Note 19 — Chapter III · ToC

Encyclopædia Britannica, article on "Sex," by Prof. Geddes; also Evolution of Sex, pp. 20, 21. Prof. Lester Ward, Pure Sociology, Part II, Chap. XIV, gives an ingenuous and complete view of the early superiority of the female, to which he gives the name of the Gynæcocentric theory, as opposed to the usual Androcentric theory, based on the superiority of the male. While fully appreciating the suggestiveness and value of this theory, and also acknowledging very gratefully the help I have derived from it, it must be stated that some of the facts brought forward in its support by the distinguished American cannot be accepted. Nor am I able, as will appear later, to accept the conclusion he arrives at of the passive character of the female. See also a popular article by Prof. Ward, "Our Better Halves", The Forum, Vol. VI., Nov. 1888, pp. 266-275.