Even if we know that hunger and love are not the only things that
sustain impulse, we also know the profound influence that love and all
that depends upon it exercise from time immemorial on the course of
events. This being generally true, the question of the influence of sex
on woman is more important than that of its influence on man, for a
large number of profound conditions are at work in the former which are
absent in the latter. Hence, it is in no way sufficient to consider only
the physiological traits of the somatic life of woman, i.e.,
menstruation, pregnancy, child-birth, the suckling period, and finally
the climacterium. We must study also the possibly still more important
psychical conditions which spring from the feminine nature and are
developed by the demands of civilization and custom. We must ask what it
means to character when an individual is required from the moment
puberty begins, to conceal something for a few days every month; what it
means when this secrecy is maintained for a long time during pregnancy,
at least toward children and the younger people. Nor can it be denied
that the custom which demands more self-control in women must exercise a
formative influence on their natures. Our views do not permit the woman
to show without great indirection whom she hates or whom she likes; nor
may she indicate clearly whom she loves, nor must she appear solicitous.
Everything must happen indirectly, secretly, and approximately, and if
this need is inherited for centuries, it must, as a characteristic,
impart a definite expression to the sex. This expression is of great
importance to the criminalist; it is often enough to recall these
circumstances in order to find explanation for a whole series of
phenomena. What differences the modern point of view and modern
tendencies will make remains to be seen.
Let us now consider particular characteristics.