The power of women: cultural concepts "misogyny" and "gynophobia" in the classical philosophical discourse

This article deals with the problem of explication of women's destination in the classical philosophical discourse. Close relationship between the approval of the secondary position of women in society and in nature, on the one hand, and the recognition of the dangers posed by women, which causes their claim to control, on the other, are established. Thus, the descriptive function of discourse is considered to be one associated with the constitutive function. In this regard, a permanent talk of the female element dependence not only describes the reality, but also creates a discursive mechanism for maintaining and approval of this situation in order to suppress the danger emanating from the women's claim to control. The female is considered in connection with two important aspects in the concept derived by Schopenhauer. Firstly, the woman is described as "obviously" weak, passive, dependent, half-witted, cunning and childish. The only woman's purpose is procreation. Secondly, this description of the female is seen as a necessary tool of suppression of the existing women's claim to control, which is a direct threat to the welfare of contemporary society in the philosopher's opinion. The famous work of an enigmatic Austrian scientist and writer with a tragic fate, Otto Weininger, is another brilliant example of "misogyny" and "gynophobia". His work Sex and Character (first published in 1903) is an extremely significant product from the standpoint of culture and philosophy. One of the paradoxes of the classical viewpoint on the woman is disclosed in his work with the specified degree of accuracy and originality. The paradox is a permanent desire to state the subordinate woman's position in society and in nature, and, simultaneously, a desire to put her in this position, while the woman is naturally eager to escape. However, O. Weininger went beyond the bio-essential approach treating women as a natural opposition to men. The perceptible woman's nothingness and her manipulative authoritativeness have a social origin rather than a natural one. Thus, the concept "misogyny" supposes the extreme polarization and gender subordination in the classical philosophical discourse. At the same time the concept "misogyny" assumes association with the concept "gynophobia" due to the fixation of a certain danger emanating from a specific inherent women's claim to control. The claim under discussion is carried out by a special influence on male sensuality and sexuality. Under this association the definition of a woman is essentially contradictory in a classic discourse, because it simultaneously states a woman as the embodiment of weakness and passivity and as a dangerous source of destabilization of the male community related with the success, to a greater or lesser degree, of women's claim to control.

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