A few odds and ends should be mentioned in discussion of equality. A couple after marriage may find certain serious differences in their habits which were neglected by them during courtship, neither because of romantic illusion nor because of accepting the popular opinion that there are inescapable differences of sex, but because the segregation of the sexes makes it impossible for a man and woman to know one another thoroughly before marriage. The reference here is to intimate personal habits which do not come to light in the usual social contacts. Anyone who has lived in a men’s dormitory, for example, knows that some men conduct themselves like swine in a bathroom. The same may be said of some women to a lesser extent. And some people’s Zooms always look as if a cyclone had struck them. With our present barriers between the sexes, these very important elements of compatibility or incompatibility cannot be known until marriage. Then one may wake up to discover that he is tied for life to a person of unbelievably repulsive habits. The irrepressible disgust that one feels in such a situation eventually may undermine the finest romantic feelings so that contact with such a person becomes anything but pleasurable. It would seem logical that in marriage we should at least have as good an opportunity to become thoroughly acquainted with one another as in friendship. But this is not the case. Many a budding friendship has been cut short because of unendurable personal habits that came to light. Not until the irrational taboos that now exist between the sexes are removed will the same opportunity to test a growing romance be afforded.

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