WHAT IS SEDUCTION?

In the first place, the word itself is unfortunately obscure, possessing an ambiguity which we must resolve before we can proceed. I have assembled an assortment of representative definitions, which follows:

Se-duce (se-dus) v.t.; SE-DUCED (se-dust); SE-DUCING (-dusing). [L. seducere, seductum; se-aside—ducere to lead. See DUKE.] I. To lead aside or astray, esp. from the path of rectitude or duty; to entice to evil; to corrupt.

“For me, the gold of France did not seduce.”

—Shakespeare

—Webster’s New International Dictionary

Seduce, v.t. Lead astray, tempt into sin or crime, corrupt; persuade (woman) into surrender of chastity, debauch.

—Concise Oxford Dictionary

Seduire: v.a. (du lat. seducere, conduire à l’écart. Se conj. comme conduire). Faire tomber en erreur ou en faute par ses insinuations, ses exemples.

—Larousse

Seduccion: Acciôn y effecto de seducir.

Seducfr: Engañar con are y maña, persuadir suavemente al mal.

—Enciclopedia Universal Illustrada.

Sedurre (Seduzione, n) Ridurre con vane o false apparenze al nostre valere e al male.

—Dizionario Universale delta Lingua Italiana. Petrocchi

Verfiihrung; in geschlechtlicher Beziehung ein Mädchen verführen.

—Deutsches Wörterbuch ... Heynes

It is obvious that these interpretations all suffer from a common fault: they fail to reflect the modern ramifications of the word. As a matter of fact, seduction is undergoing a great change.

The rudiments of the custom may be observed in the remnants of primitive society that we are able to study. Certain aboriginal tribes practise polyandry as an economic adjustment to the surplus of males.[[1]] With the development of civilization we find that adaptation tends to take the form of matriarchy, as in the United States.[[2]]

In the early days of our culture, seduction was practised upon certain species of recognized placer in the social system, and thus attained a certain grade of standardization. There were the seduced (always the feminine sex) and the seducers (masculine). It would appear that with the aforementioned rise of matriarchy this state of affairs is changing. The predatory instinct of humanity is not confined to the male. However, the line of reasoning suggested is too vast to follow in the limits of a small volume, and I mention it merely that the student may think about it at his leisure as he peruses the forthcoming chapters.

The extraordinary development of prostitution in the nineteenth century prefaced the present phase with a last manifestation of the old social attitude. Relying upon the assumption that the male seduces the female, we are faced in this modern world with the undeniable fact that the ranks of the seduced—i.e., the unprotected young women of society—are also shifting and changing. The orderly arrangement which we have been led to expect is breaking up. In former times our women were divided into two main classes, or groups:

(a) Professionals (those who made a vocation of being seduced)[[3]]

(b) Amateurs (those to whom the process of being seduced was a side line).[[4]]

However in late years there has grown up among us a third class, designated as (c), The only familiar term which has yet been applied was coined by Doctor Ethel Waters, who invented for them the descriptive appellation “freebies” in recognition of their independent stand in the matter of economics and convention. These revolutionists have formulated a philosophy which draws upon those of both older classes for its sources. To be freebie, seduction is neither a means of livelihood, as in the case of class (a), nor inevitable disgrace, as it is with class (b).[[5]]

It is undoubtedly this school of thought that influenced the Missouri jurist who, after a long and tiresome case of seduction, in which he found for the defendant, made a pronouncement from the bench to the effect that “There is no such thing as seduction.”[[6]] Although in my opinion this statement is somewhat extreme for our purposes, it serves to demonstrate the modern trend of sentiment.[[7]]

The modern social attitude had its prototype in the days of Cleopatra, where, as every classical scholar knows, the women of the upper classes exhibited an amazing independence. In Rome and Alexandria “the professional courtesans were gloomily complaining that their business had been hard hit by the fact that the ladies of fashion asked no payment for exertions of a similar nature.”[[8]]

Taking these facts into consideration, we must admit that in the light of modern improvement a new definition is required: one more in line with present day practice. For the purpose of this treatise let it be understood therefore that seduction is the process of persuading someone to do that which he or she has wanted to do all the time.

[1] The Sexual Life of Savages. B. Malinowski.
[2] Domestic Manners of the Americans. By Frances Trollope. New York; Dodd, Mead and Company, 1927.
[3] Recreations of a Merchant, or the Christian Sketch Book. By William A. Brewer. Boston. See also Hatrack by Herbert Asbury, The American Mercury, April, 1926; and The Brass Check. By Upton Sinclair. Pasadena.
[4] The Beautiful Victim: Being a Full Account of the Seduction and Sorrows of Miss Mary Kirkpatrick (National Police Gazette: 1862).
[5] The Green Hat. By Michael Arlen.
[6] Eddinger versus Thompson: Harris j.
[7] For further exposition of juridical aspects of the subject see Die Zivilrechtlichen Ansprüche von Frauenspersonen aus aus-serehelichem Beischlafe: Hans Hochstein.
[8] Personalities of Antiquity ... Arthur Weigall.