Page:The Female-Impersonators 1922 book scan.djvu/41

Rh gradual conquest of human affairs by reason is pushing further and further into the background. But still in the twentieth century, reason is a nonentity in the domain of sex. There all is illogical instinct and bigotry. Each sex class still revels in calling the others bad names. The tremendously virile "fellow" bellows out at the mildly: "You milk-sop!" The latter calls back: "You rake!" The ultra-virile hisses through his teeth at the anaphrodite: "You dried tree!" The mildly virile points his finger at the androgyne: "Unclean! Unclean! Child of the devil! Monster!" And even if I do not say so here, the reader will conclude after finishing this book: The androgyne calls back at the mildly virile: "You hypocrite! You Pharisee!" For the outstanding earmark of the mildly virile is Phariseeism. They think they themselves are the only moral and God-fearing men in the world, and that all other men are sexually vile.

Is it right to chastise a horse because he prefers to munch hay out of a manger instead of walking into his owner's dining-room; throwing himself backwards into an enormous chair; squeezing with difficulty a spoon between his two front hoofs; and with it carrying to his mouth ice-cream and French pastry? The average man (who is of the mildly virile type) says that the latter is, for every creature, the superior method of taking nourishment, and insists on all others conforming to what is right in his own eyes. If they do not, he ostracizes and even imprisons and murders those who dare to offend his aesthetic sense.

In general, man is a free agent. But his sex class is imposed by Providence. Just as he is not responsible for the face he has to carry through life.