User:William/OttoSynopsis

Sex and Character by Otto Weininger book synopsis WIP

Chapter 1, every person as bisexual

In the first gender, Otto speaks of sex/gender as a spectrum, with no human being fully male or female, psychologically or biologically. He says this in a number of different ways. He speaks of humans as a mixture of platonic ideals of male and female. Later, he speaks of people as a mixture of Arrhenoplasm and Thelyplasm.

Chapter 2, glands complete gender

In chapter 2, Otto speaks of how sexual characteristics are present throughout the whole body, through every inch of tissue, every cell. That gender variation determines brain size and many other physical states. He argued that every inch of a person provides a gender stimulus to another human. And that every inch of a person must be considered to determine where someone fits between male and female. Otto speaks of cells being able to show how someone fits between male and female. He wrote his book in a time when chromosomes were simply a brash theory., and DNA had not yet been discovered. His theory anticipated the discovery of the androgen and estrogen receptors in human cells. Weininger was arguing that anatomy, from the core, had a large part in determining gender. That soyboys should (usually) have smooth skin, and that tomboys should (usually) have more rough skin. He argues this theory on the basis of the fact that typically masculine men can often exhibit certain feminine traits (such as wider hips etc.) and vice versa for feminine women. Any anatomical deviations from overall gender were therefore caused by variations in individual cells.

Glands theory

He ranks sexual characteristics in order of their ability to produce excitement in the opposite gender. Those characteristics being the least abstracted from the sex glands being the most sexually exciting to humans. He makes every effort to emphasize the importance of gland secretion in sexual determination and attraction.

Most sexually stimulating

Presence of testes and ovaries (Note: not penis/vagina)

Second most sexually stimulating

Physiological characteristics from the secretions of primary sexual glands during puberty (beard, voice pitch)

Third most sexually stimulating

Muscle amount, mental states

Fourth most sexually stimulating

social status, habits, lifestyle, duties