Walking the Tightrope

Note: All quotes are from my slightly more modern translation of Beyond Good and Evil dated 1998. All quoted word emphasis is Nietzsche's. Unfortunately, "Our Virtues," a splendid section of Nietzsche's great work, ends with several misogynistic pages.  Nietzsche believed that it was virtuous of creative free spirits (who were male) to keep women in their rightful (secondary) place.  He prefaces the section as follows: "...perhaps I may be allowed to enunciate some truths about 'women', assuming henceforth people will know form the start how much these are simply - my truths." (231) So he at least qualifies these sexist remarks as being rather personal ones.  He proclaims that autonomy for women is the equivalent of the "uglification" of Europe.  To enlighten a woman is to compromise woman's very being. Women should fear men, this allows their natural instincts to work properly, which ultimately makes them "competent for their ...