CONTENTS OF CHAPTER XI
Free love as a burning question of our time — Definition — Free love not equivalent to extra-conjugal sexual intercourse — Defamation of free love and sanction of extra-conjugal sexual intercourse by the coercive-marriage-morality — The immoral duplex morality for man and woman — Its momentous influence upon the sexual corruption of the present day — Free love as the only source of help — Actual realization of free love among the proletariat — Strengthening of the sense of responsibility in consequence of free love.
History of free love in the nineteenth century — William Godwin’s fight against coercive marriage — His free union with Mary Woolstonecraft — Shelley’s polemic against conventional sexual morality — John Ruskin on free love — Goethe’s marriage of conscience — His “Wahlverwandtschaften” (“Elective Affinities”) — The remarkable proposal for a temporary marriage in this romance — Perhaps based upon a Japanese custom — Malayan temporary marriage — Influence of Schlegel’s “Lucinde” — Karoline’s marriage wanderings — Free love in Jena and Berlin — Communistic-socialistic ideas regarding free love — Rétif de la Bretonne, Saint-Simon, Enfantin, and Fourier — George Sand’s “Jacques” — The “Es-geht-an-Idea” of the Swedish author Almquist — Schopenhauer’s fight against coercive marriage — His one-sided standpoint — His description of the disastrous effects of monogamic coercive marriage — His apology for concubinage — Criticism of his view of the rôle of women in marriage reform — His theory of tetragamy — First communication of a hitherto unpublished note of Schopenhauer’s on tetragamy — Criticism of this theory.
Free love based upon only-love, the watchword of the future — Bohemian love — Does not correspond to the ideal of free love — Importance of social and economic factors in the sexual relationships of the present day — Efforts for sexual reform — The literature of free love — Charles Albert’s communistic foundation of free love — Liberation of love from the dominion of the state and of capital — Ladislaus Gumplowicz — Bebel’s “Die Frau und der Sozialismus” (“Woman and Socialism”) — The psychologico-individual foundation of free love — Eugen Dühring — Edward Carpenter’s “Love’s Coming of Age” — His ideas regarding self-control and spiritual procreation — Ellen Key’s work, “Ueber Liebe und Ehe” (“Love and Marriage”) — Detailed analysis of this work — Her critique of nominal “monogamy” — Her idea of “spiritualized sensuality” — “Erotic monism” — The unity of marriage and love — Sexual dualism owing to coercive marriage and prostitution — General diffusion of erotic scepticism — Recognition of love as the spiritual force of life — Importance of relative asceticism — Love’s choice — Medical certificates of fitness for marriage — Immoral love — The right to motherhood — Preliminary conditions — Necessity for free divorce — Unfortunate marriages — Importance of divorce to children — New programme of the rights of children — Ellen Key’s new marriage law — Endowment of motherhood — Authorities for the protection of children — Division of the property of husband and wife — Discontinuance of the coercion to live together — Secret marriages — Conditions under which marriage is to be contracted — Divorce — Council of Divorce — Jury for the care of children — Sexual responsibility — “Marriages of conscience” — Examples from Sweden — Public notification of “free” unions — Legal recognition of “free” unions in Sweden — Increase in the number of “marriage protestants” — Importance of free love to the vital advance of humanity — General characterization of Ellen Key’s book — Its importance in connexion with sexual reform in Germany — Formation of “The Association for the Protection of Mothers” — Directors and committee of this society — Preliminary appeal and programme of the association — The periodical Mutterschutz — The formation of local groups — The “Umwertungs-Gesellschaft” (Revaluation Society) of the United States — Its characterization of modern marriage — The Berlin “Union for Sexual Reform” — Helene Stöcker’s “Love and Woman” — Conception of the sexual problem in the sense of Nietzsche — No revolution, but evolution and reform — Deepening of woman’s soul by means of the older love — The affirmation of life of the new love — The economic and social grounds for the necessity of social reform — Friedrich Naumann, Lily Braun, and others, on this subject — Increase in enforced abstinence from marriage — The “maintenance question” a crying scandal of our time — A characteristic letter — The radical evil of conventional morality — Insurance of motherhood — Homes for pregnant women and for infants — The rights of the “illegitimate” child — Suggestions regarding a statistical inquiry relating to free love and illegitimate offspring in the upper classes — Examples of celebrated personalities.