Song Character Analysis Worksheet - The University of North ...

“Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” challenged the hegemonic status quo in
demanding equal property rights for married women, voting rights for all women, equal
standards of sexual behavior, and equal leadership roles in churches. 18 Young women
began participating in intellectual inquiry through female higher education in the mid
nineteenth century and soon joined together as societies to fight these inequalities.
Kerber and DeHart outlined the purposes of these early feminist groups as 1) to have an
understanding of the economic and social relationships that benefit one gender at the
expense of another; 2) to develop a language to critique hierarchal relationships and to
articulate an alternate vision; and 3) to forge the group solidarity necessary to realize this
vision. 19 This was the beginning of feminine empowerment as a reaction to the effects of
an industrialized society on women and the lessons learned in the cult of domesticity.
The male response to the “Woman Question” was based upon stereotypes of
sexuality rather than the social and economic contexts. Harriet Anderson addressed the
opposition to the feminist movement by three separate groups in fin-de-siècle Vienna that
has parallels in American society. Karl Leuger, leader of the political conservatives,
argued that the female was “oversexed” and had been corrupted by men of inferior races
[or classes]. The artisans proposed that bourgeois women were jealous of sexually free
women (prostitutes). They argued that the natural female role in culture could only be as
muse or object for the artist; they also declared that the woman’s movement was respons-
ible for the rejection of femininity in society. Scientists regarded the feminists as
18 Kerber and DeHart, 488. Stanton’s manifesto was presented at the Seneca Falls Convention,
which is considered the inception of the American women’s movement. It was convened to discuss the
social, civil, and religious conditions of women as well as their legal rights. Shapiro, 7.
19 Kerber and DeHart, 488.
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