Why Mary Wollstonecraft was an 18th century feminist rock star
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-03-06/why-mary-wollstonecraft-was-18th-century-feminist-rock-star
Her best-known work was published in 1792. Her daughter created Frankenstein. And today, there's a new move to honor philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.
---------
This story is based on a radio interview. Listen to the full interview.
----------
Virtue,'' she once wrote, "can only flourish amongst equals.
In her A Vindication of the Rights of Women, she argued that women should have access to the same educational opportunities as men.
Mary Wollstonecraft was the mother of feminism in the English language, explains author and journalist Bee Rowlett, who is campaigning for a statue to honor Wollstonecraft. She was the first person to write about womens rights and equality.
But Wollstonecrafts personal story had all the drama of a Jane Austen novel. She had love affairs with married men, had a child out of wedlock, attempted suicide twice.
The problem is that she had what people would call a colorful personal life, which now, really nothing even remotely close to Lindsay Lohan, says Rowlatt. But in the day, it effectively rendered her toxic. She was described as a hyena in petticoats.