PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS 123 



physical functions connected with the biological life of Competitive 

 women'- 2, 3 . So long as there are two sexes it is unlikely J^iouTto 

 that women will, without detriment to their own sex- women - 

 psychology and physical attractions, which are so 

 essential to sexual selection, develop the masterful mind 

 of the male that may attain to the lofty height of genius 

 — a level to which it is doubtful whether the intellect of 

 any woman has ever yet ascended. Weininger 4 , indeed, 

 goes so far as to say that " a female genius is a con- 

 tradiction in terms ". The mental differences in the 

 male and female, as determined by Heymans 5 , Helen 

 Thompson 6 and others, in regard to acquisitiveness, 

 application — immediate and remote, personal and im- 

 personal — analysis and reasoned anticipation, all bear 

 out the view that the secondary mental characteristics 

 especially fit men to "advance beyond women in 

 a vocation requiring high intelligence for success ". 7 



The essential, higher psychological characteristics of Dependence 

 the normal woman have been indicated ; and to those th^mak? 

 mentioned may be added, as a logical sequence, dependence 

 on the male — dependence on his ability to do his special 

 share while she does hers — as a specifically feminine 

 characteristic, which is associated with an ardent desire 

 to be loved. 



Brief reference must now be made to the less idealistic Abnormal 

 characteristics of feminine mentality. I refer, of course, Attitudes in 

 to those reproductive instincts which women have in women- 

 common with the lower animals — instincts which, as 



1 Cf . Pearson, Karl, ' Woman and Labour,' Fortnightly Review, 

 May, 1894. 



2 Cf. Campbell, Janet, 'Women in Industry,' Rep. War Cabinet 

 Committee, 1919, pp. 218 et seq. 



3 This sentence appears to have been misunderstood. Surely it 

 requires little explanation. Man is strong : he hunts ; he fights ; he 

 enters into the clash of competition with other men to win a livelihood 

 for his wife and family. A woman is not fitted for this mode of life. 



4 Weininger, Otto, Sex and Character, Eng. Trans., 1906. 



5 Heymans, G., Die Psychologie des Frauen, 1910. 



6 Thompson, Helen B., Mental Traits of Sex, 2nd Edit. ? 1905. 



7 Ellis, Havelock, Man and Woman, 5th Edit., 1914. 



