A review by yogajohn
The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill, John Stuart Mill

4.0

For the last year or so, I've been absolutely hooked on 19th century literature...and I fell in love with it completely by accident. I ignorantly had thought this century was historically banal, but boy was I wrong. First came Thoreau, then Emerson, Whitman, Mill, William James, Darwin, Marx, W.K. Clifford, and now Tolstoy....the list is getting longer:-) The suffragist movements in both England and the United States were essentially started by this book written by Mill in close collaboration with his wife and best friend, Harriet Taylor Mill and I would say it is a must read for every strong, educated, and independent woman out there (Men - you should read it too). This excerpt is no doubt a reference to Mill's and Taylor's remarkable, eventually intimate, but altogether enviable relationship. Think about this ladies: the experience for essentially all women on this planet just a century and a half ago, in both the East and the West, was such that a meaningful life, by all modern definitions, was practically impossible. Women were relegated, by law, to service their husband's every desire - with no expectation of reciprocation. They were denied the opportunity for higher learning and employment in essentially all occupations of social distinction. Fast forward to 2012 - We're not out the the woods yet, but LOOK HOW FAR WE'VE COME! The question we need to ask our selves is: are we, both men and women, taking full advantage to promote this catastrophic shift in what Mill calls "the most fundamental of the social relationships," OR are we satisfied to wallow in the barbaric social norms of the past? The ideas, both good and bad, of Mill and his 19th century cohort became the actions, both good and bad, of the 20th century. Think of the amazing power for good that ideas have when they are eloquently and passionately promoted. I'm sure this is a pattern we'll see with more frequency as human history continues to unfold. What ideas are YOU promoting today, that when animated will bring about a better world FOR ALL OF US tomorrow?