178 TABOO AND GENETICS 



appearance of this taboo on woman from the 

 society of to-day. 



A modem institution reminiscent of the 

 men's house of the savage races, where no 

 woman might intrude, is the men's club. This 

 institution, as Mr Webster has pointed out (2), 

 is a potent force for sexual solidarity and con- 

 sciousness of kind. The separate Hving and 

 lack of club activity of women has had much to 

 do with a delay in the development of a sex 

 consciousness and loyalty. The development 

 of women's organizations along the lines of the 

 men's clubs has been a powerful factor in 

 enabling them to overcome the force of the 

 taboos which have lingered on in social Ufe. 

 Only through united resistance could woman 

 ever hope to break down the barriers with which 

 she was shut off from the fullness of Ufe. 



Perhaps the property taboo has been as 

 persistent as any other of the restrictions which 

 have continued to surround woman through the 

 ages. Before marriage, the girl who is " well 

 brought up " is still carefully protected from 

 contact with any male. The modern system of 

 chaperonage is the substitute for the old 

 seclusion and isolation of the pubescent girl. 

 Even science was influenced by the old sym- 

 pathetic magic view that woman could be 

 contaminated by the touch of any other man 

 than her husband, for the principle of telegony, 



