Taboo and genetics : $b A study of the biological, sociological and psychological foundation of the familyKnight, Melvin M. (Melvin Moses)
Science
Taboo and genetics : $b A study of the biological, sociological and psychological foundation of the family
Knight, Melvin M. (Melvin Moses)
Sex (Biology); Sex (Psychology); Taboo; Women
The new ideal of love which is being thus developed combines complete
understanding and frankness with erotic attraction and the tenderness of
romanticism. It implies a type of marital relationship in which there is
preservation of the personality and at the same time a harmony and union
of interests that was often absent from the old-fashioned marriage, when
the wife was supposed to be more limited in her interests than her
husband. It may well be that the evolution of this new ideal of love,
which grants personal autonomy even within the marriage bond, will solve
a great deal of the present conflict between the individualistic
impulses and the exercise of the erotic functions as permitted by the
group.
It is, of course, an open question as to how far the interests of the
individual and the group can be made to coincide. Group survival demands
that the most vital and intelligent members shall be those to carry on
the reproductive functions. Therefore from the social viewpoint, it is
quite justified in setting up the machinery of social approval and in
establishing emotional attitudes by this means that will insure that
this takes place. On the other hand, it may be that the individuals who
will be thus coerced will be as rebellious against new forms of social
control as they are restless under the present methods of restraint.
If we free ourselves from a manner of thinking induced by inhibitions
developed through ages of taboo control, and look at the problem
rationally, we must admit that the chief interest of society would be in
the eugenic value of the children born into it. At the present time,
however, the emphasis seems to be chiefly upon the manner of birth, that
is, the principal concern is to have the parents married in the
customary orthodox fashion. Only in view of the necessities of the
recent war have the European nations been forced to wipe out the stain
of illegitimacy, and in America we are still blind to this necessity.
Only Scandinavia, under the leadership of such minds as Ellen Key's, was
roused to this inconsistency in the mores without external pressure, and
enacted legislation concerning illegitimacy which may well serve as a
model to the whole world. The main points of the Norwegian Castberg bill
are as follows: The child whose parents are unmarried has a right to
the surname of the father, and the right of inheritance from a
propertied father; the court has full power to clear up the paternity of
the child; the man is held responsible for the child's support even if
other men are known to have had intercourse with the mother. In order to
discourage immorality in women for the purpose of blackmailing wealthy
men, the mother is also compelled to contribute to the child's
support.[1]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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