%{search_type} search results

• Intro; A Brief Sketch of the Life of Mary Wollstonecraft; Introduction; The Rights and Involved Duties of Mankind Considered; The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed; The Same Subject Continued; Observations on the State of Degradation to Which Woman Is Reduced by Various Causes; Animadversions on Some of the Writers Who Have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt; The Effect Which an Early Association of Ideas Has Upon the Character; Modesty Comprehensively Considered and Not as a Sexual Virtue

• Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of the Importance of a Good ReputationOf the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society; Parental Affection; Duty to Parents; On National Education; Some Instances of the Folly Which the Ignorance of Women Generates; with Concluding Reflections on the Moral Improvement that a Revolution in Female Manners May Naturally Be Expected to Produce

By the matriarch of feminism, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women tackles women's rights decades before the women's suffrage movement began. In what is widely considered the very first feminist manifesto, her writing has paved the way of progress for generations to come.

• Cover; Contents; Editor's Introduction: Reading Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792-2014; Text; A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (London, second edition, 1792); Essays; Are Women Human? Wollstonecraft's Defense of Rights for Women; "Genius will educate itself." The British Literary Context of Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Its Legacy for Women; The Personal Is Political: Wollstonecraft's Witty, First-Person, Feminist Voice; Reading Mary Wollstonecraft in Time; Appendixes.

• Biographical Directory for Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of WomanThe Life and Times of Wollstonecraft and Her Family, 1688-1818; A Vindication of the Rights of Woman within the Women's Human Rights Tradition, 1739-2015; Bibliography; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y; Contents; CHAP. I. The rights and involved duties of mankind considered; CHAP. II. The prevailing opinion of a sexual character discussed; CHAP. III. The same subject continued; CHAP. IV. Observations on the state of degradation to which woman is reduced by various causes.

• CHAP. V. Animadversions on some of the writers who have rendered women objects of pity, bordering on contemptCHAP. VI. The effect which an early association of ideas has upon the character; CHAP. VII. Modesty.-Comprehensively considered, and not as a sexual virtue; CHAP. VIII. Morality undermined by sexual notions of the importance of a good reputation; CHAP. IX. Of the pernicious effects which arise from the unnatural distinctions established in society; CHAP. X. Parental affection; CHAP. XI. Duty to parents; CHAP. XII. On national education.

Mary Wollstonecraft's visionary treatise, originally published in 1792, was the first book to present women's rights as an issue of universal human rights. Ideal for coursework and classroom study, this comprehensive edition of Wollstonecraft's groundbreaking feminist argument includes illuminating essays by leading scholars that highlight the author's significant contributions to modern political philosophy, making a powerful case for her as one of the most substantive political thinkers of the Enlightenment era. No other scholarly work to date has examined as closely both the ideological moorings and the enduring legacy of Wollstonecraft's courageous discourse.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Contents; Acknowledgments; Series Editors' Introduction; Volume Editors' Introduction; Volume Editors' Bibliography; I. Treatise on Ethics and Politics, Divided into Three Parts: Freedom, Knowledge, and Authority; II. On the Celibate Life Freely Chosen, or Life without Commitments; Appendix: Complete Tables of Contents of the Entire Treatise on Ethics and On the Celibate Life Freely Chosen; Glossary; Series Editors' Bibliography; Index.

During the oppressive reign of Louis XIV, Gabrielle Suchon (1623-1703) was the most forceful female voice in France, advocating women's freedom and self-determination, access to knowledge, and assertion of authority. This volume collects Suchon's writing from two works - "Treatise on Ethics and Politics" (1693) and "On the Celibate Life Freely Chosen; or, Life without Commitments" (1700) - and demonstrates her to be an original philosophical and moral thinker and writer. Suchon argues that both women and men have inherently similar intellectual, corporeal, and spiritual capacities, which entitle them equally to essentially human prerogatives, and she displays her breadth of knowledge as she harnesses evidence from biblical, classical, patristic, and contemporary secular sources to bolster her claim. Forgotten over the centuries, these writings have been gaining increasing attention from feminist historians, students of philosophy, and scholars of seventeenth-century French literature and culture. This translation, from Domna C. Stanton and Rebecca M. Wilkin, marks the first time these works have appeared in English.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• On the equality of the two sexes
• On the education of ladies
• On the excellence of men ("Preface" and "Remarks").

One of the most radical feminist theorists in Europe before the 19th century, Francois Poullain de la Barre (1647-1723) was a man way ahead of his time. Applying Cartesian principles to "the Woman Question", Poullain demonstrated by rational deduction that the supposedly "self-evident" inequality of the sexes was nothing more than unfounded prejudice. Poullain published three books (anonymously) on this topic in the 1670s, all of which are included in English translation in this volume. In "On the Equality of the Two Sexes" he argued that the supposedly "natural" inferiority of women was culturally produced. To help women recognize and combat this prejudice, Poullain advocated a modern, enlightened feminine education in "On the Education of Ladies". Finally, since his contemporaries largely ignored Poullain's writings, he offered a rebutal to his own arguments in "On the Excellence of Men" - a rebuttal that he promptly countered, strenghtening his original position. A truly modern feminist, Poullain laid the intellectual groundwork for the women's liberation movement centuries before it happened.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• On the equality of the two sexes
• On the education of ladies
• On the excellence of men : preface and remarks.

One of the most radical feminist theorists in Europe before the 19th century, Francois Poullain de la Barre (1647-1723) was a man way ahead of his time. Applying Cartesian principles to "the Woman Question", Poullain demonstrated by rational deduction that the supposedly "self-evident" inequality of the sexes was nothing more than unfounded prejudice. Poullain published three books (anonymously) on this topic in the 1670s, all of which are included in English translation in this volume. In "On the Equality of the Two Sexes" he argued that the supposedly "natural" inferiority of women was culturally produced. To help women recognize and combat this prejudice, Poullain advocated a modern, enlightened feminine education in "On the Education of Ladies". Finally, since his contemporaries largely ignored Poullain's writings, he offered a rebutal to his own arguments in "On the Excellence of Men" - a rebuttal that he promptly countered, strenghtening his original position. A truly modern feminist, Poullain laid the intellectual groundwork for the women's liberation movement centuries before it happened.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction to the Series by Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil Jr. Acknowledgments Introduction to the Translation by Letizia Panizza with Anne Dunhill The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men Part I: The Nobility and Excellence of Women
• Chapter 1: On the Nobility of the Names Given to the Female Sex
• Chapter 2: The Causes That Produce Women
• Chapter 3: Of the Nature and Essence of the Female Sex
• Chapter 4: The Reasons for Men's Noble Treatment of Women and the Things They Say about Women
• Chapter 5: Of Women's Noble Actions and Virtues, Which Greatly Surpass Men's, as Will Be Proved by Reasoning and Example
• Chapter 6: A Reply to the Flippant and Vain Reasoning Adopted by Men in Their Own Favor Part II: The Defects and Vices of Men
• Chapter 4: Of Wrathful, Eccentric, and Brutal Men
• Chapter 12: Of Obstinate and Pertinacious Men
• Chapter 13: Of Ungrateful and Discourteous Men
• Chapter 14: Of Fickle, Inconstant Men
• Chapter 15: Of Evil Men Who Hate Others Easily
• Chapter 22: Of Men Who Are Ornate, Polished, Painted, and Bleached
• Chapter 30: Of Men Who Kill Their Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, and Grandchildren Bibliography Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

A poet, a women's rights activist, and an expert on moral and natural philosophy, Lucrezia Marinella (1571-1653) was known throughout Italy as the leading female intellectual of her age. Born into a family of Venetian physicians, she was encouraged to study, and, fortunately, she did not share the fate of many of her female contemporaries, who were forced to join convents or were pressured to marry early. Marinella enjoyed a long literary career, writing mainly religious, epic and pastoral poetry, and biographies of famous women in both verse and prose. Marinella's "The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men" was first published in 1600, composed at a furious pace in answer to Giusepe Passi's diatribe about women's alleged defects. This polemic displays Marinella's knowledge of the Italian poetic tradition and demonstrates her ability to argue against authors of the misogynist tradition from Boccaccio to Torquato Tasso. Trying to effect real social change, Marinella argued that morally, intellectually and in many other ways, women are superior to men.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Moderata Fonte and "The Worth of Women"
• Introduction
• Life and Early Works
• Structure and Arguments
• The Question of Unity
• "The Worth of Women" and Renaissance Literary Tradition
• Fortunes and Influence
• Suggestions for Further Reading
• Key to Abbreviations
• Note on the Text
• A Note on Fonte's Sources
• The Worth of Women
• Dedicatory Letter
• Life of Moderata Fonte
• First Day
• Second Day
• Appendix
• The Theme of Women's Equality with Men in Moderata Fonte's "Floridoro."

Gender equality and the responsibilty of husbands and fathers had currency in Renaissance Venice as evidenced by the publication of this title in 1600. Moderata Fonte was the pseudonym of Modesta Pozzo (1555-92), a Venetian woman who produced literature in genres that were commonly considered "masculine" - the chivalric romance and the literary dialogue. This work takes the form of the latter, with Fonte creating a converation among seven Venetain noblewomen. The dialogue explores nearly every aspect of women's experience in both theoretical and practical terms. These women, who differ in age and experience, take as their broad theme men's curious hostility towards women and the possible cures for it. Fonte seeks to elevate women's status to that of men, arguing that women have the same innate abilities as men and, when singularly educated, prove their equals.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Editors' Introduction to the Series; Foreword; Note on the Text; Agrippa and the Feminist Tradition; Suggestions for Further Reading; Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex; Index of Biblical References; General Index.

Originally published in 1529, the "Declamation on the Preeminence and Nobility of the Female Sex" argues that women are more than equal to men in all things that really matter, including the public spheres from which they had long been excluded. Rather than directly refuting prevailing wisdom, Agrippa uses women's superiority as a rhetorical device and overturns the misogynistic interpretations of the female body in Greek medicine, in the Bible, in Roman and canon law, in theology and moral philosophy, and in politics. He raised the question of why women were excluded and provided answers based not on sex but on social conditioning, education, and the prejudices of their more powerful oppressors. His declamation, disseminated through the printing press, illustrated the power of that new medium, soon to be used to generate a larger reformation of religion.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

In the first volume, the author argues that women are the equals of men, referring often to Poullain de la Barre's L'egalité des deux sexes (1673). Also considered are the historical reasons for men's assumed superiority, the education of women, and the role of women in government. The second volume focuses on eminent women, their heroism, and their accomplishments in various fields. In the third volume, the author examines and refutes vices attributed to women. In the final volume, the author continues to examine specific vices, comparing their practice by both sexes, finding men and women to be equally at fault. Cf. bookdealer's description.