OUR DOUBLE STANDARD OF MORALS.

White Ribbon, Volume 23, Issue 270, 18 December 1917, Page 10

OUR DOUBLE STANDARD OF MORALS.

(Professor T.'W. Shannon.) The nun of the primitive savage races were resjxinsible for the origin of the dua» standard of morals. During the early centuries men were very largely responsible for maintaining and perpetuating it. During all the centuries men have been taught that sow.ng "wild oats’’ was natural, and even necessary for them. Women were taught that such sowing was unnatural and unpardonable for them, and that they should not hold as high standards for men as for women. Respectable women formed only good habits, while respectable men formed one or more bad habits. Respectable women were compelled to marry m n of known bad habits, or be disgraced as "old maids.” To a very large extent acquiescence in this du.il standard bv women has been a justifiable exprdiein \ The\ were powerless to heip themselves. In the days of savagery the erring woman was usually stoned to death. Among the civilised races the erring woman has been killed socially, and the torture prolonged for a number of years, terminating in an untimely death, and an unmarked grave. The churches have given millions of money, prayed earnestly, and worked faithfully in their efforts to rescue thcNe women, without being able to i one is ftft) Then pool irons know, even better than rescue workers know, that should they reform and become Christians, not one person in a hundred would really ever forgive them, and practically all places of honourable industry would be closed to them for life. Under the double standard of morals, the churches cannot offer these women reasonable encouragement to reform and become Christians. Our rescue efforts in the past have been largely misdirected. therefore lost. With rare exceptions, the equally or more guilty man has none unmolested, unarrested. unconvicted, unwhipprd; has lost no social prestige; may unite with any club, lodge, or church; become an official member of the same; or, if he chooses, he may become a national reformer. Our doubV standard of morals is almost entirrlv responsible for th** more than a quarter of a million children annually born in our country outside the pale of holy w< flock One-half of this number die from starvation or improper feeding. The other half, in their tender, innocent, playful childhood. have flaunted into their faces the fact of their unfortunate birth. From this experience on through life thev are targets of ridicule, sneers, and persecution. \inetv jg*r cent of race degeneracy is due to immorality and its consequent diseases and to alcohol ’and tobacco. To the extent that these

habits are indulged in more by men than by women is the double slandaid of morals responsible for the>e habits. The passage of eugenic marriage and parentage laws will do little good so long as we maintain a dual standard of ethics. this relic of savagery, this monster curse of civilisation, this chief cause of degeneracy, this greatest enemy to Christianity.