In eighteenth-century France and England, reformers rallied around
egalitarian ideals, but few reformers advocated higher education for women.
Although the public decried women’s lack of education, it did not encourage
learning for its own sake for women. In spite of the general prejudice against
learned women, there was one place where women could exhibit their erudition:
the literary salon. Many writers have defined the woman’s role in the salon as
that of an intelligent hostess, but the salon had more than a social function
for women. It was an informal university, too, where women exchanged ideas with
educated persons, read their own works and heard those of others, and received
and gave criticism.
In the 1750’s, when salons were firmly established in France, some English
women, who called themselves “Bluestocking,” followed the example of the salonnieres (French salon hostesses) and
formed their own salons. Most Bluestockings did not wish to mirror the salonnieres; they simply desired to
adapt a proven formula to their own purpose—the elevation of women’s status
through moral and intellectual training. Differences in social orientation and
background can account perhaps for differences in the nature of French and
English salons. The French salon incorporated aristocratic attitudes that
exalted courtly pleasure and emphasized artistic accomplishments. The English
Bluestockings, originating from a more modest background, emphasized learning
and work over pleasure. Accustomed to the regimented life of court circles, salonnieres tended toward formality in
their salons. The English women, though somewhat puritanical, were more casual
in their approach.
At first, the Bluestockings did imitate the salonnieres by including men in their circles. However, as they
gained cohesion, the Bluestockings came to regard themselves as a women’s group
and to possess a sense of female solidarity lacking in the salonnieres, who remained isolated from one another by the primacy
each held in her own salon. In an atmosphere of mutual support, the
Bluestockings went beyond the salon experience. They traveled, studied, worked,
wrote for publication, and by their activities challenged the stereotype of the
passive woman. Although the salonnieres
were aware of sexual inequality, the narrow boundaries of their world kept
their intellectual pursuits within conventional limits. Many salonnieres, in fact, camouflaged their
nontraditional activities behind the role of hostess and deferred to men in public.
Though the Bluestockings were trailblazers when compared with the salonnieres, they were not feminists.
They were too traditional, too hemmed in by their generation to demand social and political
rights. Nonetheless, in their desire for education, their willingness to go beyond the confines of the salon in pursuing their interests, and their
championing of unity among women, the Bluestockings began the process of
questioning women’s role in society.
No comments:
Post a Comment