{"id":118,"date":"2020-03-17T19:59:09","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T19:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/?post_type=project&p=118"},"modified":"2020-11-02T16:31:32","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T16:31:32","slug":"anti-suffrage-cards-a-male-perspective","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/project\/anti-suffrage-cards-a-male-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Suffrage: A Male and Female Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

The image presented here shows a disheartened man attending to domestic chores since his wife is a suffragette, portraying the core of anti-suffrage thought. Anti-suffrage was a drive to turn away from the suffrage movement and found its place in many aspects and forms during the long battle. However, anti-suffrage cards[1]<\/a> depict this battle as one between men and women being anti-suffrage and pro-suffrage respectively.<\/p>\n

Among various anti-suffrage groups, Dunston-Weiler Lithograph Company of New York is responsible for creating 12 anti-suffrage cards<\/a> among the many put into circulation.[2]<\/a> These cards were published in 1909, the same year Suffragettes began hunger strikes in prisons, resulting force-feeding<\/a> by jailers. [3]<\/a> Anti-suffragettes attempted to respond to suffragists with actions and publications. [4]<\/a> Anti-suffragists reprinted testimonials and created anti-suffrage cards for distribution among the public. [5]<\/a> Many of these postcards showed men tending to domestic work to show their anger and disapproval of gender role reversal<\/a>. A man forced to assume domestic responsibilities since his wife as a suffragette does correctly embody the sexist position that opposed the suffrage movement. The suffragette was given an image\u00a0as being controlling or attempting to dominate a household while reducing a man from his control of the house. However, these cards do not tell the whole story of the suffrage battle.[6]<\/a> The comical portrayal of feminizing men only offers a short point of history for the viewer. [7]<\/a><\/p>\n

In the United States, the woman\u2019s vote was granted only 100 years ago, a recent triumph due to the suffrage movement. However, discussion of such a topic usually only offers a broad understanding of the movement as will be quickly \"Thediscussed. The movement stemmed from the limitation placed on citizenship, desire for higher pay, and desire for a more feasible divorce due to domestic abuse.[8]<\/a> Suffragettes took many stances, such as that of justice, claiming women possessed the same capabilities as men or that of claiming the moral superiority<\/a> of women.[9]<\/a> The passing of the Fifteenth Amendment insulted suffragettes since African American men were given the vote, attesting to suffrage racial tensions as African American women were rejected from the cause.[10]<\/a> Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were responsible for founding the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in 1869.[11]<\/a> In 1890, the National Woman Suffrage Association would join with the American Suffrage Association to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1890.[12]<\/a> However, there is more to this suffrage movement that is left from proper discussion.<\/p>\n

With the rise of the suffrage movement came an equal rise in anti-suffrage thought. Such thought emerged into anti-suffrage drama, echoing social media sentiment, condemning this desired political freedom in a comical manner.[13]<\/a> Such plays were created by both men and women who conveyed sexist, classists, and racist depictions intended as an \u201camateur dramatization\u2026for an evening\u2019s entertainment\u201d.[14]<\/a> This New Woman, the image of a suffragist, was ridiculed and portrayed with negative images in order to portray the anti-suffrage\"The politics of the authors.[15]<\/a> Suffragist women were painted as \u201cself-absorbed, negligent of their duties as wives and mothers, ridiculously passionate about the cause for woman\u2019s rights, mannish in dress and manner, corrupt, and in some cases, abusive toward their husbands\u201d.[16]<\/a> These plays depicted warnings<\/a> of the New Woman, role-reversal in a marriage where men struggle with domestic chores, and progressive women failing in male professions.[17]<\/a> Even though there was strong opposition from women, it is important to note the support gained from men during the suffrage movement. With the success of the suffrage movement in territories west of the Mississippi River, western male settlers were hopeful for the increase of women settlers in the area.[18]<\/a> The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), created by Julia Ward Howe and Lucy Stone in 1869, even included men in its leadership. [19]<\/a><\/p>\n

However, a rise in anti-suffrage thought resulted in many young women rebelling against this New Woman<\/a> and insisted on the importance of a husband\u2019s love and domestic duties.[20] <\/a>These women assumed the duties that anti-suffrage cards warned against, the masculinization<\/a> of women with aggressive and \"Aunladylike\u00a0behavior. [21]<\/a> Alice Stone Blackwell, a suffrage leader, attested to the fact that \u201c\u2019 the struggle has never been a fight of woman against man\u201d but rather between both men and women on each side of the suffrage argument.[22]<\/a> A large issue was opposition from women toward the suffrage movement who formed organizations to combat suffrage and were also responsible for petitions encouraging Congress to withhold votes from women.[23]<\/a> The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage was founded by Josephine Dodge of New York and insisted that \u201cwomen \"Thehad more power to improve society without the vote than with it\u201d.[24]<\/a> The suffrage battle is falsely portrayed as a \u201cbattle of the sexes\u201d since it was mainly between white women of the upper and middle classes, some men would simply join.[25]<\/a> \u00a0Many men held the stance that political involvement would taint a woman\u2019s moral purity.[26]<\/a> However, not much is offered as to why anti-suffrage women opposed their own right to vote. Some insisted that they did not want to be forced into male politics while others insisted that they did not need the vote to have power over lawmakers.[27]<\/a> In fact, many women insisted that the law did not discriminate against them and were worried that their rights, which were related to their position as a domestic woman, would be taken away. [28]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

_________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dassori, Emma. 2005. \u201cPerforming the Woman Question: The Emergence of Anti-Suffrage Drama.\u201d ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly) 19 (4): 301. http:\/\/search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.140659681&site=eds-live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hix, Lisa. \u201cWar on Women, Waged in Postcards: Memes From the Suffragist Era.\u201d Collectors Weekly. Accessed February 2, 2020. https:\/\/www.collectorsweekly.com\/articles\/war-on-women-waged-in-postcards-memes-from-the-suffragist-era\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Miller, Joe C. 2015. \u201cNever A Fight of Woman Against Man: What Textbooks Don\u2019t Say about Women\u2019s Suffrage.\u201d\u00a0History Teacher<\/em>\u00a048 (3): 437\u201382. http:\/\/search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=aph&AN=102820090&site=eds-live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pages, The Society. \u201cVintage Anti-Suffrage Postcards – Sociological Images.\u201d Sociological Images Vintage AntiSuffrage Postcards Comments. Accessed April 18, 2020. https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/11\/08\/vintage-anti-suffrage-postcards\/.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublicity for the Antis.\u201d Publicity for the Antis | New York Heritage. New York Heritage . Accessed April 18, 2020. http:\/\/www.newyorkheritage.org\/exhibits\/recognizing-womens-right-vote\/publicity-antis.<\/p>\n

Shi, David Emory.\u00a0America: a Narrative History<\/em>. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2019.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Lisa Hix. \u201cWar on Women, Waged in Postcards: Memes From the Suffragist Era.\u201d Collectors Weekly. https:\/\/www.collectorsweekly.com\/articles\/war-on-women-waged-in-postcards-memes-from-the-suffragist-era\/<\/a>. Accessed February 2, 2020.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u201cPublicity for the Antis.\u201d Publicity for the Antis | New York Heritage. New York Heritage. http:\/\/www.newyorkheritage.org\/exhibits\/recognizing-womens-right-vote\/publicity-antis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Pages, The Society. \u201cVintage Anti-Suffrage Postcards – Sociological Images.\u201d Sociological Images Vintage AntiSuffrage Postcards Comments. https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/11\/08\/vintage-anti-suffrage-postcards\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> David Emory Shi.\u00a0America: a Narrative History<\/em>, ( New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2019), 858.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Ibid., 859.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Ibid., 858.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Ibid., 859.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Emma Dassori. \u201cPerforming the Woman Question: The Emergence of Anti-Suffrage Drama.\u201d ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly) 19 (4) (2005): 301.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Ibid., 302.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Ibid., 305.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Emma Dassori. \u201cPerforming the Woman Question: The Emergence of Anti-Suffrage Drama.\u201d ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly) 19 (4) (2005): 305.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Ibid., 306.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> David Emory Shi.\u00a0America: a Narrative History<\/em>, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2019), 859.<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> Emma Dassori. \u201cPerforming the Woman Question: The Emergence of Anti-Suffrage Drama.\u201d ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly) 19 (4) (2005): 305.<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> Pages, The Society. \u201cVintage Anti-Suffrage Postcards – Sociological Images.\u201d Sociological Images Vintage AntiSuffrage Postcards Comments. https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/11\/08\/vintage-anti-suffrage-postcards\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a>Joe C. Miller. \u201cNever A Fight of Woman Against Man: What Textbooks Don\u2019t Say about Women\u2019s Suffrage.\u201d\u00a0History Teacher<\/em>\u00a048 (3) (2015.): 437.<\/p>\n

[23]<\/a> Ibid., 438-39.<\/p>\n

[24]<\/a> Ibid., 440.<\/p>\n

[25]<\/a> Ibid., 441.<\/p>\n

[26]<\/a>David Emory Shi.\u00a0America: a Narrative History<\/em>, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2019), 859.<\/p>\n

[27]<\/a>Joe C. Miller. \u201cNever A Fight of Woman Against Man: What Textbooks Don\u2019t Say about Women\u2019s Suffrage.\u201d\u00a0History Teacher<\/em>\u00a048 (3) (2015.): 451.<\/p>\n

[28]<\/a> Ibid., 467.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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