Sexual Ethics: A Study of Borderland Questions

by Michels,Robert

• ISBN13: 9780765807434
• ISBN10: 0765807432
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2001-03-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In his treatment of the issues raised by the movements of women for equal rights a century ago, Michels anticipated controversies and conflicts about which people care deeply today. He took a clear position in support of the desirability of equality between the sexes. In consequence, it remains relevant to current debates within feminism over equality and difference and the corresponding challenge to, and feminist critique of, social science arising from the (re) emergence of "difference" feminism. Sexual Ethics constitutes both an analysis of the "woman problem" and a document describing the wars between the sexes during this period and an important and overlooked piece of history of the classic sociological tradition. Michels observed that the national and economic conflicts in modern Europe were vast in scale and revealed sharply sensed injustices, and also that sex antagonisms are becoming more acute. He presented an argument, consistent with his theoretical position, about the seriousness of women's rights. Michels' discussions of sexuality, sexual morality, and the relations of the sexes had as its stimulus "the new sexual ethic" advocated by feminists. He pointed out that true equality required equality of rights to sexual liberty for women or chastity prior to marriage for men. Michels supported premarital chastity for men as an ideal, but he doubted that very many would practice it. Michels was virtually alone in the sociological tradition in seeking to illuminate the "struggle for love" between men and women by reference to the "erotic coquetry" in the sexual behavior of "lower animals." Despite his stand for equality of men and women in sexual matters, a recurrent theme in Sexual Ethics is that men are sexually more aggressive than women, at least in part due to social structures and cultural traditions. Michels advocated family planning (but opposed abortion) in the interests of marital and family happiness and economic well-being, especially for the poor. In his new introduction, Terry R. Kandal discusses Robert Michels' life. He explores, among other topics, Michels' treatment of the woman question and the reactions of Michels' contemporaries to the same question. He also discusses the feminist critique of social science, and the place of Michels in and the gender questions of our times. The book will be of particular interest to those interested in the history of relations between men and women as well as those interested in questions of biological determinism. Robert Michels (1876-1936) was author of Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy. Terry R. Kandal is a professor of sociology at California State University.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Transaction Edition	xi
Preface to English Edition	lxxiii
Preface	lxxv
Preliminary Observations	1	(14)
Rights and Limits of Erotic Literature
Foreign Terminology and its Function in the Language of Eroticism
Frankness of Expression as a means towards the Moralisation of the Erotic Life
Sexual Education	15	(11)
Dangers of Sexual Education
Need for Suitable Methods
The School or the Home?
Plain Answers to Plain Questions rather than Detailed Instruction
Campaign against Conventional Lies in Sexual Matters
PART I. GENERAL BORDERLAND PROBLEMS OF THE EROTIC LIFE
Hunger and Love	26	(16)
Necessity and Intensity of Sexual Love in a State of Nature
Urgency of Sexual Need as displayed in Popular Catchwords
Undiscriminating Character of the Sexual Impulse when Conventional Restraints are thrown aside
Ethical Limitations of the Right to Sexual Activity
The Primary Ethical Foundation of every Sexual Relationship must be the deliberate Consent of both Participants in the Love Act
Nature and Limits of Modesty	42	(21)
Origin of Modesty in the Fact that Primitive Woman was a form of Booty
The Sentiment of Shame not Instinctive but Acquired
Instinctive Shamelesness of Woman
Professional Shamelessness and Occasional Shame
Modesty as manifested in Different Classes of Society
Shame in the Sexual Act
The Isolation of the Love-Pair
PART II. BORDERLAND PROBLEMS OF THE EXTRACONJUGAL EROTIC LIFE
Comparative Sexual Psychology in Various Countries	63	(27)
International Character of Love
International Multiplicity of its Manifestations
Publicity of Love in Germany and Holland
Alcove-love in Italy
Contrast between Prostitution in Paris and Prostitution in Germany
Comradely Type of Prostitute
Sense of Honour and of Human Self-respect in the Grisette
Intermediate Stages of Sexual Morality in Woman	90	(12)
Unscientific Character of Sharp Delimitations in Matters of Sexual Morals
``Legitimate'' and ``Illegitimate'' Children
``Respectable'' Prostitution
Brothel Workrooms
Demiviergeisme in Public Dancing Saloons
The Prostitute as the ``Old Maid'' of the Proletariat	102	(18)
Rarity of the Old-maid Type in the Working Classes
Need for Early Marriage in the Proletariat
Difficulties of attaining to Marriage in the Middle and Upper Classes, and the consequent Need for Prostitution
Etiology of Prostitution
Ineffective and Effective Methods for the Abolition of Prostitution
PART III. PRE-CONJUGAL BORDERLAND PROBLEMS
Dualism of Woman in Primary Sexual Love	120	(14)
The Shame of the Act of Unclothing
The Duel of the Sexes
The Sadistic Note in the Sport of the Sexes
Woman's Indecision in Face of the Sexual Act
Consent Simulating Reluctance, and Refusal Implying Consent
Dangers of this Phenomenon to the Man and to the Woman
Paradise or the Penitentiary?
Psycho-Physics of the Act of Rape
Ignorance of Girls regarding the Nature and Intensity of the Male Sexual Impulse
Limits of Responsibility in Erotic Relationships
Contributory Culpability of the Violated Woman
Value and Limits of Chastity	134	(43)
Ethical Aspects of Extra-Conjugal Sexual Intercourse in Man and in Woman
Duplex Sexual Morality
Monogamy as a Sexual Ideal
Polygamy as the Fountain of Youth
Masculine Intactness and the Interest of the Community at large
Comparatively trifling Moral Value of the Men who remain Chaste To-day
Problem of the Relationship of Precedent Sexual Experiences to Love
Demand for Virginity in Women
Variations in the Erotic Needs in the Course of Human Life
Borderland Problems of Betrothal	177	(17)
Moral and Physical Disadvantages of Abrupt Transitions in the Sexual Life
The Maiden's Anxiety on the Wedding Night
Dangers of Free Love
Marriage as the Ideal
PART IV. BORDERLAND PROBLEMS OF THE CONJUGAL SEXUAL LIFE
Outward Manifestations of the Subjection of Woman in Marriage	194	(18)
Awakening of the Consciousness of the Rights of Woman
Analysis of a German Betrothal Card
Feudal and Masculine Supremacy
Woman's honorific Titles before and after Marriage
Woman's Change of Name on Marriage
The Mother and the Transmission of her Name to the Offspring
The Physical Basis of Love---The Monogamous Taming of Polygamous Tendencies	212	(20)
Sexual Character of Love
The Unwholesome Craving for a ``Pure'' Woman
The Progress of Sexual Love and its Conquests in the Physiological Domain
Habituation in the Amatory Life
Polygamous Tendencies of the Male
The Factor of Variety and its Rights
The Maintenance of Vivacity in the Sexual Relationships of Married Life as a Prophylaxis against Adultery
The Æsthetic Postulate
Conjugal Procreation: Its Rights and Its Duties	232	(33)
Beauty of the Paternal Instinct
Responsible Character of the Act of Procreation
Ethical Need for the Limitation of the Family: on account of Poverty; for the Preservation of Property
High Death-rate in Large Families
Destruction of Conjugal Happiness owing to the Decline of Erotic Capacity in Woman
Lack of Value to the Higher Civilisation of the ``Eternal Mother''
Prompt Procreation after Marriage and its Deleterious Consequences
Right to the Use of Artificial Means for the Prevention of Conception as a Logical Inference from the Right of the Individual to the Free Disposal of his own Person
Non-existence of the Unconceived Infant
Limitation of Population in Relation to the World Economy
Excess of Population and National Expansion
Population in Relation to Average Wealth
Conscious Procreation as a Criterion of Civilisation, and as the Unwitting Enemy of Jingoism
The Proposal that the Limiation of the Family should be effected by a Postponement of the Age at Marriage; its Refutation
``Prudential Restriant'' in Married Life as a Method for the Limitation of the Family
Sexual Love an end in itself
Preventive Intercourse and Crime
The Preventionof Conception purely a Technical and Mechanical Question
Conscious Procreation as a Factor in the Process of the Emancipation of Mankind from the Dominion of the Blind Forces of Nature
Certain Shoals in the Waters of Married Life---Intellectual Cultivation in Woman and Its Limits	265	(18)
Conflict between Profession and Motherhood
Conflict between Intellectual Cultivation and Maternal Duties
Conflict between the Woman as Mother and the Woman as Wife
Concentration of the Mother on the Child
Fatherhood and Motherhood in their Psycho-physiological Relationships to the Child
Motherhood as an Episode in Woman's Life
Superfluous Maternal Occupations
Necessity for the Care of Household and Children
Simplification of these Problems through the Collaboration of the Husband
Woman at the Parting of the Ways, where she has to choose between Husband and Child
Appendix to Chapter II., Part III	283	(6)
Index	289