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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
In honor of Women's History Month - I read Mary Shelly's mom's essay on The Vindication fo the Rights of Women. She wrote it in response to Edmund Burk's conservative view of the French Revolution and women's place in history. The most salient points she made have to do with expectations and education. In her opinion the low expectations of women's capabilities lead to reduced opportunities, and that led to virtually NO opportunity for education. We've come a long way baby - but we keep getting set back. How many more generations until we make it to equality?
This work has long been considered an early feminist oeuvre. Its author, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), had already written A Vindication of the Rights of Men in support of the French Revolution. She is perhaps best remembered for being the mother of Mary Shelley (1797-1851), the author of Frankenstein.
Please read the rest of the review here.
Please read the rest of the review here.
tbh i only read the introduction of this lmao but i’ll probably read the whole thing eventually
Five stars for Wollstonecraft's message: Females should be treated equally and all humans would be better off raised to value reason and modesty.
Loved the energy and confidence. The writing style felt ornately oblique at times and perhaps suffered simply by following such a wonderful introduction written by Miriam Brody. So much of this is written as a response to Rousseau that I feel ill-equipped to say more given I'm not too familiar with him or his philosophy. But when have unfamiliarity or lack of knowledge ever stopped me from commenting?
Published in the late 1700s this is the essential Feminist Manifesto, and one written by quite an intellect and a devoted mother. Wollstonecraft's concerns aim to nurture society and the future as a whole. She moves well-beyond her own self-interest to logically argue that what's good for women will result in positive ripples for society in general (from more fully formed individuals to better marriages, education, parenting, culture, and health). Writing on the heels of the American and French Revolutions, she extends the notion of egalitarianism to the "fairer" sex. She derides the way women are treated as fragile, simpletons and reasons that the limitations placed upon them (physically and intellectually) stifle development and produce childish, manipulative, impulsive adults. The emancipation for which she argues also depends upon a wholesale re-interpretation of relations between husbands and wives of that time by privileging the longer, intimate bonds of friendship among equals, over the shorter-term, superficial bonds of passion between unequals.
It's hard to say what she would make of today's nearly schizophrenic treatment of women some 200+ years after the publication of this work. On the one hand, women have made terrific strides toward equality in many industrialized societies, having equal access to education; participating physically and intellectually in life; contributing at all levels of society, industry, and art; as well as rising to positions of power and influence. On the other hand, the visual world is over-saturated with objective imagery of the female body used to sell everything from magazines to cars, and a reactionary backlash appears to be growing evidenced by more brazen, sexist public speech; online trolling/bullying; general violence toward women; and hysterical reactions to female forays into once male-dominated fields/roles (from video games to the portrayal of popular fictional characters in film and books).
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FUN FACT
May Wollstonecraft's daughter was Mary Shelley (you may have heard of a book she wrote called Frankenstein.)
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WORDS I LEARNED WHILE READING THIS BOOK
seraglio | witlings | bashaws | vicegerents | animadversions | peccant | exordium | eulogium | ebullitions | flagitiousness | cumbrous | accoucheur | caparisoned | sagacious
Loved the energy and confidence. The writing style felt ornately oblique at times and perhaps suffered simply by following such a wonderful introduction written by Miriam Brody. So much of this is written as a response to Rousseau that I feel ill-equipped to say more given I'm not too familiar with him or his philosophy. But when have unfamiliarity or lack of knowledge ever stopped me from commenting?
Published in the late 1700s this is the essential Feminist Manifesto, and one written by quite an intellect and a devoted mother. Wollstonecraft's concerns aim to nurture society and the future as a whole. She moves well-beyond her own self-interest to logically argue that what's good for women will result in positive ripples for society in general (from more fully formed individuals to better marriages, education, parenting, culture, and health). Writing on the heels of the American and French Revolutions, she extends the notion of egalitarianism to the "fairer" sex. She derides the way women are treated as fragile, simpletons and reasons that the limitations placed upon them (physically and intellectually) stifle development and produce childish, manipulative, impulsive adults. The emancipation for which she argues also depends upon a wholesale re-interpretation of relations between husbands and wives of that time by privileging the longer, intimate bonds of friendship among equals, over the shorter-term, superficial bonds of passion between unequals.
"Love, from its very nature, must be transitory. To seek for a secret that would render it constant, would be as wild a search as for a philosopher's stone, or the the grand panacea; and the discovery would be equally useless, or rather pernicious, to mankind. The most holy band of society is friendship."Virtuous humans will never grow without freedom in her eyes, and virtue should be justly esteemed over accomplishment; as well, she argued for actions over appearance and meritocracy over class. It's hard to fully appreciate what such proposals would have actually meant and how they would have been received during her lifetime. She argues for an adherence to both religion and morals that is based on reason and not blind obedience. And she can be ruthlessly practical allowing (perhaps, even encouraging) "the lover" to fawn over and compliment the appearance of a woman, as long as he not treat all women as objects and come to establish a relationship based on equality. At times, her position reads staunchly conservative as she feels women are far too open with both their bodies and their mouths when it comes to other women (more modesty and less gossip!). And more chastity among both genders seems to be a key ingredient to her vision, which has reason constantly taming our baser natures. She also seems to disdain the reading of novels, but I'm uncertain as to whether and how she distinguishes this from "literature."
It's hard to say what she would make of today's nearly schizophrenic treatment of women some 200+ years after the publication of this work. On the one hand, women have made terrific strides toward equality in many industrialized societies, having equal access to education; participating physically and intellectually in life; contributing at all levels of society, industry, and art; as well as rising to positions of power and influence. On the other hand, the visual world is over-saturated with objective imagery of the female body used to sell everything from magazines to cars, and a reactionary backlash appears to be growing evidenced by more brazen, sexist public speech; online trolling/bullying; general violence toward women; and hysterical reactions to female forays into once male-dominated fields/roles (from video games to the portrayal of popular fictional characters in film and books).
------------------------------------------------------
FUN FACT
May Wollstonecraft's daughter was Mary Shelley (you may have heard of a book she wrote called Frankenstein.)
------------------------------------------------------
WORDS I LEARNED WHILE READING THIS BOOK
seraglio | witlings | bashaws | vicegerents | animadversions | peccant | exordium | eulogium | ebullitions | flagitiousness | cumbrous | accoucheur | caparisoned | sagacious
challenging
informative
slow-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Read this for a historiography class and while it was hard to read at times (because of the time period in which it was written) I did enjoy reading it. I liked learning the history of feminism and how far back it goes. I had to write a report on this book and the following is the introduction to my paper:
In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, author Mary Wollstonecraft argues for the emancipation of women as to not be slaves to men but instead demand for the equal opportunity of education so that a change in society may happen in which future generations are able to obtain true virtue and reason. This book came at a time in which radicalization was challenging the social and political values of the late eighteenth-century European nations. First published in early 1792, Vindication served as one of the first feminist manifestos as a response to other writers of the time who believed a woman’s place was to look pretty, be polite and only work towards obtaining a husband who would provide for and protect her. Wollstonecraft’s tone demands for middle-class women to wake up and insist on equal education to broaden their minds and role in society.
In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, author Mary Wollstonecraft argues for the emancipation of women as to not be slaves to men but instead demand for the equal opportunity of education so that a change in society may happen in which future generations are able to obtain true virtue and reason. This book came at a time in which radicalization was challenging the social and political values of the late eighteenth-century European nations. First published in early 1792, Vindication served as one of the first feminist manifestos as a response to other writers of the time who believed a woman’s place was to look pretty, be polite and only work towards obtaining a husband who would provide for and protect her. Wollstonecraft’s tone demands for middle-class women to wake up and insist on equal education to broaden their minds and role in society.
What a sermon. The likes of which I haven't heard since before I was dragged against my will into churches.
Disclaimer - I know little of Wollstonecraft outside of this text, this was my introduction to her and I gather her ideas sweep wider than this writing.
I don't think any can argue with the powers of reasoning Wollstonecraft displays for her treatisie.
Though I will say - this book - so, much, repetition. I think she found just about every way under the sun to explain what will become of women if they're not freed into autonomy, reason, and becoming. My eyes glazed over each time she launched into another expression of how women will sink into contemptible wastes if not allowed any of her prescribed pathways to emancipation. I love a good, dense, dry bit of writing - but this was a lot, too much even for me.
I also can't tell if she's being astute or judegmental as all hell when she ranks a woman and her ability to succeed against her physical appearance in some sections. It'd be ironic that internalized misogyny based on beauty standards would poison her whole arguments, so I want to guess she's understanding her society in these harsh assesments, not expressing her own views, but I don't know. Maybe I misread this.
In turns I found myself reading my own thoughts - so closely aligned it was a bit eerie - in some of her ruminations, yet in others I'd assign certain of her ideas / fixes more tethered to her era that we can move forward from (particularly the austere 'god is the ultimate goal' moralizing). Again, though, the crack in the facade that showed possible internalized misogyny and a startling bit of racism at the end cause me to recoil. Can't look at the past through present judgement and expect it not to be of its time, but dissapointing none the less.
In the end, it can't be understated how important this writting is - faulty it may be in places - not only in its own time, but to be a touchstone for today as we've clearly not done enough to heed her philosophies.
Disclaimer - I know little of Wollstonecraft outside of this text, this was my introduction to her and I gather her ideas sweep wider than this writing.
I don't think any can argue with the powers of reasoning Wollstonecraft displays for her treatisie.
Though I will say - this book - so, much, repetition. I think she found just about every way under the sun to explain what will become of women if they're not freed into autonomy, reason, and becoming. My eyes glazed over each time she launched into another expression of how women will sink into contemptible wastes if not allowed any of her prescribed pathways to emancipation. I love a good, dense, dry bit of writing - but this was a lot, too much even for me.
I also can't tell if she's being astute or judegmental as all hell when she ranks a woman and her ability to succeed against her physical appearance in some sections. It'd be ironic that internalized misogyny based on beauty standards would poison her whole arguments, so I want to guess she's understanding her society in these harsh assesments, not expressing her own views, but I don't know. Maybe I misread this.
In turns I found myself reading my own thoughts - so closely aligned it was a bit eerie - in some of her ruminations, yet in others I'd assign certain of her ideas / fixes more tethered to her era that we can move forward from (particularly the austere 'god is the ultimate goal' moralizing). Again, though, the crack in the facade that showed possible internalized misogyny and a startling bit of racism at the end cause me to recoil. Can't look at the past through present judgement and expect it not to be of its time, but dissapointing none the less.
In the end, it can't be understated how important this writting is - faulty it may be in places - not only in its own time, but to be a touchstone for today as we've clearly not done enough to heed her philosophies.
A pretty brilliant feminist call for equal writes. Her unquestionable logical reasoning makes it hard to disagree with anything she stands for. Very influential and revolutionary novel of history. It's more than just a piece of literature and it's easy to see exactly why when reading it.