 Exchange of wives among primi- 
 tive peoples, 132, 166, 170 
 
 in Sparta, 218 
 
 Economic factor in marriage, 171, 
 215-216, 253, 282, 342-343, 345, 
 
 346-347 
 in prostitution, 282, 362- 
 
 363. 37 
 
 dependence of women, 23-24, 
 
 253, 264, 280, 342 
 Egg-cell. See Ovum 
 Egoism of modern woman, 270, 
 
 305. 335. 3.62, 365, 380-381 
 Egypt, position of women in 
 
 ancient, 179-201 
 
 concubinage in, 189-191 
 
 divorce in, 191-192 
 
 family affection in, 192-193, 
 194-197 
 
 marriage contracts in, 182- 
 
 185, 186-191 
 - polygamy in, 192 
 
 traces of the mother-age in, 
 
 185-186 
 
 Ellis, Havelock, on sexual differ- 
 ences, 21 
 
 on the position of women in 
 
 Rome, 234 
 
 on the artistic impulse in 
 women, 297 
 
 on religious sexual perception, 
 
 320 
 
 Emancipation of woman, 4-8 
 Emma, her marriage with Canute, 
 
 127 
 
 Emotivity of women, 309, 318 
 Enfranchisement of women, 291, 
 
 362, 379. 380 
 Ennoblement of love, 347-348, 351- 
 
 352, 383 
 Environment, influences of, 15, 17, 
 
 21, 273, 299-301, 313 
 Erotic element in religion, 317, 
 
 319-326 
 Ethelbald, King of Kent, his mar- 
 
 Facial expression and sex, 311-312 
 Factory workers, condition of, 281- 
 
 283, 287-288, 362-363 
 Fairy stories, connection with 
 
 mother-rights, 121, 126 
 Family, among animals. See 
 
 Birds and Animals 
 
 primitive peoples. See 
 
 Mother-age 
 
 ancient civilisation. See 
 
 Egypt, Babylon, Greece and 
 
 Rome 
 
 Fanti of the Gold Coast, 163 
 Father in relation to the family, 
 
 125, 164-167, 169, 171-175, 257 
 Father-right. See Mother-age 
 Fear of love in women, 264, 270, 
 
 322, 323, 325-326, 369-370, 373- 
 
 374. 382 
 
 Female, origin of, 41-42 
 Fertilisation, 40, 51, 53, 56, 60, 77 
 Festivals, connection with mother- 
 right, 121 
 
 Festivals, religious, 320, 372 
 Finery, love of, in women, 303, 
 
 322, 365, 370 
 Fishes, love among, 78 
 
 parental care among, 57-58 
 sex differences among, 57, 78- 
 
 79 
 
 Flirtation. See Coquetry 
 Freedom to love for women, 279 
 Freedom to work for women, 283 
 Free-love, a criticism of, 349-350 
 Free-marriage. See Marriage 
 Frigidity, sexual, 260, 269-270, 369 
 as a cause of prostitution, 
 
 368-370, 371 
 Fuegians, 122 
 Future of woman, 377-385
 
 400 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Gallinaceae, 90, 265 
 
 Gallon's Law of Inheritance, 17 
 
 Garos tribe, 147 
 
 Geddes and Thomson on the 
 
 anabolic character of the female, 
 
 54 (note) 
 Genius in relation to woman, 301- 
 
 3 '7 
 
 Ghasiyas tribe, 148 
 Goddesses in forefront of early 
 
 religions, 198, 222 
 Greece, position of women in 
 
 ancient, 210-227 
 
 Athens, subjection of women 
 
 in, 216, 219-223, 265 
 
 divorce in, 220 
 
 Hetairce, 222-226, 265 
 
 marriage and sale of 
 
 bride, 220-221 
 
 - movement of revolt in, 
 
 226-227 
 
 Homeric women, freedom of, 
 
 212-215 
 
 Spartan women, freedom of, 
 216-219 
 
 State regulation of love, 217- 
 
 218 
 
 traces of the mother-age in, 
 
 211 (note), 213, 219, 222 
 
 Group-marriage. See Marriage 
 Growth and reproduction. See 
 
 Reproduction 
 Gyna;r;ocracy. See Mother-age 
 
 H 
 
 Haeckel on reproduction, 17, 35 
 
 Hammurabi. See Babylon, mar- 
 riage and divorce 
 
 Hartland on mother-right, 126 
 (note) 
 
 Hassanyeh arabs, 166-167 
 
 Health and women, 157, 168-169, 
 197, 215, 217, 284-286 
 
 Health in relation to marriage. 
 See Disease 
 
 Hebrews, traces of the mother-age 
 among the ancient, 128-130 
 
 Hellenic love, 265 
 
 Heredity, importance of, 17-20 
 
 Hermaphroditism, 76-77 
 
 Hindu mountaineers, 149 
 
 Hobhouse, on the Egyptian mar- 
 riage contracts, 183 (note) 
 
 Hobhouse, on the high character 
 
 of Roman women, 139 
 Hopis. See Pueblos 
 Hunger and love, 75, 101 
 
 I 
 
 Illegitimacy, 160, 190, 205, 218, 
 
 34 2 . 347, 348-349 
 Impurity, 267, 323-327 
 India, the maternal family in, 147- 
 
 148 
 Individual responsibility in love, 
 
 2 57, 35!-353> 358-359 
 Infantile mortality, 348, 378 
 Inferiority of the female, 12, 20, 
 
 23, 25, 47-49. 53-55 
 - of the male, 44, 49-53, 56, 
 
 57-58, 65-67, 104 et seq. 
 Insects, love of, 82 
 Instinct in woman, 296-297 
 Intellect in woman. See Mind 
 Intellectual activity and sex, 324, 
 
 325-326 
 Intellectuals among women, 61-63, 
 
 268-270, 325-326 
 Ireland, traces of mother-age in 
 
 ancient, 128 
 Iroquois, 131-135, 141-142 
 
 forms of marriage among, 
 
 132,. 134 
 
 high status of women among, 
 
 132, 133. 134. 141-142 
 maternal family among, 131- 
 
 132, 134 
 
 tribal customs among, 131, 
 
 133, 134-135 
 
 J 
 
 Japan, traces of the maternal 
 family in, 158-159 
 
 Judith, her marriage with Ethel- 
 bald, 127 
 
 Kammalaus, polyandry among, 149 
 Kasias tribes of India, 147 
 Key, Ellen, on the spiritual char- 
 acter of woman's love, 258 
 on free-love, 349 
 
 Labour and women, 278-292 
 
 division of, between the sexes, 
 
 22-24, 280
 
 INDEX 
 
 401 
 
 Labour of primitive women, 168- 
 
 169, 264 
 of Spanish women, 284-286 
 
 significance of, 301-302, 303- 
 
 304. 379 
 sweated workers, 281-283 
 
 woman's exemption from, 
 
 23. 3H 
 Lais, 224 
 
 Lending wives, 218 
 Leontium, 224 
 
 Lie of marriage, 341 
 
 Limit of growth, 36 
 
 Loango, 163 
 
 Love, comparison between animal 
 
 and human, 119-121 
 comparison between woman's 
 
 love and man's, 260, 373-374 
 
 elementary phenomena of, 75 
 
 purposes of the individual and 
 
 of the race in relation to, 121, 
 
 338-340 
 
 significance and ennoblement 
 
 of, 99-100, 322, 327-328, 352, 
 369, 374. 382, 383 
 
 wastage of, 322, 327, 373, 340 
 Love and beauty, 100 
 Love and marriage. See Marriage 
 Love-free. See Free-love 
 Love's choice. See Sexual selection 
 Lust in relation to love, 340, 341, 
 372 
 
 - theological conception of, 324 
 et seq. 
 Lycurgus, laws of, 217-218 
 
 M 
 
 Madagascar, traces of the mother- 
 age in, 160-161 
 Maine, Sir Henry, on the Roman 
 
 marriage law, 239-240 
 Malays of Sumatra, 152-153 
 Male, origin of the, 42, 49, 52 
 Male-cell. See Spermatozoon 
 Male-force, assertion of, 75, 104, 
 
 108, 124, 125, 164, 172, 247 
 Male-tyranny, mistaken view of, 
 
 24, 158, 172-173, 174 
 Mammals, love among the. See 
 
 Animals. 
 Man as the helper of woman, 309, 
 
 35. 384 
 
 Man as the slave of woman, 67, 
 267, 327 
 
 Mariana Islands, 154-155 
 Marriage, 331-352, 360 
 
 certificates for, 345 
 
 coercive, 332, 335, 341, 353, 359 
 
 economic factor in, 195-196, 
 
 256, 342-343, 345, 347 
 
 the ideal, 340, 349, 351, 352 
 
 individual end of, 338-340 
 
 history of, 343-345 
 
 love an essential part of, 350- 
 
 352, 353-354, 358 
 objects of, 331-332, 334 
 
 racial end of, 334, 337-339, 
 
 354 
 
 reform of, 331-333, 335~33 6 , 
 
 351-352, 353, 359 
 
 among animals. See Ani- 
 mals 
 
 customs among primitive 
 
 peoples. See Mother-age 
 
 in relation to practical moral- 
 ity, 335-336, 337-338, 347-348, 
 3497350, 354 
 
 in relation to prostitution, 
 
 341-342, 359-361, 369, 371, 374 
 Maternal instinct, 61, 261 et seq. 
 
 sacrifice, 263 et seq. 
 
 Matriarchal family among bees, 
 
 62 
 
 Matriarchy. See Mother-age 
 Maupassant on woman, 327 
 Memory, sexual differences in, 294- 
 
 295 
 Men, emancipation of : this must 
 
 be done by women, 269, 292 
 Menomini Indians, 145 
 Mental mobility of woman, 311 
 Mind, sexual differences in, 292- 
 
 317 
 Mis-differentiation of women, 268 
 
 et seq. 
 
 Misogany, 267 
 Monogamy, 340-341, 352-353 
 
 among animals and birds. 
 
 See Animals and Birds 
 
 Moral codes, 343-344, 353 
 Morality, ideal, 335, 350, 352 
 
 - practical, 331, 335-336, 351- 
 
 352 
 
 traditional, 335, 352 
 
 Mother-age, 119-175 
 evidence in support of the, 
 121-122, 143-146 
 
 periods of the, 122-125 
 
 traces among civilised peoples
 
 102 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Of, 125, 130, 158-159, 185, 201- 
 202, 211, 228 
 
 Mother-age, marriage and court- 
 ship customs during, 132, 135- 
 '37. 138, 139, MS. 147-M8, 149. 
 '5. J S3. 154. 165 
 
 beginnings of marriage, 
 visiting by night, 159, 169 
 
 - capture-marriage, 148, 172 
 
 exchange-marriage, 166, 170, 
 
 173 
 
 group-marriage, 124, 146, 151 
 (note), 169 
 
 - purchase-marriage, 155, 165, 
 166, 173 
 
 monogamy, 137, 138, 139 
 
 polyandry, 149-151 
 
 position of the mother, 122, 
 
 123, 124, 127, 131-132, 133, 136, 
 
 137, 139-M6, 148, 153, 154. 1 6 3. 
 168-171, 173-174 
 father, 124, 125, 132, 
 
 !34. 137, 138, 144- iSL 152- 155. 
 
 163, 169, 171 
 maternal uncle, 124, 132, 
 
 140, 144, 152, 163, 164, 173 
 children, 134, 138, 147, 
 
 149, 152, 164, 165 
 
 transition to father-right, 134, 
 
 147, 148, 155, 168 
 
 establishment of father-right, 
 
 147, 164 et seq., 171-174 
 Motherhood, endowment of, 62, 348 
 
 free, 265, 279 
 
 importance of, 7, 9, 27, 255, 
 
 265, 312, 314 
 
 responsibility of, 18-19, 257, 
 
 258, 263, 283, 35 J -352, 358, 381- 
 382 
 
 Mother-right united with father- 
 right, 175, 187 
 
 Music and women, 300-301, 306- 
 308 
 
 Musquakies. See Iroquois 
 
 N 
 
 Nature or inheritance, 15-19, 25, 
 
 273, 309 
 
 Nayars of Malabar, 151-152 
 Need for sexual variety among 
 
 animals, 111-112, 121, 251 
 
 men, 112, 121, 371-373 
 
 Nurture or environment, 15-17, 19- 
 
 20, 273, 309 
 
 Nutrition and reproduction, 17, 35 
 connection with sex, 41-44 
 
 Obstetric frog, 80 
 
 Octopus, courtship of the, 81 
 
 One-sexed world, the idea of a, 
 
 268 
 
 Orgy, the use of the, 319-320, 372 
 Ostrich, love-dances of the, 94 
 Ovum, 36, 39, 53, 250 
 
 Parasitic females, 53-55 
 
 - males, 51-53, 77 
 Paradise bird of New Guinea, 89 
 Parenthood. See Motherhood 
 Parthenogenesis, 49 
 Passion, importance of, in woman, 
 
 319, 326, 370, 374 
 Passivity, alleged, of female, 65-69, 
 
 250-253 
 Patriarchal subjection of women, 
 
 10, 22, 23-24, 173, 204, 212, 215, 
 
 219-221, 226, 229, 256, 264-265, 
 
 280 
 Patriarchy. See Father-right under 
 
 Mother-age 
 Pearson, Karl, on the mother-age, 
 
 126-127 (note) 
 
 on variability in women, 299 
 
 Pericles, 223, 224 
 
 Periodicity of woman in relation to 
 
 work, 312-313 
 Phalaropes, reversal of the r61e of 
 
 the sexes among, 107, 249, 265 
 Picts, traces of the mother-age 
 
 among, 127 
 Pit-brow women, 284 
 Plants, sex in, 50 (note) 
 Plato on women, 226 
 Polyandry, 149-154 
 Polygamy, 192, 204, 230, 279 
 Position of the sexes, early. See 
 
 Origin of the sexes 
 Promiscuity, belief in an early 
 
 period of, 120 (note), 121 
 Primitive human love, 119-121 
 Primitive woman. See Mother-age 
 Prostitutes, 342, 360, 364-368 
 Prostitution, 341, 359-374 
 
 causes of, 282-283, 362-365, 
 373-374
 
 INDEX 
 
 403 
 
 Prostitution, remedies for, 363- 
 
 364, 369, 371, 374 
 Protozoa, 37 et seq. 
 Pueblos tribes, 137-139 
 Purity, the ideal of, for women, 
 
 373-374 
 
 Race, the, its significance in rela- 
 tion to woman, 27, 44, 63, 257, 
 283, 289, 290, 354, 383-385 
 
 Re-birth of woman, 20, 27, 63, 257, 
 283, 290, 378, 385 
 
 Religion and sexuality, 317, 319- 
 
 323 
 
 - and women, 157, 317-328 
 Reproduction, theory of. See 
 
 Origin of Sex 
 
 Reproductive cells. See Ovum and 
 Spermatozoon 
 
 Reptiles, love amongst, 79 
 
 Responsibility in the sexual rela- 
 tionships. See Love, ennoble- 
 ment of 
 
 Revolution in the position of 
 woman, 1-2, 4, 7-9, 27, 280, 379- 
 380. 3.82 
 
 Revolutionary forces, 280, 281, 291 
 
 Rome, position of women in, 227- 
 242 
 
 divorce by consent in, 233 
 
 evolution of marriage in, 229- 
 
 233 
 
 - high status of women in later 
 periods in, 234-238 
 
 - influence of Christianity on 
 position of women in, 235, 239- 
 240 
 
 - licentiousness, alleged in, 238- 
 239 
 
 - traces of the mother-age in, 
 228 
 
 Sai. See Pueblos 
 
 Santal tribes, 148 
 
 Sappho, 217, 301 
 
 Schopenhauer on woman, 9, 267 
 
 Sea-horse, parental care of males 
 among, 80 
 
 Secondary sexual characters, 12, 
 48, 78 et seq., 88 et seq., 104 
 et seq., 114, 248-256, 261-263, 
 265, 268, 273-278, 292 et seq. 
 
 Seduction, 364-365 
 
 Senecas. See Iroquois 
 
 Sense of shame in woman. 2, 
 
 - JO" 
 
 326 
 
 Sensibility of woman, 309 et seq. 
 Sen, marriage customs of, 135-136 
 Sex, origin of, 36, 41-43 
 primary office of, 39-40, 73-74 
 
 significance of, 75, 99-102, 
 
 114 
 
 Sex-elements, early separation of, 
 
 76 
 Sex-hatred, evils of, 24, 67, 266- 
 
 267, 268-269, 288-289, 291, 326- 
 
 327, 380-381 
 Sex-hunger, 75, 99 
 Sex-relationships assume different 
 
 forms to suit varying conditions 
 
 of life, 103, 107, 111-113 
 Sex-victims, 55 
 Sexes, early position of, 55, 73 
 
 et seq., 249-250 
 Sexual abstinence. See Chastity 
 
 antipathy, 215, 265, 266-267 
 
 attraction, 215, 266 
 
 crimes, 34, 65, 87, 112, 347 
 
 instincts, imperious action of, 
 
 33-34. 59. 67, 73, 75, 88 et seq., 
 99, 101, 254, 261, 319, 326, 372 
 
 reproduction. See Reproduc- 
 tion 
 
 selection, 75, 100 et seq., 104 
 
 et seq., 114, 250, 254, 262 
 
 Shaw, G. B., on woman's right of 
 selection in love, 65-66, 253 
 
 - on economic factor in pros- 
 titution, 362-363 
 
 Simcox on the Egyptians, 193 
 
 (note), 195, 202 
 Slugs, love of, 77 
 Snails, love organ of, 77 
 Socrates on love, 223 
 Spain, position of women in, 286- 
 
 287 
 
 Sparta. See Greece 
 Spermatozoon, 36, 49, 53, 251 
 Spider, courtship of the, 64 et seq. 
 Spores, 36 
 Stickleback, habits of, 80 
 
 - paternal care of offspring 
 among, 80 
 
 Sterility, sin of, 378-379 
 Structural modifications to adapt 
 
 the sexes to different modes of 
 
 life, 107
 
 404 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Suffrage, struggle for, 9, 379-380, 
 
 382-383 
 Superiority of the female, 56-58, 
 
 66-68, 73, 90, 103, 124, 125, 249, 
 
 267, 383-384 
 Superiority of the male, 10, 12-13, 
 
 23-24. 47-48, 104, 249 
 Surinam toad, Si 
 
 Tadpoles, 43, 77 
 
 Talent, sexual differences in, 292 
 
 ct seq. 
 
 Thargalia, 223 
 Theodota, 223 
 Thibet, polyandry in, 150 
 Third-sex, 269-270 
 Thomas on the sexual differences, 
 
 274. 304 
 Thomson, J. A., on the difference 
 
 of variability in men and women, 
 
 298-299 
 Thucydides on the duty of women, 
 
 223 
 
 Todas tribe, 149 
 Transition, present period of, for 
 
 women, u, 263-264, 267, 280- 
 
 281, 288, 289-290, 314-317, 325, 
 
 333. 379. 38i, 384 
 Tyrant bird, love calls of, 96 
 
 U 
 
 Ulpian, the jurist, on a double 
 standard of morality for the 
 sexes, 240 
 
 Union, free. See Free-love 
 Use of male to female, 40, 44, 103, 
 250, 309- 384 
 
 Virginity, 171, 189, 344 
 Visions, sexual, 320-321, 323 
 Volvox, 41-42 
 
 W 
 
 Wallace on sexual selection, 100 
 
 Wamoima tribe, 163 
 
 Ward, Lester, theory of gynae- 
 
 ocracy, 49, 50 (note), 107, 108 
 Wayao and \fang 'anja tribes, 165 
 Weininger on woman, 26, 267 
 Wells, H. G., on marriage, 305 
 
 - on love and religion, 322 
 Wild duck, love of a, 111-112, 250 
 Witchcraft, connection with 
 
 mother-rights, 127 (note) 
 Woman and man, differences be- 
 tween, 9, 12, 14, 16, 21, 47, 199- 
 201, 247 et seq., 273 et seq., 292 
 et seq., 319-320, 322, 326 
 Woman and sexuality, 26, 267, 
 
 269, 304, 325, 327 
 Woman and work. See Labour 
 Woman's dependence on man, 264, 
 269, 290, 381 
 
 emancipation, 8, 24, 269, 279, 
 
 289-290, 302, 305, 316, 379 et 
 seq. 
 
 - influence, 10, 266 
 
 place in the sexual relation- 
 
 ship, 251, 261-262, 264-265, 267, 
 270, 279-280, 383-384 
 
 responsibility, 258, 263-264, 
 
 283, 291-292, 351-352, 360 et 
 seq., 374, 381 et seq. 
 
 right of selection in love, 65 
 
 et seq., 252-256, 309 
 
 Wyandots. See Iroquois 
 
 Variation in the two sexes, 297- 
 
 300 
 Variety. See Need for Sexual 
 
 Variety 
 Virgin birth, stories of, 126, 202, 
 
 228 (note) 
 
 Xenophon's ideal wife, 223 
 
 Zufli Indians. See Pueblos 
 
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