Voltairine De Cleyre was born in 1866 in the town of Leslie, Michigan, and died in 1912 at the age of 45. She was…remarkable. And then she was forgotten.
This post is a bit different to “The Standard’s” normal posts. The intention is to generate debate on the ideas and thoughts expressed by Voltairine De Cleyre in her speech “Sex Slavery”.
A couple of links to the speech are at the foot of the post. It’s a packed ten pages and, given it was penned in 1890, you might have to take a minute to attune yourself to the language.
This post will be bumped back up to a prominent position on Saturday. The reason it’s up now is to give anyone who’s interested some time to have a read and a think. But if you want to comment in the meantime, then by all means, go for it.
There are just a couple of background details worth noting.
The speech was gathering support for Moses Harman, who had been sentenced to five years in jail for publishing a letter from a Dr Markland that fell foul of the Comstock Laws for obscenity. (Apparently, he used the word “penis”)
The term “Mrs or Mdm Grundy” pertains to someone who is priggish and conventional.
Enjoy!
For a pdf link to the speech within a book of de Cleyre’s writings, go here (pp 227 – 237) or for a stand alone copy of the speech, go here.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress