Cowboy Bob Sorensen
[Originally published as The Inferiority of Women According to Darwin]
When creationists point out that Charles Darwin was a racist, atheists are quick to circle the wagons and cry, “That is an ad hominem!” The more intellectual evolutionists simply try to distance themselves. But is it an attack on the presenter when it is clear his views of one issue influence his thinking in other areas?
There is no question Darwin’s view of “races” led to real-world mistreatment of human beings for many decades following his book’s release. So, it is only wise to consider other people he also looked at with disdain. And there is no question that Darwin’s views on women as inferior to men should be troubling.
Neither his racism nor his misogyny is simple mud slinging. They illustrate the views that were prominent in his evolutionary conjectures, and we can see how they directly affected science and society afterward.
And in both cases, his opinions about these people was based solely on the myth he devised.
According to Darwin, women are intellectually inferior to men and have smaller brains. While the smaller brains thing is often true, it should not be surprising because women usually have smaller frames than men. But, the idea of brain size as a measure of intelligence has been refuted for many years.
“But Cowboy Bob, Darwin’s racism and sexism are just because he’s the product of his times!”
Funny how that doesn’t work for most other people, isn’t it?
He also believed that women are better with morality and nurturing; they are more likely to remain faithful while men tomcat around. Why? Because evolution. There are many risible views in science today (such as how some claim paleontology is racist), but the stupid-woman belief became firmly entrenched in society. It is found even now.
Someone who pays attention to life around them can clearly see a range from brilliance to stupidity in both sexes. Sexual promiscuity and faithfulness are also found in both men and women. For that matter, shortly after Darwin’s claims were published, some women conducted research refuting Darwin’s views but were rejected because the women were not scientists (a blatant genetic fallacy).
This only confirmed some biases since discrimination against women in science was much more pronounced than it is today. But I wonder how many women accepted the pronouncement of their intellectual inferiority due to the authority of “science”.
The view of women as inferior to men is in sharp contrast to the biblical view of women. God made their value clear throughout the Bible, beginning in Genesis.
Darwin’s book The Descent of Man is a deeply racist book that clearly spells out the troubling implications of evolution when applied to human beings. But his statements about women are no better. The book contains a section titled “Mental Powers of Men and Women” where he stated that men attain “a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than can women whether requiring deep thought, reason, or imagination, or merely the use of the senses and hands.”
He further claimed that “Man is more courageous, pugnacious and energetic than woman, and has a more inventive genius. His brain is absolutely larger . . . .”
