SEX MORALITY AN ARGUMENT IN DEFENCE OF
THE SINGLE STANDARD OF SEXUAL MORALS.
THERE is much speculation, if not much discussion, upon the prevalent double standard
of sexual morals and the effects of continence upon continent individuals.
What is sexual continence? The general interpretation applied to this term is that
it means abstinence from coitus, especially in an individual capable of performing such an act
This, I think, is an utterly wrong interpretation. Physiologically and socially, sexual
continence means abstinence from those stimuli, received thru all the senses and engendered
in the mind, which result in libidinous turgescence of the organs of copulation.
There is an unscientific tendency to take out of the sexual functions the act of copulation
and treat it as an isolated entity. As a matter of fact, it is but one link in a chain of sexual
phenomena. This understanding is important because many persons are misled by the
conventional definition, and often do themselves physical harm. A young man and woman
who repeatedly indulge themselves in amorous caresses to the point of creating a high degree
of sexual excitement, and then part without coitus, may regard themselves as continent, but
in the light of physiology and pathology they are neither continent nor wise. The continence
which they have respected is a fetish. The greater should not be confused with the lesser.
The man who drinks brandy and soda, with the idea of going as far as he can, is not slaking his
thirst, he is getting drunk. Sexual continence is not compatible with sexual excitement.
This whole question of sexual love has been confused by breaking it up into sections. The
great and fundamental sexual joys, inherent in communion with an object of love, by
thought, word, look, or touch, stimulating with rapture the higher centers, and infusing the
mind with gratification, are all a part of the sexual chain, altho no libidinous impulses arise.
Very easily from one state may the stimulations pass on to the next, the next, and the next,
until the great sexual act is complete, and a babe lies nestled at its mother's breast. To start
the chain of impulses means that the end is already in sight. To interrupt the process of
sexual love is fraught with a sense of incompleteness, with dissatisfaction, and often with
danger. Continence is abstinence from sexual love and its greater stimuli.
The next definition which we should attempt is that of "single standard" and "double
standard". By the first, it is understood that certain sexual practices which are morally
justifiable for one sex are morally justifiable for the other sex. In the terms of our western
civilization, it is the male sex which is understood to be permitted the privileges which are
denied the female. In some of the older civilizations the female enjoyed the greater privileges.
It is my own opinion that there should be no privileged sex or class. The sexual morality
which governs the woman should be the same as that which governs the man. Privilege in
sex, society, or industry, is pernicious. There is no such a thing as one class having privileges
or advantages unless there is another class of whom advantage is taken. True democracy is
sex-wide as well as class wide.
From a scientific point of view, this belief is made tenable because, I think, the harm of
an incomplete sexual life is visited upon both the man and the woman equally, let us say,
tho the peculiarities of the two sexes make comparison impossible. Much is said of the libido
sexualis developing earlier and being stronger in the male, but we have no conclusive
information. We do only know that the male is more subjected to artificial stimulation; but
if a boy and girl grew up alone in an atmosphere free from such influences, it is conceivable
that their impulses would be similar.
The same may be said of the sexual impulses of men;
they are unduly stimulated by the artificial social conditions with which they are surrounded.
If the habits, privileges, ideals, and conceptions of life among women were the same as among
men, society would be overwhelmed with sexual promiscuity, for it is conceivable that women
would become in their sexual habits similar to men.
In this temperate zone puberty begins in the male at from ten to fourteen years and in the
female at from eleven to fourteen. There is not much difference between the two sexes in this
respect; the slightly earlier period in the male may be due to environmental influences.
The term "sexual morality" is also much employed. In discussing this subject, morality
should not be separated from the scientific viewpoint. There is a tendency to separate them,
as tho science had no business with morality. It has. The mistake which society has always
made has been to relegate the science of morals to an especially unscientific class. This
subject cannot be discussed apart from morality.
Society has too long made the mistake to
think of morals as something esoteric and immaterial. It is my view that morality without a
physical basis is not morality at all. There is no such thing as spiritual morality. If sexual
practices, marital or extra marital, do not cause harm to any individual, alive or yet unborn,
those practices are not immoral. No man can harm any extra natural omnipotence.
Immorality consists in harming people; and that means one's self as well as others. This is
decidedly a question inseparable from morals.