122 THE SEX-COMPLEX 



on the evidence of the facts recorded, constitute the 

 essential attributes of feminine mentality. 



Relative Many philosophers, and among the most recent 



psychology?* "that precocious thinker Otto Weininger 1 , have placed 

 the character of woman in a false light. They have 

 taken it for granted that the natural and proper absorp- 

 tion of the female in her reproductive career is a vastly 

 inferior obligation to the more diverse and intellectual 

 secondary reproductive functions, as I have called 

 them, of the male. 



It is probably this attitude towards the feminine 

 r&le in nature that has led to attempts at the so-called 

 6 emancipation ' of women. But surely we must look 

 upon the patient and absorbing work of the female as a 

 far greater self-sacrifice, and consequently more altruistic 

 especially when carried out in the present day amid 

 all the distractions of modern life, and amid the in- 

 tellectual temptations offered at the expense of the 

 normal physical processes than was the more purely 

 animal acquiescence in the functions of reproduction 

 which existed in a more primitive era. 



ideal attitude The ideal attitude of mind of the modern woman 

 Woman. 111 towards reproduction is that in which the intellect 

 is carefully cultivated arid trained both in the higher 

 knowledge and in the most essential feminine pursuits ; 

 the former has for its object the progress of evolution 

 in general and the advancement of the offspring towards 

 the same end ; while the latter makes for an increase in 

 the capability of the individual mother to attend 

 carefully to the environment of her child. A normal 

 woman, therefore, would not exploit her intellect 

 for her individual gain : it is for the benefit of her 

 descendants. 



Competitive It is reasonable to believe from the evidence at our 



jurious to disposal that the application of feminine talents to the 



competitive work in which men are engaged, which is 



strictly speaking an evolutionary form of the hunter's 



craft, is adventitious and injurious to the psychical and 



1 Weininger, Otto, Sex and Clmracter, Eng. Trans., 1906, 



