Historically famous critics
Mary Wollstonecraft
1759-1797 · English · Enlightenment
English philosopher who attacked the subjection of women and the denial of their education
Wollstonecraft wrote the founding text of modern feminism, arguing that women appear inferior only because society denies them reason and education. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman she demanded that women be treated as rational beings rather than ornaments, and in her reply to Edmund Burke she defended the French Revolution against defenders of aristocratic privilege. Her insistence that virtue can flourish only among equals turned the criticism of power on the oldest hierarchy of all.
Essays to read on AltWoke
13 essays, full text, free. Grouped by the collection they appeared in.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (13)
- 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 Reputation
- Of 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
Wrote against
- the subordination of women
- denial of women's education
- Edmund Burke's conservatism
- Rousseau's views on women
- aristocracy and privilege
- monarchy
- marriage as property
Books
Complete bibliography. Public-domain titles link to the full text; others link out to read, borrow, or buy.
- Thoughts on the Education of DaughtersInternet Archive · free, public domain1787
- Mary: A FictionInternet Archive · free, public domain1788
- A Vindication of the Rights of MenInternet Archive · free, public domain1790
- A Vindication of the Rights of WomanProject Gutenberg · free, public domain1792
- An Historical and Moral View of the French RevolutionInternet Archive · free, public domain1794
- Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and DenmarkInternet Archive · free, public domain1796
- Maria, or The Wrongs of WomanInternet Archive · free, public domain1798
Sources
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Mary Wollstonecraft
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Mary Wollstonecraft