Helen Rodnite Lemay

Beware the female.

WOMEN'S SERCRETS, composed in the late 13th or early 14th century by a disciple of theologian & scientist Albertus Magnus, is intended as a scholarly study on female sexuality and obstetrics, "partly philosophical, partly medical." Obviously, to the author, woman's purpose is for generation, and her nature can be observed through the lens of that purpose. The author quotes Aristotle: "The most natural operation is for each thing to generate something similar to itself so as to participate in the divine and the immortal. That is the goal toward which all things strive so that each might endure." (60) The author then explains how "every human being who is naturally conceived is generated from the seed of the father and the menses of the mother." (63)

Nothing is simple however. The woman, an essential part of the reproductive formula, is described as a cold and humid being, willing to shorten a man's life by sucking the warmth out of his body and soul. "And note that coitus is beneficial for women because through it they lose their superfluous cold and receive heat, and this tempers their frigid natures....Thus women who have much sexual intercourse do not have their lives shortened as men do" (70) Ejaculation causes the man's body to "become exceedingly dry because sperm has the power of humidifying and heating. When the body is dried up and its humidity extracted, its life is weakened, and as a consequence its powers are weakened and death takes place. This is the reason why those [meaning men] who have a great deal of sexual intercourse do not live for a long time." (147)

Beware the female.… (plus d'informations)