But Darwin was probably not the originator of this convenient sexual classification. He likely borrowed it from Aristotle, the father of zoology. In the fourth century BC the ancient Greek philosopher wrote the first ever animal almanacs: On the Generation of Animals was his treatise on reproduction. Darwin had certainly read this seminal academic work, which perhaps explains why there is a distinct whiff of familiarity in Aristotle’s partitioning of the sex roles. ‘In those animals that have… two sexes… the male stands for effective and active… and the female… for the passive.’
