COURTSHIP IN MAN 49 



runs away from him, then stops until he is close to 

 her, then once more flees, but never far enough to 

 be out of his reach. It is this very coyness that, by 

 prolonging the preliminaries of mating, serves as an 

 allurement to the male, and enhances the sexual 

 ardour in both. 



Now in human courtship we find coquetry a prac- 

 tically constant accompaniment of woman's behaviour 

 towards man. This is often considered a peculiar 

 failing of the female sex. Yet, when viewed from 

 the biological standpoint, it is seen to be nothing else 

 than the development of female coyness, which is a 

 natural sexual characteristic and serves the same 

 purpose in Man as in animals. It is the playfulness 

 in human courtship that retards the final act of 

 mating. It thus allows occasion for the interplay 

 between youth and maiden of the erotic emotions, 

 which, with the advance of civilization, have become 

 more and more enriched, refined, and spiritual. 

 Indeed, it may be said without exaggeration that 

 without this amorous play, due to modesty, love 

 might never have come into being. 



Another source of modesty is furnished by the 

 idea of sexual taboo. It has already been mentioned 

 that taboos are connected with special events of life, 

 and particularly with sexual phenomena. Now we 

 find that primitive man, in his ignorance, dreads all 

 the manifestations of sexual life as something un- 

 canny and holy, and takes special precautions during 

 sexual acts. There develops a sort of reverence for 

 these taboos, which ultimately become stereotyped 

 as forms of modesty, and often persist long after their 

 origin has been forgotten. These forms are preserved 



4 



