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The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories by Leo Nikoleyevich Tolstoy
page 46 of 232 (19%)
be said that woman is a fine morsel; but, in the first place, these
knights assure us that they adore woman (they adore her and look upon
her, however, as a means of enjoyment), then all assure us that they
esteem woman. Some give up their seats to her, pick up her handkerchief;
others recognize in her a right to fill all offices, participate in
government, etc., but, in spite of all that, the essential point remains
the same. She is, she remains, an object of sensual desire, and
she knows it. It is slavery, for slavery is nothing else than the
utilization of the labor of some for the enjoyment of others. That
slavery may not exist people must refuse to enjoy the labor of others,
and look upon it as a shameful act and as a sin.

*A suburb of Moscow.

"Actually, this is what happens. They abolish the external form, they
suppress the formal sales of slaves, and then they imagine and assure
others that slavery is abolished. They are unwilling to see that it
still exists, since people, as before, like to profit by the labor of
others, and think it good and just. This being given, there will always
be found beings stronger or more cunning than others to profit thereby.
The same thing happens in the emancipation of woman. At bottom feminine
servitude consists entirely in her assimilation with a means of
pleasure. They excite woman, they give her all sorts of rights equal to
those of men, but they continue to look upon her as an object of sensual
desire, and thus they bring her up from infancy and in public opinion.

"She is always the humiliated and corrupt serf, and man remains always
the debauched Master. Yes, to abolish slavery, public opinion must admit
that it is shameful to exploit one's neighbor, and, to make woman free,
public opinion must admit that it is shameful to consider woman as an
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