A good slogan. Some year ago I happened on statistics about imprisonment in England. Actually as the result of idly wondering about where the females came from to populate the early colonies in Australia. And what one finds is that in the early 19th Century a fifth of those imprisoned were women. by the end of that century there had been a dramatic drop, though still much higher than the current tiny proportion. As one tracks through the 19th Century one finds that philanthropic "Victorians" (such as Dickens) largely motivated and supported by church "societies" succeeded in a raft of laws designed to reduce the chances of imprisonment for women. Ranging from making debts the responsibility of Male relatives (so avoiding imprisonment for debt) to "diversion" of those convicted of "petty theft" to institutions for the indigent poor. It is in this era that the idea that women are both innately virtuous and all to easily influenced by men seems to have become the core ideology. One which remains today. Rather than originating in "feminism" it seems more a version of 19th century christianity which is also responsible for the idea women can "civilise" their men. In many ways much of current feminism seems simply to follow exactly the same line. Indeed academic feminists often point out that in the earlier centuries no allowances were made for women and they were generally treated with the same harshness as men. Though this did explain how there could be many more female convicts to be "transported" to Australia it turns out this only played a minor part in colonisation. In general I see little difference in tge arguments of the mid Victorians and current feminists on the innate virtue and fragility of females.
Jan 1, 2023
at
11:15 AM
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