On the Physiological Idiocy of Women

"With the words "physiological idiocy of women" I denote the fact that all brain functions of the healthy woman are lesser than that of the healthy man, if one disregards the love of children."

In his work, Möbius tackles one of humanity's great point of contention: is there essential differences between man and woman, and if so what are they?

Here, we see - or discover - that issues like gender, feminism, freedom, were just as pressing in the 1900s as they are today. Some of the quotes below could have very well been written in 2021.

"Just as the urban population with its predominantly cerebral activity gradually becomes barren and would die off without an influx from the countryside, so civilization in general seems to drain the sources of life and a people finally becomes so civilized that it can no longer live and can only be replenished by barbarian blood. Obviously, the primal phenomenon is the contrast between brain activity and reproduction. Both functions are closely connected, but the more one gets the predominance, the more the other suffers."

"If one looks at the efforts that women make today to fight for equality with men, one cannot help but feel sorry. The female sex has succeeded in pushing its way into all possible subjects over the course of time. They are allowed to attend university, are painters, sculptors, musicians (or sound artists as they say), poets. They are used for work that used to be done exclusively by men. In spite of all this, woman has not been able to get herself the recognition she would be entitled to if she were able to do work that was to be valued equally as men's. On the contrary, for the majority of men the position of modern women does not seem justified. The fight is only getting hotter."

"But it is, I fear, useless to oppose the women's movement. This is made possible less by the urge of women than by the feminization of men. Here lies the great danger and this alarming process can only come to a halt with the abrupt interruption of the whole present development by wars, epidemics or other natural events."

"Unfortunately, with the modern "idolatry of the ego," marital divorces are also the order of the day."

This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first and only English translation of those works. This translation aims at being as literal as possible, to remain close to the author's meaning and intent.