Cartoon Central

From a post on International Women's Day, this bit about revolutionary political cartoons.

Today a young woman came into the special collection where I work and she wanted to look at some political cartoons. I showed her what we had, and it led to a good chat about Ben Franklin and the difference between American and French revolutionary print culture. I pointed toward our copy of Mary Wollstonecraft's Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution and said, "It's the same Wollstonecraft who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman." Blank stare. I summarized. "Men of the eighteenth century wrote a lot of misogynistic crap about how women are worthless because all they care about is money and clothes and entertainment. Wollstonecraft points out that all women are educated to do is marry rich, look pretty, and have a good time. Until we provide an equal education to women and men, she argues, men will always hate women for what they grow up to be." The student blinked a few times and said she'd pick up a copy on her way home.