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A review by findyourgoldenhour
Bringing Down the Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the Powerless Woman Who Took on Washington by Patricia Miller
4.0
Powerful men taking advantage of women young enough to be their granddaughters? Society judging them completely differently, holding the women to an unfair set of standards? Women are supposed to be pure and undefiled, while men can’t be blamed for wanting a little action on the side?
There’s nothing new under the sun; just new people doing it.
This is a timely book in the #metoo era. Then, like now, women were preyed upon by powerful men with little to no consequence. Then, like now, women have little to no recourse to do anything about it. But at pivotal points of history, a few incidents have broken through to challenge to power structures. We are seeing that now in the #metoo era. This story tells the story of a brave woman who refused to be judged by a double standard. She took the risk and publicly declared herself a “fallen woman” (gasp!) in order to take down a sitting US Senator. And she won.
And then misogyny and sexism and the patriarchy were over! Just kidding. But she did move the needle, like brave women are moving the needle now. Progress is slow and we take a lot of steps backward; I often feel the despair of thinking we’ll never have full equality. But I was cheering for Madeline Pollard and women like her, past and present, who challenge the status quo and say No More. Their bravery and lasting impact should not be forgotten.
There’s nothing new under the sun; just new people doing it.
This is a timely book in the #metoo era. Then, like now, women were preyed upon by powerful men with little to no consequence. Then, like now, women have little to no recourse to do anything about it. But at pivotal points of history, a few incidents have broken through to challenge to power structures. We are seeing that now in the #metoo era. This story tells the story of a brave woman who refused to be judged by a double standard. She took the risk and publicly declared herself a “fallen woman” (gasp!) in order to take down a sitting US Senator. And she won.
And then misogyny and sexism and the patriarchy were over! Just kidding. But she did move the needle, like brave women are moving the needle now. Progress is slow and we take a lot of steps backward; I often feel the despair of thinking we’ll never have full equality. But I was cheering for Madeline Pollard and women like her, past and present, who challenge the status quo and say No More. Their bravery and lasting impact should not be forgotten.