Aristotle defined the female body as a defective male

Evidence

Aristotle’s biological theory viewed the female of the species as an incomplete or mutilated male, since the coldness of the female body would not allow the menstrual blood to perfect itself as semen. In the generation of offspring, the female contributed the matter or passive principle. This was the material on which the active male principle, the semen, worked in creating the embryo. The male was the real cause of the offspring. “The female, as female, is passive, and the male, as male, is active, and the principle of movement comes from him.” — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 108

Categorization

• DEFINE: The male-as-active-form / female-as-passive-matter pairing is foundational vocabulary for the book’s frame.
• XREF: connects to: Aristotle’s gendered form-over-matter hierarchy legitimated male household rule — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 107; Aquinas defined woman as a failed, incomplete man living under male authority — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 204; Harvey’s egg theory sustained male superiority even where he broke with Aristotle — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 650

Broader Connections

• Aquinas defined woman as a failed, incomplete man living under male authority #expands (0.95) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 204