Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-12-28
DOROTHY DIX
TELLS OF
EQUALITY
BY DOROTHY DIX

NJ CTHlNG ever gives my funny
VI bone such a good, hard jolt as
hearing people argue about
the equality of the sexes, and grave
ly contending that men and women
should be judged by the same stand
ard.
They should be. of course, but
they never will be, and there never
will be any equality between the
sexes until nature and the custom
of centuries are altered.
Nature begins it by making Wom-
an of a Trailer physique than man,
and laying on her the burden OF
bearing the race. Then she throws
in all the odds and ends. of nerves
that she happens to have lying
about handy, and having added
these to all the ills that masculine
flesh is heir to, and added few
specific complaints Of her own, 1t
chucks a woman out into the world
and says:
"There, I've done my worst by
YOU. Now go out and fight under bat
tie of life. I've done everything L
could do to unfit you for it, and il
YOU win out it isn't my fault"
Then age-long convention takes
! up the work. 1t begins by demand
ing that every woman must be beau
tiful though ugly, that she must
be slim though born in the feather
bed class, and that no matter how
busy she is, or how little money she
has to spend, she must dress like
a manikin.
A man has the privilege of being
as ugly as nature made him, ana
provided he is clean, and neat, no
Nbodv cares how he dresses. The fact
that Jim Jones is homely enough 10
ston the clock doesn't keep him from
getting a good job if he is a cracker
lack salesman, and we would all be
mortified TO hear that Mrs. Jones
had lost interest in her perfectly
good husband because he had gotten
fat and bald.
But let a middle-aged woman, who
is either too fat, or too thin, SLICK
her hair back into a comfortable
little tight wad at the back of her
head; let her put on big, nat SHOES
and a shabby old dress, let her nose
be guiltless of powder, and her
cheeks have no acquaintance with
the rouge pot, and let her thus &C
coutered start forth to get a job in
a business office.
She might have broken the type
writing record, and be a lightning
calculator, and have the financial
genius of Hetty Green, but she
would never get past a single of1ce
door.
Nor does the homely woman fare
much better in the family circle, for
do we not all secretly admit that
there are extenuating circumstances
in the case of the man who wanders
from the straight and narrow path
if his wife has permitted herself to
get fat. and quit marching her
hair. and manicuring her nails?
Convention gives men alone the
privilege of saying what they really
think. 1t is almost grotesquely hui
morous that the sex which does the
most talking, never dares tell the
plain. unVarnished truth, or express
it's views on any vital subject.
Men may criticize each other as
much as they like, they may en-
gage in fierce business rivalries, and
call each other every opprobrious
name under the sun, and not voice
raised in protest, but unless every
woman is fulsomely fattering about
every other woman, she is regarded
as a spiteful old cat. Yet why should
a woman praise her enemies, and
pretend to be filled with admiration
Of other women who are ugly, and
dull, and stupid, any more than a
man should be a universal admirer
of every member of his sex?
Convention gives man alone the
right to use any common sense in
judging his efllow man. When a
man commits cold-blooded murder,
or is a sneak thief, nobody expects