The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1895-10-25
THE NEW WOMAN.
She RetrOgradeS and Hanks Back to a
State OF Savagory.

From the Portland Oregonian)
The new woman has found her Nordau
in James Wier, who turns upon her the
cold white light of science in an article in
the American Naturalist. The new wo-
man, Mr.. Weir discovers, is an old woman,
reVerslon to primitive type; not so
much a degenerate as a case of ataVism
Instead of an advanced type she really is
retrograde development. She harks
back to q state or Savagery.
II is well known that the political influ-
ence of women in savage tribes in a GER
tain low state OF social development is
much greater than in civilized societies.
This is due TO two inStitutionS-matria
and polyandry; that is, rule of the moth
ers and plurality of husbands. Matri-
archy is the necessary consequence of the
lax sexual relations of savage tribes. Pa
ternity being uncertain, inheritance and
descent must follow the female line. A
man knew that his brother was half, at
least OF the same blood as himself, but
he had no such assurance as to his father
or son. So relatives through the mother
alone inherited property and power, and
this gave the mothers great Importance in
the primitive state.
Polyandry resulted partly from this i'm
portance and partly from the capture of
women in weaker tribes by stronger enc
mics, leaving a few to serve as consOrts
for a large number of men. This again,
increased the political Importance of wo-
men and strengthened the matriarchate.
Mr.. Weir says: "Polyandry gives women
certain privileges which monandry denies
and she is not slow to seize on these pre-
negatives and to use them in the further
ance of her own welfare. Poyandry
originating from any cause whatsoever
Will always end in the establishment of a
ma triarchate, in which women are
either directly or indirectly at the head Of
the government" Among the matri-
archates still extant in the world is the
Nation of the Nairs in India, where the
women are allowed seven husbands. Mr.
Weir says again: THE Nair woman is a
power in the councils of the Nation; as a
matter of course, the greater her lovers
the higher her rank becomes and the
greater her influence. Here is female suf-
frage in its primitive FORM brought about
it is true, by environment, and not by
elective franchise"
1t is not only in her political aspect that
Mr. Weir discovers ataVistic features in
the new woman. In her physical peculiar
tiles and emotional divagations as well
she hanks back to the primitive type. He
invents new name for the creature who
wants to vote to change husbands fire.
quently, to throw off the common re-
straints of fully developed civilization,
and to have her rights generally She is
'viragint," which means he-woman:
that is to say, "all equal-rights women
have either given evidences of masculo-
femininity (viraginitY or have shown
conclusively that they are victims of psy-
cho-SeXuaI aberrancy," and the history
of every Viragint OF any note in the world
shows that she was either physically or
pSychically degenerate, or both Eliza
beth, the virgin Queen, was not so much a
virgin as was supposed. Catherine the
Great was dipsomaniac and a creature
Of unbounded and inordnate sexuality'
There are sentences in the article not so
quotable as these. The tendency of dis
passionate scientific study and philo-
be to take the romance out of the new
woman.