Rights of Women
from the Pall Mall Gazette
May 16, 1870
The Saturday Review recalls the attention of the ladies who are agitating for absolute equality between the sexes to one of the results of such an equality which the “sacred sex,” as the writer calls them, cannot afford to ignore. He reminds them that they cannot at the same time enjoy the advantages of strength and the privileges of weakness, and that if they are to be admitted to engage in all the contests of life on equal terms with men, they must no longer expect to be treated with the chivalrous gentleness and consideration which they receive at present. Whatever effect a change of this kind might produce in the more refined classes of society, it is evident that among a certain class of the community any reduction in the amount of gentleness and considerations with which women are treated would be a serious matter. A change for the worse in this respect would, for instance, very unfavorably affect the position of such unfortunate persons as Mrs. Jane Shore, who has just undergone a hideous outrage at the hands of a group of ruffians at Clapton. In the present state of the relations between the sexes it is not to be supposed that give men would be permitted to carry off a woman by force in broad daylight without interference, and accordingly we find the “foreman of some oil works” calling out to them, “What are you going to do with that woman?” and only with difficulty reassured by being told that “she liked it.” Then again, although James Boad, another witness, stood by, a passive spectator of their successive acts of outrages, yet when he saw that “she was about to be murdered,” he ran for the police, and actually succeeded in obtaining the arrest of the ruffians before the successful accomplishment of their murderous designs. If women, however, descend from their present eminence and “enter the arena with men,” as it is called, we fear that they will no longer receive this exceptional consideration. But in the event of complete social equality being established between the sexes, there is no more reason to believe that an English crowd would interfere to protect a woman from being murdered by an assailant of superior strength than they would interfere to protect a man similarly circumstanced.
When I'm feeling depressed about the state of the world, reading old newspapers makes me feel better.
One chapter almost drafted. Three to go.
May 16, 1870
The Saturday Review recalls the attention of the ladies who are agitating for absolute equality between the sexes to one of the results of such an equality which the “sacred sex,” as the writer calls them, cannot afford to ignore. He reminds them that they cannot at the same time enjoy the advantages of strength and the privileges of weakness, and that if they are to be admitted to engage in all the contests of life on equal terms with men, they must no longer expect to be treated with the chivalrous gentleness and consideration which they receive at present. Whatever effect a change of this kind might produce in the more refined classes of society, it is evident that among a certain class of the community any reduction in the amount of gentleness and considerations with which women are treated would be a serious matter. A change for the worse in this respect would, for instance, very unfavorably affect the position of such unfortunate persons as Mrs. Jane Shore, who has just undergone a hideous outrage at the hands of a group of ruffians at Clapton. In the present state of the relations between the sexes it is not to be supposed that give men would be permitted to carry off a woman by force in broad daylight without interference, and accordingly we find the “foreman of some oil works” calling out to them, “What are you going to do with that woman?” and only with difficulty reassured by being told that “she liked it.” Then again, although James Boad, another witness, stood by, a passive spectator of their successive acts of outrages, yet when he saw that “she was about to be murdered,” he ran for the police, and actually succeeded in obtaining the arrest of the ruffians before the successful accomplishment of their murderous designs. If women, however, descend from their present eminence and “enter the arena with men,” as it is called, we fear that they will no longer receive this exceptional consideration. But in the event of complete social equality being established between the sexes, there is no more reason to believe that an English crowd would interfere to protect a woman from being murdered by an assailant of superior strength than they would interfere to protect a man similarly circumstanced.
When I'm feeling depressed about the state of the world, reading old newspapers makes me feel better.
One chapter almost drafted. Three to go.