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CHAPTER VII

WOMAN'S LOVE-RIGHTS

Right of Female to Enjoyment of Sexual Function—Recognized Among Savages—Erotic Import of "Marriage by Capture"—The Erogenous (Love-Producing) Zones and their Significance in Woman's Love-Life—Sensual Feeling of the Skin—Woman the Affectionate Sex—Effects of Unsatisfactory Marital Life—Woman Craves Love and Affection—"Love Has to Go to School"—The Bridal Night—its Difficulties and Their Solution—Hygiene of the Honeymoon—Reciprocity in the Sex Relations—Mutual Rights of the Husband and Wife.

Right of Female to Enjoyment of Sexual Function. In the preceding chapter, reference was made to the fact that the marital embrace should offer to the wife a felicity of expression and joy equal to that accorded to the husband—a consideration which Havelock Ellis has called the love-rights of women. The questions involved in this subject overlap to a large extent those discussed in Chapter VI. The desirability of wooing as an essential preparation for each act of coitus is primarily a consideration of the sexual needs of the woman, although its advantages accrue to both parties to the union.

Throughout the animal world, instinct takes full account of the rights of the female to enjoyment of the sexual function. And in the lower races, which have not been affected by the sexual inhibitions and taboos of civilization, the right of woman to share in the pleasures of sexual congress is fully recognized.

Even the apparent violence of savage courtship, which involves "marriage by capture" and other evidence of force, is not wanting in consideration for the feminine partner.

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