Women in Public - Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880

On May 15, 1862, U.S. General Benjamin Butler, commander of occupied New Orleans, ordered that any woman who publicly insulted Union soldiers be subject to prosecution as a prostitute. Not all nineteenth-century women, Butler learned, felt their place was in the home. As his order implies, women were governed by an unwritten code of public conduct, appeared on public streets, spoke out on public issues, and were subjects of public policy. In "Women in Public" noted historian Mary P. Ryan examines each of these issues as it affected women in New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco.
Contrary to current perceptions, Ryan contends, nineteenth-century women appeared in public in a variety of roles. They took part in civic ceremonies, from Independence Day celebrations to ethnic festivals. Whether they sonsorted in parks designed for "ladies" or in the increasingly regulated haunts of prostitutes, their place in the everyday life of the streets became more segregated and distinct. Denied access to the voting booth, they practiced "outdoor politics," waving handkerchiefs at rallies--and wielding brickbats in riots.
Exploring little-noted aspects of nineteenth-century political discourse, Ryan shows how gender and sexual imagery in public language changed as the century progressed. She analyzes the construction of boundaries between private and public spheres and examines the American political system's failure to accommodate difference within democratic order.

A propos de l'auteur

Mary P. Ryan is director of women's studies and professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of the prize-winning Cradle of the Middle Class, Womanhood in America, and Empire of the Mother.

Détails du produit

• Auteurs: Mary P. Ryan, Mary P. (Johns Hopkins University) Ryan, Ryan Mary P.
• Edition: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Langues: Anglais
• Format d'édition: Livre de poche
• Sortie: 28.03.1992
• EAN: 9780801844010
• ISBN: 978-0-8018-4401-0
• Pages: 208
• Thèmes: Johns Hopkins Symposia in Comp; Johns Hopkins Symposia in Comp; The Johns Hopkins Symposia in Comparative History
• Catégories: Littérature spécialisée > Histoire > Autres; Sciences sociales, droit, économie > Sociologie > Théories sociologiques; USA, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Civics & Citizenship, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Feminism & Feminist Theory, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Feminism & feminist theory, United States of America, USA, Feminism and feminist theory, Civil rights & citizenship, Civics and citizenship