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
Contrary to the general opinion, there is no difference in the total
sexual impulses of the sexes. However, if we examine the matter in
respect to the two component forces into which Albert Moll analysed the
impulse, we shall find that a difference does exist. These forces may be
termed the “liberating” and the “uniting” impulses. The first appears in
the form of the discomfort caused by the accumulation of ripe sexual
cells; the second is the desire of the ripe individual for sexual
completion. Both impulses are possessed by the male; in the female only
the latter is present. The anatomy and the physiological processes of
the sexes bear out the distinction.
In this connection it may be noted that only the most male youths are
addicted to masturbation, and although it is often disputed, I believe
that similar vices occur only among the maler of women, and are absent
from the female nature.
I must now discuss the “uniting” impulse of woman, for that plays the
chief, if not the sole part in her sexuality. But it must not be
supposed that this is greater in one sex than the other. Any such idea
comes from a confusion between the desire for a thing and the stimulus
towards the active part in securing what is desired. Throughout the
animal and plant kingdoms, the male reproductive cells are the motile,
active agents, which move through space to seek out the passive female
cells, and this physiological difference is sometimes confused with the
actual wish for, or stimulus to, sexual union. And to add to the
confusion, it happens, in the animal kingdom particularly, that the
male, in addition to the directly sexual stimulus, has the instinct to
pursue and bodily capture the female, whilst the latter has only the
passive part to be taken possession of. These differences of habit must
not be mistaken for real differences of desire.
It can be shown, moreover, that woman is sexually much more excitable
(not more sensitive) physiologically than man.
The condition of sexual excitement is the supreme moment of a woman’s
life. The woman is devoted wholly to sexual matters, that is to say, to
the spheres of begetting and of reproduction. Her relations to her
husband and children complete her life, whereas the male is something
more than sexual. In this respect, rather than in the relative strength
of the sexual impulses, there is a real difference between the sexes. It
is important to distinguish between the intensity with which sexual
matters are pursued and the proportion of the total activities of life
that are devoted to them and to their accessory cares. The greater
absorption of the human female by the sphere of sexual activities is the
most significant difference between the sexes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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