A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Wisehouse Classics - Original 1792 Edition). Mary Wollstonecraft
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A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
WITH STRICTURES ON POLITICAL AND MORAL SUBJECTS
by
Mary Wollstonecraft
W
WisehouseClassics
Mary Wollstonecraft
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
First published in 1792
Cover photo ‘Caritas’ by Abbott Handerson Thayer, 1895
Executive Editor Sam Vaseghi
Published by Wisehouse Classics–Sweden
ISBN 978-91-7637-142-8
Wisehouse Classics is aWisehouse Imprint.
©Wisehouse 2016–Sweden
© Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photographing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Contents
Chapter 1: The Rights and Involved Duties of Mankind Considered.
Chapter 2: The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed.
Chapter 3: The Same Subject Continued.
Chapter 4: Observations on the State of Degradation to Which Woman Is Reduced by Various Causes.
Chapter 5: Animadversions on Some of the Writers Who Have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt
§ I.
§ II.
§ III.
§ IV.
§ V.
Chapter 6: The Effect Which an Early Association of Ideas Has upon the Character.
Chapter 7: Modesty—Comprehensively Considered, and Not as a Sexual Virtue.
Chapter 8: Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of the Importance of a Good Reputation.
Chapter 9: Of the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society.
Chapter 10: Parental Affection.
Chapter 11: Duty to Parents.
Chapter 12: On National Education.
Chapter 13: Some Instances of the Folly Which the Ignorance of Women Generates; with Concluding Reflections on the Moral Improvement That a Revolution in Female Manners Might Naturally Be Expected to Produce.
§ I.
§ II.
§ III.
§ IV.
§ V.
§ VI.
Notes
TO M. TALLEYRAND-PERIGORD, LATE BISHOP OF AUTUN.
Sir,
Having read with great pleasure a pamphlet which you have lately published, I dedicate this volume to you; to induce you to reconsider the subject, and maturely weigh what I have advanced respecting the rights of woman and national education: and I call with the firm tone of humanity; for my arguments, Sir, are dictated by a disinterested spirit—I plead for my sex—not for myself. Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue—and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.
It is then an affection for the whole human race that makes my pen dart rapidly along to support what I believe to be the cause of virtue: and the same motive leads me earnestly to wish to see woman placed in a station in which she would advance, instead of retarding, the progress of those glorious principles that give a substance to morality. My opinion, indeed, respecting the rights and duties of woman, seems to flow so naturally from these simple principles, that I think it scarcely possible, but that some of the enlarged minds who formed your admirable constitution, will coincide with me.
In France there is undoubtedly a more general diffusion of knowledge than in any part of the European world, and I attribute it, in a great measure, to the social intercourse which has long subsisted between the sexes. It is true, I utter my sentiments with freedom, that in France the very essence of sensuality has been extracted to regale the voluptuary, and a kind of sentimental lust has prevailed, which, together with the system of duplicity that the whole tenour of their political and civil government taught, have given a sinister sort of sagacity to the French character, properly termed finesse; from which naturally flow a polish of manners that injures the substance, by hunting sincerity out of society. —And, modesty, the fairest garb of virtue! has been more grossly insulted in France than even in England, till their women have treated as prudish that attention to decency, which brutes instinctively observe.
Manners and morals are so nearly allied that they have often been confounded; but, though the former should only be the natural reflection of the latter, yet, when various causes have produced factitious and corrupt manners, which are very early caught, morality becomes an empty name. The personal reserve, and sacred respect for cleanliness and delicacy in domestic life, which French women almost despise, are the graceful pillars of modesty; but, far from despising them, if the pure flame of patriotism have reached their bosoms, they should labour to improve the morals of their fellow-citizens, by teaching men, not only to respect modesty in women, but to acquire it themselves, as the only way to merit their esteem.
Contending for the rights of woman, my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue; for truth must be common to all, or it will be inefficacious with respect to its influence on general practice. And how can woman be expected to co-operate unless she know why she ought to be virtuous? unless freedom strengthen her reason till she comprehend her duty, and see in what manner it is connected with her real good? If children are to be educated to understand the true principle of patriotism, their mother must be a patriot; and the love of mankind, from which an orderly train of virtues spring, can only be produced by considering the moral and civil interest of mankind; but the education and situation of woman, at present, shuts her out from such investigations.
In this work I have produced many arguments, which to me were conclusive, to prove that the