Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/59

 lust. The honor which a woman supposes to be done her when a despot chooses her for his mistress is nothing more than a continuation of the subserviency with which formerly the slave would surrender herself to the murderer.

First made dependent on man through force, the woman fell into twofold dependence as growing civilization made the maintenance of existence more difficult. Woman existed not only for the man, but also through man, who by virtue of his physical strength and his energetic mind found the way to procure the means of existence and of luxury. And when civilization reached a height where the inequality in the economic conditions was so far developed that even a great part of the men could procure none or insufficient means of existence and of luxury, that part of the feminine sex which was dependent on them became completely helpless, completely dependent. The helpless woman, thrown upon herself by the helpless man, but through education and circumstances alike incapacitated to help herself, gave up the only thing she possessed: she sold her body. She sold it first from hunger, then to get means for luxury and amusement. And this lot, originally prepared by force and then decided upon by necessity, has now become an actual profession for millions. Prostitution has become a true branch of industry, which has its employers and contractors, as well as its science and its articles