The evolution of modern marriage : a sociology of sexual relations / by F. Müller-Lyer, translated by Isabella C. Wigglesworth.

  • Müller-Lyer, Franz Carl, 1857-1916.
Date:
[1930]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The evolution of modern marriage : a sociology of sexual relations / by F. Müller-Lyer, translated by Isabella C. Wigglesworth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    201/260 (page 197)
    PHASES OF THE SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMEN 197 I harmful influence on the position of woman at all stages of ' culture. If we look around we find that among the least civilized I peoples, the hunters, the treatment of women is often hard J and cruel. These tribes are mostly warlike, with the exception 1 of the Eskimos and mountain Veddas; and among these Eskimos and Veddas the treatment of women is remarkably I good. Likewise the unwarlike Andamanese, with whom the r influence of fishing plays a part, treat their women better Í than many civilized peoples. The wife of the prince, according 1 to Man,I is at the head of all other women, single as well as 1 married, and she keeps this position even if she is widowed. I Among the agriculturists, sometimes the military type is t the more prominent, and sometimes the industrial. Herbert Spencer has assembled a great number of interesting examples I which show that this opposition between the military and r industrial type is plainly shown by the treatment of women. [For instance, the Samoans belong to the industrial type ; their princes are elected, and no military organization exists; the position of woman is high, and Sumando marriage (i.e. husband and wife bringing a wedding gift of equal value and dividing the property in case of divorce) ^ is the rule.3 The Fiji Islanders, on the other hand, are a military type, i and possess a military organization in an extreme form. The 1 king is an absolute despot; he commands a warrior caste, which holds itself in abject obedience; they have a system of sharply defined ranks, and woman is placed on a level only a little higher than a beast of burden. The husband can sell her, ; kill her, and devour her at his pleasure. The men are poly- 1 gamous, chiefs having from ten to a hundred wives .4 We t find the same conditions among civilized peoples. Thus of all Í* Op. cit. * Cf. Die Familie, pp. 95, loi, 103. 3 Turner, Nineteen Years in Samoa, pp. 190, 261, 264, 280-84, 322; 2 Spencer, ii. 327. 4 Wilkes, Narrative of United States Exploring Expedition,ììì.'j'j Erskine, I Islands of the Western Pacific, p. 248; Seeman, Viti, p. 237; Spencer, op. cit.