Why are girls brought up with more care as to their personal habits than
boys? And why do women have fewer vices than men? It is an undeniable fact
that what is looked upon with indifference in a man would be regarded with
disgust, if not horror, in a woman. Boys do things that would not be
tolerated in girls. Why are there two standards of behavior? Why is one
sex held to stricter moral account than the other? Why is a man allowed to
do what is condemned in a woman?
The average daughter is better behaved, has better personal habits, than
the average son. The average mother has fewer vices than the average
father. The average woman is less vicious than the average man. Whose
fault is it that this is so? It is somebody’s. Whose is it? It is time to
find out. Have men fixed the standard for women, and women for men? It is
approximately true that either sex is what the other demands of it. Women
are too indulgent towards the other sex. We believe it lies with them more
than with men to elevate the moral standard of the world.
A father would not take his daughter to places where he takes his son,
would not condone in her habits which he overlooks, if not encourages, in
his boy. Picture a father going to a saloon with his daughter, and there
treating her to a “Tom and Jerry,” or a “beer,” and then calling for
cigars for two, and sitting there smoking together for half an hour or so!
A man will do this with his boy but not with his girl. Why not? If it is
right and harmless for one, why not for the other? Is it true or not that
what is right for men is wrong for women?
We ought to have only one moral standard. The sexes should be held to like
behavior. Men can have just as good habits as women. We do not believe in
forgiving in one what we condemn in another, in allowing a young man to do
with impunity what we will not tolerate in a young woman.
If we are to have one standard of morals, which shall it be? Shall it be
the highest or lowest? Shall it be the standard for man or for woman?
Shall we permit women to do as men do, or shall we insist that men shall
be equally pure in personal habits with women? The divided standard of
conduct which now exists should be done away with. Let us demand equal
behavior of the sexes, and let that behavior be fashioned after the
highest moral demand of society. We do not wish to educate boys to be
girls, but we can educate boys to have as good habits as girls have, which
would be a great gain to the world.
We must hold women largely responsible for the vices of men. There is not
a vicious habit which a man would not lay at the feet of woman did she
demand it. Not a man would tolerate in a woman what a woman tolerates in a
man. Let us have one moral standard for men and women, for both sexes, and
mete out to each the same punishment for violation of its restrictions.