John Stuart Mill quote about women from The Subjection of Women - What is now called the nature of women is an eminently artificial thing—the result of forced repression in some directions, unnatural stimulation in others.
pick facebookpinterest picture source

What is now called the nature of women is an eminently artificial thing—the result of forced repression in some directions, unnatural stimulation in others.
 John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women (1869). copy citation

Context

“If men had ever been found in society without women, or women without men, or if there had been a society of men and women in which the women were not under the control of the men, something might have been positively known about the mental and moral differences which may be inherent in the nature of each. What is now called the nature of women is an eminently artificial thing—the result of forced repression in some directions, unnatural stimulation [Pg 39] in others. It may be asserted without scruple, that no other class of dependents have had their character so entirely distorted from its natural proportions by their relation with their masters; for, if conquered and slave races have been, in some respects, more forcibly repressed, whatever in them has not been crushed down by an iron heel has generally been let alone, and if left with any liberty of development, it has developed itself according to its own laws; but in the case of women, a hot-house and stove cultivation has always been carried on of some of the capabilities of their nature, for the benefit and pleasure of their masters.” source

Meaning and analysis

write a note
report