Mina Loy
The feminist movement as at present instituted is Inadequate
Women if you want to realize yourselves – you are on the eve of a devastating psychological upheaval – all your pet illusions must be unmasked – the lies of centuries have got to go – are you prepared for the wrench –? There is no half measure – NO scratching on the surface of the rubbish heap of tradition, will bring about Reform, the only method is Absolute Demolition.
Cease to place your confidence in economic legislation, vice-crusades & uniform education – you are glossing over Reality.
Professional and commercial careers are opening up for you – Is that all you want?
And if you honestly desire to find your level without prejudice – be Brave & deny at the outset – that pathetic clap-trap war cry Woman is the equal of man –
For
She is Not!
The man who lives a life in which his activities conform to a social code which is a protectorate of the feminine element —— is no longer masculine
The women who adapt themselves to a theoretical valuation of their sex as a relative impersonality, are not yet Feminine
Leave off looking to men to find out what you are not – seek within yourselves to find out what you are
As conditions are at present constituted – you have the choice between Parasitism, & Prostitution – or Negation
Men & women are enemies, with the enmity of the exploited for the parasite, the parasite for the exploited – at present they are at the mercy of the advantage that each can take of the other’s sexual dependence. The only point at which the interests of the sexes merge – is the sexual embrace.
The first illusion it is to your interest to demolish is the division of women into two classes – the mistress, & the mother – every well-balanced & developed woman knows that it is not true. Nature has endowed the complete woman with a faculty for expressing herself through all her functions – there are no restrictions the woman who is so incompletely evolved as to be unselfconscious in sex, will prove a restrictive influence on the temperamental expansion of the next generation: the woman who is a poor mistress will be an incompetent mother – an inferior mentality – & will enjoy an inadequate apprehension of Life.
To obtain results you must make sacrifices & the first & greatest sacrifice you have to make is of your ‘virtue’. The fictitious value of woman as identified with her physical purity – is too easy to stand by – rendering her lethargic in the acquisition of intrinsic merits of character by which she could obtain a concrete value – therefore, the first self-enforced law for the female sex, as a protection against the man made bogey of virtue – which is the principal instrument of her subjection, would be the unconditional surgical destruction of virginity throughout the female population at puberty –.
The value of a man is assessed entirely according to his use or interest to the community, the value of woman, depends entirely on chance, her success or insuccess in manoeuvring a man into taking the life-long responsibility of her – The advantages of marriage are too ridiculously ample – compared to all other trades – for under modern conditions a woman can accept preposterously luxurious support from a man (without return of any sort – even offspring) – as a thank offering for her virginity
The woman who has not succeeded in striking that advantageous bargain – is prohibited from any but surreptitious reaction to Life-stimuli – & entirely debarred maternity.
Every woman has a right to maternity –
Every woman of superior intelligence should realize her race-responsibility, in producing children in adequate proportion to the unfit or degenerate members of her sex –
Each child of a superior woman should be the result of a definite period of psychic development in her life – & not necessarily of a possibly irksome & outworn continuance of an alliance – spontaneously adapted for vital creation in the beginning but not necessarily harmoniously balanced as the parties to it – following their individual lines of personal evolution – For the harmony of the race, each individual should be the expression of an easy & ample interpenetration of the male & female temperaments – free of stress
Woman must become more responsible for the child than man –
Women must destroy in themselves, the desire to be loved –The feeling that it is a personal insult when a man transfers his attentions from her to another woman
The desire for comfortable protection instead of an intelligent curiosity & courage in meeting & resisting the pressure of life sex or so called love must be reduced to its initial element, honour, grief, sentimentality, pride & consequently jealousy must be detached from it.
Woman for her happiness must retain her deceptive fragility of appearance, combined with indomitable will, irreducible courage, & abundant health the outcome of sound nerves – Another great illusion that woman must use all her introspective clear-sightedness & unbiased bravery to destroy – for the sake of her self-respect is the impurity of sex the realization in defiance of superstition that there is nothing impure in sex – except in the mental attitude to it – will constitute an incalculable & wider social regeneration than it is possible for our generation to imagine
Mina Loy (1914)
