VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN by Mary Wollstonecraft

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These are matters of fact, which have come under my eye again and
again. The consequence is obvious, the wife has recourse to cunning to
undermine the habitual affection, which she is afraid openly to
oppose; and neither tears nor caresses are spared till the spy is
worked out of her home, and thrown on the world, unprepared for its
difficulties; or sent, as a great effort of generosity, or from some
regard to propriety, with a small stipend, and an uncultivated mind,
into joyless solitude.

  These two women may be much upon a par, with respect to reason and
humanity; and changing situations, might have acted just the same
selfish part; but had they been differently educated, the case would
also have been very different. The wife would not have had that
sensibility, of which self is the centre, and reason might have taught
her not to expect, and not even to be flattered by, the affection of
her husband, if it led him to violate prior duties. She would wish not
to love him merely because he loved her, but on account of his
virtues; and the sister might have been able to struggle for herself
instead of eating the bitter bread of dependence.

  I am, indeed, persuaded that the heart, as well as the
understanding, is opened by cultivation; and by, which may not
appear so clear, strengthening the organs; I am not now talking of
momentary flashes of sensibility, but of affections. And, perhaps,
in the education of both sexes, the most difficult task is so to
adjust instruction as not to narrow the understanding, whilst the
heart is warmed by the generous juices of spring, just raised by the
electric fermentation of the season; nor to dry up the feelings by
employing the mind in investigations remote from life.

  With respect to women, when they receive a careful education, they
are either made fine ladies, brimful of sensibility, and teeming
with capricious fancies; or mere notable women. The latter are often
friendly, honest creatures, and have a shrewd kind of good sense
joined with worldly prudence, that often render them more useful
members of society than the fine sentimental lady, though they possess
neither greatness of mind nor taste. The intellectual world is shut
against them; take them out of their family or neighbourhood, and they
stand still; the mind finding no employment, for literature affords
a fund of amusement which they have never sought to relish, but
frequently to despise. The sentiments and taste of more cultivated
minds appear ridiculous, even in those whom chance and family
connections have led them to love; but in mere acquaintance they think
it all affectation.

  A man of sense can only love such a woman on account of her sex, and
respect her, because she is a trusty servant. He lets her, to preserve
his own peace, scold the servants, and go to church in clothes made of
the very best materials. A man of her own size of understanding would,
probably, not agree so well with her; for he might wish to encroach on
her prerogative, and manage some domestic concerns himself. Yet women,
whose minds are not enlarged by cultivation, or the natural
selfishness of sensibility expanded by reflection, are very unfit to
manage a family; for, by an undue stretch of power, they are always
tyrannizing to support a superiority that only rests on the
arbitrary distinction of fortune. The evil is sometimes more
serious, and domestics are deprived of innocent indulgences, and
made to work beyond their strength, in order to enable the notable
woman to keep a better table, and outshine her neighbours in finery
and parade. If she attend to her children, it is, in general, to dress
them in a costly manner- and, whether this attention arise from vanity
or fondness, it is equally pernicious.

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Besides, how many women of this description pass their days; or,
at least, their evenings, discontentedly. Their husbands acknowledge
that they are good managers, and chaste wives; but leave home to
seek for more agreeable, may I be allowed to use a significant
French word, piquant society; and the patient drudge, who fulfils
her task, like a blind horse in a mill, is defrauded of her just
reward; for the wages due to her are the caresses of her husband;
and women who have so few resources in themselves, do not very
patiently bear this privation of a natural right.

  A fine lady, on the contrary, has been taught to look down with
contempt on the vulgar employments of life; though she has only been
incited to acquire accomplishments that rise a degree above sense; for
even corporeal accomplishments cannot be acquired with any degree of
precision unless the understanding has been strengthened by
exercise. Without a foundation of principles taste is superficial,
grace must arise from something deeper than imitation. The
imagination, however, is heated, and the feelings rendered fastidious,
if not sophisticated; or, a counterpoise of judgment is not
acquired, when the heart still remains artless, though it becomes
too tender.

  These women are often amiable; and their hearts are really more
sensible to general benevolence, more alive to the sentiments that
civilize life, than the square-elbowed family drudge; but, wanting a
due proportion of reflection and self-government, they only inspire
love; and are the mistresses of their husbands, whilst they have any
hold on their affections; and the platonic friends of his male
acquaintance. These are the fair defects in nature; the women who
appear to be created not to enjoy the fellowship of man, but to save
him from sinking into absolute brutality, by rubbing off the rough
angles of his character; and by playful dalliance to give some dignity
to the appetite that draws him to them.- Gracious Creator of the whole
human race! hast thou created such a being as woman, who can trace thy
wisdom in thy works, and feel that thou alone art by thy nature
exalted above her,- for no better purpose?- Can she believe that she
was only made to submit to man, her equal, a being, who, like her, was
sent into the world to acquire virtue?- Can she consent to be occupied
merely to please him; merely to adorn the earth, when her soul is
capable of rising to thee?- And can she rest supinely dependent on man
for reason, when she ought to mount with him the arduous steeps of
knowledge?-

  Yet, if love be the supreme good, let women be only educated to
inspire it, and let every charm be polished to intoxicate the
senses; but, if they be moral beings, let them have a chance to become
intelligent; and let love to man be only a part of that glowing
flame of universal love, which, after encircling humanity, mounts in
grateful incense to God.

  To fulfil domestic duties much resolution is necessary, and a
serious kind of perseverance that requires a more firm support than
emotions, however lively and true to nature. To give an example of
order, the soul of virtue, some austerity of behaviour must be
adopted, scarcely to be expected from a being who, from its infancy,
has been made the weathercock of its own sensations. Whoever
rationally means to be useful must have a plan of conduct; and, in the
discharge of the simplest duty, we are often obliged to act contrary
to the present impulse of tenderness or compassion. Severity is
frequently the most certain, as well as the most sublime proof of
affection; and the want of this power over the feelings, and of that
lofty, dignified affection, which makes a person prefer the future
good of the beloved object to a present gratification, is the reason
why so many fond mothers spoil their children, and has made it
questionable whether negligence or indulgence be most hurtful, but I
am inclined to think, that the latter has done most harm.

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Mankind seem to agree that children should be left under the
management of women during their childhood. Now, from all the
observation that I have been able to make, women of sensibility are
the most unfit for this task, because they will infallibly, carried
away by their feelings, spoil a child's temper. The management of
the temper, the first, and most important branch of education,
requires the sober steady eye of reason; a plan of conduct equally
distant from tyranny and indulgence: yet these are the extremes that
people of sensibility alternately fall into; always shooting beyond
the mark. I have followed this train of reasoning much further, till I
have concluded, that a person of genius is the most improper person to
be employed in education, public or private. Minds of this rare
species see things too much in masses, and seldom, if ever, have a
good temper. That habitual cheerfulness, termed good-humour, is,
perhaps, as seldom united with great mental powers, as with strong
feelings. And those people who follow, with interest and admiration,
the flights of genius; or, with cooler approbation suck in the
instruction which has been elaborately prepared for them by the
profound thinker, ought not to be disgusted, if they find the former
choleric, and the latter morose; because liveliness of fancy, and a
tenacious comprehension of mind, are scarcely compatible with that
pliant urbanity which leads a man, at least, to bend to the opinions
and prejudices of others, instead of roughly confronting them.

  But, treating of education or manners, minds of a superior class are
not to be considered, they may be left to chance; it is the multitude,
with moderate abilities, who call for instruction, and catch the
colour of the atmosphere they breathe. This respectable concourse, I
contend, men and women, should not have their sensations heightened in
the hot-bed of luxurious indolence, at the expence of their
understanding; for, unless there be a ballast of understanding, they
will never become either virtuous or free: an aristocracy, founded
on property, or sterling talents, will ever sweep before it, the
alternately timid, and ferocious, slaves of feeling.

  Numberless are the arguments, to take another view of the subject,
brought forward with a shew of reason, because supposed to be
deduced from nature, that men have used morally and physically, to
degrade the sex. I must notice a few.

  The female understanding has often been spoken of with contempt,
as arriving sooner at maturity than the male. I shall not answer
this argument by alluding to the early proofs of reason, as well as
genius, in Cowley, Milton, and Pope,* but only appeal to experience to
decide whether young men, who are early introduced into company (and
examples now abound), do not acquire the same precocity. So
notorious is this fact, that the bare mentioning of it must bring
before people, who at all mix in the world, the idea of a number of
swaggering apes of men, whose understandings are narrowed by being
brought into the society of men when they ought to have been
spinning a top or twirling a hoop.

  * Many other names might be added.

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It has also been asserted, by some naturalists, that men do not
attain their full growth and strength till thirty; but that women
arrive at maturity by twenty. I apprehend that they reason on false
ground, led astray by the male prejudice, which deems beauty the
perfection of woman- mere beauty of features and complexion, the
vulgar acceptation of the word, whilst male beauty is allowed to
have some connection with the mind. Strength of body, and that
character of countenance, which the French term a physionomie, women
do not acquire before thirty, any more than men. The little artless
tricks of children, it is true, are particularly pleasing and
attractive; yet, when the pretty freshness of youth is worn off, these
artless graces become studied airs, and disgust every person of taste.
In the countenance of girls we only look for vivacity and bashful
modesty; but, the spring-tide of life over, we look for soberer
sense in the face, and for traces of passion, instead of the dimples
of animal spirits; expecting to see individuality of character, the
only fastener of the affections.* We then wish to converse, not to
fondle; to give scope to our imaginations as well as to the sensations
of our hearts.

  * The strength of an affection is, generally, in the same proportion
as the character of the species in the object beloved.

  At twenty the beauty of both sexes is equal; but the libertinism
of man leads him to make the distinction, and superannuated
coquettes are commonly of the same opinion; for, when they can no
longer inspire love, they pay for the vigour and vivacity of youth.
The French, who admit more of mind into their notions of beauty,
give the preference to women of thirty. I mean to say that they
allow women to be in their most perfect state, when vivacity gives
place to reason, and to that majestic seriousness of character,
which marks maturity;- or, the resting point. In youth, till twenty,
the body shoots out, till thirty the solids are attaining a degree
of density; and the flexible muscles, growing daily more rigid, give
character to the countenance; that is, they trace the operations of
the mind with the iron pen of fate, and tell us not only what powers
are within, but how they have been employed.

  It is proper to observe, that animals who arrive slowly at maturity,
are the longest lived, and of the noblest species. Men cannot,
however, claim any natural superiority from the grandeur of longevity;
for in this respect nature has not distinguished the male.

  Polygamy is another physical degradation; and a plausible argument
for a custom, that blasts every domestic virtue, is drawn from the
well-attested fact, that in the countries where it is established,
more females are born than males. This appears to be an indication
of nature, and to nature, apparently reasonable speculations must
yield. A further conclusion obviously presented itself; if polygamy be
necessary, woman must be inferior to man, and made for him.

  With respect to the formation of the fetus in the womb, we are
very ignorant; but it appears to me probable, that an accidental
physical cause may account for this phenomenon, and prove it not to be
a law of nature. I have met with some pertinent observations on the
subject in Forster's Account of the Isles of the South-Sea, that
will explain my meaning. After observing that of the two sexes amongst
animals, the most vigorous and hottest constitution always prevails,
and produces its kind; he adds,- 'If this be applied to the
inhabitants of Africa, it is evident that the men there, accustomed to
polygamy, are enervated by the use of so many women, and therefore
less vigorous; the women, on the contrary, are of a hotter
constitution, not only on account of their more irritable nerves, more
sensible organization, and more lively fancy; but likewise because
they are deprived in their matrimony of that share of physical love
which, in a monogamous condition, would all be theirs; and thus, for
the above reasons, the generality of children are born females.

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'In the greater part of Europe it has been proved by the most
accurate lists of mortality, that the proportion of men to women is
nearly equal, or, if any difference takes place, the males born are
more numerous, in the proportion of 105 to 100.'

  The necessity of polygamy, therefore, does not appear; yet when a
man seduces a woman, it should, I think, be termed a left-handed
marriage, and the man should be legally obliged to maintain the
woman and her children, unless adultery, a natural divorcement,
abrogated the law. And this law should remain in force as long as
the weakness of women caused the word seduction to be used as an
excuse for their frailty and want of principle; nay, while they depend
on man for a subsistence, instead of earning it by the exertion of
their own hands or heads. But these women should not, in the full
meaning of the relationship, be termed wives, or the very purpose of
marriage would be subverted, and all those endearing charities that
flow from personal fidelity, and give a sanctity to the tie, when
neither love nor friendship unites the hearts, would melt into
selfishness. The woman who is faithful to the father of her children
demands respect, and should not be treated like a prostitute; though I
readily grant that if it be necessary for a man and woman to live
together in order to bring up their offspring, nature never intended
that a man should have more than one wife.

  Still, highly as I respect marriage, as the foundation of almost
every social virtue, I cannot avoid feeling the most lively compassion
for those unfortunate females who are broken off from society, and
by one error torn from all those affections and relationships that
improve the heart and mind. It does not frequently even deserve the
name of error; for many innocent girls become the dupes of a
sincere, affectionate heart, and still more are, as it may
emphatically be termed, ruined before they know the difference between
virtue and vice:- and thus prepared by their education for infamy,
they become infamous. Asylums and Magdalenes are not the proper
remedies for these abuses. It is justice, not charity, that is wanting
in the world!

  A woman who has lost her honour, imagines that she cannot fall
lower, and as for recovering her former station, it is impossible;
no exertion can wash this stain away. Losing thus every spur, and
having no other means of support, prostitution becomes her only
refuge, and the character is quickly depraved by circumstances over
which the poor wretch has little power, unless she possesses an
uncommon portion of sense and loftiness of spirit. Necessity never
makes prostitution the business of men's lives; though numberless
are the women who are thus rendered systematically vicious. This,
however, arises, in a great degree, from the state of idleness in
which women are educated, who are always taught to look up to man
for a maintenance, and to consider their persons as the proper
return for his exertions to support them. Meretricious airs, and the
whole science of wantonness, have then a more powerful stimulus than
either appetite or vanity; and this remark gives force to the
prevailing opinion, that with chastity all is lost that is respectable
in woman. Her character depends on the observance of one virtue,
though the only passion fostered in her heart- is love. Nay, the
honour of a woman is not made even to depend on her will.

  When Richardson* makes Clarissa tell Lovelace that he had robbed her
of her honour, he must have had strange notions of honour and
virtue. For, miserable beyond all names of misery is the condition
of a being, who could be degraded without its own consent! This excess
of strictness I have heard vindicated as a salutary error. I shall
answer in the words of Leibnitz- 'Errors are often useful; but it is
commonly to remedy other errors.'

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* Dr. Young supports the same opinion, in his plays, when he talks
of the misfortune that shunned the light of day.

  Most of the evils of life arise from a desire of present enjoyment
that outruns itself. The obedience required of women in the marriage
state comes under this description; the mind, naturally weakened by
depending on authority, never exerts its own powers, and the
obedient wife is thus rendered a weak indolent mother. Or, supposing
that this is not always the consequence, a future state of existence
is scarcely taken into the reckoning when only negative virtues are
cultivated. For, in treating of morals, particularly when women are
alluded to, writers have too often considered virtue in a very limited
sense, and made the foundation of it solely worldly utility; nay, a
still more fragile base has been given to this stupendous fabric,
and the wayward fluctuating feelings of men have been made the
standard of virtue. Yes, virtue as well as religion, has been
subjected to the decisions of taste.

  It would almost provoke a smile of contempt, if the vain absurdities
of man did not strike us on all sides, to observe, how eager men are
to degrade the sex from whom they pretend to receive the chief
pleasure of life; and I have frequently with full conviction
retorted Pope's sarcasm on them; or to speak explicitly, it has
appeared to me applicable to the whole human race. A love of
pleasure or sway seems to divide mankind, and the husband who lords it
in his little haram thinks only of his pleasure or his convenience. To
such lengths, indeed, does an intemperate love of pleasure carry
some prudent men, or worn out libertines, who marry to have a safe
bed-fellow, that they seduce their own wives.- Hymen banishes modesty,
and chaste love takes its flight.

  Love, considered as an animal appetite, cannot long feed on itself
without expiring. And this extinction in its own flame, may be
termed the violent death of love. But the wife who has thus been
rendered licentious, will probably endeavour to fill the void left
by the loss of her husband's attentions; for she cannot contentedly
become merely an upper servant after having been treated like a
goddess. She is still handsome, and, instead of transferring her
fondness to her children, she only dreams of enjoying the sunshine
of life. Besides, there are many husbands so devoid of sense and
parental affection, that during the first effervescence of
voluptuous fondness they refuse to let their wives suckle their
children. They are only to dress and live to please them: and love-
even innocent love, soon sinks into lasciviousness when the exercise
of a duty is sacrificed to its indulgence.

  Personal attachment is a very happy foundation for friendship;
yet, when even two virtuous young people marry, it would, perhaps,
be happy if some circumstances checked their passion; if the
recollection of some prior attachment, or disappointed affection, made
it on one side, at least, rather a match founded on esteem. In that
case they would look beyond the present moment, and try to render
the whole of life respectable, by forming a plan to regulate a
friendship which only death ought to dissolve.

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Friendship is a serious affection; the most sublime of all
affections, because it is founded on principle, and cemented by
time. The very reverse may be said of love. In a great degree, love
and friendship cannot subsist in the same bosom; even when inspired by
different objects they weaken or destroy each other, and for the
same object can only be felt in succession. The vain fears and fond
jealousies, the winds which fan the flame of love, when judiciously or
artfully tempered, are both incompatible with the tender confidence
and sincere respect of friendship.

  Love, such as the glowing pen of genius has traced, exists not on
earth, or only resides in those exalted, fervid imaginations that have
sketched such dangerous pictures. Dangerous, because they not only
afford a plausible excuse, to the voluptuary who disguises sheer
sensuality under a sentimental veil; but as they spread affectation,
and take from the dignity of virtue. Virtue, as the very word imports,
should have an appearance of seriousness, if not of austerity; and
to endeavour to trick her out in the garb of pleasure, because the
epithet has been used as another name for beauty, is to exalt her on a
quicksand; a most insidious attempt to hasten her fall by apparent
respect. Virtue and pleasure are not, in fact, so nearly allied in
this life as some eloquent writers have laboured to prove. Pleasure
prepares the fading wreath, and mixes the intoxicating cup; but the
fruit which virtue gives, is the recompence of toil: and, gradually
seen as it ripens, only affords calm satisfaction; nay, appearing to
be the result of the natural tendency of things, it is scarcely
observed. Bread, the common food of life, seldom thought of as a
blessing, supports the constitution and preserves health; still feasts
delight the heart of man, though disease and even death lurk in the
cup or dainty that elevates the spirits or tickles the palate. The
lively heated imagination likewise, to apply the comparison, draws the
picture of love, as it draws every other picture, with those glowing
colours, which the daring hand will steal from the rainbow that is
directed by a mind, condemned in a world like this, to prove its noble
origin by panting after unattainable perfection; ever pursuing what it
acknowledges to be a fleeting dream. An imagination of this vigorous
cast can give existence to insubstantial forms, and stability to the
shadowy reveries which the mind naturally falls into when realities
are found vapid. It can then depict love with celestial charms, and
dote on the grand ideal object- it can imagine a degree of mutual
affection that shall refine the soul, and not expire when it has
served as a 'scale to heavenly;' and, like devotion, make it absorb
every meaner affection and desire. In each others arms, as in a
temple, with its summit lost in the clouds, the world is to be shut
out, and every thought and wish, that do not nurture pure affection
and permanent virtue.- Permanent virtue! alas! Rousseau, respectable
visionary! thy paradise would soon be violated by the entrance of some
unexpected guest. Like Milton's it would only contain angels, or men
sunk below the dignity of rational creatures. Happiness is not
material, it cannot be seen or felt! Yet the eager pursuit of the good
which every one shapes to his own fancy, proclaims man the lord of
this lower world, and to be an intelligential creature, who is not
to receive, but acquire happiness. They, therefore, who complain of
the delusions of passion, do not recollect that they are exclaiming
against a strong proof of the immortality of the soul.

  But leaving superior minds to correct themselves, and pay dearly for
their experience, it is necessary to observe, that it is not against
strong, persevering passions; but romantic wavering feelings that I
wish to guard the female heart by exercising the understanding: for
these paradisiacal reveries are oftener the effect of idleness than of
a lively fancy.

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Women have seldom sufficient serious employment to silence their
feelings; a round of little cares, or vain pursuits frittering away
all strength of mind and organs, they become naturally only objects of
sense.- In short, the whole tenour of female education (the
education of society) tends to render the best disposed romantic and
inconstant; and the remainder vain and mean. In the present state of
society this evil can scarcely be remedied, I am afraid, in the
slightest degree; should a more laudable ambition ever gain ground
they may be brought nearer to nature and reason, and become more
virtuous and useful as they grow more respectable.

  But, I will venture to assert that their reason will never acquire
sufficient strength to enable it to regulate their conduct, whilst the
making an appearance in the world is the first wish of the majority of
mankind. To this weak wish the natural affections, and the most useful
virtues are sacrificed. Girls marry merely to better themselves, to
borrow a significant vulgar phrase, and have such perfect power over
their hearts as not to permit themselves to fall in love till a man
with a superiour fortune offers. On this subject I mean to enlarge
in a future chapter; it is only necessary to drop a hint at present,
because women are so often degraded by suffering the selfish
prudence of age to chill the ardour of youth.

  From the same source flows an opinion that young girls ought to
dedicate great part of their time to needle-work; yet, this employment
contracts their faculties more than any other that could have been
chosen for them, by confining their thoughts to their persons. Men
order their thoughts to be made, and have done with the subject; women
make their own clothes, necessary or ornamental, and are continually
talking about them; and their thoughts follow their hands. It is not
indeed the making of necessaries that weakens the mind; but the
frippery of dress. For when a woman in the lower rank of life makes
her husband's and children's clothes, she does her duty, this is her
part of the family business; but when women work only to dress
better than they could otherwise afford, it is worse than sheer loss
of time. To render the poor virtuous they must be employed, and
women in the middle rank of life, did they not ape the fashions of the
nobility, without catching their ease, might employ them, whilst
they themselves managed their families, instructed their children, and
exercised their own minds. Gardening, experimental philosophy, and
literature, would afford them subjects to think of and matter for
conversation, that in some degree would exercise their understandings.
The conversation of French women, who are not so rigidly nailed to
their chairs to twist lappets, and knot ribands, is frequently
superficial; but, I contend, that it is not half so insipid as that of
those English women whose time is spent in making caps, bonnets, and
the whole mischief of trimmings, not to mention shopping,
bargain-hunting, &c. &c.: and it is the decent, prudent women, who are
most degraded by these practices; for their motive is simply vanity.
The wanton who exercises her taste to render her passion alluring, has
something more in view.

  These observations all branch out of a general one, which I have
before made, and which cannot be too often insisted upon, for,
speaking of men, women, or professions, it will be found that the
employment of the thoughts shapes the character both generally and
individually. The thoughts of women ever hover round their persons,
and is it surprising that their persons are reckoned most valuable?
Yet sonic degree of liberty of mind is necessary even to form the
person; and this may be one reason why some gentle wives have so few
attractions beside that of sex. Add to this, sedentary employments
render the majority of women sickly- and false notions of female
excellence make them proud of this delicacy though it be another
fetter, that by calling the attention continually to the body,
cramps the activity of the mind.

  Women of quality seldom do any of the manual part of their dress,
consequently only their taste is exercised, and they acquire, by
thinking less of the finery, when the business of their toilet is
over, that ease, which seldom appears in the deportment of women,
who dress merely for the sake of dressing. In fact, the observation
with respect to the middle rank, the one in which talents thrive best,
extends not to women; for those of the superior class, by catching, at
least, a smattering of literature, and conversing more with men, on
general topics, acquire more knowledge than the women who ape their
fashions and faults without sharing their advantages. With respect
to virtue, to use the word in a comprehensive sense, I have seen
most in low life. Many poor women maintain their children by the sweat
of their brow, and keep together families that the vices of the
fathers would have scattered abroad; but gentlewomen are too
indolent to be actively virtuous, and are softened rather than refined
by civilization. Indeed, the good sense which I have met with, among
the poor women who have had few advantages of education, and yet
have acted heroically, strongly confirmed me in the opinion that
trifling employments have rendered woman a trifler. Man, taking her*
body the mind is left to rust; so that while physical love enervates
man, as being his favourite recreation, he will endeavour to enslave
woman:- and, who can tell, how many generations may be necessary to
give vigour to the virtue and talents of the freed posterity of abject
slaves?*(2)

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* 'I take her body,' says Ranger.

  *(2) 'Supposing that women are voluntary slaves- slavery of any kind
is unfavourable to human happiness and improvement.'- Knox's Essays.

  In tracing the causes that, in my opinion, have degraded woman, I
have confined my observations to such as universally act upon the
morals and manners of the whole sex, and to me it appears clear that
they all spring from want of understanding. Whether this arise from
a physical or accidental weakness of faculties, time alone can
determine; for I shall not lay any great stress on the example of a
few women* who, from having received a masculine education, have
acquired courage and resolution; I only contend that the men who
have been placed in similar situations, have acquired a similar
character- I speak of bodies of men, and that men of genius and
talents have started out of a class, in which women have never yet
been placed.

  * Sappho, Eloisa, Mrs. Macaulay, the Empress of Russia, Madame
d'Eon, &c. These, and many more, may be reckoned exceptions; and,
are not all heroes, as well as heroines, exceptions to general
rules? I wish to see women neither heroines nor brutes; but reasonable
creatures.

                        Chap. V.

     Animadversions on Some of the Writers Who Have Rendered

         Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt

  The opinions speciously supported, in some modern publications on
the female character and education, which have given the tone to
most of the observations made, in a more cursory manner, on the sex,
remain now to be examined.

                        SECT. I.

  I shall begin with Rousseau, and give a sketch of his character of
woman, in his own words, interspersing comments and reflections. My
comments, it is true, will all spring from a few simple principles,
and might have been deduced from what I have already said; but the
artificial structure has been raised with so much ingenuity, that it
seems necessary to attack it in a more circumstantial manner, and make
the application myself.

  Sophia, says Rousseau, should be as perfect a woman as Emilius is
a man, and to render her so, it is necessary to examine the
character which nature has given to the sex.

  He then proceeds to prove that woman ought to be weak and passive,
because she has less bodily strength than man; and hence infers,
that she was formed to please and to be subject to him; and that it is
her duty to render herself agreeable to her master- this being the
grand end of her existence.* Still, however, to give a little mock
dignity to lust, he insists that man should not exert his strength,
but depend on the will of the woman, when he seeks for pleasure with
her.

  * I have already inserted the passage, [see note to fifth
paragraph in chapter iii.].

[Callisto]

'Hence we deduce a third consequence from the different
constitutions of the sexes; which is, that the strongest should be
master in appearance, and be dependent in fact on the weakest; and
that not from any frivolous practice of gallantry or vanity of
protectorship, but from an invariable law of nature, which, furnishing
woman with a greater facility to excite desires than she has given man
to satisfy them, makes the latter dependent on the good pleasure of
the former, and compels him to endeavour to please in his turn, in
order to obtain her consent that he should be strongest.* On these
occasions, the most delightful circumstance a man finds in his victory
is, to doubt whether it was the woman's weakness that yielded to his
superior strength, or whether her inclinations spoke in his favour:
the females are also generally artful enough to leave this matter in
doubt. The understanding of women answers in this respect perfectly to
their constitution: so far from being ashamed of their weakness,
they glory in it; their tender muscles make no resistance; they affect
to be incapable of lifting the smallest burthens, and would blush to
be thought robust and strong. To what purpose is all this? Not
merely for the sake of appearing delicate, but through an artful
precaution: it is thus they provide an excuse beforehand, and a
right to be feeble when they think it expedient.'

  * What nonsense!

  I have quoted this passage, lest my readers should suspect that I
warped the author's reasoning to support my own arguments. I have
already asserted that in educating women these fundamental
principles lead to a system of cunning and lasciviousness.

  Supposing woman to have been formed only to please, and be subject
to man, the conclusion is just, she ought to sacrifice every other
consideration to render herself agreeable to him: and let this
brutal desire of self-preservation be the grand spring of all her
actions, when it is proved to be the iron bed of fate, to fit which
her character should be stretched or contracted, regardless of all
moral or physical distinctions. But, if, as I think, may be
demonstrated, the purposes, of even this life, viewing the whole, be
subverted by practical rules built upon this ignoble base, I may be
allowed to doubt whether woman was created for man: and, though the
cry of irreligion, or even atheism, be raised against me, I will
simply declare, that were an angel from heaven to tell me that Moses's
beautiful, poetical cosmogony, and the account of the fall of man,
were literally true, I could not believe what my reason told me was
derogatory to the character of the Supreme Being: and, having no
fear of the devil before mine eyes, I venture to call this a
suggestion of reason, instead of resting my weakness on the broad
shoulders of the first seducer of my frail sex.

  'It being once demonstrated,' continues Rousseau, 'that man and
woman are not, nor ought to be, constituted alike in temperament and
character, it follows of course that they should not be educated in
the same manner. In pursuing the directions of nature, they ought
indeed to act in concert, but they should not be engaged in the same
employments: the end of their pursuits should be the same, but the
means they should take to accomplish them, and of consequence their
tastes and inclinations, should be different.'

  'Whether I consider the peculiar destination of the sex, observe
their inclinations, or remark their duties, all things equally
concur to point out the peculiar method of education best adapted to
them. Woman and man were made for each other; but their mutual
dependence is not the same. The men depend on the women only on
account of their desires; the women on the men both on account of
their desires and their necessities: we could subsist better without
them than they without us.'

  'For this reason, the education of the women should be always
relative to the men. To please, to be useful to us, to make us love
and esteem them, to educate us when young, and take care of us when
grown up, to advise, to console us, to render our lives easy and
agreeable: these are the duties of women at all times, and what they
should be taught in their infancy. So long as we fail to recur to this
principle, we run wide of the mark, and all the precepts which are
given them contribute neither to their happiness nor our own.'

[Callisto]

'Girls are from their earliest infancy fond of dress. Not content
with being pretty, they are desirous of being thought so; we see, by
all their little airs, that this thought engages their attention;
and they are hardly capable of understanding what is said to them,
before they are to be governed by talking to them of what people
will think of their behaviour. The same motive, however,
indiscreetly made use of with boys, has not the same effect:
provided they are let pursue their amusements at pleasure, they care
very little what people think of them. Time and pains are necessary to
subject boys to this motive.

  'Whencesoever girls derive this first lesson, it is a very good one.
As the body is born, in a manner, before the soul, our first concern
should be to cultivate the former; this order is common to both sexes,
but the object of that cultivation is different. In the one sex it
is the developement of corporeal powers; in the other, that of
personal charms: not that either the quality of strength or beauty
ought to be confined exclusively to one sex; but only that the order
of the cultivation of both is in that respect reversed. Women
certainly require as much strength as to enable them to move and act
gracefully, and men as much address as to qualify them to act with
ease.'

  'Children of both sexes have a great many amusements in common;
and so they ought; have they not also many such when they are grown
up? Each sex has also its peculiar taste to distinguish in this
particular. Boys love sports of noise and activity; to beat the
drum, to whip the top, and to drag about their little carts: girls, on
the other hand, are fonder of things of show and ornament; such as
mirrours, trinkets, and dolls: the doll is the peculiar amusement of
the females; from whence we see their taste plainly adapted to their
destination. The physical part of the art of pleasing lies in dress;
and this is all which children are capacitated to cultivate of that
art.'

  'Here then we see a primary propensity firmly established, which you
need only to pursue and regulate. The little creature will doubtless
be very desirous to know how to dress up her doll, to make its
sleeve-knots, its flounces, its head-dress, &c. she is obliged to have
so much recourse to the people about her, for their assistance in
these articles, that it would be much more agreeable to her to owe
them all to her own industry. Hence we have a good reason for the
first lessons that are usually taught these young females: in which we
do not appear to be setting them a task, but obliging them, by
instructing them in what is immediately useful to themselves. And,
in fact, almost all of them learn with reluctance to read and write;
but very readily apply themselves to the use of their needles. They
imagine themselves already grown up, and think with pleasure that such
qualifications will enable them to decorate themselves.'

  This is certainly only an education of the body; but Rousseau is not
the only man who has indirectly said that merely the person of a young
woman, without any mind, unless animal spirits come under that
description, is very pleasing. To render it weak, and what some may
call beautiful, the understanding is neglected, and girls forced to
sit still, play with dolls and listen to foolish conversations;- the
effect of habit is insisted upon as an undoubted indication of nature.
I know it was Rousseau's opinion that the first years of youth
should be employed to form the body, though in educating Emilius he
deviates from this plan; yet, the difference between strengthening the
body, on which strength of mind in a great measure depends, and only
giving it an easy motion, is very wide.

[Callisto]

Rousseau's observations, it is proper to remark, were made in a
country where the art of pleasing was refined only to extract the
grossness of vice. He did not go back to nature, or his ruling
appetite disturbed the operations of reason, else he would not have
drawn these crude inferences.

  In France boys and girls, particularly the latter, are only educated
to please, to manage their persons, and regulate their exterior
behaviour; and their minds are corrupted, at a very early age, by
the wordly and pious cautions they receive to guard them against
immodesty. I speak of past times. The very confessions which mere
children were obliged to make, and the questions asked by the holy
men, I assert these facts on good authority, were sufficient to
impress a sexual character; and the education of society was a
school of coquetry and art. At the age of ten or eleven; nay, often
much sooner, girls began to coquet, and talked, unreproved, of
establishing themselves in the world by marriage.

  In short, they were treated like women, almost from their very
birth, and compliments were listened to instead of instruction. These,
weakening the mind, Nature was supposed to have acted like a
step-mother, when she formed this after-thought of creation.

  Not allowing them understanding, however, it was but consistent to
subject them to authority independent of reason; and to prepare them
for this subjection, he gives the following advice:

  'Girls ought to be active and diligent; nor is that all; they should
also be early subjected to restraint. This misfortune, if it really be
one, is inseparable from their sex; nor do they ever throw it off
but to suffer more cruel evils. They must be subject, all their lives,
to the most constant and severe restraint, which is that of decorum:
it is, therefore, necessary to accustom them early to such
confinement, that it may not afterwards cost them too dear; and to the
suppression of their caprices, that they may the more readily submit
to the will of others. If, indeed, they be fond of being always at
work, they should be sometimes compelled to lay it aside. Dissipation,
levity, and inconstancy, are faults that readily spring up from
their first propensities, when corrupted or perverted by too much
indulgence. To prevent this abuse, we should teach them, above all
things, to lay a due restraint on themselves. The life of a modest
woman is reduced, by our absurd institutions, to a perpetual
conflict with herself: not but it is just that this sex should partake
of the sufferings which arise from those evils it hath caused us.'

  And why is the life of a modest woman a perpetual conflict? I should
answer, that this very system of education makes it so. Modesty,
temperance, and self-denial, are the sober offspring of reason; but
when sensibility is nurtured at the expence of the understanding, such
weak beings must be restrained by arbitrary means, and be subjected to
continual conflicts; but give their activity of mind a wider range,
and nobler passions and motives will govern their appetites and
sentiments.

[Callisto]

'The common attachment and regard of a mother, nay, mere habit, will
make her beloved by her children, if she do nothing to incur their
hate. Even the constraint she lays them under, if well directed,
will increase their affection, instead of lessening it; because a
state of dependence being natural to the sex, they perceive themselves
formed for obedience.'

  This is begging the question; for servitude not only debases the
individual, but its effects seem to be transmitted to posterity.
Considering the length of time that women have been dependent, is it
surprising that some of them hug their chains, and fawn like the
spaniel? 'These dogs,' observes a naturalist, 'at first kept their
ears erect; but custom has superseded nature, and a token of fear is
become a beauty.'

  'For the same reason,' adds Rousseau, 'women have, or ought to have,
but little liberty; they are apt to indulge themselves excessively
in what is allowed them. Addicted in every thing to extremes, they are
even more transported at their diversions than boys.'

  The answer to this is very simple. Slaves and mobs have always
indulged themselves in the same excesses, when once they broke loose
from authority.- The bent bow recoils with violence, when the hand
is suddenly relaxed that forcibly held it; and sensibility, the
play-thing of outward circumstances, must be subjected to authority,
or moderated by reason.

  'There results,' he continues, 'from this habitual restraint a
tractableness which women have occasion for during their whole
lives, as they constantly remain either under subjection to the men,
or to the opinions of mankind; and are never permitted to set
themselves above those opinions. The first and most important
qualification in a woman is good-nature or sweetness of temper: formed
to obey a being so imperfect as man, often full of vices, and always
full of faults, she ought to learn betimes even to suffer injustice,
and to bear the insults of a husband without complaint; it is not
for his sake, but her own, that she should be of a mild disposition.
The perverseness and ill-nature of the women only serve to aggravate
their own misfortunes, and the misconduct of their husbands; they
might plainly perceive that such are not the arms by which they gain
the superiority.'

  Formed to live with such an imperfect being as man, they ought to
learn from the exercise of their faculties the necessity of
forbearance; but all the sacred rights of humanity are violated by
insisting on blind obedience; or, the most sacred rights belong only
to man.

  The being who patiently endures injustice, and silently bears
insults, will soon become unjust, or unable to discern right from
wrong. Besides, I deny the fact, this is not the true way to form or
meliorate the temper; for, as a sex, men have better tempers than
women, because they are occupied by pursuits that interest the head as
well as the heart; and the steadiness of the head gives a healthy
temperature to the heart. People of sensibility have seldom good
tempers. The formation of the temper is the cool work of reason, when,
as life advances, she mixes with happy art, jarring elements. I
never knew a weak or ignorant person who had a good temper, though
that constitutional good humour, and that docility, which fear
stamps on the behaviour, often obtains the name. I say behaviour,
for genuine meekness never reached the heart or mind, unless as the
effect of reflection; and that simple restraint produces a number of
peccant humours in domestic life, many sensible men will allow, who
find some of these gentle irritable creatures, very troublesome
companions.

  'Each sex,' he further argues, 'should preserve its peculiar tone
and manner; a meek husband may make a wife impertinent; but mildness
of disposition on the woman's side will always bring a man back to
reason, at least if he be not absolutely a brute, and will sooner or
later triumph over him.' Perhaps the mildness of reason might
sometimes have this effect; but abject fear always inspires
contempt; and tears are only eloquent when they flow down fair cheeks.

[Callisto]

Of what materials can that heart be composed, which can melt when
insulted, and instead of revolting at injustice, kiss the rod? Is it
unfair to infer that her virtue is built on narrow views and
selfishness, who can caress a man, with true feminine softness, the
very moment when he treats her tyrannically? Nature never dictated
such insincerity;- and, though prudence of this sort be termed a
virtue, morality becomes vague when any part is supposed to rest on
falsehood. These are mere expedients, and expedients are only useful
for the moment.

  Let the husband beware of trusting too implicitly to this servile
obedience; for if his wife can with winning sweetness caress him
when angry, and when she ought to be angry, unless contempt had
stifled a natural effervescence, she may do the same after parting
with a lover. These are all preparations for adultery; or, should
the fear of the world, or of hell, restrain her desire of pleasing
other men, when she can no longer please her husband, what
substitute can be found by a being who was only formed, by nature
and art, to please man? what can make her amends for this privation,
or where is she to seek for a fresh employment? where find
sufficient strength of mind to determine to begin the search, when her
habits are fixed, and vanity has long ruled her chaotic mind?

  But this partial moralist recommends cunning systematically and
Plausibly.

  'Daughters should be always submissive; their mothers, however,
should not be inexorable. To make a young person tractable, she
ought not to be made unhappy, to make her modest she ought not to be
rendered stupid. On the contrary, I should not be displeased at her
being permitted to use some art, not to elude punishment in case of
disobedience, but to exempt herself from the necessity of obeying.
It is not necessary to make her dependence burdensome, but only to let
her feel it. Subtilty is a talent natural to the sex; and, as I am
persuaded, all our natural inclinations are right and good in
themselves, I am of opinion this should be cultivated as well as the
others: it is requisite for us only to prevent its abuse.'

  'Whatever is, is right,' he then proceeds triumphantly to infer.
Granted;- yet, perhaps, no aphorism ever contained a more
paradoxical assertion. It is a solemn truth with respect to God. He,
reverentially I speak, sees the whole at once, and saw its just
proportions in the womb of time; but man, who can only inspect
disjointed parts, finds many things wrong; and it is a part of the
system, and therefore right, that he should endeavour to alter what
appears to him to be so, even while he bows to the Wisdom of his
Creator, and respects the darkness he labours to disperse.

  The inference that follows is just, supposing the principle to be
sound. 'The superiority of address, peculiar to the female sex, is a
very equitable indemnification for their inferiority in point of
strength: without this, woman would not be the companion of man; but
his slave: it is by her superiour art and ingenuity that she preserves
her equality, and governs him while she affects to obey. Woman has
every thing against her, as well our faults, as her own timidity and
weakness; she has nothing in her favour, but her subtilty and her
beauty. Is it not very reasonable, therefore, she should cultivate
both?' Greatness of mind can never dwell with cunning, or address; for
I shall not boggle about words, when their direct signification is
insincerity and falsehood, but content myself with observing, that
if any class of mankind be so created that it must necessarily be
educated by rules not strictly deducible from truth, virtue is an
affair of convention. How could Rousseau dare to assert, after
giving this advice, that in the grand end of existence the object of
both sexes should be the same, when he well knew that the mind, formed
by its pursuits, is expanded by great views swallowing up little ones,
or that it becomes itself little?

[Callisto]

Men have superiour strength of body; but were it not for mistaken
notions of beauty, women would acquire sufficient to enable them to
earn their own subsistence, the true definition of independence; and
to bear those bodily inconveniencies and exertions that are
requisite to strengthen the mind.

  Let us then, by being allowed to take the same exercise as boys, not
only during infancy, but youth, arrive at perfection of body, that
we may know how far the natural superiority of man extends. For what
reason or virtue can be expected from a creature when the seed-time of
life is neglected? None- did not the winds of heaven casually
scatter many useful seeds in the fallow ground.

  'Beauty cannot be acquired by dress, and coquetry is an art not so
early and speedily attained. While girls are yet young, however,
they are in a capacity to study agreeable gesture, a pleasing
modulation of voice, an easy carriage and behaviour; as well as to
take the advantage of gracefully adapting their looks and attitudes to
time, place, and occasion. Their application, therefore, should not be
solely confined to the arts of industry and the needle, when they come
to display other talents, whose utility is already apparent.'

  'For my part, I would have a young Englishwoman cultivate her
agreeable talents, in order to please her future husband, with as much
care and assiduity as a young Circassian cultivates her's, to fit
her for the Haram of an Eastern bashaw.'

  To render women completely insignificant, he adds- 'The tongues of
women are very voluble; they speak earlier, more readily, and more
agreeably, than the men; they are accused also of speaking much
more: but so it ought to be, and I should be very ready to convert
this reproach into a compliment; their lips and eyes have the same
activity, and for the same reason. A man speaks of what he knows, a
woman of what pleases her; the one requires knowledge, the other
taste; the principal object of a man's discourse should be what is
useful, that of a woman's what is agreeable. There ought to be nothing
in common between their different conversation but truth.

  'We ought not, therefore, to restrain the prattle of girls, in the
same manner as we should that of boys, with that severe question; To
what purpose are you talking? but by another, which is no less
difficult to answer, How will your discourse be received? In
infancy, while they are as yet incapable to discern good from evil,
they ought to observe it, as a law, never to say any thing
disagreeable to those whom they are speaking to: what will render
the practice of this rule also the more difficult, is, that it must
ever be subordinate to the former, of never speaking falsely or
telling an untruth.' To govern the tongue in this manner must
require great address indeed; and it is too much practised both by men
and women.- Out of the abundance of the heart how few speak! So few,
that I, who love simplicity, would gladly give up politeness for a
quarter of the virtue that has been sacrificed to an equivocal quality
which at best should only be the polish of virtue.

  But, to complete the sketch. 'It is easy to be conceived, that if
male children be not in a capacity to form any true notions of
religion, those ideas must be greatly above the conception of the
females: it is for this very reason, I would begin to speak to them
the earlier on this subject; for if we were to wait till they were
in a capacity to discuss methodically such profound questions, we
should run a risk of never speaking to them on this subject as long as
they lived. Reason in women is a practical reason, capacitating them
artfully to discover the means of attaining a known end, but which
would never enable them to discover that end itself. The social
relations of the sexes are indeed truly admirable: from their union
there results a moral person, of which woman may be termed the eyes,
and man the hand, with this dependence on each other, that it is
from the man that the woman is to learn what she is to see, and it
is of the woman that man is to learn what he ought to do. If woman
could recur to the first principles of things as well as man, and
man was capacitated to enter into their minutae as well as woman,
always independent of each other, they would live in perpetual
discord, and their union could not subsist. But in the present harmony
which naturally subsists between them, their different faculties
tend to one common end; it is difficult to say which of them
conduces the most to it: each follows the impulse of the other; each
is obedient, and both are masters.