Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Fordyce's Sermons to Young Women, Sermon III, Page 53

"A masculine woman must be naturally an un-amiable creature. I confess myself shocked, whenever I see the sexes confounded."

8 comments:

Paul Miller said...

What a ridiculous comment. I pitty the young women whose families insisted they subscribe to the foolishness of this douche of the cloth.

Iron Chef Kosher! said...

While the negative aspects of the past as easy to see in terms of women's lives, they aren't as obvious as when it comes to men. But when you have all the power, you also have all the burdens. I suspect that not every man in the Regency who was a 3-4- or even 5 bottle man was doing it because it was fun...

I guess what I am trying to say in terms of this specific comment is that yes, women's behavior was constricted. But so was men's.

Mary O'Grady said...

I bet there were some "masculine" women who enjoyed a deep and enduring appreciation of each other, as there are now. (And who asked him, anyway?)

adamantixx said...

the sad thing is that people probably listened to his supposed words of wisdom at the time.

Lesley said...

"....douche of the cloth." Paul, I just love the terms of speech you come up with! :O)

Heather Carroll said...

I bet he would also find himself shocked when a "masculine" woman beat the crap out of him!

Paul Miller said...

@Heather: Maybe that is what happened to 'confound' him in the past.
@Lesley: Thanks. I take my talents in the trash-mouth department very, very seriously.

Min Self said...

And all I can think of is, "Oh burn it, ma'am -- the hairdresser has torn away as far as Proper Pride!"