The Natural Superiority of Women by Ashley Montagu

even though it is something that every woman already knows, but will rarely speak of. Anna Quindlen in one of her delightful columns in the New York Times, unequivocally declared her belief in the inherent superiority of

     

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women; refering to a friend who said to her, "Have you ever noticed that what passes for a terrific man would only be an adequate woman?" "A Roman candle went off in my head," wrote Ms. Quindlen, adding that her friend was ''absolutely right,"
    1 That is essentially the fact presented in this book.
This book is designed to bring the sexes closer together, not to declare the supremacy of one to the other. If in these pages the natural superiority of women is emphasized, it is because the fact has thus far received far too little attention, and the time is long overdue that both men and women become aware of it and fully understand its meaning. sNatural superiority does not imply social inequality; on the other hand, the plea of this book is for more mutual love and understanding and complete social equality of the sexes. The plea is for the recovery of a sense of values that will enhance the appreciation of the sexes for each other. As Tennyson wrote long ago, "The woman's cause is man's. They rise or fall together." The idea that women are biologically superior to men will probably be new to most people. There have been several books in the past that have made such a claim, but these use grounds very different from those discussed in the present study. These works came to my attention some time after the publication of my own ideas on the subject. Scott Nearing wrote me that many years ago he and Nellie Seeds published a book entitled Women and Social Progress in which certain similar claims were made for women. It has also been pointed out to me that in 1917, H. L. Mencken published a book entitled In Defense of Women, maintaining similar views. Also, Mr. Samuel Chugerman has drawn my attention to the fact that the founder of American sociology, Lester F. Ward (1841-1913), "the American Aristotle," in several of his books set out his gynacocentric theory of the priority and superiority of the female. Ward had the great advantage of being a distinguished natural scientist who in the latter part of his life became a social scientist. Ward's ideas, late in coming to my attention, gratifyingly bring strong support to my own.

     

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1
The Natural Superiority of Women
"Superiority: The quality or condition of being higher, greater, or better in some respect, or of having some attribute in a higher degree, than something else,"
the Oxford English Dictionary.
"Natural: Inherent in the very constitution of a person or thing,"
the Oxford English Dictionary .
"Oh, no!" I can hear you say, "Not superior, but equal, partners, complementary, different, but not superior. What an idea!" Men will mostly smile, while women, alarmed, will rush to the defense of men, as women always have and always will. I hope that what I have to say in this book will make women even more willing to do so, for men need their help more than they sometimes seem to know.
Certainly there have been those who have cogently, if not altogether convincingly, argued that women are as good as men; but I do not know, nor have I read, of anyone who has provided the evidence that women are more richly endowed than, or superior to, men. The case has been argued, and often stated, but how, indeed, could one successfully argue such a case in the face of all the evidence to the contrary? Is it not a fact that by far the largest number of geniuses, painters, poets, philosophers,

     

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scientists, and so on, have been men, and that women have made, numerically, by comparison, a very poor showing? Clearly the superiority is with men. Where are the Leonardos, the Van Goghs, the Michelangelos, the Shakespeares, the Donnes, the Galileos, the Newtons, the Einsteins, the Freuds, the Mozarts, the Bachs, the Kants, and