This conscious retaining of erotic control is, to be sure, based on the biological necessity of man testing. The best of women cannot of themselves let go their own erotic control. It has to be taken from them by men who are emotionally their superiors in strength. In so far as it (woman’s tendency to lie) is “almost physiological”[25] and based on radical feminine characteristics, such as modesty, affectability and sympathy, which have an organic basis in the feminine constitution, and can therefore never altogether be changed, feminine dissimulation seems scarcely likely to disappear. Woman’s tendency to dissemble is dependent on her unconscious reaction of testing the male. But she must test her male for the deeply biological purpose of finding out whether he is strong enough for her. He needs to be, for her purposes, only stronger than she is, to be strong enough; although, when this motive is sometimes transferred to consciousness, she may become a fortune hunter or vampire, and throw away any man for the next egoistic-socially stronger she finds available. This does not of course refer to physical muscular strength but to psycho-sexual strength. If physical strength were enough there would be almost no divorces and no marital unhappiness. § 151 Her testing her male, therefore, whether it is in pre-marital egoistic-social relations or after marriage erotically, is a resort to the negativism (which is indeed a characteristic of infantility). This negativism is seen in the critical attitude which is so intense in some of the later incidents in married life. And in the first love episode any coolness on the bride’s part is a tacit resistance which seems to say: “I am not yet fully mastered. Any opposition I present to you is no more than what as a man you should be able to overcome. You may be my superior in physical strength but there are numerous kinds of strength. I did not obviously marry you for your physical strength much as I appreciate, value and need it. But the love episode,” she continues unconsciously, in blushes, averted gaze, occasional paleness, interspersed with impulsive advances, all of which are here set down in their equivalent words, “the love episode consists in far more than physical violence. In fact for many centuries physical violence has formed no essential part of it. It has on the other hand a tendency to fluctuating, wavering, more or less trembling behaviour, that to the uninitiated appears contradictory or inanely silly. If you are upset or disconcerted audibly or visibly by any of the obstructions I am placing in your way, you are really not strong enough for me. By my instinctive need for being controlled, I am impelled to see how much strain you can bear, how strong your mental and spiritual nature is, for I need that control more than anything else in the world. I hope you will not fail me at this juncture, for I want above all things to find a firm base to which to attach the wavering,