Joseph Addison Quotes
I have often thought there has not been sufficient pains taken in finding out proper employment and diversions for the fair ones. Their amusements seem contrived for them rather as they are women than as they are reasonable creatures; and are more adapted to the sex than to the species.
Joseph Addison, 1672-1719, English Secretary of State (Whig), Spectator, No. 10
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Marcus Porcius Cato. This quotation has had two different interpretations over time. One was that women if they received equality of treatment and voting would have an advantage for they also had their traditional “feminine wiles” and their sexuality, hence would dominate men. The second was a also a warning but based on the fact that women were superior in many ways, and given an equal chance, would excel men. The later interpretation is argued by some who point to the 2011 American data that shows more females than males graduating from high school and college, and females outnumber males in medical, law and several other professional schools. With the exception of a few Roman men, most heeded Cato’s warning and never took a chance on female equality.
Although she was living proof of a woman’s ability to accomplish what most men could not, she was always publicly differential to men and their sexism. Although she opposed women voting in Parliamentary elections, she did believe that women should vote in local elections where the understood the issues much better.
Her plane and she were never found.
Despite this pronouncement which kept Caliphs from being female, modern Islamic states (Pakistan, Indonesia) have had female Presidents.
The speaking to which she was referring was Christian Religious preaching by women. At the time it was considered by most Christians to be sacrilegious for women to preach. This came down from the orthodox Jewish tradition, and there are several passages in the New Testament where the Apostles, who were Jews themselves were echoing the religious tradition. This then took on a meaning that went beyond tradition as in Judaism. Margaret Fox wrote this essay which was a completely theological defense of a woman’s right – indeed obligation—to preach. Theologically, there are many Christian churches for whom her argument would be too radical—even in modern times. However, in the middle of the 17th century to most male clerics, this was so unfathomable that they did not even deign to refute her theological arguments. Meanwhile, the Quakers began to accept women in theological positions of influence—for ahead of most other Christian and Jewish sects. See {619836} and {619837} for quotations from the essay itself.
He served a jail sentence in Britain for inciting race hatred.
She was the First Lady, who in many ways was also one of the nation’s leading feminists. Betty Ford, Barbara Bush, and Hillary Clinton were also First Ladies who supported key feminist position but ER was 30 years ahead of them—a time when conservatives and sexists viewed her as a dangerous radical. For example, see {585211}.
Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine. His simple prose style marked the end of the mannerisms and conventional classical images of the 17th century.
