Table Of ContentOn the Physiological Idiocy of Women
Paul Julius Möbius
Sex and Immodesty
Paul Julius Möbius
On the Moral Idiocy of Women
Katinka von Rosen
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ISBN 978-1-008-99650-2
Published: February 2021
Cover pictures:
Left – Phyllis and Aristotle, Hans Baldung, 1515
Right – Gibson, Rival Beauties, in Eduard Fuchs’ Die Frau in der
Karikatur (1906)
Back cover:
Paul Julius Möbius, taken from Wikipedia
Biographical information provided in the footnotes regarding
the individuals referenced by Möbius and von Rosen are taken
from Wikipedia.
Translation: /BMW/
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Egalitarianism is evil everywhere, but gender egalitarianism is a
particularly great evil.
Paul Julius Mobius
The fundamental defect of the female character is a lack of a
sense of justice. This originates first and foremost in their want
of rationality and capacity for reflection but it is strengthened by
the fact that, as the weaker sex, they are driven to rely not on
force but on cunning: hence their instinctive subtlety and their
ineradicable tendency to tell lies: for, as Nature has equipped
the lion with claws and teeth, the elephant with tusks, the wild
boar with fangs, the bull with horns and the cuttlefish with ink,
so it has equipped woman with the power of dissimulation as
her means of attack and defense, and has transformed into this
gift all the strength it has bestowed on man in the form of
physical strength and the power of reasoning. Dissimulation is
thus inborn in her and consequently to be found in the stupid
woman almost as often as in the clever one. To make use of it at
every opportunity is as natural to her as it is for an animal to
employ its means of defense whenever it is attacked, and when
she does so she feels that to some extent she is only exercising
her rights. A completely truthful woman who does not practice
dissimulation is perhaps an impossibility, which is why women
see through the dissimulation of others so easily it is inadvisable
to attempt it with them. – But this fundamental defect which I
have said they possess, together with all that is associated with
it, gives rise to falsity, unfaithfulness, treachery, ingratitude, etc.
Women are guilty of perjury far more often than men. It is
questionable whether they ought to be allowed to take an oath
at all.
Arthur Schopenhauer, On Women
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Table of Contents
I – On the Physiological Idiocy of Women 6
Preface to the 1903 edition 7
Preface to the 1904 edition 12
Preface to the eighth edition (1906) 17
Part A.
I 23
II 43
Part B.
I 50
II 58
III 85
IV 93
V 102
VI 107
Appendix 112
I – Approving discussions 114
III – Excerpts from letters from
colleagues and others 135
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II – Sex and Immodesty – A Commentary on
Otto Weininger’s Sex and Character 142
III – On the Moral Idiocy of Women 173
Foreword by Paul Julius Möbius 175
Preface to the first edition 178
Preface to the second edition 179
On the Moral Idiocy of Women 181
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On the Physiological Idiocy
of Women
Paul Julius Möbius
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Preface to the 1903 edition
My opponents have become fairly quiet. They must have
realized that caution is the better part of bravery here, and after
bad experiences they would like to keep me dead silent. I’m
sorry, because I would have loved to come up with new reviews
à la Dohm [Hedwig Dohm, a stalwart of the women’s movement
at the time1], but what should I do?
In my essay I said that it is reasonable that the law should
treat women differently from men, given the mental difference
between the sexes. From the legal side, I have received various
approvals and I hope that my request will be met in the future.
Equal rights for all is the greatest injustice. If the 17-year-old
youth is treated more mildly than the man, then the woman
must also be granted protection. I come back to these thoughts
because a French book inspired me.
Dr. Paul Dubuisson, senior physician at the Sainte-Anne
insane asylum in Paris and a forensic surgeon, has written a very
interesting book about department store thieves2.
Not a day goes by when the Paris criminal chambers do not
have to judge a woman who is accused of stealing in the Bon-
Marché, the Louvre or the Printemps. If one considers that only
a small part of these thefts are discovered, one understands
that there is a significant phenomenon here. The astonishment
grows when one learns that almost all department store thieves
neither steal out of necessity nor belong to the habitual
criminals, that they mainly belong to the wealthy and honorable
middle class.
1 All passages in brackets [] are the translators’ doing.
2 Les Voleuses des Grands Magasins. Paris, A. Storck et Comp.
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The department store thieves are marked as follows: they
only steal in department stores; Most of them are well off,
some even rich, so they could very well buy the things; the
stolen objects are usually not necessary to them, since they
often already have the items, indeed in abundance. When
arrested, they usually admit the theft without further ado, not
infrequently with a kind of sigh of relief, as if a burden were
being removed from them. Many of them tell, without being
asked about it, about similar thefts in the past and state that
they will find such and such stolen things in their homes. In fact,
a house search reveals such items which have been cleverly
hidden, unused, often still labeled with the department store
label, in cupboards, in dark corners, under the cover of
upholstered furniture, and which can only be found with the
thief’s help. All of them agreed: “I couldn’t resist – I lost my
head – it all seemed to belong to me – I got more and more
pleasure – if I hadn’t been arrested, I would have taken more
and more…”, etc.
How can you explain all these oddities? Obviously two
things have to be taken into account, firstly the nature of the
department store, and secondly those who were seduced
therein. Today’s department store is a masterpiece, because its
owners have arranged everything with wonderful skill in such a
way that the temptation to buy couldn’t be greater. They tempt
the visitors with absolutely ingenious art. Hardly ever a woman
who went in with the determination not to buy anything comes
out without a number of parcels. First, the desire is awakened
by brochures and price lists, which are sent lavishly to the
houses, and from which the readers gain the conviction that the
purchase must be pure profit under the specified conditions.
Soon the idea comes to them: there is no harm in going there,
you can see it, admission is free, you don’t have to buy it right
away. Once the unfortunate woman is in the lion’s den, she will
be enchanted. At the sight of this overabundance of beautiful
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and good things, all desires for comfort, elegance, possessions
awaken, and the female desire for pleasure is deeply aroused.
The visitor can touch and turn all the delights at will, which is a
pleasure in itself, because nobody asks or seems to care, she
can even have the object of her desire sent to her house for a
few days to view. The tempter has done even more, for the
ladies, who are not supposed to be tired, have halls with
benches in which journals, even food and drinks are offered free
of charge. The visitor should feel in the department store as in
her home, only that everything is infinitely bigger, more
beautiful, richer, that no effort is waiting for her, that
everything is politeness, kindness. The department store
employs the most pleasant and amiable young men it can get.
Only a few can resist all these temptations; most are
seduced into purchases that not infrequently meet no need and
exceed the available means. Many women are attracted to the
department store as others are to the church, because here as
there they find sweet excitement, even if the kind is different.
Some fall in love with one of these caravanserais and can no
longer live without visiting the Louvre, the Bon Marché or the
Printemps every day or at least once a week. A young woman,
who had just recovered from a serious illness, furiously required
to go to a department store, went there, and died after a few
days. She did not want to buy anything, but she longed for the
atmosphere of her temple and for the sight of the beautiful
things. Finally, it must be considered that the ladies exposed to
temptation are deliberately made to think that they are
completely unattended. When the visitor has found her goods,
she calls one of the employees who has to lead her to the
cashier, but who does not exercise any supervision. Only
covertly a number of employees, who do not carry any sign,
watch the buyers; nothing warns them, only after the theft the
supervisor intervenes.
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