yed by woman in courtship--Her passivity only
apparent--Female superiority with which sexuality began remains
in every courtship--The fierce hunger of the male--His
absorption by the female--Nothing can, or should, alter
this--The importance of woman's activity in love in connection
with her claim for emancipation--General observations and
conclusion.

CHAPTER III

GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION

"Sexually Woman is Nature's contrivance for perpetuating its
highest achievement. Sexually Man is Woman's contrivance for
fulfilling Nature's behest in the most economical way. She knows
by instinct that far back in the evolution process she invented
him, differentiated him, created him in order to produce
something better than the single-cell process can produce."--Don
Juan in Hell--_Man and Superman._

I.--_The Early Position of the Sexes_

The opinion of the superiority of the male sex has been so widely, and
without question, accepted that it is necessary to emphasise the exact
opposite view which was brought forward in the last chapter. From the
earliest times it has been contended that woman is undeveloped
man.[16] This opinion is at the root of the common estimation of
woman's character to-day. Huxley, who was in favour of the
emancipation of women, seems to have held this opinion. He says that
"in every excellent character the average woman is inferior to the
average man in the sense of having that character less in quantity or
lower in quality;" and that "the female type of character is neither
better nor worse than the male, only weaker." Few have maintained that
the sexes are equal, still fewer that women excel.[17] The general
bias of opinion has always been in favour of men. Woman almost
invariably has been accorded a secondary place, the male has been held
to be the primary and essential half of life, all things, as it were,
centering around him, while the female, though necessary to the
continuance of the race, has been regarded as otherwise
unimportant--in fact, a mere accessory to the male.

The causes that have given rise to such an opinion are not far to
seek. The question has been approached from the wrong end; we have
looked from above downwards--from the latest stages of life back to
the beginning, instead of from the beginning on to the end. We find
among the higher forms of life--the animals with which we are all
familiar--that the