I wish to sum up what I have said in a few words, for I here throw
down my gauntlet, and deny the existence of sexual virtues, not
excepting modesty. For man and woman, truth, if I understand the
meaning of the word, must be the same; yet the fanciful female
character, so prettily drawn by poets and novelists, demanding the
sacrifice of truth and sincerity, virtue becomes a relative idea,
having no other foundation than utility, and of that utility men
pretend arbitrarily to judge, shaping it to their own convenience.
Women, I allow, may have different duties to fulfil; but they are
human duties, and the principles that should regulate the discharge of
them, I sturdily maintain, must be the same.
To become respectable, the exercise of their understanding is
necessary, there is no other foundation for independence of character;
I mean explicitly to say that they must only bow to the authority of
reason, instead of being the modest slaves of opinion.
In the superior ranks of life how seldom do we meet with a man of
superior abilities, or even common acquirements? The reason appears to
me clear, the state they are born in was an unnatural one. The human
character has ever been formed by the employments the individual, or
class, pursues; and if the faculties are not sharpened by necessity,
they must remain obtuse. The argument may fairly be extended to women;
for, seldom occupied by serious business, the pursuit of pleasure
gives that insignificancy to their character which renders the society
of the great so insipid.
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