The Position of Woman in Primitive Society: A Study of the MatriarchyHartley, C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine)
History
The Position of Woman in Primitive Society: A Study of the Matriarchy
Hartley, C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine)
Matriarchy; Women -- History
It must not, however, be concluded that sexual peace followed this new
order. It is part of Mr. Atkinson’s theory that the patriarch’s sexual
jealousy would not be broken down by his tolerance of the presence of
his sons. Peace could be maintained only so long as the intruders
respected his marital rights. Under this condition, all the group
women, as they all belonged to the patriarch, would be taboo to the
young men; otherwise there would be a fight, and the offending son
would be driven into exile. Doubtless this frequently happened, but
the advantages gained by union would tend to prevent the danger. Some
means of preserving sexual peace within the group certainly would come
to be established. “For the first time,” as Mr. Atkinson points out,
“we encounter the factor which is to be the leading power in future
metamorphosis, i. e. _an explicit distinction between female and
female as such_.”
Through this bar placed on the female members within the family
circle, the sons, who remained in peace, would be forced to continue
the practice of capturing their wives, and would bring in women to
live with them from other groups. It is assumed that these captures
were in all cases hostile. I have given my reasons for disagreeing
with this view. I hold that the young women may have been glad to have
been taken by the young men, and most probably assisted them, in a
surely not unnatural desire to escape from their tyrant fathers. I
really cannot credit such continued sexual subjection on the part of
the group-daughters, an opinion which arises, I am certain, from the
curious misconception of the passivity of the human female in love.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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