The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1915-05-21
To EREEpoMs-La THOUGHT EWoN;s WOMAN
% FdUsTTWIM HiRp,. FREEDOM OF SEX 8

similar illusion Of static labor and a
static thought the very days tell us It
cannot be.
The Third Freedom. q
There are three great freedoms
which humanity has needed. Two OF
them-freedom for labor and for,
thought-man has won. The third
freedom for sex-will be won by the,
women. And then We will not have
some of, the really indecent things
which masked by the conventions, we
have today. In the matter OF labor.
since man emerged from slavery, It
has been "a principle OF law that two
responsible persons may enter into
contract, and at any time IL they wish
to terminate that contract they may.
To inquire into the cause OF this
change OF desire Is beyond the turts.
.diction OF the court. Compare this
respectful and rational attitude in a
matter which concerns dollars and
cents which the pryingi Softfcious, yul-'
gar curiosity when two, persons who
have entered into a marriage contract
appear and ask to have the contract
ended!
at is part and parcel of all our
perverted ideas on sex-one of the
two elemental things in life-and 1t
has never been really studied until
now. Isn't that a commentary on man
and the world he has made! But all
that is going, because woman is 60
ing to see to-it that 1t goes. For
want OF teachers, we have turned to
poltcewoman; because we have not
understood, we have punished. Woman
will insist that sex morality belongs
to the field OF education and will not
longer sit by and allow the misalli.
ances Of men and women to be thrust
into the category Of crime.
knowledge Of sex matters has been
denied, and yet 1t is penal offence
to make mistake. IL the mistake
has resulted In marriage, 1t can be
corrected only by confessing crime
or proving one. Meanwhile other gen
erations come on, stumbling in the
ancient darkness, and the farce goes
on forever. But now woman is going
toiput an end to all THIS by seeing to 1t
that boys and glrls-yes, men and
women, too-are educated in sex mat
ters. Then the foolish, cramping
things which have grown up around
love will be done away with"
But II 1t is woman who knows
about love, why has she sat back and
let men make the rules Of the game
and why is she suddenly going to
make them herself?" asked.
Woman Just Beginning to Act.
woman has let man make the
world up to now. And he has made 1T
OF course, for himself. She has been
afraid to say what she wanted She
hasn't dared to say what she felt. and
desired. She has tried to make her
self over to be what man, thought she
ought to be. And as a result we don't
really know anything at all about
woman. We know nearly everything
about man. He has been talking for
centuries about himself. He has. writ
ten and painted and fought and ex-
pressed himself in every way. But
woman has been like one walking in
a fog. If man wanted to peer through
that fog and see what she really was,
he couldn't do it. And as matter of
fact he hasn't wanted to. He has
been too egotistic an animal for. that.
1.-THE change has been coming for
some time. Woman has begun to tell
what she wanted. Sometimes she has
been brave enough to tell what she
really was. And now the war is to
finish the work of freeing woman.
because, you see, there will be so
many more women than men,. The
women for the first time will have a
continent to do with as they choose"
But won't they have, so many other
things to attend to that they won't
be able to give all their time and
thought to matters relating to sex?"
Z "Ah, but women are growing wise,
and SO they are not going to initiate
men any more. Men have done other
things; the domain Of love has been
left for women. 1t Is their real bust
ness in life. That is why we may hope
soon to have decent arrangement of
life, where the real things and not the
laws made about it, are the things
which matter"