Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/76

60 the difference of education or in the difference of nature, it can be considered an established fact that the man is much more liable to sexual temptations than the woman; or that the mere sensual need is much less in woman than in the man. A further difference follows from the present conjugal conditions. The man must asa rule take upon himself the care of the family, and the members of the family, the children, depend on the head of the family for the means of existence. By "adultery," therefore, the wife runs the risk not only of unjustly increasing the cares of her husband, but also of lessening the rights of his children, — considerations which the man generally need not overcome in "adultery." Moreover, an extraordinary digression on the part of the man, according to the prevailing and in part justifiable opinions, does not, when it becomes publicly known, reflect any disgrace upon the wife — she is rather sympathized with as the suffering, the injured party; but a digressing wife exposes her husband to scorn and contempt.

All these differences and excuses, however, according to which the husband sins less and the wife more by "adultery," are to be considered as admissible only from the standpoint of our present conditions. It will later appear that from a correct point of view both sexes must be measured by the same standard of right. Least of all do I by excusing men intend to accuse women.