Woman in Modern Society | Page 2

to the depths of degradation and
tragedy.
While this sex hunger belongs equally to men and women, it has come
to be associated with women, until we even speak of them as "the sex."

Hence, when we are discussing women, we are generally discussing the
sex interest common to both men and women, and this disturbs our
point of view. The fact is that sex interest is a common possession, that
the unit in human life, even more than among lower animals, is always
a male and a female bound together by love. Just as a body can function
in sleep or under the influence of a narcotic, for a time seemingly
independent of the mind, so a man or a woman can live for a time in
seeming independence of the opposite sex; but from any biological
point of view, such a separate existence of male and female is only a
transient effort. The half-life must find its mate or, after a few brief
days, it dies, leaving its line extinct. For all the larger purposes of life,
man is but a half-creature, and woman is equally a fragment.
It is, of course, conceivable that these two halves of the biological unit
might have been made, or might have developed, alike in everything
except the sexual function. At least they might have been as much alike
as men are alike. They might have been of the same size, possessed of
the same strength, of the same figures and gestures, complexion and
hair. Their voices might have been alike. They might have had the
same kinds of nervous systems, with the same desires, feelings, ideas
and tendencies. In the assertions and arguments born of intellectual,
industrial, social and political readjustments, it is often assumed that
this is the case. Differences are minimized or denied, and an attempt is
made to resolve the world of men and women into a world of human
beings capable of living together in mingled competitions and
coöperations, regardless of sex, except where the reproductive process
is considered. But this view is superficial; born of argument it breaks
down when confronted by any body of significant facts.
Again, it has happened that in the long struggle of developing
civilization, sometimes one and sometimes the other sex has gained
what has seemed an advantage over the other, just as in the
development of any man's individual life, his brain may gain a seeming
advantage over his stomach, so that it has more than its fair share of
nourishment and activity. Arguing from such a case, we might declare
the brain superior to the stomach in power, health and function; but in
the long accounting, all such temporary superiorities are wiped out. So
with men and women, seeming advantages for either are gained only at
the expense of the common life; and in the last analysis, each finds his

individual value only in the common life of the unit.
Let us try then to see what the special characteristics of women are,
ignoring as far as possible the accidental variations of individuals, and
the temporary advantages or disadvantages due to economic or
ideational forces, and all assertions of what would be if things were not
as they are.
While the whole matter of sex differences is in a state of unsettlement,
it seems very certain that males are more active and more variable than
females. This superabundant vitality appears in the males of the higher
animals in secondary sex characteristics, such as more abundant and
unnecessary hair and feathers, tusks, spurs, antlers, wattles, brilliant
colors and scent pouches. It also appears in mating calls, songs, and
general carriage of the body. Correspondingly, the female is smaller,
duller colored, and less immediately attractive than the male.
All the studies that have been made on men and women, also confirm
our ordinary observation that men are taller, heavier, stronger and more
active than women, and this holds true in all stages of civilization,
wherever tests have been made. In strength, rapidity of movement, and
rate of fatigue Miss Thompson's studies[2] show that men have a very
decided advantage over women. Thus in strength tests, the men in Yale
have double the power of women in Oberlin;[3] while our college
athletic records place men far ahead of women in all events requiring
strength and endurance.
[2] HELEN B. THOMPSON, Psychological Norms in Men and Women,
p. 167. University of Chicago Press, 1903.
[3] THOMAS, Sex and Society, p. 21. University of Chicago Press,
1907.
The differences in structure between men and women are such as to
correspond with the functional differences just stated. A woman's bones
are smaller in proportion to her size, than are those of a man. The body
is longer, the hips broader, and the abdomen more prominent.
Relatively to