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Women have seldom sufficient employment to silence their feelings; a round of little cares, or vain pursuits frittering away all strength of mind and organs, they become naturally only objects of sense.
Mary Wollstonecraft
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote suggests that women often lack meaningful engagement, leading them to be seen merely as objects rather than individuals with depth.

Mary Wollstonecraft's quote highlights the limited roles often assigned to women in society, suggesting that their lack of substantial employment or engagement in meaningful pursuits reduces them to mere objects of attraction. It critiques a societal structure that prioritizes superficial activities over intellectual and emotional fulfillment, calling for a recognition of women's full humanity and potential.

Themes

WomenEmploymentSocietyFeelingsIntellect

In practice

Example use cases

This quote would be appropriate in discussions about gender equality in the workplace.

More from Mary Wollstonecraft

Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.
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Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives; - that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.
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But what a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an hypothesis!
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The divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger.
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Women are degraded by the propensity to enjoy the present moment, and, at last, despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain.
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Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!
Mary WollstonecraftRead

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