Chapter II. A woman’s intelligence and/or beauty
For what can be more rare than a woman
who really knows what science is?
Friedrich Nietzsche
In January of 2005 Lawrence H. Summers, President of Harvard University, said in one of his public addresses that due to genetic differences, women are less inclined toward mathematics and natural sciences than men. A storm of protest was raised in the USA by emancipated women and men-for-equal-rights; they demanded that Summers resign. This tempest spilled over into The United Kingdom, where female scientists started protesting in the pages of many newspapers as to how intelligent they are, and what big contributions they made to science.[1] These articles were accompanied by photographs of the learned women. If it weren’t for the names in the captions, I would have thought these were men: so man-like their faces are.
Otto Weininger pointed out in his time in his brilliant work Sex and Character that almost all women who ever achieved anything in science, art or the letters had deviations toward “masculinity,” i.e. in their psychological qualities they were more men than women.[2] I think that he exaggerated, of course, but he did grasp the trend.
Modern women’s hysterics over the issue of “equality” of their brains with those of men in the West are not confined to the field of science; they affect many other spheres of social life, and this is beginning to threaten the societies themselves. In this connection I simply must mention a very telling episode. Back in 1996 an ad was run in one of the newspapers in Vancouver (Canada), advertising the vacant position of President, University of British Columbia. It said: preference will be given to women, people of color and disabled persons. There was not a word in the ad about scholarly merits. Even though journalists had some fun with these criteria for choosing a leader for a school of higher learning, it was precisely the “preferred” kind of person who was chosen: a lady with the indicated “merits.”
It would seem to be obvious - this, to quote Weininger again, “the most tremendous, cosmic opposition and difference in nature” between man and woman; yet not only is it disputed by the proponents of “equality” between sexes – worse, the principle of “equality” is enforced throughout society – with, I repeat, very negative consequences for that very society. This will be made clear by my subsequent reasoning. However, I will start with a different angle that will lead to the main topic.
* * *
It has been noted for a long time, and not just by me, that the women in Russia, Byelorussia, and Ukraine are particularly beautiful. It’s no secret that this is the first thing a ‘Western’ man notices. It is even more noticeable in provincial towns. Why?
Another observation: in Canada, where I used to live, and in The United Kingdom, where I live now, it is often impossible to distinguish people in the street by their sex, that is, tell man from woman; what you see is some kind of ‘it’ creature. I come across such ‘it’ creatures too often for it to be an exception. Why so?
One more phenomenon to ponder: many Americans, Canadians and Englishmen I know are married to women of Oriental (Chinese, Filipino, Malay, Thai) or Russian-Slavic extraction. By the looks of them, these women are not beauty-contest winners. Where does it stem from – this preference for foreigners?
These questions have intrigued me for a while now, so I decided to sort them out. The answers I found directed me to another block of topics and questions, such as, for example: why are men more intelligent than women? I realize that I’m asking for a putdown here, but let women answer this question: why are there no prominent female names (some very few exceptions notwithstanding) in the world’s fundamental science? In philosophy, not one woman has achieved world renown. Why?
I suppose that I may get a response along these lines: women were always oppressed, downtrodden, etc. But what about the so-called aristocrats, or the women in the West who are free, relatively speaking – are they, or were they ever, downtrodden? They have/had plenty of free time; many of them had the time and opportunities for literary work. So clearly the problem lies somewhere else.
Strange as it may seem, this problem is tied to the first block of questions: those about beauty, and together it all boils down to one topic: the place and role of man and of woman in the evolution of humankind.
And now let’s get us some answers, but first let us see what scientists have found out so far about the structure of the brain. The topic is boring, yet extremely useful for our subsequent reasoning.
[1] For example, see: The Independent, 17 January 2005.
[2] For more detail, see: Weininger. Sex and Character.
On Love, Family, and the State
(Philosophical-sociological Essay)