By Maya Dusenbery • @mayadusenbery • 14 years ago

Vintage sexism: We’re just protecting you ladies from “the burden of politics”


Via Copyranter comes this great anti-suffrage ad from 1915. Seriously, ladies, if you don’t want to accept the vote, Alice Paul will hold a gun to your head and force a ballot into your hand.

“The Suffragists demand that MEN shall FORCE the burden of politics upon ALL WOMEN Without the Consent of the Ninety Per Cent. IS THAT DEMOCRATIC? IS THAT JUST?”

Well, jeez, when you put it that way….

Also: “Woman Suffrage is part of the Feminist Movement, and is wanted by every Socialist, every I.W.W., and every Mormon.” It’s nice that some things never change.

I’ve decided that in the category of “Conservative Arguments in Favor of the Status Quo that Will Look Totally Silly in 50 Years,” this is really one of my all-time favorites: “Trust Us, You Actually Don’t Even Want Those Rights You Think You Do.”

What’s your favorite?

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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