Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/69

Rh smile, an object on the way, or a bird in the trees, or the beauty of the surroundings, in short any. thing, will suddenly attract his attention and give him in the eyes of a casual passer-by an excuse for looking round after her. And if she looks round also, he will have forgotten his handkerchief or something else which will necessitate his following her in order to convince himself that he may, in a tête-à-tête, exchange the serious statesman, clergyman, or official for an unmasked member of the male sex. Every look of a woman, caused perhaps only by curiosity or thoughtlessness or good-nature, exposes her at once with common men to the danger of an appearance of common coquetry, or the suspicion of sensual desire. Every pretty or even agreeable-looking woman who travels alone, or crosses the street alone in the evening, will find occasion to ward off importunities. The reputation of many a woman is endangered merely by the fact that she does not regulate her behavior in accordance with an entirely low conception of men, that she does not think she is throwing herself away by being natural, that she has not accustomed herself to see a crime in candor. Thus are most men restlessly pursued by the instinct and fancies of sensuality! Any man will, under safe conditions, put himself at the disposal of any pretty woman, if she desires nothing more than sensual pleasure. There are be few physically healthy men who can give the lie to this sentence.