The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.On the other hand, it is unlikely from the very outset that so interested a stance on our problem will be beneficial; the ascetic priest is hardly going to be the most apt defender of his ideal, for the same reason that a woman usually fails when she sets out to defend “woman as such”—not to mention that he will hardly be the most objective judge in this agitated controversy. Therefore—this much is already clear—it’s more likely we’ll have to help him adequately defend himself against us, rather than needing to fear that he’ll handily disprove us.
Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals III.11
“What,” I said, “is the funniest thing you see among them? Or isn’t it clear it’s the women, naked, exercising in the palaestra together with the men, not only the young ones, but also the older ones right there, like the old men in gymnasiums, who though they’re shriveled and not a pleasant sight, love to exercise still?”
Republic V.452a–b
Let’s test it out, and see which of the sexes is worse: we say it’s you, and you say it’s us.
Aristophanes, Women at the Thesmophoria 801
The Woman Question in Plato’s Republic
Mary Townsend
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Introduction: The Woman Question
2The Drama of Glaucon’s Aporia
3The Conflict of Thumos and Eros in the Hunt
5Women and Men, Exercising Naked, Together
6Hera, Artemis, and the Political Problem of Privacy
7Socrates’ Proposal of Robes of Virtue
8The Tragedy of the Philosopher-King