Blog on Dubois, Stanton, and Truth

The three different feminist writers represent very different point of views. Dubois is in favor of women not interacting with men at all because of pervious experiences. Stanton wants men and women to work together to give women equal rights. Truth does want men to be in the picture, but she is unique from the other two feminist writers because she is a black woman.

Dubois’s Feminism Old Wave and New Wave represents a radical view of feminism. She writes of the injustices done to the women’s movement by men very passionately. I think that she is very angry with the abolitionist movement for abandoning women’s rights. Understandably, Dubois considers the abolitionist movement to be similar to the feminist movement. She considers it a betrayal when the women’s rights movement is left in the dust after black men are giving the right to vote. It is not only the abolitionist movement that she is angry with though, she is mad at all men for allowing women to be treated unfairly. Her solution is to work without any men, and to create a new future for women without any male help.

Stanton and Truth both argue passionately for women’s rights as well, but think that men should be included in that fight. I think it helps that Stanton has a very supportive husband, even though she does think that marriage is not very good women then. She writes, “He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.” (59). I have to wonder what her husband thought of that line… but still she is just representing the reality of marriage for women at that time. Both authors have suffered greatly under the laws of the day, Truth herself was a slave for forty years, and as she says has never enjoyed true freedom because she is always oppressed in some way.

One of the things that I noticed while reading was the mention of religion. I wonder what religion the feminists of the day considered to be right. Truth and Stanton, both mention God (and Truth mentions Jesus) so it would seem when they say religion they are thinking of is Christianity. However, I am not sure if Dubois would agree with Christian teachings because some of them are very patriarchal. Would these feminists mind different religions as long as they supported the women’s movement?