Feminism

Last fall, JW asked me if I was a feminist.  I paused for an embarrassing long moment before responding "yes".  The thing is, not only had no one ever asked me that before, but I realized in that moment that I have never even posed the question to myself.  Male privilege, anyone?

Today, I hit the entry on Mary Wollstonecraft in my Philosophy Digest Book.  I have long held what I thought were some pretty perceptive opinions about women and internalized beauty standards and feminism.  But, as almost always in life, when you have a thought - if you look long enough, you can find someone who has already said it better:

Speaking of women trapping themselves in superficiality, she wrote "Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman's scepter, the mind shapes itself to the body, and, roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison."

Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797