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can be but one rule of moral perfection for beings made of the same materials , organized after the same manner , and subjected to similar laws of nature . '—* There is no cultivation which yields so promising a harvest as the cultivation of the understanding , a mind irradiated by the clear light of wisdom must be equal to every task which reason imposes upon it . The social characters
of daughter , wife , and mother , will be but ill performed by ignorance and levity ; and in the domestic converse of husband and wife , the alternative of an enlightened or an unenlightened companion , cannot be indifferent to any man of taste and knowledge , ' —* Let your children be brought up together , their sports and studies the same ; confine not the education of your daughters to what is merely ornamental , nor deny the graces to your sons .
Suffer no prejudices to prevail on you to weaken nature in order to render her more beautiful ; take measures for the virtue and harmony of your families by uniting their young minds early in the soft bonds of friendship : by the rational intercourse thus established , both sexes will find , that friendship may be enjoyed between them without passion . The wisdom of your daughters will preserve them from the bane of coquetry , your sons will look
fpr something more solid in woman than mere external graces and accomplishments . '— ' How much feebleness of constitution has been acquired , how many nervous diseases contracted by false ideas formed of female excellence ! ' Some degree of difference in corporeal strength naturally , it is certain , exists between the sexes ; this difference barbarous nations abused to the subjugation of woman ; and even amongst the most civilized , pride and
sensuality will blind men to their own true interest and happiness . If false notions of beauty enfeeble the physical powers of woman , her offspring , whether male or female , will suffer the consequences . It is also truly said ( by another able and eloquent advocate for her sex *) that * in the regulation of a family , in the education of children , understanding , in an unsophisticated sense , is particularly required ; strength of body and of mind . '— ' Reason is
absolutel y necessary to enable a woman to perform any duty properly . ' Of woman it may be said , as of the luxurious and rich , ' they have acquired all the follies and vices of civilization , and missed the useful fruits . ' Again it is observed , and justly observed , by the same sensible writer , 4 Woman has always been either a slave or a despot , each of which situations equally retards
the progress of reason . The grand source of folly and vice is narrowness of mind ; and the very constitution of civil governments has pat almost insuperable obstacles in the way to prevent the cultivation of the female understanding : yet , on no other foundation can virtue be built . '—To become respectable , to acquire independence of character , the exercise of the reason is necessary : even gentleness , if it is not mere imbecility , must be
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Cn Female , Education and Occupations * 491
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? Mary Wollstoneciaft . 2 M 2
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1833, page 491, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2618/page/51/
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