Reading through Diogenes The Cynic, Sayings and Anecdotes and came across this unexpected exchange:
175. One day he saw a young man behaving in an effeminate manner. "Aren't you ashamed", he said, "that you should have worse intentions for yourself than nature had? For nature made you a man, and yet here you are, forcing yourself to become a woman."
Diogenes is a bit of an albeit extreme stepping stone between Socrates and the Stoics. Some have even argued that the Cynic style (not substance) of discourse was the inspiration for the style of presentation Jesus would later use in critiquing the world of his day.
Even so, I would have liked the response to Diogenes to be just as sharp:
"So you're implying that nature, in making some people women, is somehow less than ideal? Ashamed you ask? My dear Diogenes, it takes a real man to become a woman!"
Touché!
175. One day he saw a young man behaving in an effeminate manner. "Aren't you ashamed", he said, "that you should have worse intentions for yourself than nature had? For nature made you a man, and yet here you are, forcing yourself to become a woman."
Diogenes is a bit of an albeit extreme stepping stone between Socrates and the Stoics. Some have even argued that the Cynic style (not substance) of discourse was the inspiration for the style of presentation Jesus would later use in critiquing the world of his day.
Even so, I would have liked the response to Diogenes to be just as sharp:
"So you're implying that nature, in making some people women, is somehow less than ideal? Ashamed you ask? My dear Diogenes, it takes a real man to become a woman!"
Touché!