Wollstonecraft notes that women are socialized to boast of their weakness in order to make themselves more appealing to suitors, writing: “Virtue is sacrificed to temporary gratifications, and the respectability of life to the triumph of an hour.” This custom has a negative effect on society as a whole, because it creates lifelong patterns of elevating gratification and romantic conquest over relationships founded on mutual respect.Įven if females are naturally weaker than males, Wollstonecraft argues, that doesn’t mean they should be allowed to become even weaker than nature intended. Women are encouraged to make a virtue of weakness and use this as a power play to attract men-thereby establishing patterns that serve women poorly throughout their lives. What’s more, she argues that these weak families and unhappy marriages are in fact destructive for society as a whole. Though she doesn’t ignore questions surrounding male virtue, she devotes more attention to the inadequate moral training which, she believes, leaves women ill-prepared to find worthy husbands and to build enduring marriages and families. Throughout A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft is often concerned with unequal relationships between men and women, including in marriage.
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