Louis Menand Quote
James’s general position on the difference between the sexes, which was that woman is by nature inferior to man. She is man’s inferior in passion, his inferior in intellect, and his inferior in physical strength; she is, very properly, her husband’s patient and unrepining drudge, his beast of burden, his toilsome ox, his dejected ass, his cook, his tailor, his own cheerful nurse and the sleepless guardian of his children. But their inferiority, James thought, is precisely what makes women attractive to men, so that any great development of passion or intellect in woman is sure to prejudice male attention. Would any man fancy a woman after the pattern of Daniel Webster?33 He consequently opposed serious education for women, a doctrine that had disastrous consequences in the case of his youngest child and only daughter, Alice.
James’s general position on the difference between the sexes, which was that woman is by nature inferior to man. She is man’s inferior in passion, his inferior in intellect, and his inferior in physical strength; she is, very properly, her husband’s patient and unrepining drudge, his beast of burden, his toilsome ox, his dejected ass, his cook, his tailor, his own cheerful nurse and the sleepless guardian of his children. But their inferiority, James thought, is precisely what makes women attractive to men, so that any great development of passion or intellect in woman is sure to prejudice male attention. Would any man fancy a woman after the pattern of Daniel Webster?33 He consequently opposed serious education for women, a doctrine that had disastrous consequences in the case of his youngest child and only daughter, Alice.
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