Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/362

346 

(A Lecture. 1873.)

In the treatment of my subject the question arose with which sex I should make the beginning, to which I should give precedence. The answer to this question would not embarrass me if I were to consult merely my taste or the injunctions of "gallantry." My hesitation arises from the story, especially the Christian story of the origin of the sexes. The Bible, the source of the prevailing wisdom and knowledge, accords priority to man, and traces the descent of woman directly from him, from one of his ribs. Notwithstanding the high authority, however, on which such genesis is based, it does not seem to me reasonable, for the simple reason that, according to general belief, man and woman are made to love each other. Montaigne says: "I should not like to be a woman because I could no longer love her then," and Lady Montaigne declared that ‘"‘the only reason why she should not wish to be a man is that she would then have to marry a woman." How then could a woman have any charm for a man if she were formed out of his bodily substance? Conceive of Adam kissing Eve, after having, only yesterday, carried her about