The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1914-01-01

Iectual development than the aver
age serious book, and that any at
tempt on their part TO acquire more
information, to attend lectures, 10
join debating clubs, tends to lower
their charm value in the eyes Of
mon. That point Of view they are
determined TO alter in the male.
They propose to kill the prejudice
by the homeopathic method: that
is to say, TO educate woman more
because man thinks she is already
too educated. Briefly, TO kill poison
by more poison. For this purpose
they intend TO throw open educa-
ton Of all grades to women as well
as TO men TO remove such differ
ences as exist in England, where
woman cannot obtain an Oxford or
Cambridge degree. They propose
to raise the school age of both sexes,
and TO not less than sixteen. The
object of this, so far as women are
concerned, is to prevent the exploit
tation Of little girls Of fourteen,
notably as domestic servants.
Some Feminists favor coeducation,
on the plan that il enables the sex
es TO understand each other, and
these build principally on the sue
cess of American schools. A more
violent section, however, desires TO
place the education Of girls entire
ly in the hands Of women, partly
because they wish to enhance the
sex war, and partly because they
consider that continual intercourse
between the sexes tends to deprive
ultimate love Of its mystery and
its charm. But both sections fully
agree that the broadest possible
education must be given to every
woman, so as to At her for contest
with every man.
So much, then, for the mental re-
volution and its eventual effects on
the position of women in the arts,
the trades, and the schools. In the
industrial section, especially, we
have already had an indication OF
the main line of the Feminist atti-
tude, a claim TO q right to choose.
This right is indeed the only one for
which the Feminists are struggling,
and they struggle for those obscure
reasons which lie at the root Of our
wish to live and to perpetuate the
race. II Is no wonder, then, that the
Feminists should have designs upon
the most fundamental Of human
institutions. marriage and mother
hood.
In the ms ain, Feminists are oppos-
ed to indissoluble Christian mar
riage.
But alterations in the law are
minor points by the side Of the
emotional revolution that is TO be
engineered. Roughly speaking, we
have to-day reasonable men and in
stinctive women. Such notably was
Ibsen's view: Woman cannot es-
cape her primitive emotions. But
he thought she should control these
inevtables so far as possible: AS
soon as woman no longer domin-
ates her passions she fails to a
chieve her objects The distinction
between reason and instinct, how
ever. is not so wide as it seems; for
reason is merely the conscious use
OF observation, while instinct is the
unconscious use Of the same faculty;
but as the trend Of Feminism Is to
make woman self conscious and sex
conscious, the Feminists can be said
broadly to be warning against in
stinct, and on the side Of reason.
They look upon instinct as indicat-
i've Of low mentality.
This does not mean that Feminism
is entirely a creed Of reason; indeed
a number of militant Feminists who
collected round the English paper,
The FreewOman. have as an article
Of their faith that one Of the chief
natural needs Of woman and society
is not less passion but more. II
| they wish to raise women's wages
to give them security, education
opportunity, il is because they want
to place them beyond material
temptations, to make them indepen-
dent Of a protector, so that nothing
may stand in the way OF the pas
sionate development Of their facu-
lities. To this effect, Of course, they
propose to introduce profound
changes in the conception of mar.
riage itself.
without committing themselves
to free union, the Feminists wish {,
loosen the marriage tie. and. the,
might not be averse to making mar
riage less easy. to raising, for in
stance, the marriage age for boti
sexes; but as they are well aware
| that in Tho ppasant stata of Inn.