Page:Love in Hindu Literature.djvu/86

?2 VI. THE DIGNITY OF SEX. legislation are being laid anew. The dignity of sex, however, is not necessarily dependent on the conclusions of this new branch of socio-natural philosophy.

The Rousseaus of the " Rights of Woman " have declared that the sexes are equal. " Wljat man has done woman can do " is their cry. They have unearth- ed facts of culture-history to prove the quality, quantity and variety of female contributions to world's progress. What is required for the present, according to them, is only an equalization of opportunities for the female sex to vindicate its capability in every walk of life. This equalization is to be effected by a thorough overhauling of the laws relating to property, marriage, labour, suffrage, and. last but not least, education. The watch- word of extreme feminists is co-education, and this not solely, in matters of discipline and organization, but also in the subjects of instruction and research. Equality of sexes in the regime of this sexual democracy would be a species of sexual " monism " so to speak— a complete unsexing of humanity. By dignity of sex one need not commit oneself to this reductio ad absurdum. Nor need one have anything to do with the theory of the opposite school, e.g., that of Schopenhauerian misogynists, which demonstrates that "there is not a single woman in the history of thought who can be truthfully compared with men of fifth or sixth rate genius."

It has been said that " a woman's demand for emancipation and her qualification for it are in direct proportion to the amount of maleness in her, that the real female element has neither the desire nor the capacity for emancipation." Dr. Otto Weininger proves that the great " emancipated " women famous in history