I realize that all these sex problems are complicated. Every case is individual, and in no two cases can you give exactly the same explanation. But it is my thesis that whatever the cause, if you trace down the causes of the cause, you will find economic inequality and class privilege. It is evident in the lives of the rich, and it is even more evident in the lives of the poor, who are not permitted the luxury of pretense1. The poor live in a world dominated by forces which they seldom understand, subjected to enormous pressure which crushes and destroys them, without their being able to see it or touch it. In the world of the poor there is first of all poverty; there is insecurity of employment and insufficiency of wage, and the daily and hourly terror of starvation and ruin. Above this is a world of power and luxury, a wonderland of marvels2 and thrills, seen through a colored mist of romance. The working-class girl, born to drudgery4 and perpetual child-bearing, has a brief hour in which her cheeks are red and her beauty is ripe; and out of the heaven above her steps a male creature panoplied5 in the armor of ruling class prestige—that is to say, a dress suit—and scattering6 about him a shower of automobile7 rides, jewelry8 and candy and flowers. She opens her arms to him; and then, when her brief hour of rapture9 is past, she becomes the domestic drudge3 of some workingman, or else the inmate10 of a brothel.
It is a custom of social workers and church people, seeking data about these painful subjects, to interview numbers of prostitutes, and question them as to the causes of their "fall"; so you read statistics to the effect that seventeen per cent of prostitution has an economic cause, that twenty-six per cent is caused by love of finery, etc. These pious11 people, employed by the ruling class to maintain ruling class prestige by demonstrating that wage slavery has nothing to do with white slavery, attain12 their purpose by restricting the word "economic" to food and shelter; forgetting that young girls do not live by bread alone, but also by ribbons, and silk stockings, and moving picture shows, and trips to Coney Island, and everything else that gives a momentary13 escape from drudgery into joy. We all understand, of course, that the daughters of the rich are entitled to joy, and we provide them with it as a matter of course; but the daughters of the poor are supposed to work in a cotton mill ten or eleven hours a day from earliest childhood, and the joy we provide for them is vicarious. As a woman poet sets it forth14:
"The golf links lie so near the mill
That almost every day
And see the men at play."
Some years ago my wife and I were invited to meet Mrs. Mary J. Goode, a keeper of brothels in the "Tenderloin," who had revolted against the system of police graft17, and had exposed it in the newspapers. My wife questioned her closely as to the psychology18 of people in her business, and she insisted that the majority of prostitutes were not oversexed, nor were they feeble minded; they were women who had loved and trusted, and had been "thrown down." As Mrs. Goode phrased it, they said to themselves: "Never again! After this, they'll pay!"
As a matter of fact, the causes of prostitution are so largely economic that the other factors are hardly worth mentioning. The sale of sex is unknown in savage19 society, and would be unknown in a Socialist20 society. If here and there some degenerate21 individual would rather sell her sex than do her share of honest labor15 in a free and just world, such an individual would become a patient in the psychopathic ward22 of a public hospital. Economic forces drive women to prostitution, first, by direct starvation, and second, by teaching them money standards of prestige, the ideal of living without working, which is the heaven achieved by the rich and longed for by the poor. Contributory to the process are policemen, politicians, and judges who protect the property of the rich, and prey23 upon the disinherited; also newspaper editors, college professors, priests of God and preachers of Jesus, who attribute the social evil to "original sin," or the "weakness of human nature."
So far as men are concerned, economic forces operate by three main channels; late marriage, loveless marriage, and drudgery in wives. You will find patronizing and maintaining the brothels the following kinds of males; first, young boys who have been taught that it is "manly24" to gratify their sex impulses; second, young men who take it for granted that they cannot afford to marry; third, old bachelors who have looked at marriage and decided25 that it is not a paying proposition; fourth, married men who have been picked out for their money, and have come to the conclusion that "good women" are necessarily sexless; and finally, married men whose wives have lost the power to charm them by continuous childbearing, and the physical and nervous strain of domestic slavery.
This latter applies not merely to the wives of the poor. It applies to members of the middle classes, and even of the richer classes, because the job of managing many servants is often as trying as the doing of one's own work. To explain how domestic drudgery is caused by economic pressure would require a little essay in itself. The home is the place where the man keeps his sex property apart under lock and key, and it is, therefore, the portion of our civilization least influenced by modern ideas. Women still drudge in separate kitchens and nurseries, as they have drudged for thousands of years. They cook their dinners over separate fires, and have each their own little group of children, generally ill cared for, because the work is done by an untrained amateur. Moreover, the prestige of this home has to be kept up, because the social position and future prosperity of the man depend upon it. The children must be dressed in frilled and starched26 clothing, which makes them miserable27, and wears out the tempers and pocketbooks of the mothers. Costly28 entertainments must be given, and twice a day a meal must be prepared for the father of the family—all good wives have learned the ancient formula for the retention29 of masculine affections: "Feed the brute30!" Living in a world of pecuniary31 prestige, every particle of the woman's surplus energy must go into some form of ostentation32, into buying or making things which are futile33 and meaningless. In such a blind world, dazed by such a struggle, women become irritable34, they lose their sex charm, they forget all about love; so the husband gives up hoping for the impossible, accepts the common idea that love and marriage are incompatible35, and adopts the formula that what his wife doesn't know will not hurt her.
And step by step, as economic evolution progresses, as vested wealth becomes more firmly established and claims for itself a larger and larger share of the total product of society—so step by step you find the pecuniary ideals becoming more firmly established, you find marriage becoming more and more a matter of property, and less and less a matter of love. In European countries there may still be some love marriages among the poor, but in the upper classes there is no longer any pretense of such a thing, and if you spoke36 of it you would be considered absurd. In countries of fresh and naive37 commercialism, like America, the women select the men because of their money prestige; but in Germany, the process has gone a step further—the men are so firmly established in their class positions that they insist upon being bought with a fortune. The same is true when titled foreigners condescend38 to visit our "land of the dollar." They will stoop to a vulgar American wife only in case her parents will make a direct settlement of a fortune upon the husband, and then they take her back home, and find their escape from boredom39 in the highly cultivated mistresses of their own land.
Everywhere on the Continent, and in Great Britain also, it is accepted that marriages are matters of business, and only incidentally and very slightly of affection. The initiative is commonly taken, not by the young people, but by the heads of the families. Preliminary protocols40 are exchanged, and then the family solicitors41 sit down and bargain over the matter. If they were making a deal for a carload of hams, they would be governed by the market price of hams at the moment, also by the reputation of that particular brand of ham; and similarly, in the case of marriage, they are governed by the prestige of the family names, and the market price of husbands prevailing42. Always the man exacts a cash settlement, and in Catholic countries he becomes the outright43 owner of all the property of his wife, thus reducing her completely to the status of a chattel44. If any young couple dares to break through these laws of their class, the whole class unites to trample45 them down. One of the greatest of English novelists, George Meredith, wrote his greatest novel, "The Ordeal46 of Richard Feverel," to show how, under the most favorable circumstances, the union of a ruling class youth with a farmer's daughter could result in nothing but shipwreck47.
The country in which the property marriage is most firmly established is probably France; and in France the rights of nature are recognized in a kind of supplementary48 union, which constitutes what is known as the "domestic triangle," or in the French language, "la vie trois." The young girl of the French ruling classes is guarded every moment of her life like a prisoner in jail. She is sold in marriage, and is expected to bear her husband an heir, possibly two or three children. After that, she is considered, not under the law or by the church, but by the general common sense of the community, to be free to seek satisfaction of her love needs. Her husband has mistresses, and she has a lover, and to that lover she is faithful, and in her dealings with him she is guided by an elaborate and subtle code. Practically all French fiction and drama deal with this "life in threes," and the complications and tragedies which result from it. I name one novel, simply because it happens to be the last that I myself have read, "The Red Lily," by Anatole France.
Of course, every human being knows in his heart that this is a monstrous50 arrangement, and there are periods of revolt when real feeling surges up in the hearts of men, and we have stories of true love, young and unselfish love, such for example as Goethe's "Hermann and Dorothea," or St. Pierre's "Paul and Virginia," or Halévy's "L'Abbe Constantin." Everybody reads these stories and weeps over them, but everybody knows that they are like the romantic shepherds and shepherdesses of the ancient régime; they never had any existence in reality, and are not meant to be taken seriously. If anybody attempts to carry them into action, or to preach them seriously to the young, then we know that we are dealing49 with a disturber of the foundations of the social order, a dangerous and incendiary villain51, and we give him a name which sends a shudder52 down the spine53 of every friend of law and order—we call him a "free-lover."
I see before my eyes the wretch54 cowering55 upon the witness stand, and the virtuous56 district attorney, who has perhaps spent the previous night in a brothel, pointing a finger of accusing wrath57 into his face, and thundering, "Do you believe in free love?" The wretch, if he is wise, will not hesitate or parley58; he will not ask what the district attorney means by love, or what he means by freedom. Here in very truth is a case where "he who hesitates is lost!" Let the wretch instantly answer, No, he does not believe in free love, he believes in love that pays cash as it goes; he believes in love that investigates carefully the prevailing market conditions, decides upon a reasonable price, has the contract in writing, and lives up to the bargain—"till death do us part." If the witness be a woman, let the answer be that she believes in slave love; that she expects to be sold for the benefit of her parents, the prestige of her family and the social position of her future offspring. Let her say that she will be a loyal and devoted59 servant, and will never do anything at any time to invalidate the contract which is signed for her by her parents or guardians60.
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1
pretense
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| n.矫饰，做作，借口 | |
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2
marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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3
drudge
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| n.劳碌的人；v.做苦工，操劳 | |
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drudgery
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| n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作 | |
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5
panoplied
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| adj.全套披甲的，装饰漂亮的 | |
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6
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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7
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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10
inmate
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| n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人 | |
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11
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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12
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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13
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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14
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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15
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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16
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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17
graft
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| n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接 | |
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18
psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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19
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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20
socialist
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| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
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21
degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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22
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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23
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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24
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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25
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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26
starched
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| adj.浆硬的，硬挺的，拘泥刻板的v.把（衣服、床单等）浆一浆( starch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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28
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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29
retention
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| n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力 | |
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30
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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31
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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32
ostentation
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| n.夸耀，卖弄 | |
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33
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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34
irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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35
incompatible
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| adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的 | |
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36
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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37
naive
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| adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的 | |
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38
condescend
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| v.俯就，屈尊；堕落，丢丑 | |
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39
boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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40
protocols
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| n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划） | |
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41
solicitors
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| 初级律师( solicitor的名词复数 ) | |
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42
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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43
outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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44
chattel
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| n.动产；奴隶 | |
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45
trample
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| vt.踩，践踏；无视，伤害，侵犯 | |
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46
ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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47
shipwreck
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| n.船舶失事，海难 | |
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48
supplementary
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| adj.补充的，附加的 | |
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49
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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50
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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51
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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52
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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53
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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54
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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55
cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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56
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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57
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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58
parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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59
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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60
guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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