Rough Draft

Throughout history there have been widespread views about the physiological differences between men and women. The following is an analysis and overview of the differentials observed between the second century and the twentieth.

In the second century Claudius Galenus, also known as Galen, a well-respected Greek physician, wrote extensively on medical albeit philosophical subjects. He believed men and women to be extremely similar, the only difference being women lacked the as he called it, vital heat, to force the reproductive organs to be external and visible. Even though his theory was that men and women’s bodies were physically equal other than the inversions of women’s organs, he never considered them equal. He viewed women’s bodies as inferior to men’s because of the retention, considering the male make up to be one of perfection. He was considered something of a medical authority and had a wide following from Greek and Roman medical writers.

Skip forward to sixteenth century France, author Michel de Montaigne’s story of pseudohermaphroditism concerning Marie / Germain is a prime example of how intersexed people were thought of as curiosities. The story says, Marie while running after her swine in a field, jumped over a ditch causing her internal heat to come out, thus anatomically now having a penis. She was renamed Germain and was one of many subjects in stories of the oddity of intersexed people found in Western Europe during that time. At that point in medical history it seemed an impossibility for a woman to become a man considering women were viewed as inferior and imperfect. Gaspard Bauhin, a Swiss botanist, explained that this oddity must have happened due to nature always trying to reach a state of perfection.

Due to the scientific revolution many new ideas concerning human anatomy completely discarded the popular doctrines of Ancient Greece and the Middle Ages. This time in history paved the way for beginnings of modern science. Many new findings and ideas came about due to the dissection of human bodies, instead of animal bodies, previously used in scientific observation. The scientific findings due to this change led to first hand observations contradicting Claudius Galenus’ theories. Andreas Vesalius, a surgeon from Brussels, compiled the most complete description of the human body to date, in 1543. De humani corporis fabrica (On The Fabric of the Human Body), was considered a masterpiece. His findings directly challenged the theories of Galen, which had been so well respected. History shows that Vesalius was just one of the many contemporaries moving forward and away from Galen’s findings, laying the groundwork for the study of modern anatomy.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries anatomical study began to flourish. The newfound availability of the printing press gave great minds the chance to exchange ideas on such subjects. European intellectuals and philosophers were coming to the conclusion that there was a separation between the mind and the body. The findings brought a change to the idea of what differentiates a woman from a man. No longer was it considered a lack of internal heat, but a biological difference. Not only did these findings show differences between men and women but differences that far surpassed just an internalization of the male reproductive system. Jacques Moreau de la Sarthe, an anthropologist, went as far as to say that not only were men and women different biologically, but were different in every conceivable respect, physically and morally. Thus, coming out of the eighteenth century, the idea of male perfection and vital heat gave way to the studies of biological differences.
With the nineteenth century came the theory of evolution. Charles Darwin, an English naturalist, believed women were inferiorly developed. He said feminine qualities such as compassion, sympathy, and the want to nurture belonged to an inferior stage of human development. Darwin believed that masculine qualities such as reason, aggression, and intellect proved men superior, and further evolved. He is famous for observing that “The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes is shown by man attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than woman can attain - whether requiring thought, reason or imagination or merely the use of the senses and hands.” . Biological differences noted and aside at this point, it was still widely believed that women, no matter how different, were still inferior to men.

(Insert findings about the 20th Century and the changes in gender roles due to WWI and WWII here )

To this day, sexual dimorphism, the study of the differences between genders in the same species, is controversial. Depending on your location, personal belief system, and amount of regard for the scientific community women may or may not still be regarded as inferior to men.