abigail adams to john adams
1776: Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams: "If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."
= new reply since forum marked as read
(reallllly? you thought she was complaining about being IGNORED? perhaps you ought to read up on our abigail a bit --or watch the hbo series "john adams"
letter of abigail adams to joh adams, 31 mar 1776:
. . . .
Tho we felicitate ourselves, we sympathize with those who are trembling least the Lot of Boston should be theirs. But they cannot be in similar circumstances unless pusilanimity and cowardise should take possession of them. They have time and warning given them to see the Evil and shun it.-I long to hear that you have declared an independancy-and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.
That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use of that power only for our happiness.
. . . .
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/adams/filmmore/ps_ladies.html
Yes, we're further ahead than most women on the planet, but is that our standard? Really?
I'm sick of hearing, "American women have it so much better than other women." So we don't have any right to ask for better until all women, everywhere, have caught up? Does that sound like a logical strategy for any group trying to progress?
For all our progress, let me remind you of Steubenville, one of the most heinous rape crimes in our supposed civilized society. A group of young people, including girls, witnessing but not speaking out. Key members of the school & community involved in the cover up, for the sake of the football team. ~retch
~to the OP, 'you' is in the generic sense, not personal.
Abigail would most certainly have taken the repubs to task last summer.
back in Honors English my senior year...
Lysistrata (/laɪˈsɪstrətə/ or /ˌlɪsəˈstrɑːtə/; Attic Greek: Λυσιστράτη, "Army-disbander" is one of the few surviving plays written by Aristophanes. Originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata persuades the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace — a strategy, however, that inflames the battle between the sexes. The play is notable for being an early exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society. The dramatic structure represents a shift away from the conventions of Old Comedy, a trend typical of the author's career.[2] It was produced in the same year as Thesmophoriazusae, another play with a focus on gender-based issues, just two years after Athens' catastrophic defeat in the Sicilian Expedition
