Britain's best-selling feminist salutes England's first feminist:
If you could choose one subjugated woman from history to bring to 2012 in order to enjoy the freedoms that women have now, who would you choose?
Probably Mary Wollstonecraft. Because that was so ballsy, you know? That was an era where there were people around who could still remember witches being burned. So not just to give her hope and make her realize that she did start something that was incredible, but also to reward her by letting her just sit back and listen to some Beyonce, and order a really fucking amazing steak, and some underwear that wasn't made of sacking cloth, and that wasn't full of nits. I would bring Mary Wollstonecraft back and show her the 21st century. Give her some wine.
The interviewer is a New Yorker called Chiara Atik ("a dating writer, a Lower East Side dweller, and a feminist"). The
where and when is an American website called The Hairpin. The subject is none other than Caitlin Moran. She too seems to understand the virtues of poetical truth over historical accuracy.
<3 <3 <3
ReplyDeleteRead Caitlin's book, How to be A Woman, for much more in this vein. It's simply fab.
Wow, I can't think of anything more ridiculous than calling Mary Wollstonecraft "ballsy." Can't we retire that word? Can't we learn to say "courage" instead of "ballsy"?
ReplyDeleteHi Bob. I know where you're coming from, but Caitlin Moran has her own way of expressing herself. Maybe it's a generational thing? Words come in waves. (Shall we popularise "ovular"?) Anonymous is right: read the book! Or at least excerpts.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying that anyone shouldn't read the book. I'm saying that equating "balls" with courage is blatantly sexist, so obvious that it hardly seems worth discussion.
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