The modern woman whose worth is determined, not by the male's eroticism in her presence, but by her accomplishments, can afford to be frank, honest, if not, at times, aggressive, in the love search.
=The Passing of Respectable Prostitution.= The old-fashioned woman, having created the artificial value of womanhood as such, indulged in a mild, genteel form of prostitution, which, having no consequences likely to impose a burden on the community, (pregnancy, childbirth) never was criticised very severely. She sold her company for meals, theatre tickets, comfortable transportation, flowers, trinkets. Now and then, developing a streak of fairness and honesty, she would grant the man she exploited small privileges of a superficial kind. But the real old-fashioned girl was of the absolutely sordid type, who could allow a more or less repellent suitor to spend considerable sums to amuse her but would express genuine indignation at the thought that the man could be as sordid as she was, and expect some caresses in return.
The modern woman, made independent financially by her non-sexual activities, can remove from her love all taint of even mild commercialism, returning favors in kind, or accepting presents, no longer as a bribe, but as a token of affection on the part of a man she loves.
=The Abettor of Ethical Sins.= The old fashioned wife was in many more cases than superficial thinking would cause us to imagine, a more dangerous corrupter of public and private morality than the prostitute.
Numerically the wife predominates. The prostitute constitutes a very small minority of the population of large cities and does not thrive in small town, villages or farming communities.
Louis Berman, who is generally very indifferent to psychology, makes a very valuable remark in his book on glands: "Consider," he writes, "the unimportance of a collective purpose to the woman whose career is the mate and then the mate's career."
Which means that the woman who takes up wifehood as a profession has no social morality. Her husband is her oyster and the world must in turn be her husband's oyster. She knows only one thing: that she must support her mate in anything he does so long as his activities, be they even immoral or criminal, provide food and shelter for her and her children. She cares not what he does as long as he "succeeds."