Special Characters of the Sexual Impulse in Women—­The More Passive Part Played by Women in Courtship—­This Passivity only Apparent—­The Physical Mechanism of the Sexual Process in Women More Complex—­The Slower Development of Orgasm in Women—­The Sexual Impulse in Women More Frequently Needs to be Actively Aroused—­The Climax of Sexual Energy Falls Later in Women’s Lives than in Men’s—­Sexual Ardor in Women Increased After the Establishment of Sexual Relationships—­Women bear Sexual Excesses better than Men—­The Sexual Sphere Larger and More Diffused in Women—­The Sexual Impulse in Women Shows a Greater Tendency to Periodicity and a Wider Range of Variation.

So far I have been discussing the question of the sexual impulse in women on the ground upon which previous writers have usually placed it.  The question, that is, has usually presented itself to them as one concerning the relative strength of the impulse in men and women.  When so considered, not hastily and with prepossession, as is too often the case, but with a genuine desire to get at the real facts in all their aspects, there is no reason, as we have seen, to conclude that, on the whole, the sexual impulse in women is lacking in strength.

But we have to push our investigation of the matter further.  In reality, the question as to whether the sexual impulse is or is not stronger in one sex than in the other is a somewhat crude one.  To put the question in that form is to reveal ignorance of the real facts of the matter.  And in that form, moreover, no really definite and satisfactory answer can be given.

It is necessary to put the matter on different ground.  Instead of taking more or less insolvable questions as to the strength of the sexual impulse in the two sexes, it is more profitable to consider its differences.  What are the special characters of the sexual impulse in women?

There is certainly one purely natural sexual difference of a fundamental character, which lies at the basis of whatever truth may be in the assertion that women are not susceptible of sexual emotion.  As may he seen when considering the phenomena of modesty, the part played by the female in courtship throughout nature is usually different from that played by the male, and is, in some respects, a more difficult and complex part.  Except when the male fails to play his part properly, she is usually comparatively passive; in the proper playing of her part she has to appear to shun the male, to flee from his approaches—­even actually to repel them.[169]

Courtship resembles very closely, indeed, a drama or game; and the aggressiveness of the male, the coyness of the female, are alike unconsciously assumed in order to bring about in the most effectual manner the ultimate union of the sexes.  The seeming reluctance of the female is not intended to inhibit sexual activity either in the male or in herself, but to increase it in both.  The passivity of the female, therefore,