We have to ask ourselves how these conditions act in selecting
women from the ranks of the unmarried; whether the transition proceeds
from random chance, or whether there is a selection in certain definite
directions, and if so, what directions? We have to ask whether different
women would pass into the ranks of the married if the conditions of
marriage were other than they are; and we shall assuredly arrive at the
principle that whatever changes are necessary in the conditions of
marriage, so that the best women shall become the mothers of the future,
must be and will be effected.
One has elsewhere argued at length that monogamy is the marriage form
which has prevailed and will be maintained because of its superior
survival-value--in other words, because it best serves the interests of
the future. But what of the individual in a country where there are
thirteen hundred thousand adult women in excess of men, which is the
case of Great Britain? Plainly, there is need for very serious criticism
of such an institution in such circumstances. Let the reader briefly be
reminded, then, that, as I have previously argued, Nature makes no
arrangement for such a disproportion between the sexes. More boys than
girls are indeed born, but from our infantile mortality, which is
largely a male infanticide, onwards, morbid influences are at work which
result in the disproportion already named.
Pages:
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277