Our Girls By Elizabeth Cady Stanton

3 Pages 744 Words

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a women’s rights activist in the 19th century who believed that women were to be treated equally to men. She argued this idea in one of her many speeches “our girls”. In “our girls” she discussed the general disposition of women as being one of dull routine, no intellectual conversation, and superficial beauty. Stanton tried to convince her audience that women needed pecuniary independence and intellect to make their lives better, more fulfilling, and even their health better.
Stanton first said that women are beginning to awaken to the fact that they belong to an “ostracized class.” She claimed that within this class, women had no individual character, no purpose in life, no aims, and no ambitions. Women depended too much on men for their livelihood – but only because that is what they were taught to do. Men were trained to be superior while women were trained to sit in the shadows, listen obediently, and look pretty.
Stanton refuted the idea that women were made to please men. She also denied that women should have merely a physical beauty. She saw that as a shallow façade to the inner working inside their minds — which consisted of nothing (because of their lack of education). Since many of these beautiful, thin and fashionable women had no education, their source of knowledge was limited to their homes. Stanton was disgusted by their helplessness and dependence on men.
Pretty girls may have had the tight waists and trendy clothing, but Stanton took an odd approach to convincing her audience that tight waists were nothing to aspire for. She used the same type of propaganda that men used for women, to say that tightening your waist could prevent circulation and result in paralysis around 6 inches of a women’s waist. Stanton associated deep thinking with deep breathing, leaving the audience to ponder over her sarcasm.
Stanton went on to speak about women’s obsession with cosmeti...