_This book is written to offer a simple and natural explanation of one
of the most common and most perplexing problems of human life,—a problem
which presents itself to almost every individual for practical solution,
and which demands the most serious attention of the moralist, the
physician, and the sociologist_—
_To show how some of the worst evils under which we suffer, evils long
supposed to be inherent and ineradicable in our natures, are but the
result of certain arbitrary conditions of our own adoption, and how, by
removing those conditions, we may remove the evils resultant_—
_To point out how far we have already gone in the path of improvement,
and how irresistibly the social forces of to-day are compelling us
further, even without our knowledge and against our violent
opposition,—an advance which may be greatly quickened by our recognition
and assistance_—
_To reach in especial the thinking women of to-day, and urge upon them a
new sense, not only of their social responsibility as individuals, but
of their measureless racial importance as makers of men._
_It is hoped also that the theory advanced will prove sufficiently
suggestive to give rise to such further study and discussion as shall
prove its error or establish its truth._
_CHARLOTTE PERKINS STETSON._