When I am cast in a movie where I feel that the woman's part is more interesting I usually start thinking about Spencer Tracy and Fred Astaire. They seem to be the most clear actors when working with women.
In the post-enlightenment Europe of the 19th century the highest authority was no longer the Church. Instead it was science. Thus was born racial anti-Semitism based on two disciplines regarded as science in their day - the 'scientific study of race' and the Social Darwinism of Herbert Spencer and Ernst Haeckel.