Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/48

32 point in her thought upon which she could place herself. A man, if he attempts to soar beyond his sphere, at least finds in his imagination the aggrandizement and glorification which endow him with a superhuman character: he is called a "giant," a "demon," a "god." But the woman, if she breaks through her circle, does not find a higher stage than that which the aspiring man has left behind, and she never attains to anything more than being the imitator of — man. The man, if he overleaps, loses at most his name, the woman also her sex. The woman can become a "god" or "goddess" only when she aspires to be only a woman. Growth by means of masculine qualities makes a monster of woman. We men have nothing to surrender to you women by which you could improve, beautify, and ennoble yourselves; everything good, beautiful, and noble you possess in your truly humane hearts, your fine feeling, and your susceptible minds. Interchange our qualities we can and must, exchange them, never!

When we speak of the emancipation of woman, the point cannot therefore be to obscure the sexual limits. These limits should and must, rather, be strictly retained, but defined in such a manner that the man cannot infringe on the domain of woman arbitrarily. The woman is not to be his prisoner, his slave, and his tool, and he not her guardian, her master, and her exploiter.