When it came to freedom of expression, those in the early years of our country tested the limits of this value. Those who fought for reform, fought for the rights of themselves and others, and although they may not have had immediate results, or even seen any result at all (such as the Socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason), they fought for what the believed in, and some even changed history.
When it comes to Victoria Woodhull and her fight for sexual freedom, although some of her ideas were radical (such as banishing the institution of marriage), she fought hard, and did not give into government pressure, such as her being jailed in light of the Comstock Laws, her as well as others who believed in the idea of free love, fought through the hard times to stand up for what they believed in.
But even though she had very radical views, some of her views are what we consider to be normal and even more accepted in today's society. Victoria Woodhull fought for the right of women to divorce, fought for their right not to stay in an unhappy marriage. She fought for the right women to love who they saw fit, and proposed the idea of having multiple lovers. She said "I have an inalienable, constitutional and natural right to love whom I may, to love as long or as short a period as I can, to change that love every day if I please."
This is something that is still argued even today, although, yes maybe in a different context, the right of women to do with their body as they please is still being debated in courts today with the issues of birth control and abortion. As pointed out in Rodger Steitmatter's Voices of the Revolution, Woodhull believed "A woman had the right to deny her body to anyone, including her husband. These ideas made her viewed in some circles as "Mrs. Satan," but this never deterred her from what she was on a mission to accomplish.
Through her newspaper Woodhull & Clafin's Weekly -- run by her and her sister -- and through her efforts to get this idea across, although her efforts didn't really amount to anything during the time period, they opened up debate and got the public thinking about these issues. She got others on board to her idea and newspaper such as Lucifer and The Word.
Through her efforts as well as the efforts of others who promoted the idea of "free love," society's minds were expanded and more open-minded. Although their efforts didn't get very far, they led to the ideas of such things as birth control, women being allowed to report rape by their husbands, the right for a woman to divorce a man. With efforts of not only Woodhull, but others such as Ida B. Wells, Margret Sanger, and others, woman now have the right to vote, African American's are free from lynching, civil rights and women's rights have come a long way because of the efforts of many, who when faced with issues, fought back and fought for what the believed in. They made a difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment