Mary Wollstonecraft in A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, appealing to ethos in a way that creates credibility in the eyes of men by working to de-stigmatize the notion that women have fickle minds and pick up ideas about their rights because they are impressionable. She instead works to assure that their education and liberation is mutually beneficial for men and women. Click on the button below to see the full source, or check out the primary quotes relating to feminism below.
"I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves."
A common stigmatization of the feminist movement asserts that women who advocate for feminism want to be superior to men, take down the patriarchy and instate a matriarchy in its stead. Wollstonecraft suggest subtly and very plainly that what makes people uncomfortable with the movement is the threat to a institution that lifts men up who don' t want to see their power diminished by the increasing power of women.
“My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed - my dearest pleasure when free.”
Accusations of the validity and independence of Wollstonecraft's arguments were raised. She combatted them by explaining the value of her feministic beliefs to her, independently and not to anything she simpy adopted from others.
“Make them free, and they will quickly become wise and virtous, as men become more so; for the improvement must be mutual, or the injustice which one half of the human race are obliged to submit to, retorting on their oppressors, the virtue of men will be worm-eaten by the insect whom he keeps under his feet”
Wollstonecraft ensures reluctant takers to the movement that in feminism, women will not lose virtue, but gain it through their own wisdom and decision rather than and imposition by their oppressors. In 1792, the virtue of a woman was one of her pillars of womanhood, Wollstonecraft had to appeal to her audiences value of purity in a woman to validate her argument and additionally appeal to ethos.
Scandal "Nasty Woman" speech
Scandal is an American television show on ABC network that centers around political experiences involving the White House and American Government, specifically, the presidency. In this clip, Olivia Pope (Carrie Washington) speaks to a flustered Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) who is losing her grip on her campaign to becoming the first female POTUS. Pope says that to the outsiders "A woman in power is a nasty woman" playing on the infamous insult President Trump used on Hillary Clinton in a presidential debate in fall of 2015. The Media sees feminism in politics as an empowering force of female power in government. However feminism is often stigmatized in leadership. By using the term "nasty woman" Pope reclaims, in defiance, the offensive term coined by Trump.