Syphilophobia (fear of syphilis) is one of the forms which the fear of women is especially likely to take. The attitude of such phobists is usually as follows: They fear that they will not be able to play a dominating part in regard to women because of some feeling of inferiority, for which they have all sorts of imaginary foundations, at times without conscious motivation. In this manner, following the increasing trend to belittle woman, they arrive at suspicious trains of thought which are to secure them against sexual relations. Sometimes a woman is a riddle, sometimes a criminal person, or a shallow spend-thrift, always thinking of adornment and similar vanities, and sexually insatiable.
The suspicions constantly arise that woman is a crafty and cunning being, bent on evil. This conception is universal and is found in all periods of history. As Adler states, "They emerge in the most sublime and lowest creations of art, have a place in the thoughts and efforts of the wisest, and create in man and in society a constant predisposition which develops suspicious and cautious traits, in order always to keep in touch with the enemy and to be in good time for the defense against knavish attacks. It is an error to think that it is only the man who harbors distrust of the sexual partner. The same trait is found also in the woman, often less distinct in character, when fictions of her own strength put a check to the doubt of her own value, but flashing up most strongly when the feeling of degradation becomes overpowering."
