Sex & Character: Authorised Translation from the Sixth German EditionWeininger, Otto
Philosophy
Sex & Character: Authorised Translation from the Sixth German Edition
Weininger, Otto
Character; Sex; Sex (Psychology); Sexual ethics
When there is no evidence as to the sexual relations of famous women, we
can still obtain important conclusions from the details of their
personal appearance. Such data support my general proposition.
George Eliot had a broad, massive forehead; her movements, like her
expression, were quick and decided, and lacked all womanly grace. The
face of Lavinia Fontana was intellectual and decided, very rarely
charming; whilst that of Rachel Ruysch was almost wholly masculine. The
biography of that original poetess, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, speaks
of her wiry, unwomanly frame, and of her face as being masculine, and
recalling that of Dante. The authoress and mathematician, Sonia
Kowalevska, like Sappho, had an abnormally scanty growth of hair, still
less than is the fashion amongst the poetesses and female students of
the present day. It would be a serious omission to forget Rosa Bonheur,
the very distinguished painter; and it would be difficult to point to a
single female trait in her appearance or character. The notorious Madame
Blavatsky is extremely masculine in her appearance.
I might refer to many other emancipated women at present well known to
the public, consideration of whom has provided me with much material for
the support of my proposition that the true female element, the abstract
“woman,” has nothing to do with emancipation. There is some historical
justification for the saying “the longer the hair the smaller the
brain,” but the reservations made in chap. ii. must be taken into
account.
It is only the male element in emancipated women that craves for
emancipation.
There is, then, a stronger reason than has generally been supposed for
the familiar assumption of male pseudonyms by women writers. Their
choice is a mode of giving expression to the inherent maleness they
feel; and this is still more marked in the case of those who, like
George Sand, have a preference for male attire and masculine pursuits.
The motive for choosing a man’s name springs from the feeling that it
corresponds with their own character much more than from any desire for
increased notice from the public. As a matter of fact, up to the
present, partly owing to interest in the sex question, women’s writings
have aroused more interest, _ceteris paribus_, than those of men; and,
owing to the issues involved, have always received a fuller
consideration and, if there were any justification, a greater meed of
praise than has been accorded to a man’s work of equal merit. At the
present time especially many women have attained celebrity by work
which, if it had been produced by a man, would have passed almost
unnoticed. Let us pause and examine this more closely.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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