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160 Brieux
nounced. . . .
People ought to be taught that there is
nothing immoral in the act that reproduces life by means
of love. But for the benefit of our children we organize
round about it a gigantic conspiracy of silence. A re
spectable man will take his son and daughter to one of
these grand music halls, where they will hear things of
the most loathsome description; but he won t let them
hear a word spoken seriously on the subject of the great
act of love. The mystery and humbug in which phy
sical facts are enveloped ought to be swept away and
young men be given some pride in the creative power
with which each one of us is endowed.
In other words, what we need is more general
enlightenment, greater frankness and, above all,
different social and economic conditions. The
revolutionary significance of
"
Damaged Goods
"
consists in the lesson that not syphilis but the causes
that lead to it are the terrible curse of society.
Those who rant against syphilis and clamor for
more laws, for marriage certificates, for registra
tion and segregation, do not touch even the sur
face of the evil. Brieux is among the very few
modern dramatists who go to the bottom of this
question by insisting on a complete social and
economic change, which alone can free us from
the scourge of syphilis and other social plagues.
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