>>While exploring Hugo de Garis's web site on brain building I came
>>across this rant on political correctness. He claims that genius
>>in an undeniably male trait. I would be interested if anyone has
>>a reasonable argument against his views:
>
>The general reasoned response to this type of statement is that it
>does not take into account historical realities and is probably
>heavily biased in Western Christian history. You could bring up
>examples such as (i) that Socrates and Plato were originally the
>protoges of prominent female scholars (ii) that entire libraries were
>burned during Christian attacks on advanced 'pagan' civilizations so
>we don't have an accurate record of who their prominent thinkers
>were, (iii) that one of the greatest known ancient mathematicians of
>all time, Hypatia, was murdered by monks and her library burned
>simply because she was a woman, and (iv) what about Marie Curie, the
>Countess of Lovelace, Sappho?
>
>You could also point out that until very recently most women were
>prohibited by law from attending school or even reading books, and that
>these prohibitions were often enforced through beatings or commitment to
>asylums. It is believed that many women who exhibited signs of early
>genius were treated as socially rebellious or mentally anamolous.
Excellent post! Do you have a selection of good history sources you
could share with us?
Guru George