writings of

Mary Wollstonecraft

(1759-1797)



 A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790)
When Edmund Burke's pen pours forth poison against revolution, decency, and the good Mr. Richard Price, our Ms. W. is Mary-on-the-spot, sending the pompous politician packing with this priceless production, perhaps the first reply to Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France."


A Vindication of the Rights of Woman:

With Strictures on

Political and Moral Subjects

(1792)

Mary's magnum opus, the first comprehensive statement of feminist ideas by the first modern feminist.

 Dedication, and Introduction

Chapter I
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THE RIGHTS AND INVOLVED DUTIES OF MANKIND CONSIDERED

Chapter II
THE PREVAILING OPINION OF A SEXUAL CHARACTER DISCUSSED

Chapter III
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED

Chapter IV
OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF DEGRADATION TO WHICH WOMAN IS REDUCED BY VARIOUS CAUSES

Chapter V
ANIMADVERSIONS ON SOME OF THE WRITERS WHO HAVE RENDERED WOMEN OBJECTS OF PITY, BORDERING ON CONTEMPT

Chapter VI
THE EFFECT WHICH AN EARLY ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS HAS UPON THE CHARACTER

Chapter VII
MODESTY--COMPREHENSIVELY CONSIDERED, AND NOT AS A SEXUAL VIRTUE

Chapter VIII
MORALITY UNDERMINED BY SEXUAL NOTIONS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD REPUTATION

Chapter IX
OF THE PERNICIOUS EFFECTS WHICH ARISE FROM THE UNNATURAL DISTINCTIONS ESTABLISHED IN SOCIETY

Chapter X and XI
PARENTAL AFFECTION

DUTY TO PARENTS

Chapter XII
ON NATIONAL EDUCATION

Chapter XIII
SOME INSTANCES OF THE FOLLY WHICH THE IGNORANCE OF WOMEN
GENERATES; WITH CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS ON THE MORAL
IMPROVEMENT THAT A REVOLUTION IN FEMALE MANNERS MIGHT
NATURALLY BE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE