198 TABOO AND GENETICS 



and there is constant opportunity for relief 

 of repression for a price. It is here that the 

 demarcation between the man's and the 

 woman's world shows most clearly. It may 

 well be that the only solution of this problem 

 is through the admission of a new factor — the 

 " good " woman whom taboo has kept in 

 ignorance of a problem that is her own. If it 

 be true that the only solution for the double 

 standard whose evils show most plainly here 

 is a new single standard which has not yet been 

 found, then it is high time that we find what 

 that standard is to be, for the sake of the future. 

 The third dysgenic influence which works 

 under cover of the institutional taboo is akin 

 to the first in its ancient standards of " good " 

 and " bad." We are only recently getting any 

 standards for a good mother except a man's 

 choice and a wedding ring. Men's ideals of 

 attractiveness greatly complicate the eugenic 

 situation. A good matchmaker, with social 

 backing and money, can make a moron more 

 attractive than a pushing, energetic girl with 

 plenty of initiative, whose contribution to her 

 children would be equal or superior to that of 

 her mate. A timid, gentle, pretty moron, with 

 the attainment of a girl of twelve years, will 

 make an excellent match, and bring into the 

 world children who give us one of the reasons 

 why it is " three generations from shirt-sleeves 



