Carrie Elder
Dr. Coronado
English 226
9 Dec 2014
Discussing Social Inequalities pre 1855 to Today
Thomas Branagan’s The Excellency of the Female Character Vindicated was published in 1807, but the text discusses issues with gender equality still relevant today. Branagan talks about how women are degraded and refused equal right. He explains why this inequality is engrained in men from a very early age. Branagan questions the state of gender politics and relations and why the unequal distribution of power between men and women is inherently wrong and should be abolished. Even with the flaws in Branagan’s writing and the date the text was published, this text should be a part of an American educational curriculum because it will open up a dialogue about the strides modern American has made towards equality among all genders along with the progress society has failed to achieve.
Branagan begins his assessment on early feminism by discussing the how women are subjugated in society. He writes, “In most parts of the world, the female is considered by the male part of society, merely as an object of sensual convenience and domestic accommodation” (Branagan 69). In this passage, Branagan lays out the pillars of his argument; that women are relegated to roles that are inherently sexual or associated with care giving. His use of the word “convenience” suggests that these roles are restrictive of women’s personal desires and instead cater to the man’s, ensuring an easy method of degrading women. Branagan’s use of the words “men” and “women” ignores people who don’t adhere to the gender binary. Discussing and analyzing this important but often forgotten part of feminist discourse, both today and when this text was published, must be discussed because the way that gender is subverted matters just as much as the way it is adhered to. After this, Branagan states, “My object here is to investigate the radical cause of this degradation” (Branagan 69). This is both the mission statement for his own text, but also for a possible further analysis of this work. Investigating and questioning why power inequalities exist between men, women, and other marginalized groups is important now more than ever, and looking back at the history of oppression between the sexes in America provides important context as to how long these institutional discrepancies have existed.
Despite its strides, Branagan’s work is clearly not exempt from criticism. This does not deter it from being an important work to analyze; rather, it informs the text’s importance. The parts of the text that are problematic must be addressed in order to understand how even great thinkers are complicit in the power structures that they are trying to dismantle. For example, Branagan writes about women that, “they intend them to be play-actors or dancing girls, instead of being prudent and judicious mothers of respectable families” (Branagan 70). Branagan places an unfair standard between women; that those who deemed respectful and choose to raise children are better than women chose not to. The standard contributes to the unfair and unequal treatment of women due to the fact that it restricts a women’s choice to raise a family or not, and it shames women who are not interested in traditional motherhood. This inconsistency demonstrates how dated Branagan’s text is as it was written before modern conceptions of motherhood and families were created. However, pointing out these inconsistencies in Branagan’s text could lead possible reason that these problems still exist in our culture. This contradiction clearly supports a claim that consistency is important to maintaining an equal stance against oppression, in addition to an idea that even people who are for dismantling inequalities in society can fall prey to oppressive thinking because of how deeply inequality is embedded in our culture.
Branagan even uses poetry as a method of arguing his stance against the degradation of women. At a certain point in the text, he begins by saying, “I can find no language to prove my opinion to be correct, more eloquently than the following” (Branagan 71) before he begins his prose. Using prose as a rhetorical strategy legitimizes Branagan as an educated and talented wordsmith and adds a different layer of analysis to his text. Along with thinking about Branagan’s rhetorical consistencies and inconsistencies, there can also be a discussion about his abilities as a prose writer. The section of prose included in this text can be scrutinized based on their effectiveness in terms of proving Branagan’s claims and on whether these prose digressions add anything to the overall text. The poems are not included for no reason, but rather they are just as important as any other section of this text.
In one section, Branagan writes “Like the useless butterfly that appears fluttering in the sun on a summer’s day, flying from flower to flower in scented gardens, its beauteous wings are tipt with gold; the enraptured child views with delight and admiration” (Branagan 70). In this example, Branagan demonstrates how women are reduced to just pretty things to look at without including any substance. He does this by including a section of poetry that is written beautifully but lacks any rhetorical substance. He does not make any claims about his thesis in this poem, but rather lets the way these poems are written speak for themselves because they are serving their purpose just by being included with the rest of the text. Branagan’s abilities as a poet speaks volumes to his talent as an overall writer because it shows that he is well versed in different disciplines. This makes him and his text and very valuable input in a curriculum because it shows how a variety of talents can inform a person’s ability to argue their claims. Branagan uses his aptitude as a poet to back up his thesis and that in particular is something that any student can learn from. In addition, he uses poetry in a very clever way rather than just including it for the sake of inclusion.
Although this text was written by a man, it is still vital to a feminist discourse. At the very least, it can provide valuable resources for writings by women. Furthermore, it is the strength of the argument that makes this text credible rather than the gender of the author and the truth of this text that makes it important. As Catherine Gallagher writes, “This smooth, gradual movement from looking into a book to actively seeking its truths to dealing with its arguments – that is, passing them to others – is propelled by a common understanding that truths are nobody’s private property” (Gallagher 312) this principle can be applied to Branagan’s text. The grand truth of this written work is meant to be discussed and questioned because it has already outlasted Branagan himself just by the fact that it is still being read after its publication date. The very notion that a text written in 1807 is still important and relevant today ensures that it must be an important and crucial text to any discipline. Even with the problems with the text, that doesn’t take away from its rhetoric: “Errors may be exclusively attributed, but truths cannot” (Gallagher 312). Even though Branagan contradicted himself early on in this text, the truth of his argument still rings true, in fact it rings even truer since there is now a comparison between his argument and his contradictions. Then those who read this text are left to decide which is more important to examine and agree with.
Though this text is crucial to a feminist discourse, it is important, however, that Branagan’s text does not overshadow the works of women. As a man, Branagan is still speaking from a place of privilege over women even if he does not agree with the unequal distribution of power among men and women. As evidenced with his lack of acknowledgement to people outside of the gender binary, Branagan had a lot of learning to do. In addition, this text is very dated. Therefore, it is important to include texts from other women scholars since women are directly affected by the unequal structure of power allocated in our society and, therefore, their assessments will be more valuable. Upon assessing this text, the discourse that can be started are ultimately extremely valuable. The issues that Branagan raises are still relevant today, and furthermore it is entirely possible that they were not talked about as openly as they could be now. In knowing this, it can be stressed that the ability to discuss gender and social politics is not one that should be missed whenever it can be done, but rather sought out when the resources are available.
Works Cited
Gallagher, Catherine. "A History Of The Precedent: Rhetorics Of Legitimation In Women's Writing." Critical Inquiry 26.2 (2000): 309. Literary Reference Center. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.
Packham, Catherine. "DOMESTICITY, OBJECTS AND IDLENESS: Mary Wollstonecraft And Political Economy." Women's Writing 19.4 (2012): 544-562. Humanities International Complete. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.
Branagan, Thomas. “The excellency of the female character vindicated : being an investigation relative to the cause and effects of the encroachments of men upon the rights of women, and the too frequent degradation and consequent misfortunes of the fair sex”. New York : Printed by Samuel Wood. 1807. Web.
