Page:The Power of Sexual Surrender.pdf/99

 This ability is tightly interwoven with her psychological experiences at every stage of her development, and the quickest and most effective way to force her into frigidity is to teach her to be frightened of the maternal aspects of her personality.

We saw how well womankind functioned before the Industrial Revolution as an equal partner with her husband in the family home. Her experiences were fully satisfying to her body and mind because her role was recognized at its true value; she was needed, rewarded, depended upon, universally admired. When she lost her role and, in agony, mistakenly turned to feminism to find a new definition of self, or to Victorianism, she found only ashes, a depreciation of all those things that made her a woman; she found, and adopted, values that turned her against her feminine self, her maternal self, her passionate self. Scorn for true femininity was what she found and, tragically, she took this attitude for her own.

If woman is to find true happiness once again, she must return to her real and joyful self. She must relearn that surrender to her biological destiny is not a trap, not a condition of slavery to her uterus, of exploitation by man and nature, but rather a wonderful and privileged condition.

I should like to give the contents of a letter that came into my hands recently. I consider it a beautiful letter. It describes in a very simple way the reactions of a woman who had been caught in a maze of misunderstanding and fear but who had found her way out, had learned the power and joy she could receive by surrendering to her true destiny.

This letter was written by a young woman who had just become pregnant. Six months before, sick with anguish at her joyless marriage, unable to enjoy any aspect of her sexual relationship because of a constant and acute fear of becoming pregnant, she had consulted the pastor of her church,