The Sexes in Science and History / An inquiry into the dogma of woman's inferiority to man

by Eliza Burt Gamble

Woman’s rapid perceptions, and her intuitions which in many instances amount almost to second sight, indicate undeveloped genius, and partake largely of the nature of deductive reasoning; it is reasonable to suppose therefore that as soon as she is free, and has for a few generations enjoyed the advantages of more natural methods of education and training, and those better suited to the female constitution, she will be able to trace the various processes of induction by which she reaches her conclusions. She will then be able to reason inductively up to her deductive conceptions.

The worthlessness of Mr. Darwin’s comparison between men and women in performing the various activities of life is already clearly apparent. Although less than half a century has elapsed since The Descent of Man was written women are already successfully competing with men in nearly all the walks of life both high and low, and this too notwithstanding the fact that these occupations have heretofore been regarded as belonging exclusively to men. We have seen that Mr. Darwin mentions music as a vocation in which man’s superiority over woman is manifested, yet already in the United States, there is not one male musician who would be willing to match his skill against that of any one of the four best woman performers.

It is a well understood fact that neither individuals nor classes which upon every hand have been thwarted and restrained, either by unjust and oppressive laws, or by the tyranny of custom, prejudice, or physical force, have ever made any considerable progress in the actual acquirement of knowledge or in the arts of life. Mr. Darwin’s capacity for collecting and formulating facts seems not to have materially aided him in discerning the close connection existing at this stage of human progress between the masculinized conditions of human society and the necessary opportunities to succeed in the higher walks of life; in fact, he seems to have forgotten that all the avenues to success have for thousands of years been controlled and wholly manipulated by men, while the activities of women have been distorted and repressed in order that the “necessities” of the male nature might be provided for. Besides, it seems never to have occurred to him that as man has still not outgrown the animal in his nature, and as the intellectual and moral age is only just beginning to dawn, the time is not yet ripe for the direct expression of the more refined instincts and ideas peculiar to the female organism, and, as thus far, only that advancement has been made which is compatible with the supremacy of the lower instincts, woman’s time has not yet come.

Although women are still in possession of their natural inheritance, a finer and more complex organism comparatively free from imperfections, and although, as a result of this inheritance, their intuitions are still quicker, their perceptions keener, and their endurance greater, the drain on their physical energies, caused by the abnormal development of the reproductive energies in the opposite sex, has, during the ages of man’s dominion over her, been sufficient to preclude the idea of success in competing with men for the prizes of life. Although an era of progress has begun, ages will doubtless be required to eradicate abuses which are the result of constitutional defects, and especially so as the prejudices and feelings of mankind are for the most part in harmony with such abuses.

If we examine the subject of female apparel, at the present time, we shall observe how difficult it is to uproot long-established prejudices which are deeply rooted in sensuality and superstition; and this is true notwithstanding the fact that such prejudices may involve the comfort and even the health of half the people, and seriously affect the welfare of unborn generations. An examination of the influences which have determined the course of modern fashions in woman’s clothing will show the truth of this observation.

Of all the senses which have been developed, that of sight is undoubtedly the most refined, and when in the human species it is cultivated to a degree which enables its possessor to appreciate the beautiful in Nature and in Art, we are perhaps justified in designating it as the intellectual sense. In point of refinement, the sense of hearing comes next in order, yet among creatures as low in the scale of being as birds, we find that females not only appreciate the beautiful, but that they are charmed by pleasing and harmonious sounds, and that if males would win their favour it must be accomplished by appeals through these senses to the higher qualities developed within them.

Although the female of the human species, like the female among the lower orders of life, is capable of appreciating fine colouring, and to a considerable extent the beautiful in form, the style of dress adopted by women is not an expression of their natural ideas of taste and harmony. On the contrary, it is to Sexual Selection that we must look for an explanation of the incongruities and absurdities presented by the so-called female fashions of the past and present. The processes of Sexual Selection, which, so long as the female was the controlling agency in courtship, worked on the male, have in these later ages been reversed. For the reason that the female of the human species has so long been under subjection to the male, the styles of female dress and adornment which have been adopted, and which are still in vogue, are largely the result of masculine taste. Woman’s business in life has been to marry, or, at least, it has been necessary for her, in order to gain her support, to win the favour of the opposite sex. She must, therefore, by her charms, captivate the male.

With the progress of civilization and since women as economic and sexual slaves have become dependent upon men for their support, no male biped has been too stupid, too ugly, or too vicious to take to himself a mate and perpetuate his imperfections. This unchecked freedom of the male to multiply his defects is responsible for present conditions.

As for thousands of years women have been dependent on men not only for food and clothing but for the luxuries of life as well, it is not singular that in the struggle for life to which they have been subjected they should have adopted the styles of dress which would be likely to secure to them the greatest amount of success. When we remember that the present ideas of becomingness or propriety in woman’s apparel are the result of ages of sensuality and servitude, it is not remarkable that they are difficult to uproot, and especially so as many of the most pernicious and health-destroying styles involve questions of female decorum as understood by a sensualized age.

Mr. Darwin calls attention to the fact that women “all over the world” adorn themselves with the gay feathers of male birds. Since the beautiful plumage of male birds has been produced according to female standards of taste, and since it is wholly the result of innate female ideas of harmony in colour and design, it is not perhaps remarkable that women, recognizing the original female standards of beauty, should desire to utilize those effects which have been obtained at so great an expenditure of vital force to the opposite sex, especially as men are pleased with such display, and, as under present conditions of male supremacy, the female of the human species is obliged to captivate the male in order to secure her support.