[141]
Altogether the most satisfactory means of removing a girl from her
group is to purchase her. The use of property in the acquisition
of women is not a particular expression of the male nature, since
property is accumulated by females as well; but where this form of
marriage exists it means practically that the male relatives of the
girl are using her for profit, and that her suitor is seeking more
complete control of her than he can gain in her group; and viewed
in this light the purchase and sale of women is an expression of the
dominant nature of the male. In consequence of purchase, woman became
in barbarous society a chattel, and her socially constrained position
in history and the present hindrances to the outflow of her activities
are to be traced largely to the system of purchasing wives.
The simplest form of purchase is to give a woman in exchange. "The
Australian male almost invariably obtains his wife or wives either
as the survivor of a married elder brother or in exchange for his
sisters, or, later in life, for his daughters."[142] A wife is also
often sold on credit, but kept at home until the price is paid.
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