The difficulty of the problem of marriage—Facts to be considered—Marriage and the family among the animals—Among primitive peoples—Progress from lower to higher forms of the sexual association—An examination of the purpose of marriage—The fear of hasty reforms—Practical morality—Marriage an institution older than mankind—The practical moral ends of marriage—The racial and individual factors—No real antagonism between the two—What is good for the individual must react also for the benefit of the race—Various systems of marriage—Monogamy the form that has prevailed—The higher law of the true marriage—Conventional monogamic marriage—Its failure in practical morality—Coexistence with polygamy and prostitution—Chief grounds for the reform of marriage—An indictment by Mr. Wells—Our marriage system based upon the rights of property—This not necessarily evil—The Egyptian marriage contracts—The Roman marriage—The influence of Christianity—Asceticism and the glorification of virginity—Confusions and absurdities—The failure of our sexual morality—Mammon marriages—Sins against the race—Two examples from my own experience—The iniquity of our bastardy laws—The waste of love—Free-love—Its failure as a practical solution—The reform of marriage—The tendency to place the form of the sexual relationship above the facts of love—The dependence of the consciousness of duty upon freedom—The sexual responsibility of women.

II.—Divorce

Traditional morality—Practical conditions of divorce—The moral code—This must be modified to meet new conditions—The enforced continuance of an unreal marriage—This the grossest form of immorality—The barbarism of our divorce laws—The action of the Church and State—Confusion and absurdities—Divorce relief from misfortune, not a crime—Personal responsibility in marriage—A recognition of the equality of the mother with the father—Sanction by the State of free divorce—The example of Egypt and Babylon—The Roman divorce by consent—The condemnation of free divorce not the outcome of true morality—The immorality of indissoluble marriage—Loyalty and duty in love—The claims of the child—One advantage of free divorce—Adoption of children under the State—Growing disinclination against coercive marriage—The waste to the race—Our responsibility to the future.

III.—Prostitution

The dependence of prostitution upon marriage—The extent and difficulties of the problem involved—Prostitution essentially a woman's question—Women's past attitude towards it—The diffusion of disease by means of prostitution—Apathy and ignorance of women—This changing—What action will women take in the future?—Grounds for fear—The White Slave Bill—Its absurd futility—The opinion of Bernard Shaw—Poverty as a cause of prostitution—This not the only factor—The real evil lies deeper—The economic reformer—The moral crusade—Men's passions—Seduction—These causes need careful examination—Lippert's view—Idleness, frivolity, and love of finery as causes—The desire for excitement—The need for personal knowledge of the prostitute—What I have learnt from different members of this profession—The prostitute's attitude towards her trade—The sale of sex very profitable to the expert trader—The sexual frigidity of the prostitute—Importance and significance of this—A further examination into the causes of the evil—Poverty seldom the chief motive for prostitution—The influence of inheritance upon the sexual life—The degradation of our legitimate loves the ultimate cause of prostitution—The demand for the prostitute by men—Causes of this demand—Repression of the primitive sexual instincts by civilisation—The foolishness of casting blame upon men—The duplex morality of the sexes—Its influence on the degradation of passion—Woman's unprofitable service to chastity—The connection with prostitution—My belief in passion as the only source of help.