EDITORIAL

For a century, the great American and English feminists-many of them homosexual-fought bravely against scandalized public opinion to liberate womankind from the slavery of constant pregnancy and childcare at the whim of whatever man was her lord and master. These great women challenged the dogma that woman was inferior. And they went right to the root of that dogma when they turned their backs on the "duty" of motherhood. They saw that so long as maternity was forced on women, rather than chosen freely by those who wished it, women would continue to bear the curse of Eve.

The idea still persists, even in "enlightened" countries, that it is an inescapable duty for all women to bear children, and more children. This is supposed to be the moral thing to do. This is supposed to be what women were made for. And it's supposed to be good for prosperity in the coming generation. This is insane nonsense. All over the world, a rising tide of unchecked maternity is bringing problems so severe that scientists can only half imagine how bad things are likely to get.

Now that women have gained a fair measure of equality with the other sex, most women in our country and the rest of the world seem bent on having more babies than ever. We think it is high time to raise the old feminist slogans again, before the world's booming population reaches the "standing room only" level which authorities predict for less than a hundred years from now. We must challenge the foolish nonsense that childless women are shirking their duty, and go back to the principle that lies at the heart of most religions-that it is a good thing for some women not to be touched by the opposite sex.

It is time to call for at least half the women of the world to do their duty and NOT have babies, at least not more than the world can support. We can think of no better way to ensure this than by encouraging more women to join in permanent and highly moral parterships with one another.

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Alison Hunter

Women's Editor

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