Feminist Manifesto

The feminist movement as at present instituted is

Inadequate

Women if you want to realize yourselves-you are on the

eve of a devastating psychological upheaval-all your pet illu-

sions must be unmasked—the lies of centuries have got to go—

are you prepared for the Wrench—? There is no half-

measure—NO scratching on the surface of the rubbish heap

of tradition, will bring about Reform, the only method is

Absolute Demolition

Cease to place your confidence in economic legislation, vice-

crusades & uniform education-you are glossing over

Reality.

Professional & commercial careers are opening up for you—

Is that all you want ?

And if you honestly desire to find your level without preju-

dice—be Brave & deny at the outset—that pa-

thetic clap-trap war cry Woman is the

equal of man—

                                    for

She is NOT!

The man who lives a life in which his activities conform to a

social code which is protectorate of the feminine element—

is no longer masculine

The women who adapt themselves to a theoretical valuation of

their sex as a relative impersonality, are not yet

Feminine

Leave off looking to men to find out what you are not —seek

within yourselves to find out what you are

As conditions are at present constituted—you have the choice

between Parasitism, & Prostitu-

tion—or Negation

Men & women are enemies, with the enmity of the exploited

for the parasite, the parasite for the exploited—at present they

are at the mercy of the advantage that each can take of the

others sexual dependence—. The only point at which the

interests of the sexes merge—is the sexual embrace.

The first illusion it is to your interest to demolish is the

division of women into two classes    the mistress,

& the mother every well-balanced & developed woman

knows that is not true, Nature has endowed the complete

functions—there are no restrictions on the woman who is

so incompletely evolved as to be un-self-conscious in sex, will

prove a restrictive influence on the temperamental expansion

of the next generation; the woman who is a poor mistress will

be an incompetent mother—an inferior mentality—& will

enjoy an inadequate apprehension of Life.

To obtain results you must make sacrifices & the first &

greatest sacrifice you have to make is of your ”virtue”

The fictitious value of a woman as identified with her physical

purity—is too easy to stand-by       rendering her lethargic in

the acquisition of intrinsic merits of character by which she

could obtain a concrete value—therefore, the fist self-

enforced law for the female sex, as a protection against the

man made bogey of virtue—which is the principal instrument

of her subjection, would be the unconditional surgical

destruction of virginity through-out the female population at

puberty—.

The value of man is assessed entirely according to his use or

interest to the community, the value of woman depends

entirely on chance, her success or insuccess in maneouvering

a man into taking the life-long responsibility of her—

The advantages of marriage are too ridiculously ample—

compared to all other trades—for under modern conditions a

woman can accept preposterously luxurious support from a

man (with-out the return of an sort—even offspring)—as a thank

offering for her virginity

The woman who has not succeeded in striking that

advantageous bargain—is prohibited from any but

surreptitious re-action to Life-stimuli—& entirely

debarred maternity.

Every woman has a right to maternity—

Every woman of superior intelligence should realize her race-

responsibility, in producing children in adequate proportion to

the unfit or degenerate members of her sex—

Each child of a superior woman should be the result of a

definite period of psychic development in her life—& and not

necessarily of a possible irksome & outworn continuance of an

alliance—spontaneously adapted for vital creation in the

beginning but not necessarily harmoniously balanced as the

parties to it—follow their individual lines of personal

evolution—

For the harmony of race, each individual should be the

expression of an easy & ample interpenetration of the male &

female temperaments—free of stress

Woman must become more responsible for the child than

man—

Woman must destroy in themselves, the desire to be loved—

The feeling that it is a personal insult when a man transfers

his attention from her to another woman

The desire for comfortable protection instead of an intelligent

curiosity & courage in meeting & resisting the pressure of life

sex or so called love must be reduced to its initial element,

honour, grief, sentimentality, pride and & consequently jealousy

must be detached from it.

Woman for her happiness must retain her deceptive fragility of

appearance, combined with indomitable will, irreducible

courage, & abundant health the outcome of sound nerves—

Another great illusion is that woman must use all her

introspective and clear-sightedness & unbiassed bravery to

destroy—for the sake of her self respect is the impurity of sex

the realization in defiance of superstition that there is nothing

impure in sex—except in the mental attitude to it—will

constitute an incalculable & wider social regeneration than it

is possible for our generation to imagine.

Mina Loy (1914)

For typographical rendition visit https://oncomouse.github.io/loy/feminist.html

For multimedia Mina Loy resource visit https://mina-loy.com/