6,465
edits
Sex and Character (book): Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
→Masculinity and Feminity
| Line 22: | Line 22: | ||
In Weininger's view, the masculine essence is active and energetic, and the feminine essence is passive and exists chiefly to be acted upon by the masculine. This means that only those women who are inherently more masculine than other women (and therefore are capable of genius, to some extent) can be truly 'emancipated', he argues, with the "typical" women being portrayed as fundamentally vacuous creatures that are solely concerned with the matters of reproduction and sexuality. Anticipating Freud's "Madonna-whore complex", he saw the true nature of woman as conforming to one of the two types, due to woman's exclusive focus on sexuality, whereas Weininger [[volcel|promoted sexual continence]] as one of the highest virtues. | In Weininger's view, the masculine essence is active and energetic, and the feminine essence is passive and exists chiefly to be acted upon by the masculine. This means that only those women who are inherently more masculine than other women (and therefore are capable of genius, to some extent) can be truly 'emancipated', he argues, with the "typical" women being portrayed as fundamentally vacuous creatures that are solely concerned with the matters of reproduction and sexuality. Anticipating Freud's "Madonna-whore complex", he saw the true nature of woman as conforming to one of the two types, due to woman's exclusive focus on sexuality, whereas Weininger [[volcel|promoted sexual continence]] as one of the highest virtues. | ||
In sum, Weininger forcefully disparages femininity, which is consistently identified with passivity, vacuity, and animal lust, contrasting with what Weininger argued are the higher virtues which he judged only men were | In sum, Weininger forcefully disparages femininity, which is consistently identified with passivity, vacuity, and animal lust, contrasting with what Weininger argued are the higher virtues which he judged only men were capable of expressing, typically. The author also sought to undertake a comprehensive study of the nature of genius, in view of his focus on what he saw as the hierarchy that existed between masculine and feminine essences. | ||
==Excerpts== | ==Excerpts== | ||