So much for Western civilization. His misogyny reflected, in part, mainstream medical beliefs that presented women quite literally as the weaker sex. Yet Hertzler went well beyond the call of duty in his anti-feminine rhetoric. Misdirection or frustration of the woman's animal urge leads to dysmennorhea, vomiting, and gastric distress. Of course, a woman who actually expresse s her animal urge runs into even worse medical problems.
Marriage seems to be the best compromise, given the gender's sorry lot.
Yet marriage brings its own difficulties, including self-pity, overfeeding, and lack of exercise. He warned against alimony hunters, who can be diagnosed at a glance by an experienced practitioner . . . They have faces that would congeal boiling oil in August. All in all, unoccupied ladies are very likely to get some sort of complaint. One wonders how Hertzler would have coped with a world in which women occupy themselves by becoming lawyers, executives, and of course physicians.