| Title: | Female sex |
| Original Title: | Sexe, le |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 15 (1765), p. 138 |
| Author: | Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt (biography) |
| Translator: | Lyn Thompson Lemaire [Poly Prep Country Day School, Brooklyn, NY] |
| Subject terms: |
Ethics
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| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.307 |
| Citation (MLA): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Female sex." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Lyn Thompson Lemaire. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2004. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.307>. Trans. of "Sexe, le," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 15. Paris, 1765. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Female sex." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Lyn Thompson Lemaire. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.307 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Sexe, le," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 15:138 (Paris, 1765). |
Sex. Strictly speaking, the sex, or rather, the fair sex, is the epithet applied to women, and one that cannot be denied them, since they are the principal embellishment of the world. That they should join to this deserved title all that is peculiar to their condition—modesty, restraint, gentleness, compassion and the virtues of tender souls: music, dance, the art of shading colors on canvas are the pastimes that suit them; yet the cultivation of their wit is even more important and more essential. That, on the other hand, their happy fertility should perpetuate loves and graces; that society should owe them its politeness and its most delicate tastes; that they should constitute the most precious delights of the peaceful citizen; that by a submissive prudence and a modest ability, skillful yet artless, they should excite virtue, revive the feeling of happiness, and soften all the work of human life: such is the glory, such is the power, of the fair sex.