Wanton Wenches and Nasty Women: Vindicating Women’s Rights from 1792 to 2016

Anastatia Sims, Ph.D., Dept. of History “Wanton Wenches and Nasty Women: Vindicating Women’s Rights from 1792 to 2016” Jan. 31 In the late 1700s as cries for liberty, equality, and recognition of the inalienable rights of man swept across America and Europe, Mary Wollstonecraft raised her voice in defense of what seemed to many the most revolutionary idea of all. When “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” was published in 1792, the belief that women were inferior to men was so firmly entrenched in law, religion and custom that few people dared to imagine a society in which gender equality was the norm. Wollstonecraft ignited a debate over “woman’s place” that still echoes today. For more than two centuries, women who demanded change have met intense resistance and have often been ridiculed, ostracized, and vilified. Remnant Trust Works: “A Vindication of the Rights of the Woman” by Mary Wollstonecraft, “Address to the Legislature of New-York, Adopted by the State Woman’s Rights Convention” by Elizabeth Cady Stanto