CHAPTER II 



HOW OUR INSTITUTIONS FIT INDIVIDUAL SEX 



PSYCHOLOGY 



Social institutions controlling sex activities based on the 

 assumption that all women are adapted to as well as 

 specialized for reproduction ; Neurotic tendencies 

 which unfit women for marriage — the desire for domina- 

 tion ; Sexual anaesthesia another neurotic trait which 

 interferes with marital harmony ; The conditioning of 

 the sexual impulse to the parent ideal and the erotic 

 fetish as factors which determine mating ; Homosexual 

 tendencies and their part in the sex problem ; The 

 conflict between the desire for marriage and egoistic 

 ambitions ; The social regulations from the viewpoint 

 of individual psychology. 



The institutionalized forms of social control 

 into which the old sex taboos have developed 

 impose upon all members of the group a uniform 

 type of sexual relationship. These socially 

 enforced standards which govern the sex life 

 are based upon the assumption that men and 

 women conform closely to the masculine and 

 feminine ideals of tradition. The emphasis is 

 much more strongly placed on feminine con- 



220 



