The Relations of the Sexes

'The Relations of the Sexes' is an essay written by Leo Tolstoy. Here he argues, "In the first place I wished to say that there is a settled conviction, which has taken root in all classes of our society, and is supposed by false science, that sexual intercourse is indispensable to health, and that, as the marriage state is not always practicable, sexual intercourse outside of marriage, imposing on the man no obligation beyond a money payment, is perfectly natural, and therefore deserving of encouragement. This conviction has become so general and confirmed that parents encourage vice among their children by the advice of medical men; governments -whose only meaning consists in care for the moral well-being of the citizens -organize vice, i.e., regulate an entire class of women who are doomed to bodily and spiritual ruin for the satisfaction of the imaginary necessities of men; and unmarried men addict themselves to vice with perfectly quiet consciences."