“Mr. Midith, will you please give us an account of your relations
between parent and child, and between husband and wife?” asked Mrs.
Uwins as the whole family, including Rev. Dudley, were seated in the
cool, refreshing shade on the following Sunday afternoon. “We are not
quite able to settle those questions to our satisfaction.”
“Certainly,” said Mr. Midith, “with the greatest of pleasure.
“But allow me to tell you before I begin this subject, that I am
well aware that I am here treading on treacherous ground. My ten
years’ mundane experience and observation convince me that of all the
superstitions there is none so wide-spread, none so deeply rooted in
the minds of the masses of your people, as the sex superstition. It
is more barbarously cruel, more blindly superstitious, more grossly
prejudicial, and more intensely jealous than any other superstition
on earth, whether it be religious, political, social or industrial.
The masses of your people seem to hug with the same fondness the sex
superstition, as the contemporaries of the inquisition hugged that
‘Holy Institution;’ and, no doubt, the vast majority of your men and
women believe as sincerely that your present sexual slavery is as
essential to social harmony as the contemporaries of the inquisition
and of the institution of chattel slavery believed those institutions
absolutely necessary for the highest social welfare.
“You have asked me to give you the Marsian view of these relations,
and I shall be very much pleased to do so; for, in our opinion, there
is no subject of human inquiry of which a thorough knowledge and a
right adjustment conduces more to our health, to our well-being, and
therefore to our general happiness than the subject of sex relations.
It often seems to me that your parents here endeavor to make ignorance
the safeguard of their children’s virtue and chastity. As a rule,
neither the relation of parent and child nor the sex relations are ever
openly and honestly discussed in the presence of the whole family; and
when children arrive at the age of puberty, they know nothing about the
evils resulting from sexual abuse, and in a state of ignorance, the
child is apt to follow the promptings of its passions whether they are
normal or still abnormal.
“All parents seem to teach their offspring, as early as possible, the
danger of a hot stove, a sharp knife, the evil of intemperance, the
bite of a poisonous serpent; but the evils of sexual licentiousness,
resulting from an inadequate knowledge of the sex relations, is, as
a rule, not only not taught by _your_ parents, but it is actually
suppressed by a false, fashionable standard of modesty. A knowledge of
the evil consequences of an act is the deterrent that must keep us from
doing that evil act. As long as we know no evil consequences resulting
from the act of placing our hand against a hot stove, we are as likely
to place it against the hot stove as into a glove. Our faculty of
inquisitiveness may prompt us to reach out our hand in a state of
ignorance, to examine a cherry red stove, but our knowledge of the
painful consequences resulting from such an act deters us from it. We
should learn the truth about _all_ things, including the sex relation,
and the sooner the better. We are never too young to learn.
“The sexual function is perhaps as deeply grafted into our nature as
any other function. An improper adjustment of this function entails an
immense amount of physical and mental injury.”
“That is what we believe,” said Mrs. Uwins. “The question of sex
relations is as openly discussed in our family as any other question
of information. Our children are nearly as well informed on those
questions and functions, their use and abuse, as we are.”
“No, Mr. Midith, you need not feel backward about giving us the
true and full explanation of your sex relation in the presence of
our family,” said Mr. Uwins. “We keep the most complete and best
illustrated physiologies in the most conspicuous place of our library.
We all study them.”
“I am pleased to hear that you are as eager to learn on these subjects
as you are on others,” continued Mr. Midith. “We should undoubtedly
understand ourselves as well as possible in _all_ particulars. Our
whole aim on this subject, as well as on all others, should be to make
individual intelligence the safeguard of life, health and happiness.
“From what I have told you already of our social and industrial system,
you can clearly see that no able-bodied Marsite, whether man or
woman, is dependent for material subsistence on any other individual.
Every individual of the family, man and woman, keeps a time-record
of the labor performed, as we have seen before, and receives equal
compensation for a day of it, whether the work is mining iron, running
an engine or bearing and nursing children. You see we have become
humane enough to recognize the bearing and nursing of offspring as
_productive_ labor. This arrangement makes every individual free and
independent of one another in the social and industrial world, and we
believe that every one, male and female, should likewise enjoy the same
freedom and independence to regulate his or her own sexual affairs at
all times without any interference of any other individual, family,
community, church, state or nation.
“The Marsian idea and practice of sex relations is, that whenever, in
due time the maternal instinct of procreation prompts a woman to become
a mother, she has the full privilege of soliciting the love of any
man whose propagative association she desires for that purpose. This
privilege, you see, throws the full control of motherhood in the hands
of the women. The _man_ sexually co-operates _only_ when his assistance
is agreeably solicited or accepted. The Marsites can, therefore, have
no unwelcome motherhood imposed on the _woman_ by the _man_.
“I have already told you that each individual, man, woman and child,
has a private apartment in which each can live all alone, or invite
as many companions as he, she or it may want or can get; but no one
ever enters a private apartment of another for any social purposes
without being invited by the inmate. Of course the arrangement of this
invitation is left altogether with the individual. The woman invites
her companions, both man and woman, if she so desires; the man does
likewise. If the guest does not desire to accept the invitation, he
or she remains away. All are as much at liberty to remain away as to
respond to the invitation. But, as said before, no one calls on another
in his or her private apartment without being invited. Hence, no one
is bored with visitors, suitors or sweethearts whose company is not
agreeable, or at such times when he or she prefers to be alone.
“From the foregoing explanation you can readily see that we have
fathers, but no husbands; mothers, but no wives. No woman gives herself
away to a man for any definite length of time; and no man gives himself
to any woman for a definite length of time. Consequently, we have no
marriages for life, as you have. We believe that both sexes should be
completely free of each other at all times. We believe that no one
should have any claim on another, whether male or female, further than
the mutual solicitation of the parties from time to time desire to
elicit. We believe that a woman, in order to live the purest life, must
be free; must enjoy the full privilege of soliciting the love of _any_
man, or of _none_, if she so desires. She must be free and independent,
socially, industrially and sexually.
“We believe that bearing and rearing offspring constitutes a large
portion of the productive labor of a well-adjusted society, and that
mothers who do that should receive the same compensation for it as is
paid for any other labor. Savages put nearly all the productive labor
off unto their women, and yet the men, as a rule, think that _they_
are doing nearly all the work which is worth doing. So what you call
civilized man for long ages, shifts the burden of bearing and nursing
offspring off unto their women as though it were little or no labor.
And, in order to accomplish his purpose more effectually, the man first
throws the woman in a sphere of industrial and social dependence by his
superior physical strength, and then makes a contract with her, which
is binding for life, by marrying her, perhaps, when she is young and
inexperienced. No amount of after-knowledge, according to your opinion,
enables her to retract her former steps on this point.
“With us, a woman who is about to become a mother receives the same
pay for bearing the offspring as an engineer receives for running an
engine; and a mother who nurses her infant receives like pay for that
work _alone_. If she desires to do more, she is at liberty; if not, it
is well also; she is the judge. Besides this, we believe that it is
the duty of every man, young and old, as well as of every woman who is
not a mother, to give all the general assistance possible to mothers,
in the labor of nursing children. This labor of nursing and tending
children is looked upon as belonging to _all_ of us. It has become
pleasant, sportive exercise. And even if it were not so, a man who
would be unwilling to do his fair share of it, would very likely not
leave many descendants, for a woman, when once free, is not likely to
co-operate with a shirk.
“A woman who is about to become a mother, as well as one who is a
nursing mother, occupies a double or triple room. One of these two or
three rooms may be occupied by a companion or nurse, man or woman, who
administers to the wants of the occupant, both before and after she has
become a mother; and when the child is old enough--which is at a very
young age--it occupies one of the apartments itself.
“Now let me tell you about the child’s financial conditions. I told
you that no one can buy without money; and from what has been said of
our social and industrial system you can, no doubt, easily anticipate
that we are not cruel and barbarous enough to let the mother alone
defray the expense of her child from her individual earnings. We
know that in order to propagate the human species and perpetuate our
community, rearing offspring is one of our inevitable obligations as
you call it, a service which our parents rendered to us, and which we
in turn must render to our children. For these reasons and for the
pleasure we receive from it, we are all willing and ready to render
our share of such services, which we do partly by issuing money to the
child.
“At any time before the child’s birth, at the discretion of the
mother, she selects for her pre-natal child a new time-book, with
its proper number and shelf division, in which she makes the proper
entries for ‘100 days,’ which have the purchasing power of over a
$1,000; a fac-simile of this entry is sent to the mint, the same as
of labor-reports. The minter stamps the money and sends it to the
going-to-be mother. This money we call _child-money_ and is always
green in color, differing in color from all labor-money. With this
child-money the mother pays all the child’s expenses; doctors, nurses,
clothing, etc. Whenever this ‘100 days’ draw is gone and more is
needed, the mother makes another draw, and whatever is left is saved
by the child for future emergencies. We make a practice of not letting
the child handle green money for itself, but inducing it, as early as
possible, to _earn_ its own money, which it handles and spends just as
it pleases. Under the head of education I will tell you more about the
child and its money.
“Our mothers, unlike yours, do not make baby garments, if they do not
find pleasure in it. Infants’ complete costumes, of all patterns, are
ready-made by factories, put up in delicate little trunks. The mother,
during her plentiful leisure time, long before the child is born,
examines the contents of the little trunks in the store, selects the
most suitable one, and also gets such additional articles put in as
she may desire. All of us, men and women, are pleased to see a clean,
neatly dressed child. We all delight in nursing and entertaining it. No
mother buys too much for this purpose to suit the family.
“The foregoing is a brief explanation of the sex relation of man and
woman on Mars. It clearly shows you that our women are perfectly free
and independent, not only in word, as you try to make your women
believe, but in actual practice. Our highest aim of both men and women,
in all our undertakings, is to live a _happy_ life, and we have learned
long ago that we cannot live a _happy_ life without living a _pure_
life; for impurity is always attended with suffering.
“Our women enjoy every privilege that our men enjoy. They receive
like compensation for labor; this makes them financially free. They
choose their own occupation, and are eligible to all positions to
which the merit of their fitness can bring them; this makes them free
industrially. They at all times have the privilege of being a mother,
or not. They enjoy the same rights in going to see their suitor as the
man enjoys in going to see his sweetheart. They have the privilege of
inviting into their private apartment any man or woman whomsoever
and whensoever they please. They are not bound by marriage to any
particular man for life. As mothers, they receive the very best of care
and assistance. They are not compelled to defray more of the expense
in the support of their children than their proportionate share as a
member of a family. They receive the same compensation for being a
mother as they would for working in the garden or kitchen or ‘Com.’
They can visit and travel wherever they please, and always select their
own companions, whether at home or abroad. They are completely free
in every sense of the word. Of course, our men are just as free and
independent as our women; they are under no obligation further than
what they choose to do. Hence we have no sex monopolization.”
“Mr. Midith, it may be that such social, industrial and sexual
relations produce that high state of order and happiness on Mars; but I
fear that it would produce nothing but chaos and misery on earth,” said
Rev. Dudley, after having apparently listened with profound interest.
“Very likely the masses of mankind _here_ would, no doubt, regard such
a sexual arrangement a dangerous state of affairs,” continued Mr.
Midith. “But when we take the testimony of history we find that such a
fear manifested by the multitude is of little or no intrinsic worth.
The masses of mankind, burdened with toil and buried in superstition,
have always at first feared the better things that were proposed in
the line of progress and freedom. This fear of danger from the masses,
manifested toward a measure of advance, is not so much a sign that the
proposed system is vicious, especially if the measure tends toward
individual freedom, as it is a sign that those who fear, distrust, and
oppose it are yet immature for it. Their chord of sympathy and respect
for others does not yet vibrate in unison with that high ethical
standard. They feel a real discord, but they locate that discord in
the proposed system, while it really is located in their own immature
hearts and minds. Just in proportion as their hearts and minds are
raised to a higher, broader, and nobler standard, the fear of danger
and impracticability disappears. A few illustrations will make this
plain:
“When Mr. Garrison first raised his voice against the long fostered
institution of chattel slavery in the United States, he was calumniated
by nearly every man, woman and child within the boundaries of the
nation; he was stigmatized a crank, a fool, a traitor to his country,
an enemy to the Christian religion, a subverter of the highest and
noblest civilization that ever flourished on the face of the earth.
He was a _traitor_ then. Now he is a _hero_. But his proposed system
was as good and true when he first proposed it as it is now; but the
people’s hearts and minds did not correspond to it then. They thought
that the defect lay in Garrison’s system, but it was really secreted
in themselves. A little additional intelligence and sympathy put their
hearts and minds just in tune with the proposed system. Just so with
our sex relations. We have had a little longer time to evolve, and
therefore attained a little higher and purer aspirations than you have;
and because you can but dimly or not at all see the altitude to which
the Marsites have ascended, you, like the contemporaries of Garrison,
at once declared our position dangerous and impracticable. But do
not forget to search for the discord in your own _heart_ instead of
searching for it in our _system_.
“You all know that not long ago you imprisoned people who were unable
to pay their debts, and the contemporaries of that age argued that
people would not pay their debts without such a law; but this law has
long since been repealed or is entirely ignored, and people pay their
debts perhaps better now than they did when the law was in force.
But now you say that you could not do business without laws for the
_collection_ of debts, but you see we, under a better system, have no
use for such laws, because we have no debts to collect. We have changed
the conditions. It is your old barbarous profit system that makes you
think you require such laws. As soon as you adopt a _just_ system of
trade there can be no debts to collect.
“The Czar very likely thinks that a government like that of the United
States is no government at all, because the people enjoy too much
individual freedom, and he, no doubt, has often predicted that it must
soon crumble to pieces on that account, and you and I believe that the
Russian government is destined to crumble, because the people have
too little individual freedom. You look at our sex relations as the
Russians look at your government of the United States.
“Now just notice your illogical position. If physical force is a factor
of _goodness_ in a government, the government of the Czar is one of
the best on earth, because it perhaps employs a maximum of physical
force; and if physical force is a factor of badness in a government,
then our Marsian government is the best, because it employs a minimum
of physical force. No doubt, in your opinion both the Czar and the
Marsites are wrong, the former for too much compulsion and the latter
for too little. You are standing somewhere between these two points.
You are standing at a point which exactly corresponds with your
intellectual culture. Each person measures his position by his own
ethical standard. But notwithstanding your constant protest against
individual freedom, you are slowly drifting away from the Czar toward
individualism, and whenever, in time, you stand in our footsteps, you
will see that _your_ present sex relations are as slavish, despotic and
impure as you, at present, look upon the despotism and injustice of the
Czar.”