Another important modern factor, which must prove instrumental in modifying our sex morality, is the practice of artificially regulating conception. Whatever ideas one may entertain upon the ethical aspects of this question, no one can deny the increasingly frequent resort to prophylaxis of conception (as it may fitly be designated, the Greek term meaning "guarding against" or "warding off"). We are here concerned solely with the indirect bearing of this custom (for such it is rapidly becoming) upon the general status of sex relations.
By conferring upon woman immunity from the most dreaded sequel of illicit indulgence,
prophylaxis of conception undoubtedly tends to equalize the conduct of both sexes when
confronted by temptation. It also deals a weighty blow to a time worn defence of the double
standard, namely, that argument that while a mother naturally knows the child to be her
own, a husband can never be sure of his paternity, unless he has implicit faith in his wife. This
contention has very recently been touched upon in a successful play ("As a Man Thinks").
It is seriously to be feared, however, that further improvement and extension of prophylactic
measures directed against unwelcome conception, will consign this favorite argument of
reactionaries to the museum of ancient armor. And conception is being more and more
frequently regulated in all civilized countries. Even the triple alliance of clergy, emperor and
ex-president will not intimidate women into child bearing under unfavorable economic and
other conditions. But, of course, those who believe in governing conduct by preaching, will
continue to preach.
The third great factor promising to play a star role in revolutionizing our notions of sex
morality, is the modern movement of industrial reform. The coming abolition of present
glaring economic inequalities will be accompanied by a decay of our system of prostitution.
All are agreed that the driving power behind women who join the ranks of prostitutes is "the
most extreme poverty" (Lecky). With the extinction of wage slavery, the supply of recruits
to the army of white slaves must largely cease, and in the absence of prostitution, as we have
seen, our double standard loses its main support. Simultaneously, the removal of economic
stress, while facilitating marriage in general, will in particular encourage early marriages, and
thus greatly shorten the stormy period lying between puberty and wedlock, which is
prolonged beyond all wholesome limits at present, and in which so much sexual aberration
falls.
Such are the three principal agencies to be reckoned with in forecasting the future status
of sex morality. Slowly working out their effects, they promise to achieve what the repeated
onslaughts of past centuries have been powerless to accomplish. The impregnable fortress,
having weathered the hurricanes and battering rams of ages, is nearing the day of its downfall.
Where the crude and spectacular assaults failed, the invisible disintegrating forces of the soil
succeeded. They have undermined and honeycombed the foundation rock, and at last the
unyielding superstructure is doomed.
The fall of the current incongruous system of sex morality is assured. Equalization of
privileges accorded to the sexes has already set in and must continue, but whether it will work
upward by expanding woman's sphere of liberty, or downward by limiting man's freedom, is by no
means plainly apparent. That the coming order will not be founded on gross injustice and
sex-favoritism, may be safely predicted, but greater detail of prophecy is hazardous, causation
being here too complex for computation.
From the general laws of evolution it may be
inferred that the ultimate form of sex relations will not be reached by a sudden
metamorphosis, but by gradual approximations and compromises and occasional backslidings,
in obedience to the law of rhythm manifest thruout all phenomena. Action is ever followed
by reaction. After centuries of extreme discrimination against women in matters of individual
liberty, we are now witnessing the return swing of the pendulum, which threatens to carry us
to the opposite extreme of unlimited license.