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Usenet Posted 23 years ago
Usage
Gorillas with two heads and other weird stuff
I came across this in the course of research last Tuesday.
I was wondering if anyone else has come across anything else published that is either
a) Equally hostile to women as a group
eg
Sir, a woman's composing music is like a dog walking on his hind legs. It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all."
Cecil Gray (1928).
b) Quanitifies the curiosity value of something in equally outlandish terms
i.e. "that's as strange as ...()"
"Without a doubt there exist some distinguished women ... but they are as
exceptional as the birth of any monstrosity,as, for example, of a gorilla with two heads; consequently we may neglect them entirely." (Le Bon 1879)
Gustave Le Bon didn't reach far for his metaphor, as the above text followed this:
In the most intelligent races, as among the Parisians, there are a large number of women whose brains are closer in size to those of gorillas than to the most developed male brains. This inferiority is so obvious that no one can contest it for a moment, only its degree is worth discussion. All psychologists who have studied the intelligence of women, as well as poets and novelists, recognize today that they represent the most inferior forms of human evolution and that they are closer to children and savages than to an adult, civilized man. They excel in fickleness, inconstancy, absence of thought and logic, and incapacity to reason...
Apparently, he was a social psychologist and a disciple of Paul Broca (1824-80) who asserted:
"In general the brain is larger in mature adults than in the elderly, in men than in women, in eminent men than in men of mediocre talent, in superior races than inferior races". (Paul Broca, 1861).
In an odd example of "how weird was that?" he had founded a society for free-thinkers in 1848. A sympathiser with Darwin, he was quoted as saying "I would rather be a transformed ape than a degenerate son of Adam".
In an even odder example of "how weird was that?" Broca, generally credited with discovering the phenomenon of aneurysms died from one himself.
It's a weird world we inhabit.
Chrissy
I was wondering if anyone else has come across anything else published that is either
a) Equally hostile to women as a group
eg
Sir, a woman's composing music is like a dog walking on his hind legs. It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all."
Cecil Gray (1928).
b) Quanitifies the curiosity value of something in equally outlandish terms
i.e. "that's as strange as ...()"
"Without a doubt there exist some distinguished women ... but they are as
exceptional as the birth of any monstrosity,as, for example, of a gorilla with two heads; consequently we may neglect them entirely." (Le Bon 1879)
Gustave Le Bon didn't reach far for his metaphor, as the above text followed this:
In the most intelligent races, as among the Parisians, there are a large number of women whose brains are closer in size to those of gorillas than to the most developed male brains. This inferiority is so obvious that no one can contest it for a moment, only its degree is worth discussion. All psychologists who have studied the intelligence of women, as well as poets and novelists, recognize today that they represent the most inferior forms of human evolution and that they are closer to children and savages than to an adult, civilized man. They excel in fickleness, inconstancy, absence of thought and logic, and incapacity to reason...
Apparently, he was a social psychologist and a disciple of Paul Broca (1824-80) who asserted:
"In general the brain is larger in mature adults than in the elderly, in men than in women, in eminent men than in men of mediocre talent, in superior races than inferior races". (Paul Broca, 1861).
In an odd example of "how weird was that?" he had founded a society for free-thinkers in 1848. A sympathiser with Darwin, he was quoted as saying "I would rather be a transformed ape than a degenerate son of Adam".
In an even odder example of "how weird was that?" Broca, generally credited with discovering the phenomenon of aneurysms died from one himself.
It's a weird world we inhabit.
Chrissy
Top answer
[nq:1]I came across this in the course of research last Tuesday. I was wondering if anyone else has come across ... hind legs.
- [nq:1]I came across this in the course of research last Tuesday.
- I was wondering if anyone else has come across ...
- hind legs.
- [/nq] I thought this was Johnson but don't have time to look it up right now.
- e.
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9 Answers
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[nq:1]I came across this in the course of research last Tuesday. I was wondering if anyone else has come across ... hind legs. It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all." Cecil Gray (1928).[/nq]
I thought this was Johnson but don't have time to look it up right now.
[nq:1]b) Quanitifies the curiosity value of something in equally outlandish terms i.e. "that's as str
I thought this was Johnson but don't have time to look it up right now.
[nq:1]b) Quanitifies the curiosity value of something in equally outlandish terms i.e. "that's as str
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[nq:2]I came across this in the course of research last ... surprised to find it done at all." Cecil Gray (1928).[/nq]
[nq:1]I thought this was Johnson but don't have time to look it up right now.[/nq]
Johnson on a woman preaching, I think, BIDHTTLIURN.
David
[nq:1]I thought this was Johnson but don't have time to look it up right now.[/nq]
Johnson on a woman preaching, I think, BIDHTTLIURN.
David
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[nq:1]I came across this in the course of research last Tuesday. I was wondering if anyone else has come across ... Cecil Gray (1928). b) Quanitifies the curiosity value of something in equally outlandish terms i.e. "that's as strange as ...()"[/nq]
A woman without a man is as strange as a fish without a bicycle.
John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply
A woman without a man is as strange as a fish without a bicycle.
John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply
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[nq:1]Juvenal had some pretty nasty things to say about women which were touched on here recently and Adam Smith had some interesting views on the education of women. I can point you to the references if that would be helpful.[/nq]
Nietzsche was also misogynst (well, maybe just bitter).
"You're going to women? Don't forget your whip!"
Nietzsche was also misogynst (well, maybe just bitter).
"You're going to women? Don't forget your whip!"
00
[nq:1]A woman without a man is as strange as a fish without a bicycle.[/nq]
As originally proposed about 1975 (by
Gloria Steinem) this was rather different:
"A woman needs a man like a
fish needs a bicycle."
(Yes, I think she wrote like.)
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada)
dphillipson(at)trytel.com
As originally proposed about 1975 (by
Gloria Steinem) this was rather different:
"A woman needs a man like a
fish needs a bicycle."
(Yes, I think she wrote like.)
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada)
dphillipson(at)trytel.com
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[nq:2]A woman without a man is as strange as a fish without a bicycle.[/nq]
[nq:1]As originally proposed about 1975 (by Gloria Steinem) this was rather different: "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." (Yes, I think she wrote like.)[/nq]
I'm sure John's familiar with the original; I liked his recasting, which appears to invert its message.
Matti
[nq:1]As originally proposed about 1975 (by Gloria Steinem) this was rather different: "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." (Yes, I think she wrote like.)[/nq]
I'm sure John's familiar with the original; I liked his recasting, which appears to invert its message.
Matti
00
[nq:2]I thought this was Johnson but don't have time to look it up right now.[/nq]
[nq:1]Johnson on a woman preaching, I think, BIDHTTLIURN.[/nq]
ID. 'I told him I had been that morning at a meeting of the people called Quakers, where I had heard a woman preach. Johnson: "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find i
[nq:1]Johnson on a woman preaching, I think, BIDHTTLIURN.[/nq]
ID. 'I told him I had been that morning at a meeting of the people called Quakers, where I had heard a woman preach. Johnson: "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find i
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[nq:2]Sir, a woman's composing music is like a dog walking ... surprised to find it done at all." Cecil Gray (1928).[/nq]
[nq:1]I thought this was Johnson but don't have time to look it up right now.[/nq]
Johnson on women preaching, or at least that's how Boswell quotes him (my books are packed for an upcoming move, or I'd tell you the date).
SML
Please remove your hat when se
[nq:1]I thought this was Johnson but don't have time to look it up right now.[/nq]
Johnson on women preaching, or at least that's how Boswell quotes him (my books are packed for an upcoming move, or I'd tell you the date).
SML
Please remove your hat when se
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[nq:2]Sir, a woman's composing music is like a dog walking ... surprised to find it done at all." Cecil Gray (1928).[/nq]
Who undoubtedly acknowledged that he was simply adapting the suprising action from Dr Johnson's "a woman's preaching is like..."
Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 21 years.
(for e-mail
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