守れない性道徳を擁護
とは言っても、今日のような晩婚時代においては、自分と同じ階級(階層)の女性と世帯(家)を持つ余裕ができるまで性欲を抑える男性はほんのわずかだろうということは、まったく確かなことである(注:"continent":性欲を抑えることができる)。そうして、未婚の男性が性欲を抑えようとしないのなら、未婚の女性も、平等の権利があるとの根拠のもと、自分たちも性欲を抑える必要はない、と主張するであろう。道学者(モラリスト)にとって,こういう事態は疑いもなく残念なこと(遺憾なこと)である。そのことについて徹底的に考え抜くという苦労(trouble)をする因習的な道学者は、わざわざこのことを考え抜いた者なら皆、自分が,実際上,いわゆる二重基準(ダブル・スタンダード)に立たされていることを理解するであろう。即ち、性的な貞節は、男性よりも女性にとって必須であるという見解である。自分の倫理説は、男性の禁欲(節制)をも要求するのだと論じるのは、大いに結構なことである。これに対しては、秘密裏に(他人にわからないようにして)罪を犯すのは男にとって容易なことであるので,この(性的節制の)要求を男に強いることはできないという、明らかなしっぺ返し(反駁)がある。 このようにして,因習的な道学者たちは、男女の不平等を認めざるをえないだけでなく,若者(たち)は彼らと同じ階級の娘とよりも売春婦と性交するほうがよい,という見解をとることを余儀なくさせられる。娘との関係は、売春婦との関係と違って、金銭ずくではなく、愛情深く、まったく楽しいかもしれないにもかかわらずである。道学者たちは、もちろん、自分でも守られないだろうと承知している道徳を擁護(主唱)することによって,その結果がどうなるかを十分考えてはいない。彼らは、自分が売春を擁護しないかぎり、売春が自分の教えの必然的な帰結になっても自分には責任がない,と考えている。けれども,このことは,今日の職業的な道学者は平均以下の知性しか持ち合わせていないという,よく知られた事実の別な一例にすぎない。 |
Chapter VII: The Liberation of women, n.7Let us, however, pause a moment to consider the logical implications of the demand that women should be the equals of men. Men have from time immemorial been allowed in practice, if not in theory, to indulge in illicit sexual relations. It has not been expected of a man that he should be a virgin on entering marriage, and even after marriage, infidelities are not viewed very gravely if they never come to the knowledge of a man's wife and neighbours. The possibility of this system has depended upon prostitution. This institution, however, is one which it is difficult for a modern to defend, and few will suggest that women should acquire the same rights as men through the establishment of a class of male prostitutes for the satisfaction of women who wish, like their husbands, to seem virtuous without being so. Yet it is quite certain that in these days of late marriage only a small percentage of men will remain continent until they can afford to set up house with a woman of their own class. And if unmarried men are not going to be continent, unmarried women, on the ground of equal rights, will claim that they also need not be continent. To the moralists this situation is no doubt regrettable. Every conventional moralist who takes the trouble to think it out will see that he is committed in practice to what is called the double standard, that is to say, the view that sexual virtue is more essential in a woman than in a man. It is all very well to argue that his theoretical ethic demands continence of men also. To this there is the obvious retort that the demand cannot be enforced on the men since it is easy for them to sin secretly. The conventional moralist is thus committed against his will not only to an inequality as between men and women, but also to the view that it is better for a young man to have intercourse with prostitutes than with girls of his own class, in spite of the fact that with the latter, though not with the former, his relations are not mercenary and may be affectionate and altogether delightful. Moralists, of course, do not think out the consequences of advocating a morality which they know will not be obeyed; they think that so long as they do not advocate prostitution, they are not responsible for the fact that prostitution is the inevitable outcome of their teaching. This, however, is only another illustration of the well-known fact that the professional moralist in our day is a man of less than average intelligence. |