# Impersonality Is Not Promiscuity explained — Getting Married

> Chapter companion for Getting Married by George Bernard Shaw.

## What happens

The chapter argues against the superstition that sexual instinct is inherently promiscuous, distinguishing between impersonality and promiscuity. It asserts that selection and preference are natural, using the example of picture postcards to illustrate that individuals are not interchangeable in matters of attraction, and criticizes the hypocrisy of those who oppose marriage reform by claiming that only coercion prevents indiscriminate behavior.

## Themes in this chapter

### Sexuality and Impersonality

The chapter directly addresses the distinction between impersonality and promiscuity, arguing that sexual selection is natural and not inherently indiscriminate.

### Hypocrisy and Social Pretense

Criticizes moralists and shopkeepers who oppose reform while relying on coercion, revealing hypocrisy in their arguments against marriage reform.

## Key lines

> There is, too, a really appalling prevalence of the superstition that the sexual instinct in men is utterly promiscuous, and that the least relaxation of law and custom must produce a wild outbreak of licentiousness.

Many people wrongly believe that male sexual desire is completely indiscriminate and that any loosening of rules will lead to rampant debauchery.

_Introduces the central superstition the chapter aims to debunk._

> But promiscuity and impersonality are not the same thing.

Being impersonal about sex does not mean being promiscuous.

_Key distinction that frames the chapter's argument._

> Selection, carried even to such fastidiousness as to induce people to say quite commonly that there is only one man or woman in the world for them, is the rule in nature.

Nature typically involves highly selective preferences, often leading people to believe there is only one perfect partner for them.

_Supports the claim that selectivity, not promiscuity, is natural._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/getting_married_se/chapters/impersonality-is-not-promiscuity
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/getting_married_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/getting_married_se/chapters