336 



THE ABNORMAL MAN. 



Society's Biased 

 Verdict. 



The Double 



Standard 



Reversed, 



An Untenable 

 Proposition. 



excuse a man guilty of a greater sin? Why in- 

 vite into our homes, our fraternal societies and 

 pur churches the prodigal son who seeks to re- 

 turn, and then close the door against the wayward 

 daughter? Why should Christian men and 

 women give their support, social and political, to 

 men whose habits of life are such as would com- 

 pletely ruin any woman and make it impossible 

 for her to command the respect of decent people ? 

 Why should we, a Christian nation, longer tol- 

 erate this monster of the dark ages? 



Men would not allow a reversal of the double 

 standard. No self-respecting man would seek 

 the company of young ladies who were defiled 

 by narcotics and the associations of the bar-room. 

 What man would accept as a wife one who had 

 known the dissipations common to many men 

 who deem themselves fit candidates for marriage ? 

 Who would have as the mother of his children a 

 reformed woman of the world? Men argue that 

 promiscuous associations in early life make them 

 better husbands, but where is there a man that 

 would favor his wife having a similar training? 

 Think of a woman brutalized by rum, steeped in 

 narcotics, who spends her evenings in places of 

 vice running for office and being elected by the 

 franchise of respectable citizens ! How untenable 

 are these propositions ! Why ? Solely because of 

 the double standard in our minds. These intol- 

 erable conditions would be no worse for women 

 than they are for men. Were they true, what 

 then would become of the home, society and the 

 state? But for the temperance and purity of 

 womanhood, our civilization and all it affords 



