Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 | Page 4

Moral Inequality of Woman--The Ambiguous Influence of Christianity--Influence of Teutonic Custom and Feudalism--Chivalry--Woman in England--The Sale of Wives--The Vanishing Subjection of Woman--Inaptitude of the Modern Man to Domineer--The Growth of Moral Responsibility in Women--The Concomitant Development of Economic Independence--The Increase of Women Who Work--Invasion of the Modern Industrial Field by Women--In How Far This Is Socially Justifiable--The Sexual Responsibility of Women and Its Consequences--The Alleged Moral Inferiority of Women--The "Self-Sacrifice" of Women--Society Not Concerned with Sexual Relationships--Procreation the Sole Sexual Concern of the State--The Supreme Importance of Maternity.




CHAPTER X.
MARRIAGE.
The Definition of Marriage--Marriage Among Animals--The Predominance of Monogamy--The Question of Group Marriage--Monogamy a Natural Fact, Not Based on Human Law--The Tendency to Place the Form of Marriage Above the Fact of Marriage--The History of Marriage--Marriage in Ancient Rome--Germanic Influence on Marriage--Bride-Sale--The Ring--The Influence of Christianity on Marriage--The Great Extent of this Influence--The Sacrament of Matrimony--Origin and Growth of the Sacramental Conception--The Church Made Marriage a Public Act--Canon Law--Its Sound Core--Its Development--Its Confusions and Absurdities--Peculiarities of English Marriage Law--Influence of the Reformation on Marriage--The Protestant Conception of Marriage as a Secular Contract--The Puritan Reform of Marriage--Milton as the Pioneer of Marriage Reform--His Views on Divorce--The Backward Position of England in Marriage Reform--Criticism of the English Divorce Law--Traditions of the Canon Law Still Persistent--The Question of Damages for Adultery--Collusion as a Bar to Divorce--Divorce in France, Germany, Austria, Russia, etc.--The United States--Impossibility of Deciding by Statute the Causes for Divorce--Divorce by Mutual Consent--Its Origin and Development--Impeded by the Traditions of Canon Law--Wilhelm von Humboldt--Modern Pioneer Advocates of Divorce by Mutual Consent--The Arguments Against Facility of Divorce--The Interests of the Children--The Protection of Women--The Present Tendency of the Divorce Movement--Marriage Not a Contract--The Proposal of Marriage for a Term of Years--Legal Disabilities and Disadvantages in the Position of the Husband and the Wife--Marriage Not a Contract But a Fact--Only the Non-Essentials of Marriage, Not the Essentials, a Proper Matter for Contract--The Legal Recognition of Marriage as a Fact Without Any Ceremony--Contracts of the Person Opposed to Modern Tendencies--The Factor of Moral Responsibility--Marriage as an Ethical Sacrament--Personal Responsibility Involves Freedom--Freedom the Best Guarantee of Stability--False Ideas of Individualism--Modern Tendency of Marriage--With the Birth of a Child Marriage Ceases to be a Private Concern--Every Child Must Have a Legal Father and Mother--How This Can be Effected--The Firm Basis of Monogamy--The Question of Marriage Variations--Such Variations Not Inimical to Monogamy--The Most Common Variations--The Flexibility of Marriage Holds Variations in Check--Marriage Variations versus Prostitution--Marriage on a Reasonable and Humane Basis--Summary and Conclusion.




CHAPTER XI.
THE ART OF LOVE.
Marriage Not Only for Procreation--Theologians on the _Sacramentum Solationis_--Importance of the _Art of Love_--The Basis of Stability in Marriage and the Condition for Right Procreation--The Art of Love the Bulwark Against Divorce--The Unity of Love and Marriage a Principle of Modern Morality--Christianity and the Art of Love--Ovid--The Art of Love Among Primitive Peoples--Sexual Initiation in Africa and Elsewhere--The Tendency to Spontaneous Development of the Art of Love in Early Life--Flirtation--Sexual Ignorance in Women--The Husband's Place in Sexual Initiation--Sexual Ignorance in Men--The Husband's Education for Marriage--The Injury Done by the Ignorance of Husbands--The Physical and Mental Results of Unskilful Coitus--Women Understand the Art of Love Better Than Men--Ancient and Modern Opinions Concerning Frequency of Coitus--Variation in Sexual Capacity--The Sexual Appetite--The Art of Love Based on the Biological Facts of Courtship--The Art of Pleasing Women--The Lover Compared to the Musician--The Proposal as a Part of Courtship--Divination in the Art of Love--The Importance of the Preliminaries in Courtship--The Unskilful Husband Frequently the Cause of the Frigid Wife--The Difficulty of Courtship--Simultaneous Orgasm--The Evils of Incomplete Gratification in Women--Coitus Interruptus--Coitus Reservatus--The Human Method of Coitus--Variations in Coitus--Posture in Coitus--The Best Time for Coitus--The Influence of Coitus in Marriage--The Advantages of Absence in Marriage--The Risks of Absence--Jealousy--The Primitive Function of Jealousy--Its Predominance Among Animals, Savages, etc, and in Pathological States--An Anti-Social Emotion--Jealousy Incompatible With the Progress of Civilization--The Possibility of Loving More Than One Person at a Time--Platonic Friendship--The Conditions Which Make It Possible--The Maternal Element in Woman's Love--The Final Development of Conjugal Love--The Problem of Love One of the Greatest Of Social Questions.




CHAPTER XII.
THE SCIENCE OF PROCREATION.
The Relationship of the Science of Procreation to the Art of Love--Sexual Desire and Sexual Pleasure as the Conditions of Conception--Reproduction Formerly Left to Caprice and Lust--The Question of Procreation as a Religious Question--The Creed of Eugenics--Ellen Key and Sir Francis Galton--Our Debt to Posterity--The Problem of Replacing Natural Selection--The Origin and Development of Eugenics--The General Acceptance of Eugenical Principles To-day--The Two Channels by Which Eugenical Principles are Becoming Embodied in Practice--The Sense of Sexual Responsibility in Women--The Rejection of Compulsory Motherhood--The Privilege of Voluntary Motherhood--Causes of the Degradation of Motherhood--The Control of Conception--Now Practiced by the Majority of the Population in Civilized Countries--The Fallacy of "Racial Suicide"--Are Large Families a Stigma of Degeneration?--Procreative Control the Outcome of Natural and Civilized Progress--The