Aristotle and Galen on sex difference and reproduction: a new approach to an ancient rivalry.
[I]n contrast to Aristotle's male oriented explanation of procreation the Galenic was 'feminist' inasmuch as both sexes were presented as contributing equally in conception and accordingly both had to experience pleasure... Anatomically, the two sexes were presented in Galenic accounts as complementary, the difference being that the man's genitalia were on the outside and the woman's on the inside. The clitoris was likened to the penis and the ovaries considered 'testicles' or 'stones' that produced seed. The male seed was, it is true, depicted by Galenists as superior in having 'spiritual' qualities lacking in the female, but Galen's reproductive schema was far more egalitarian than Aristotle's. (McLaren, 1985, p. 327)
Connell
S M
SM
St John's College, Cambridge CB2 1TP, UK.
D000076145:Greece, Ancient; D049690:History, Ancient; D012098:Reproduction; D012384:Rome; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012733:Sex Differentiation