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Who really said it

Woman is a misbegotten male

Not Thomas Aquinas’s own line — he was quoting Aristotle Aristotle 384–322 BC · Greek philosopher, cited by Aquinas as “the Philosopher”
Disputed Free to reuse

The phrase is in Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae (I, q.92, a.1 and I, q.99, a.2), but both times he credits it to “the Philosopher”, Aristotle’s Generation of Animals. The Latin there is femina est mas occasionatus, which the 1920 English Dominican translation renders as “misbegotten male.” Aquinas then grants it only of the individual case and denies it of human nature as a whole.

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“Woman is a misbegotten male” Aristotle’s dictum as quoted by Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I, q.92, a.1, obj. 1 (English Dominican translation, 2nd rev. ed., 1920), which Aquinas qualifies in his reply. Quotle.info · Verbatim: “Woman is said to be a "misbegotten male," as being a product outside the purpose of nature considered in the individual case: but not against the purpose of universal nature.”

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Provenance

Where the words actually appear

Work
Summa Theologiae (Summa Theologica), First Part, Question 92, Article 1
Author
Thomas Aquinas, composed 1265–1274; here quoting Aristotle, De Generatione Animalium
Translation
Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Second and Revised Edition, 1920
Latin
“femina est mas occasionatus”

Objection 1. It would seem that the woman should not have been made in the first production of things. For the Philosopher says (De Gener. ii, 3), that “the female is a misbegotten male.” … Reply to Objection 1. As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence … On the other hand, as regards human nature in general, woman is not misbegotten, but is included in nature’s intention as directed to the work of generation. Objection, then Aquinas’s reply

In I, q.99, a.2, ad 1 Aquinas restates the point: “Woman is said to be a ‘misbegotten male,’ as being a product outside the purpose of nature considered in the individual case: but not against the purpose of universal nature.”

Summa Theologiae I, q.92 (New Advent, 1920 Dominican translation)

How the line reached Aquinas

  • In Summa I, q.92, a.1 ↗, the phrase opens Objection 1 and is credited to the Philosopher: “the female is a misbegotten male.”
  • Aquinas’s own Reply to Objection 1, on the same page ↗, calls woman “defective and misbegotten” “as regards the individual nature,” but “as regards human nature in general, woman is not misbegotten.”
  • The Latin in the Corpus Thomisticum ↗ reads “Dicit enim philosophus … quod femina est mas occasionatus.” The same tag returns in I, q.99, a.2, which New Advent renders ↗ as “Woman is said to be a ‘misbegotten male.’”
  • The idea comes from Aristotle’s Generation of Animals, II.3: “For the female is, as it were, a mutilated male” (Platt translation ↗).
Public domain

The English wording comes from the Fathers of the English Dominican Province translation of the Summa, Second and Revised Edition, 1920. That is a pre-1931 publication, so it is in the public domain in the United States. The Latin original, from the 13th century, is long out of copyright. New Advent claims copyright only on its own online edition.

This reflects the original work, which is public domain. If your exact English wording comes from a specific modern translation, that translation may itself still be under copyright — check the edition you quote.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Whose words are these?

The line circulates as Aquinas’s own verdict on women. In his text it is a quotation he puts up for discussion, and he answers it with a distinction.

Thomas Aquinas, as his own claim Quoting Aristotle

Both places where the phrase appears credit it to “the Philosopher”. In I, q.92, a.1 ↗ it is Objection 1, and in I, q.99, a.2 ↗ woman “is said to be” a misbegotten male, citing De Generatione Animalium.

Aristotle Origin

Generation of Animals, Book II, ch. 3: “For the female is, as it were, a mutilated male” (Arthur Platt’s translation ↗). The word “misbegotten” is not in Platt’s version. It is how the English Dominicans translated the scholastic Latin occasionatus.

Scholars disagree Contested reading

Michael Nolan in First Things ↗ argues that Aquinas “denies it no fewer than six times.” Joe Early, writing for CBE International ↗, argues instead that Aquinas did regard women as defective males.

Aquinas quotes the dictum as Aristotle’s and then splits it. Woman is “defective and misbegotten” only “as regards the individual nature,” while “as regards human nature in general, woman is not misbegotten” (Summa I, q.92, a.1 ↗).

Context

Why the half-quote matters

The Summa argues by stating objections and then answering them. Lifting an objection on its own makes it sound like the author’s conclusion. Here the objection is Aristotle’s biology, carried into Latin as femina est mas occasionatus. Aquinas uses it to ask whether woman should have been made at all in the first creation, and he answers yes: God, “the universal Author of nature,” formed “not only the male but also the female.”

His answer still keeps Aristotle’s account of conception for the individual case, and that is why readers split. Michael Nolan argues that Aquinas rejects the “defective male” idea, while Joe Early argues that he accepted it. What the text settles is narrower than either side: the exact phrase is Aristotle’s view as Aquinas reports it, and it comes with a qualification attached.

As regards human nature in general, woman is not misbegotten.

About the word “misbegotten”

According to Nolan ↗, occasionatus does not occur in classical Latin. The scholastics used it for something “caused unintentionally or accidentally.” “Misbegotten” is the 1920 English Dominican translators’ choice for it, and other translators have used “defective.”

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Summa Theologiae I, q.92 (English)newadvent.org

The 1920 English Dominican translation: Objection 1 quoting “the Philosopher” and Aquinas’s reply.
Summa Theologiae, Latin textcorpusthomisticum.org

The Latin of I, q.92 and q.99, including “femina est mas occasionatus.”
Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals IIintratext.com

Arthur Platt’s translation: “the female is, as it were, a mutilated male.”
Michael Nolan, “What Aquinas Never Said About Women”firstthings.com

Argues that Aquinas rejects the “defective male” view and explains occasionatus (First Things, November 1998).
Joe Early, “Thomas Aquinas’s ‘Misbegotten’ Concept of Women”cbeinternational.org

The opposing reading: that Aquinas did regard women as defective males.
Wikiquote: Thomas Aquinaswikiquote.org

Aquinas’s quote page. It does not list this line in any section.

The author

About Aristotle

Aristotle

384–322 BC · Greek philosopher, Aquinas’s “the Philosopher”

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath. His biological treatise Generation of Animals says that “the female is, as it were, a mutilated male” (Book II, ch. 3, in Arthur Platt’s English). Medieval scholastics carried that idea into Latin as femina est mas occasionatus, and this is the version Thomas Aquinas quotes, and then qualifies, in the Summa Theologiae.

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Primary source

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, q.92, a.1, obj. 1 and ad 1; I, q.99, a.2, ad 1, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province, 2nd and rev. ed. (1920), online ed. New Advent, quoting Aristotle, De Generatione Animalium II.3.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Woman is a misbegotten male’?” Last verified 3 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/woman-is-a-misbegotten-male/

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