TABOO AND GENETICS 231 



are clearly visualized, taking into account the 

 numerous ways in which the sexual emotions 

 can be modified, it is plain that these unconscious 

 factors which determine the choice of a mate 

 are not always conducive to a happy married 

 Ufe. 



Quite recently the tendency to homosexuality 

 has been emphasized as an important factor in 

 the psychological problem of sex. At the 

 International Conference of Medical Women 

 (New York, 1919) it was stated that homo- 

 sexual fixations among women are a frequent 

 cause of female celibacy and divorce. This view 

 was upheld by such authorities as Dr. Constance 

 Long of England, and other prominent women 

 physicians. Although a certain percentage of 

 female homosexuality is congenital, it is probable 

 that by far the largest part is due to a condition- 

 ing of the sexual impulse by the substitution of 

 members of the same sex as the erotic stimulus 

 in place of the normal response to the opposite 

 sex. 



This substitution is facilitated by certain 

 facts in the social life of women. The frequent 

 lack of opportunity to be with men during 

 adolescent school days, and a certain amount of 

 taboo on male society for the unmarried woman, 

 are in direct favour of the establishment of 

 homosexual reactions. There is also an increas- 

 ing sex antagonism, growing out of woman's 



