Who influenced H. Ibsen, A. Strindberg, K. Kraus, Z. Freud, E. Schiele, L.
Wittgenstein and A. Hitler? Who took a shot at Andy Warhol? And what have
yellow wallpaper and gender quotas got to do with all this?
At the beginning of the twentieth century, a young philosopher wrote his book
Gender and Character. Shortly after its publication, in early October 1903, he
rented an apartment in Vienna. The philosopher’s name is Otto Weininger, and he
is twenty-three years old. He rented an apartment where Ludwig van Beethoven
died. Of course, this was no coincidence… In July 1968, a woman entered the
studio of a famous artist and shot him dead. Her name was Valerie Solanas, and
she turned herself in to a traffic policeman the same night. The man she had shot
was Andy Warhol. Two people intransigent towards the world and their own lives.
Two people who despised the other sex and made it blatantly clear through their
statements. Misogyny (hatred of women) and misandry (hatred of men) at the key
moments of the 20 th century. “A woman is either a mother or a whore; neither
offers anything good, let alone intelligent. The worst man is still worth more than
the best woman…”, “…man is just an imperfect woman, walking abortion, aborted
already at the genetic level. Being a man is being an emotionally limited bastard;
being a man is a physical defect, and men are emotional cripples.” How many
people nod in acknowledged or covert agreement?