The sexual question

by Auguste Forel

Mental Capacity of the Two Sexes.—The fundamental difference between the psychology of woman and that of man is constituted by the irradiations of the sexual sphere in the cerebral hemispheres, which constitute what may be called sexual mentality. We shall discuss this in the following chapters, for it constitutes the foundation of our subject. We are only concerned here with the correlative differences.

Adhering in a general way to the main definitions of psychology, we assert that from the purely intellectual point of view, man considerably excels woman in his creative imagination, his faculty for combination and discovery, and by his critical mind. For a long time this was said to be explained by the statement that women had not the opportunity of measuring their intelligence against that of men; but, thanks to the modern movement of the emancipation of women, this assertion becomes more and more untenable. It is so with regard to artistic creations, for women have at all times taken part in works of art. When certain people maintain that a few generations of activity suffice to elevate the intellectual development of women, they confound the results of education with those of heredity and phylogeny (vide Chapter II). Education is a purely individual matter and only requires one generation to produce its results. But neither mnemic engraphia, nor even selection can modify hereditary energies in two or three generations. Tied down hitherto partly by servitude, the mental faculties of woman will doubtless rise and flourish in all their natural power as soon as they are absolutely free to develop in society equally with those of men, by the aid of equal rights. But what does not exist in the hereditary mneme, that is to say in the energies of germs, inherited through thousands or millions of years, cannot be created in a few generations. The specific characters and consequently the sexual characters have quite another constancy than is believed by the superficial prattlers, who deafen us with their jargon on a question of which they only grasp the surface. There is no excuse, at the present day, for confounding hereditary correlative sexual characters with the individual results of education. The latter are acquired by habit and can only be inherited as such by an infinitesimal engraphia, possibly after hundreds of generations.

On the other hand woman possesses, from the intellectual point of view, a faculty of reception and comprehension as well as a facility of reproduction which are almost equal to those of man. In higher education at the universities the women I have had the opportunity of observing at Zurich for many years, show a more equal level than that of the men. The most intelligent men reproduce best and the most stupid men reproduce worse than the corresponding female extremes. I do not think one can say much more concerning the purely intellectual domain.

Artistic production confirms this opinion. Woman is here on the average much inferior as regards creation or production, properly so called, and even her best results are wanting in originality and do not open up new paths. On the contrary, as virtuosos, women compare well with men in simply reproductive art. There are, however, exceptional women whose productions are original, creative and independent. The philosopher Stuart Mill points out the intuitive gift of woman who, led by her individual observations, rapidly and clearly discovers a general truth, and applies it in particular cases, without troubling with abstract theories. This may be called the intuitive or subconscious judgment of woman.

In the domain of sentiment the two sexes differ very much from each other, but we cannot say that one surpasses the other. Both are passionate, but in different ways. The passions of man are coarser and less durable, and are only more elevated when associated with more original and more complex intellectual aims. In woman sentiment is more delicate and more finely shaded esthetically and morally; it is also more durable, at least on the average, although its objects are often of a mean and banal nature.

When man compares himself with woman he usually identifies himself, more or less unconsciously, with the highest male intellects, with the men of genius in art and science, and complaisantly ignores the crowd of idiots of his own sex! In the life of sentiment the two sexes may complement each other admirably; while man raises the height of the ideal and of objects to be attained, woman has the necessary tact to soften and refine the tones, and to adapt their shades to each special situation, by the aid of her natural intuition, where man risks spoiling everything by the violence of his passions and his efforts. This reciprocal influence should conduce to the best and highest harmony of sentiments in a happy sexual combination.

As regards will power, woman is, in my opinion, on the average superior to man. It is in this psychological domain more than in any other, that she will always triumph. This is generally misunderstood, because men have so far apparently held the scepter of an unlimited omnipotence; because by the abuse of brute force, aided by superiority of inventive genius, humanity has been hitherto led by strong masculine wills, and because the strongest feminine wills have been dominated by the law of the right of the stronger. But the unprejudiced observer is soon obliged to recognize that the directive will of the family is only, in general, represented externally by the master. Man parades his authority much more often than he puts it into practice; he lacks the perseverance, tenacity and elasticity which constitute the true power of will, and which are peculiar to woman. It is needless to say that I am only speaking of the average and that there are many women whose will power is feeble. But these easily become the prey of prostitution, which causes their disappearance. This is perhaps one of the causes which have strengthened by selection the will power in women. Man is impulsive and violent as regards his will power, but often inconstant and irresolute, yielding as soon as he has to strive persistently for a certain object. From these facts it naturally results that, on the average, it is the man in the family who provides the ideas and impulses, but the woman who, with the finesse of her tact and perseverance, instinctively makes the distinction between the useful and the harmful, utilizing the former and constantly combating the latter; not because she is fundamentally superior, but because she is more capable of dominating herself, which proves the superiority of her will power.

Nothing is more unjust than to disparage one sex relatively to the other. The parthenogenesis of the lower animals having ceased in the vertebrates, each sex is indispensable, not only to the preservation of species, but also to each conception or reproduction of the individual. Both are thus equivalent and belong to each other as the two halves of a whole, one being incapable of resisting without the other. Everything which benefits one of the halves benefits the other. If by the magic wand of a fairy, the male half or the female half of our humanity, such as it is to-day, was rendered capable and obliged to reproduce alone, men would soon degenerate owing to the weakness of their will combined with their sensual passions, and women from their incapacity to raise their intellectual level by means of creative ideas.

We need not dwell here on the numerous psychological peculiarities of woman, inherent in her capacity as mother, nor on those of man adapted to his muscular strength and to his capacity as protector of the family. These are derived from sexual differences which are mentioned in Chapter V. Nor need we describe correlative differences of less importance which are well known and which arise from those of which we have spoken or from direct sexual differences. They can be observed, on the one hand, in purely male reunions in saloons, smoking rooms and other similar places; on the other hand, in feminine circles of all classes, among the common people, among the fashionable, or even in philanthropic associations. On the average, woman is more artful and more modest; man coarser and more cynical, etc. After much personal experience, gained in societies in which the two sexes possess the same rights and are admitted to the same titles, I am obliged to declare that I have never found any confirmation (at least in the German-Swiss country) of the popular saying that gossip and intrigue are the special appanage of woman. I have found these two vices quite as often in man.