Wollstonecraft

After reading the first couple pages of "The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed", I disagreed with Mary Wollstonecraft. I didn't understand what the big deal was. Then I finally read the top of the essay. To the right of the author's name read the dates 1759-1797. I found a greater understanding of the writing knowing that it was a period piece.

Wollstonecraft brought up some good points. She at one point described husbands as "overgrown children." When you think of women before suffrage or other rights, what were they expected of? To clean the house and make dinner. Yes, men went off to work, but once they entered the house again, everything had to be done for them. They were so helpless, just like children. "All the difference that I can discern, arises from the superior advantage of liberty, which enables the former to see more life." It is said in the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal." Is that strictly only for the male gender? Or does that refer to all of mankind? Women are expected to be beautiful and fertile, if they are not... they're good for nothing.

She used the word "virtue" a lot in her essay. Virtue is the conformity of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles. Virtue was a goal for women, the "more useless members of society." Look at how far we have come. Women are allowed to vote, run for president, and fight for our country. We have all of the same rights as men. I first misunderstood this article because I thought it was modern. I believed that this woman wrote 19 pages complaining how women have it so bad. Once I realized that this was before all that, I became grateful. If it wasn't for this woman writing down her amazing thoughts on paper, we might be still where they were back then. So I just wanted to say, YOU GO GIRL!