Monk's biography on Wittgenstein is great. I recommend his newest one on Oppenheimer if you haven't read it. I think Monk's point wasn't just about gender, but

Monk's biography on Wittgenstein is great. I recommend his newest one on Oppenheimer if you haven't read it. I think Monk's point wasn't just about gender, but also about whether the punishment was appropriate or proportionate in any case. Disrupting a class should be punishable regardless of gender, but struggling with a difficult lesson, especially one deemed unimportant for young girls at the time, is not a publishable fault. There was also the fact that Wittgenstein's corporal punishment was particularly harsh, and on one occasion fled town when even he realised that he went too far by basically hospitalising a young girl. In later life he eventually returned to apologise, but had his apology refused.