I'm going to start off by simply saying "Wow," because Wollstonecraft handles some heavy issues. As she often switches viewpoints (taking the side of the men of the time), she systematically points out the flaws of male reasoning and the absurdity of the male mindset. Men were so prone to jump to the idea of male superiority over women in every respect - physically, mentally, etc. - which was justified as biblical at the time, causing women of the society to disbelieve their value and severely damage their self-worth.
She begins with the sarcastic tone that she carries throughout the reading by stating that "the conduct and manners of women, in fact, evidently prove that their minds are not in a healthy state" (page 6). This statement is made right off the bat to set the satirical attitude of her writing. Her personal beliefs were not reflected in her statement, but her statement reflected many beliefs of the world around her. Obviously, she would not have written and published an entire book on vindication of anything at all should she have believed in the idea that women were only made to cook and clean around the house. The men "[considered] females rather as women than human creatures," meaning that women may have just been above animals, but were not human in any respect of the word and how it related to males (page 6). Should men have given the title of "human" to the women around them then they would have had to see the women as equals, and they were very unwilling to allow that to happen.
Mary, in this case, did not have a little lamb; Mary had a crackhead lamb.
P.S. I commented on Mackenzie Jackson and Abbie Hedden's posts.
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