upper classes. It is the opposite that would cause astonishment.

"Follow my reasoning. From infancy garments, ornaments, cleanliness,
grace, dances, music, reading of poetry, novels, singing, the theatre,
the concert, for use within and without, according as women listen, or
practice themselves. With that, complete physical idleness, an excessive
care of the body, a vast consumption of sweetmeats; and God knows how
the poor maidens suffer from their own sensuality, excited by all these
things. Nine out of ten are tortured intolerably during the first period
of maturity, and afterward provided they do not marry at the age of
twenty. That is what we are unwilling to see, but those who have
eyes see it all the same. And even the majority of these unfortunate
creatures are so excited by a hidden sensuality (and it is lucky if it
is hidden) that they are fit for nothing. They become animated only
in the presence of men. Their whole life is spent in preparations for
coquetry, or in coquetry itself. In the presence of men they become too
animated; they begin to live by sensual energy. But the moment the man
goes away, the life stops.

"And that, not in the presence of a certain man, but in the presence of
any man, provided he is not utterly hideous. You will say that this is
an exception. No, it is a rule. Only in some it is made very evident, in
other less so. But no one lives by her own life; they are all dependent
upon man. They cannot be otherwise, since to them the attraction of the
greatest number of men is the ideal of life (young girls and married
women), and it is for this reason that they have no feeling stronger
than that of the animal need of every female who tries to attract the
largest number of males in order to increase the opportunities for
choice. So it is in the life of young girls, and so it continues
during marriage. In the life of young girls it is necessary in order to