Early modern defenses of women’s superiority inverted exegetical arguments against them

Evidence

Translations were made of Henry Cornelius Agrippa’s 1525 essay On the Nobility and the Excellency of the Female Sex, and François Poulain de la Barre’s French treatise, The Woman as Good as the Man (written in 1673), which argued for the equality of the sexes. Agrippa’s treatise had been presented to Margaret of Austria in 1509. Although not printed until 1525, it was subsequently reprinted many times before its English translations in 1652 and 1670. Agrippa marshalled numerous arguments to make a case for the superiority of women over men. Eve, whose name meant life, was created last in the chain of creatures and was therefore more perfect. Her body was more beautiful, her face unspoiled by a beard. As a mother, the woman contributed more in material and intellect to the embryo than the man. A female could conceive without a man: witness the Virgin Mary. Whereas Mary was the best human being the world has ever known, Judas, a man, was the worst known sinner. Since Jesus the Redeemer was a man, it was a man, Adam, who had committed the original sin. Great women had excelled in the past and were only prevented from achievement by the monopoly and tyranny of men in education. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 995

Categorization

• SEED: Agrippa’s systematic inversion of every scriptural and biological point used to subordinate women is a ready-made counter-argument library for a piece on the deep roots of feminist exegesis.
• CANDY: Agrippa argued men were the inferior sex because Adam, a man, sinned, while Mary the woman was the best human ever — an enjoyably cheeky inversion for casual conversation.