Vivie Warren:
I love reading and educating myself with every opportunity I can get. I read the newspaper every single day when I get it. When I read the newspaper this morning, I was so disappointed. It’s not that I was shocked, because this is how women have been treated. It is ridiculous that we can not even wear the things that we want to put on our bodies. We have men making the rules for what is “acceptable to wear” and I am NOT standing for that. Us women should be able to make our own decisions of what we want to wear and what we feel comfortable in. Don’t get me wrong, I love to wear a cute, dainty dress sometimes. But, when I am relaxing at my house reading books, I like to be comfortable. I don’t care what I look like to anyone else, it is what I feel comfortable wearing in my own home. If a woman wants to wear pants instead of a dress, LET HER! There needs to be a change in the rights that women have. We should not have our lives controlled by these men who only care about themselves. I can not stand the way that they have a say in how we live our lives. If they aren’t letting us work jobs or get good educations, we should at least be able to wear what we want without it becoming a huge deal that ends up in the newspaper. Mark my words, I am going to stop this nonsense and stand up for women’s rights!
Editorial Commentary:
This newspaper article was published on September 3, 1913 by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Women were looked at to be dressed in dresses and skirts and more feminine clothing. Pants and baggy clothing were more geared toward men. Early women pioneers had to wear pants and more masculine clothing when working outdoors and in terrible conditions. The stereotypes of women at this time were that they were there to take care of the children and do work around the house. That did not require much work, so many women wore dresses and skirts to look and be more feminine to their husbands. There was no such thing as “outdoor gear” for women because they were not allowed or “supposed” to work outside, that was a man’s job. Wearing men’s clothing was so frowned upon during this time period, that women were getting arrested for dressing in pants in public. This shows how little rights and freedom women had during this time. In the 1800s, women were starting to stand up for themselves and their rights. They wanted to “improve their status in and usefulness to society” (Cruea, 188). The “True Woman” was like the new woman in the way that they were defying the typical roles of women. Women were taught very young that their only job was to work in the kitchen and in the house. There was no other jobs, that is what you were taught to do from a very young age. Although women weren’t “supposed” to go to school and get an education, middle-class women, like Vivie Warren, were able to get an education. However, women were only taught basic skills that would allow them to educate their children (Cruea, 188).
Moore, Alexandria. “Fossil Dress Codes.” Paleontological Research Institution, Paleontological Research Institution, 22 Mar. 2022, www.priweb.org/blog-post/fossil-dress-codes.
Cruea, Susan M., "Changing Ideals of Womanhood During the Nineteenth-Century Woman Movement" (2005). University Writing Program Faculty Publications. 1. https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/gsw_pub/1