In my search for information on conduct for women, I found this great website that appears to have been a student project. The text is super small so good luck with reading it. If you do, it has easy/quick to read bits of information on restraint, weakness, passion, domestic roles, female literature
It's continually fascinating to me how language has changed. Then demanding 'restraint' from women was a means of oppression, of keeping women subordinate to men. Today, I still believe there's a little too much letting it all hang out when it comes to women's emotions and dumping them on other people (see previous post for that discussion). So, today, restraint can be a good thing, even if it means not punching someone who is being a jerk to you when they clearly deserve it.
Interesting info on the understanding of a woman's nervous system, which was thought to include ideas such as "sensation, matter, instinct, quickness, perceptions and delicacy."
Mary Wollstonecraft, cited here, "blamed women's weak minds and bodies to a 'false system of education.'"
On the flip side is cited Jean Jacques Rousseau who believed women were "to be educated directly in respect to their relations with men. The facets of their education included pleasing men, being useful to them, winning their love and esteem, and making life sweet and agreeable to them. Rousseau imposed on women subjection to a rule of silence and denied them any participation in the ethical life of the community."
Well, except for that ethical part, this perfectly describes man's relationship with his dog.
To raise your spirits after all the ire-raising info on this site, there's a fun quiz under 'feminist response' to see what you think after what you've read.
If you've got insomnia, spend some time clicking through this extensive list of conduct information for young women:
Conduct for Young Women Resources
There's a huge 6 volume tome called "Conduct Literature for Women" which you buy for a mere $875. Contained therein (I've highlighted what I'd like to explore, probably through Hopkins' library):
Volume 1
Acknowledgements; General Introduction; Exemplary Women, Ancient and Modern; Note on Copy Texts; anon., Woman Triumphant, or, the Excellency of the Female Sex (1721); [John Essex], The Young Ladies Conduct: or, Rules for Education (1722); anon., Female Piety and Virtue. A Poem (1725); extracts from Jane Sharp, The Compleat Midwife’s Companion (1725); extracts from Elizabrth Nihell, An answer to the Author of the Critical Review ... Upon ... Mrs Nihell's Tretaise on the Art of Midwifery (1760); extracts from E[liza] S[mith], The Compleat Housewife, 2nd ed. (1728); [George Lyttelton], Advice to a Lady (1733); anon., Advice to the Fair: An Epistolary Essay (1738); anon., A Letter to a Lady in Praise of Female Learning (1739); Editorial Notes
Volume 2
Alexander Munro, The Professors’s Daughter. an essay on Female Conduct (1739–45); anon., Woman not Inferior to Man (1739); anon., Man Superior to Woman (1739); Wetenhall Wilkes, A Letter of Genteel and Moral Advice to a Young Lady (1741); Editorial Notes
Volume 3
anon., The Lady’s Preceptor, Or, a Letter to a Lady of Distinction upon Politeness (1743); extracts from [Edward Moore], Fables for the Female Sex (1744); extracts from [David Fordyce], Dialogues Concerning Education (1745); Editorial Notes
Volume 4
anon., The Art of Governing a Wife with Rules for Bachelors (1747); anon., A Letter to a Lady , concerning the Education of Female Youth (1749); Thomas Marriott, Female Conduct: Being an Essay on the Art of Pleasing. To be practised by the Fair Sex before and after Marriage (1759); Editorial Notes
Volume 5
extract from Thomas Marriott, Female Conduct: being an Essay on the Art of Pleasing (1759); Sarah Pennington, An Unfortunate Mother's Advice to her Absent Daughters, 3rd edn (1761); anon., Friendly Advice. To the Fair Sex in particular (1763); Editorial Notes
Volume 6
[Charles Allen], The Polite Lady: or, A Course of Female Education (1760); Benito Jerónimo Feijoo y Montenegro, An Essay on Woman, or, Physiological and Historical Defence of the Fair Sex (1768); Editorial Notes; Index
I guess these are today's self help books. Today's authors could spice up their titles a bit using these as models.
How about:
"Letter to the Fair Sex Who Reside on Venus from a Gentleman Residing on Mars"
"Polite Social Engagements for a Lady's Discovery of the Mate of Thy Soul"
"In Praise of Finding the Seat of the Goddess Spot"
Readers who purchased these titles also selected:
"Advice from a Lady of Distinction in the Locating of the Proper Male Companion Via Correspondence Through the Ethers"
Make up your own! Fun to do at your book club and at holiday gatherings!
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