Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote advocates for recognizing women as rational individuals rather than treating them as dependent or childlike.
Mary Wollstonecraft expresses a desire to treat women with the respect and dignity they deserve, emphasizing their rationality and capability instead of viewing them as inferior or in need of constant admiration. She highlights the importance of acknowledging their agency and intelligence, rejecting the notion that they should be perpetually seen as childlike and dependent. This reflects her broader feminist philosophy advocating for the equality and empowerment of women.
Themes
WomenRationalityEqualityFeminismAgency
In practice
Example use cases
During a women's empowerment seminar to illustrate the importance of acknowledging women's capabilities.
More from Mary Wollstonecraft
All quotes →Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives; - that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
But what a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an hypothesis!
Mary WollstonecraftRead
The divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Women are degraded by the propensity to enjoy the present moment, and, at last, despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!
Mary WollstonecraftRead
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