[81] Ely Metschnikoff--The Nature of Man.
Prostitution a Necessary Social Institution of Bourgeois Society.
Marriage constitutes one phase of the sex relations of bourgeois society; prostitution constitutes the other. If men fail to find satisfaction in marriage, they, as a rule, seek it with prostitution; and those men who for one reason or another refrain from marrying, seek satisfaction with prostitutes also. To those men then, who voluntarily or involuntarily lead an unmarried life, and to those who do not find their expectations realized in marriage, opportunities for satisfaction of the sexual impulse are far more favorable than to women.
Men have always regarded it as their “just” privilege to employ prostitution. But they are relentless in condemning a woman who is not a prostitute, when she has “fallen.” That natural impulses are implanted in women as well as in men and that these manifest themselves particularly strongly at certain periods of a woman’s life, does not alter their judgment. By means of his ruling position man compels woman to suppress her most powerful instincts, and makes chastity the condition of her social position and of marriage. Nothing can prove the dependent position of woman in a more emphatic and revolting way than these vastly differing conceptions in regard to the satisfaction of the same natural impulse.
Man is especially favored by conditions. The results of sexual intercourse have been assigned to the woman by nature, while man has the enjoyment only without trouble or responsibility. This natural advantage of men over women has fostered the unbridled lust which characterizes a great many men. But as a great many causes prevent or limit the legitimate satisfaction of the sexual impulse the result is its illegitimate satisfaction.
~Prostitution thus becomes a necessary social institution of bourgeois society, just as the police, the standing army, the church and the capitalist class.~ This is no exaggeration; we can prove it. We have shown how prostitution was regarded as a necessary institution in ancient society and how it was organized by the state in both Greece and Rome. We have also shown what views prevailed in regard to it during the Christian middle ages. Even St. Augustin who was, after Paul, the staunchest pillar of Christianity and ardently preached asceticism, could not refrain from exclaiming: “Suppress the public prostitutes and the force of passion will overturn everything.” St. Thomas Aquin, who is still considered the greatest authority on theology, has expressed the same opinion more forcibly still by saying: “Prostitution in the cities is like the cess-pool in the palace; if you remove the cess-pool the palace will become an unclean and evil smelling place.” The provincial council at Milan in 1665 held the same view. But let us consult some modern opinions.