WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
healthiest signs of the times. The West has practically declared for full sexual equality. No doubt women will lose some of their traditional privileges in the process of equalisation; but they will gain infinitely in mental and moral development. The State that neglects to use the potentialities of its women, and regards them only as wives and the mothers of children, will assuredly lag behind in the march of nations.
The life of the harem can have no attraction for the cultured woman whose aspirations are for freedom of thought and conduct, and for the full development of her mind and character. To such a woman even the economic dependence of monogamic marriage is distasteful. Polygamy appeals only to those women who are content to forego all active participation in affairs beyond the sphere of the home.
For the ease-loving woman, contented with narrow interests, the seraglio offers an escape from the stress of life. To live as one of four wives, or as one of a hundred concubines, is repugnant to the sentiment of the bulk of women reared in the traditions of Christendom. But this is not saying that polygamy is repellent to the whole mass of Western women. The fervent advocacy of plural marriage by female converts to Mormonism is sufficient evidence that such a form of the sex relationship attracts a fair number of European women. It must be remembered that in sex matters
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