old and sterile.

As far as we can ascertain, the majority of sexual perversions, of
which we shall speak in Chapter VIII, are a sad pathological
acquisition of the human race. We observe, however, especially in the
higher mammals, acts of pederasty between males when the female is
wanting.

The sexual repulsion which normally exists between animals of
different species rests on a selective basis, the hereditary mneme of
their reciprocal germs being unable to place itself in homophony, and
their blood also having a mutual toxic action. In speaking of sodomy
we shall see that this instinctive repulsion may disappear in
pathological cases, both in man and in animals, owing to bad habits or
unsatisfied sexual appetite. We cannot absolutely demonstrate the
phylogenetic existence of an instinctive disgust for consanguineous
sexual intercourse.

The sexual advances made by women in civilized countries, show how
easily we may be deceived in attributing to a phylogenetic or
hereditary origin, certain details which are only due to external
circumstances. In man, the bearer of the active germ, the instinct of
sexual advance has deep phylogenetic roots. It is quite natural to him
and is evident among savage races, where the man risks more by
remaining single than the woman. Violent combats between rivals to
obtain the woman, who remains passive like most animals, are evidence
of this.

Civilization has changed all this, and has developed two castes of
women, the old maids and the prostitutes. The latter satisfy the
appetites of men in an artificial and unhealthy manner, while marriage
and family cares only bring them labor and burdens instead of riches.
Owing to the promiscuous polyandry of prostitution, man can always
obtain enough women, while woman can with difficulty obtain a suitable
husband. These circumstances have more and more developed the art of
flirtation, coquetry and advances on the part of girls, and we can now
see, especially in the United States, that advances come more and more
from the female side, if not in principle, at any rate in fact. This
is not a question of a phylogenetic or hereditary transformation of
the sexes among civilized peoples, but an unhealthy effect resulting
from abnormal circumstances, that is the non-satisfaction of the
sexual desires of woman, together with the satiety of those of men.
Woman makes advances from the fear of remaining celibate; she will
cease to do so when the unnatur