Note 21 — I. A FRAGMENT OF A PSYCHOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE.

“The important part played by the hair of the head as a stimulant of sexual passion appears in a curious way from Mr. Sibree’s account of King Radàma’s attempt to introduce European customs among the Hovas of Madagascar. As soon as he had adopted the military tactics of the English, he ordered that all his officers and soldiers should have their hair cut, but this command produced so great a disturbance among the women of the capital that they assembled in great numbers to protest against the king’s order, and could not be quieted until they were surrounded by troops, and their leaders cruelly speared.”—Westermarck, op. cit.

Here male hair was a physiological fetich of females. It represents a relation of the sexes that civilization has gradually reversed. While in civilized society woman exercises her ingenuity to increase her attractiveness, among savages it is the men who are anxious to increase their physical charms. This reversal of the primitive relation is a very interesting fact, and is probably to be explained by the transference of the “liberty of choice” from woman to man which civilization has gradually induced. Westermarck (op. cit., p. 185) says: “It should be noted that it is, as a rule, the man only that runs the risk of being obliged to lead a single life. Hence it is obvious that, to the best of his ability, he must endeavor to be taken into favor by making himself as attractive as possible. In civilized Europe, on the other hand, the opposite occurs. Here it is the woman that has the greatest difficulty in getting married, and she is also the vainer of the two.”—Trans.