Sunday, December 03, 2006

1898



Excerpt from the 1898 essay Woman's Future Position in the World by Lizzie M. Holmes:

Woman has been considered too much as woman, and not enough
as a human being. The constant reference to her sex has been neither
ennobling, complimentary, nor agreeable. Either as slave, toy, pet, or
queen, this ceaseless thinking of her sex instead of herself has been
degrading. To finally arrive at her best she simply needs consideration
as a fellow member of society.

[...]

She has lost some of the charm of clinging womanhood which at
best man only heeded in his leisure moments, and has not yet gained the
poise and individuality that will draw him to her as a companion. She
is dissatisfied with the old gallantry, and has not yet attained the
spontaneous recognition and respectful love she longs for. But this
will come. There will be a time when men and women, equal human beings,
clasping hands and looking each other in the eyes on a level -- not
leaning on each other, but upright -- will feel a true fellowship; and
mutual admiration and respect will exist between them. Then will love
be sweeter, purer, more beautiful than the world has ever known.





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9 comments:

AmitL said...

Hi,Olivia.Nice excerpt...the first line is good' Not enough as a human being'.So true..and,the end,too..with a great hope for the future.Almost 'Nostradamusical'.

Anonymous said...

I like that a lot. Good find, Arty!

Anonymous said...

Amit - I think the end is pretty much true nowadays, at least in the west - but on my other blog someone (a male) was saying there are still so many inequalities. I see them, but not to as great an extent as he does.

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Katja - I was trawling the University of Virgina site for free e-books and came upon some really interesting old essays.

The Moody Minstrel said...

I don't think men in general would be too eager to give up their privileges. Look at how hotly the Japanese government went ballistic when a pop star made a TV commercial saying that fathers needed to spend more time with their children and take greater responsibility as a parent! Their official response was something like, "Japanese men already have too much pressure on them with the demands of work and society to have to worry about their families, as well..."

What a load of schlog.

Anonymous said...

Yes! This is so true! Thanks for positing that.

Anonymous said...

Funny thing; today is the birthday of Metropolis by Fritz Lang, and just today I was told by Netflix that the very same movie is on its way to my mailbox. How fortuitous!

By the way, your cousin James seems nice!

Olivia said...

Minstrel - actually, everyone in Japan who has a job seems to stay at home for only a few hours a day.

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ML - you're welcome. Glad you enjoyed.

***

Luna - I own a copy of Metropolis myself. If you can get past the early 20th century method acting, it is a thing of real beauty, and you will find yourself saying, "I didn't know they could do that 80 years ago!" The music, the effects, the technological ideas. I leave it at that until you have seen it.

Thanks, yes James is a lovely boy.

Anonymous said...

This post was well-received by me! I plan to invite my mom to read it. She would enjoy it even more than I did haha.

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Memoria - woohoo!