WOMEN-A SPECTACLE.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 223, 9 February 1928, Page 2

WOMEN-A SPECTACLE.

APPEAL TO THE EYE. Women appeal more to the eye than men. A crowd comprising both sexes would far sooner, behold a spectacle which consisted of women than a spectacle which consisted solely of men; and a crowd comprising only women would obtain more ocular gratification from looking at women than a crowd comprising only men would obtain from looking at men (writes Arnold Bennett in T.P.’s Weekly). “ You may say what you please against the phenomenon that I have described. You may attribute its origin to base instincts or to fine instincts; you may assert that, in a double and derogatory sense, there is more in it than meets the eye. No matter ! The phenomenon exists, and it is permanent.

That it has tremendous value in the world can be instantly perceived by imagining what would be the result ujion our daily lives if women were never publicly seen, or if they were always in uniform, or if they had to keep to sombre colours, or if they ceased to feel an interest in costume and looks. Conceive a theatrical audience exclusively male. Conceive streets full of female dowdies and slovens. Conceive dances where the women were dressed all alike as the men are, and where they despised grace. The women might without exception be angels of goodness and acquiescence, and their invisible souls might be marvellously beautiful, but the world would be a different place and a gloomier place and the zest of life would be diminished.

In dubitably an appreciable proportion of that which renders existence desirable depends upon the physical aspects of women in public. Part of the felicity of mankind has thus been committed to their charge. And although, in giving more attention than men to complexion, costume, attitude, and movement, they are at the same time fulfilling a solemn racial duty; they are making an essential contribution to the well-being of the body politic; and they are doing something which men cannot effectively do. And men are never jealous of their success, any more than women are jealous of the success of men in, say, feats of strength or masculine endurance.”