Author: Mary Wollstonecraft
Publication Date: 1792
Rating: 4/5
Certainly this isn't a perfect or consistently brilliant piece of writing, but its power of persuasion at a time when woman's place in society was sorely in need of reform is commendable. Before third wave feminism came along to serve vapid millennials and jaded boomers with nothing serious to rally against, Wollstonecraft had a lot of controversial things to say against the societal expectations and educational prospects of man's female counterpart. By today's standards, Wollstonecraft's Vindication reads as a highly critical and, dare I say it, conservative proposal for the need to elevate woman's place in the world. She was worth listening to but, of course, the conservative establishment more or less rejected it. But like all good ideas, it takes a couple of centuries sometimes for them to be processed and appreciated.
Therefore, her words - "I don't want women to have power over men; I want them to have power over themselves" - merit no condescension these days. Maybe the modern "fuck all men; God isn't real or else He's Female" will become a home truth for us all in 2300. Or maybe modern feminists need to take a look at what a real one looks like.
