III. Misogyny

The original Greek Goddess was Gaia, the Earth-Mother, and the Romans were very keen on Vestal Virgins who were actually prostitutes and so, logically, the Classical world was run by misogynists for misogynists.

In his (vital bluffers' reading) Satyricon, Petronius gives the general idea: 'Some women are kindled to love by the dirt. Their passion is never aroused unless they see a slave in short garments. Others burn for a man from the arena or a mule-driver thick with dust' and so on.

The evidence is clear: Demosthenes, for example; 'Hetaerae (Geisha girls) we keep for the sake of pleasure, concubines for the daily care of our persons, wives to bear us legitimate children and to be the trusted guardians of our households.' Aristotle argues in his Politics that by nature the male is superior, the female inferior, therefore the man rules and the woman is ruled.

From R. Leckie, Bluff Your Way in the Classics (London: Ravette, 1993), pp. 50-51.