The Natural Superiority of Women [Hardcover]

Ashley Montagu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0761989811 | ISBN-13: 978-0761989813 | Edition: 5th

Among the central issues of the modern feminist movement, the debate over biology and culture over sex and gender, over genetics and gender roles has certainly been one of the most passionately contested. Making revolutionary arguments upon its first publication in 1953, The Natural Superiority of Women stands as one of the original feminist arguments against biological determinism. An iconoclast, Montagu wielded his encyclopedic knowledge of physical anthropology in critique of the conventional wisdom of women as the 'weaker sex,' showing how women's biological, genetic, and physical makeup made her not only man's equal, but his superior. Also a humanist, Montagu points to the emotional and social qualities typically ascribed to and devalued in women as being key to just social life and relationships. Subsequent editions of this book have provided additional support for Montagu's arguments, examining both biological and social scientific data of the late 20th century. One of the most broadly renowned and read scholars of our century, Montagu brings out this fifth edition with up-to-date statistics and references. A lengthy foreword by Susan Sperling contextualizes the book within the intellectual histories of feminism and anthropology, noting the huge social and intellectual changes that are spanned in Montagu's life and writing. Montagu's foundational book is an important addition to the library of all gender scholars.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This 1999 fifth edition contains significant new material compared to the previous 1992 release, and includes Montagu's new preface, an insightful introduction by Susan Sperling which explains Montagu's ideas in the context of current feminist theory....The noble ideas in this work will provide insight, courage and inspiration. The Natural Superiority of Women will help every thinking man to better appreciate the true essence of women, and help every woman to gain the vision and confidence to fulfill herself, nurture her family, stand up for her rights and make the world a better--a more equal and a more loving--place to live. (Michael Pastore Midwest Book Review )

Reading this book is a journal of discovery as Montagu sheds light on so many myths and customs that societies take for granted, including women. (Fran Hoskens Women's International Network News )

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Altamira Press; 5th edition (July 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761989811
• ISBN-13: 978-0761989813
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,229,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book made me re-examine everything I thought I knew, May 1, 2001

By 

Gregory C. Wilcox (Candler, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Natural Superiority of Women (Hardcover)

Ironically, the seminal work in the feminist movement was written by a man. "The Natural Superiority of Women", by noted anthropologist Ashley Montagu, was first published in 1952. It was serialized in the pages of the Saturday Evening Post, leading to the formation of the National Organization of Women in 1966. Earlier this year, the author completely revised and updated the book to take recent studies into account. Remarkably, the structure of his argument remains largely intact--only the details have changed.

Montagu is well aware of the cultural dangers inherent in discussing this topic, and he goes about it with tongue in cheek. He acknowledges up front that men are as important and necessary to the human equation as are women. And he concedes that men possess the "bruited advantages of larger size and muscular power", which offers certain athletic benefits. While these benefits may have been useful in earlier times, they have been rendered largely superfluous in our highly mechanized industrial society. And the same hormones that produce this size and power also give rise to aggressive and violent behavior. Men constitute the vast majority of criminals, psychopaths, drug users, and suicide attempts; they also instigate and wage most wars.

But the central question of the book is: which sex is superior, from an anthropological perspective? Well that, of course, depends on what you mean by 'superior'. Montagu offers this definition: "Superiority in any trait, whether biological or social, is measured by the extent to which that trait confers survival benefits upon the person and the group." With this benchmark in place, he then goes about showing how women excel in a wide variety of domains: intelligence, physical and emotional health, sensory perception, sociability, and longevity, to name only a few.

Montagu gives ground on only one topic: creativity. He admits that throughout history, the vast majority of artists, musicians, writers, inventors and scientists have been men. However, he never assumes for a minute that this is due to an inherent genetic superiority. Instead, he shows that it is a consequence of men's traditional subjugation of women. Men have always kept women "in their place": cooking, cleaning, taking care of the household and the children. Although this is finally beginning to change, the glass ceiling is still in place: women are even now paid only 67 cents to each dollar a man gets for the same job. Given such disincentives, he finds the supposed lack of creativity unsurprising.

I propose another possible explanation: women's creativity is expressed differently. I have long suggested that fully 50% of the funds allocated toward any new research or development project be used to investigate possible negative consequences of that project. So many discoveries have turned out to have nasty undersides; we don't find out until years later about nuclear waste, holes in the ozone due to CFCs, genetic damage due to hormone disrupters, and a great variety of other technologically-induced horrors. Could it be that women somehow intuitively sensed that these were genies better left in the bottle? Perhaps they devoted their creative skills instead to more practical matters, such as storytelling and crafts. These fields, while undervalued in today's world, have much greater utility in a socially-oriented culture. The craftspeople and the storytellers are the ones who preserve the fabric of society, producing its artifacts and passing on its legends.

This theory is, of course, highly speculative and fanciful at best. If true, and if the world were less patriarchal, it would imply a vastly different lifestyle than the one we enjoy today. We would not have all the blessings of indoor air conditioning, nuclear power, and plastic milk jugs. We would be more like indigenous people, living close to the land. Or perhaps we could combine the best of both worlds. The point is only that the kind of creativity we value determines, to a large extent, the shape of the world we inhabit.

Reading this book makes me wonder what other consequences would result from true equity between the sexes. How would it change our lives, for better or worse? Certainly it would affect our reproductive rates. Nafis Sadik, the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), recently gave a speech in which she lamented the slow pace of progress for women. She cited the Programme of Action, produced by the UN's International Conference on Population and Development. Its primary goals are to encourage universal availability of reproductive health, including family planning; to reduce infant, child and maternal mortality; and to provide universal access to education. While there have been small successes, much remains to be done. Dr. Sadik made it clear that our present overpopulation woes are a direct result of gender inequity. The sheer enormity of humans on the planet--a number that is about to hit six billion--is directly or indirectly responsible for virtually all of our environmental problems.

"The Natural Superiority of Women" is as relevant and as true today as it was half a century ago. It should be required reading for any person who claims allegiance to a gender. As the cover of the original paperback edition says, "A must for every woman--a challenge to every man."

33 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for men and women today., March 5, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Natural Superiority of Women (Paperback)

Modern civilization has traveled far in knowledge and advanced technologies, yet from other perspectives -- in morals, in education, in equality, in peace -- we have a long long way to go. Last year in Kosovo the world saw how false ideas can generate destructive actions, how an ideology of hatred leads to genocide. More recently we have been shocked to hear that a pro-Nazi sympathizer has secured a foothold in the government of Austria; and a professional baseball player in Atlanta has unashamedly announced, in effect, that minorities are an inferior species. Always, after news like this, the commentators pop out of their holes like groundhogs, glare at the shadows, then tell us what we already know. Bigotry, intolerance, and racism are evil and horrible and base. Much rarer are the thinkers who write about the root of these events, and explain what we must do to understand the causes and conditions which poison our culture with prejudice and hate. The most influential of these foresighted thinkers was Ashley Montagu, who died on November 26, 1999 at the age of 94. One of the key forces behind the United Nations UNESCO statement on race, Montagu was the author of more than sixty books. His works and lectures, which explore a wide variety of subjects, focus primarily on these four topics: anthropology; the fallacies of racism and sexism; the nature of human nature as loving and cooperative instead of selfish and aggressive; and the renewal of culture through education. Montaugu's last book, The Natural Superiority Of Women (originally published in 1952) has been expanded and updated to fortify his highly-controversial theme: women are superior to men. The book argues that the female of the species is biologically, sexually, emotionally, and even intellectually superior to the male. Montagu explains that this thesis is supported by scientific evidence. Like Socrates, he challenges his readers to distinguish between facts and opinions. He reminds us that facts are either true of false, and he welcomes all evidence that questions any of his facts and the conclusions deduced from these. Since 1952 when Montagu first made his claims in an article for the "Saturday Review", the book has angered many feminists and been applauded by many others. A woman, Montagu claims, should not attempt to blindly imitate the type-A, money-crazed, commercial-driven lifestyle of the typical executive male. The most fulfilling life for the mother can be realized only if she spends the first years caring for the new baby, and only later joins (or rejoins) the workforce. Montagu's great goal is not to promote a society dominated by women, but a to bring about a world of equality where the beautiful characteristics of women rule: a world of cooperation, sensitivity, and human kindness. This 1999 fifth edition contains significant new material compared to the previous 1992 release, and includes Montagu's new preface, an insightful introduction by Susan Sperling which explains Montagu's ideas in the context of current feminist theory, and the text of the important 1967 United Nations resolution titled "Declaration of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women." Admirers of Montaugu's previous books will find many of his important themes repeated here, especially his credo, as H.G. Wells explained, that "civilization is a race between education and catastrophe." For those of us who at times believe that catastrophe is winning, the noble ideas in this work will provide insight, courage and inspiration. The Natural Superiority Of Women will help every thinking man to better appreciate the true essence of women, and help every woman to gain the vision and confidence to fulfill herself, nurture her family, stand up for her rights, and make the world a better -- a more equal and a more loving -- place to live. Michael Pastore, Reviewer

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Neither sex really superior. Easily refutable and fails to convince., December 22, 2009

By 

Simply Observing (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Natural Superiority of Women (Hardcover)

As a woman (and an ardent feminist) interested in concepts of gender and sex, I was told to pick up a copy of this book. I found it to be very "interesting" on the whole and well-written, but hugely flawed (and also outdated). Ashley Montagu wrote the book back in 1952 and has been adding several editions to it, this being the 5th one. From it's content, I can see why it would be popular among some 'feminists', especially back in 1952 when the book was first written. The book does have a clear argument and I can almost understand where the author is coming from. Although I do not share her dislike of evolutionary psychology, Susan Sperling, in the Foreword, refreshingly explains that Montagu's heart was in the right place, even if his conclusions were horribly flawed. Indeed, she praises the book for inspiring early feminists and fighting scientific androcentrism, but she criticizes Montagu for his "gender essentialism" and his clear reverse sexism. However, I am less forgiving of this book's flaws or as impressed with its presentation as is Sperling. As I was writing this very review, I was quickly reminded of why I disliked this book so intensely.

Montagu's idea, in a nutshell, is that the natural advantages of men are no longer relevant to modern society, and that women's inherent advantages should be embraced if society is to move forward. We should, as a society, Montagu says, embrace longevity and love rather than superior musculature and strength. When we do this, society will be more nurturing and loving. The author defines "superiority" as biological/social "survival value" (which he equates with longevity) and then proceeds to list off some biological and social attributes of both sexes in order to show how women excel over men in this regard. His conclusion, as indicated in the title, is that women are naturally "superior" to men, based on this highly subjective definition of "superiority." Of course, it should be understood that following Montagu's strange logic that durability equals "superiority," one would have to necessarily conclude, for example, that elephants or sea turtles, and certainly water hydra, are "superior." It is easy, it seems, to argue for superiority of any group as long as one defines the criteria in such a manner that the conclusion of said superiority is practically forced. Contrary to what Montagu would have you believe, there is no such criteria in the biological and social sciences.

Clearly, Montagu's book is not exactly research popularization, but is really a polemic work that promotes his own agenda of how things "should be." Admittedly, it is a noble goal to criticize sexism against women, but I'm not so sure why it is therefore warranted and noble to engage in blatant sexism against men. In addition to his description of superiority itself being entirely subjective, the legitimacy of many of his "facts" and their interpretations are questionable. As mentioned previously, from an anthropological and scientific standpoint, the concept of "superiority" or "inferiority" between groups, especially between the sexes, is completely meaningless. To make such a statement requires judgements of value, which is a big "no-no" in any science worthy of the name. I don't have a problem with someone making such judgements, as long as they realize they are opinions and not facts. Montagu's problem is that he assumes the so-called "superiority" of women to be a "biological fact," when it is quite clearly a value judgement (one that is not shared by me or my colleagues who are in the scientific community). He is fine to have his opinions, but to insist that they are "facts" is highly disingenuous, anti-scientific, and extremely arrogant.

Even if we grant, for the sake of argument, that all Montagu's opinions are "facts" (which they are not), it still at least fails to convince me of women's superiority. Darwin, for example, has a better argument for the superiority of males than Montagu does for women. Of course, I disagree with both extremes and Darwin had his own prejudices that colored his writings. It is clear that similar prejudices, only reversed, colored Montagu's outlook, and Susan Sperling discusses these briefly in the Foreword. Thus, Montagu is using carefully selected data in an attempt to prove a preconceived notion. He even admits in the book that he did not discover this idea, but he developed his views in childhood.

Just as an important side note, Montagu's consistency also leaves much to be desired. Montagu has taken the extreme "nurture" position in the nature-nurture debate, stating on numerous occasions that humans have no biological predispositions or instincts and are merely products of their cultures and environments. Nevertheless, in this book, he has also simultaneously concluded that the female sex has "naturally" superior biological predispositions and instincts!!! Confused? Since this view of human biology is inconsistent, it's hard to tell where he stands on anything. He uses similar illogic in the book and when he is faced with the scientific fact that men have larger brains than women, for example, he claims that brain size has no connection to intelligence and then immediately afterward tries to argue that females actually have heavier brains and that it makes them more intelligent (both of which are factually false)!! I mean, what logic! Robert Bierstedt summarized this book's debate style perfectly in his review as "Heads - women win; tails - men lose."

Montagu's claims are not only nonsensical on theoretical grounds, but are also empirically shaky. More recent work on sex differences indicates that both men and women have distinct societal and biological advantages and that the overlap between the two is so considerable that there are more differences between members of the same sex than there are between members of different sexes. One of the chief principles in evolutionary biology is that nature values both sexes equally and invests equally in them unless there is a tradeoff where it is better for one sex to have one trait than another. Almost every measure of intelligence shows men and women averaging the same scores. Also, the Y chromosome, for example (and contrary to Montagu) merely determines sex and its function was selected for (although the fact that males are XY and females XX is random). Some asinine reviewers here (and Montagu also mentions this) have suggested that males are "incomplete" because of the chromosomal difference (Y being smaller, women being XX), but such a notion is based on ignorance and pure nonsense. Males and females have all the same genetic information except that information on the Y chromosome, as men have all the genes on the X chromosome that women use, as well as those on the Y which women do not have. One could equally argue that women are "incomplete," lacking a Y chromosome -- that they are the "beta" version. But it's just random. In birds, for example, the female has the equivalent of a Y chromosome. Many animals also determine sex by temperature, rather than genetics. But in every case, males have all the same genes as females. The problem with mammalian Y chromosomes is that recombination cannot occur, meaning that males will be more susceptible to mutations in that region. This is a mixed blessing, as males will of course get more X-linked diseases but also significantly drive much evolutionary development. This chromosomal combination may also be responsible for significant male variance intellectually and in other traits, but this is still speculative. It's not a matter of better or worse. Also, there is a current general consensus within the scientific community that longevity differences between males and females, while of course slightly biological in nature, are significantly social and have a lot to do with risk-taking, lifestyle, and the fact that men still do many dangerous things.

In a nutshell, males and females are basically the same genetically, but are different in certain key areas because of our evolutionary past: males being stronger, larger, and physically superior in many ways, more tolerant of pain, more willingness to take risks, and having more intellectual variance to females being smaller and weaker, making high investment into offspring, having stronger immune systems as well as greater durability, and intellectually clustering around the mean. There have been tons and tons of book on this very subject by competent researchers with much more insight and accurate claims than those made by Montagu. Oh, and none of them ever get into discussions of "superior" and "inferior." Most researchers tend to see these differences between the sexes as complementary, not as those that can be pejoratively used to rank one sex above the other.

To summarize, the overall problem with this book is that it's completely illogical in it's message and is no more "true" or "false" than the old (and some new) ideas of male superiority. Gender and sex differences are a legitimate field of study and it's unfortunate that Ashley Montagu presents it as a contest. As anthropologist Ray L. Birdwhistell said in his excellent critique of Montagu's book, "A legitimate thesis which might well be studied in context in cross-cultural laboratories is reduced to another foray in the battle between the sexes."

If anyone is interested in academic reviews of this book by respected researchers in this very field, see sociologist Robert Bierstedt's, psychologist Leona Tyler's, and anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell's reviews, respectively, at:

Bierstedt, Robert. "Review: The Women Books." The Antioch Review. Vol. 14, No. 2, (Summer, 1954), pp. 224-235.

Tyler, Leona E. "Review of The natural superiority of women." Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 38(3), Jun 1954, 208-209.

Birdwhistell, Ray L. "Reviewed work(s): The Natural Superiority of Women by M. F. Ashley Montagu." American Anthropologist. New Series, Vol. 56, No. 2, Part 1 (Apr., 1954), pp. 326-327