CHAPTER II


COMRADESHIP


The first outstanding social consequence of sex is the mutual
attraction of young men and women in general. With apologies in the
meantime to the girls who "have no use for men" and to the queer men
who "don't like girls," I propose to speak to the great majority. To
many a healthy and normal man there is nothing so wonderful or
beautiful in all God's earth as a woman. And the converse is often
true. The most interesting thing about the world for many of each sex
is that the other sex is in it also.

Those who share the assumption on which this book is written will agree
that an influence so strong, so profound, and so universal must have
some fine significance in the divine scheme of things. It is an element
in humanity which must affect the whole of life. To handle it rightly
must be necessary if life as a whole is to succeed. And the first step
towards a right handling of it is to accept the fact of it gladly and
openly. The convention lingers that it is a little weak in a man to
admit that he needs and craves woman's society, and that for a girl to
admit the converse is not quite modest. And thus there is often a
certain furtive element in the relations of the sexes between fifteen
and twenty-five which is all of it a great pity. It is here that Mrs.
Grundy has done us real injury. The poor old dear has been so fussy and
nervous about it all. She has often tried to close the doors upon free
and wholesome fellowship, and so has driven the young to find out other