Nowhere are the æsthetic laws of Gradation and gentle Curvature more
beautifully illustrated than in the neck—the column of the head. Note
how a lovely woman’s neck repeats on a small scale the delicate contours
of the trunk—widened at the base and at the top, with a subtle inward
slope towards the middle. Note, also, how imperceptibly it passes into
the shoulders, which continue the gentle curve in a downward slope,
unless prevented by the deforming corset.
Man’s neck is less cylindrical than woman’s, and presents four slightly
flattened surfaces; while his shoulders are not sloping, but square. We
not only pardon, but even admire and demand this conformation in man;
because in judging masculine beauty we are guided by dynamic as much as
by æsthetic considerations, while the fair sex is judged by the laws of
beauty alone. A masculine neck is in good form if it shows traces of the
sinews and muscles which give it strength; but in a woman’s neck the
feminine adipose layer under the skin must obliterate all such traces of
masculinity,—especially the bones at the junction of neck and breast,
the prominence of which suggests emaciation and disease.
In the face of such considerations, how can any one maintain that man is
more beautiful than woman? He may show more character, more
individuality, more originality than a fine woman, but more beauty
_never_. And the fact that in Sexual Selection women have always been
chiefly guided by dynamic considerations—_i.e._ vigour, boldness,
“manliness”—whereas men have been fascinated by beauty alone, explains
why, as Schopenhauer asserts, women are the “unæsthetic sex,” and why
their taste for Personal Beauty, not being exercised, like that of man,
in the selection of a mate, is so lamentably callous to the deformities
resulting from corsets and other instruments of torture.
The neck being the pivot on which the head executes its movements, it is
evident that it requires attention from the point of view of Grace as
well as of Beauty. To how many women has it ever occurred that as the
feet are taught to dance lithely, the arms to execute eloquent gestures,
so the neck should be trained to naturally assume graceful attitudes?
Great paintings and famous actresses should be studied from this point
of view. Always bear in mind that grace of movement often excels beauty
of form in the power of inspiring Romantic Love. And remember that any
pains you take to acquire grace will not only multiply your own charms,
but will establish a habit of graceful movement in your muscles which
will be inherited by your children. It is owing to this circumstance
that the children of truly refined families are born with an ease,
grace, and dignity of movement and mien which it is impossible for
“self-made” persons to acquire in a lifetime, because they are not born
with an inherited _talent_ for graceful movement.