in 'a vindication of the rights of women', mary wollstonecraft critiqued works written by men about women precisely because in them, women 'are only considered as females, and not as a part of the human species'. but go off i guess

something else she said? 'I believe those who examine their own minds, will readily agree with me, that reason, with difficulty, conquers settled habits, even when it is arrived at some degree of maturity...' maybe terfs could benefit from actually reading her philosophy idk

unconvinced? have another one from 'a vindication on the rights of woman':

In the present state of society it appears necessary to go back to first principles in search of the most simple truths, and to dispute with some prevailing prejudice every inch of ground.

one of her critiques of men? that, in general, they 'seem to employ their reason to justify prejudices, which they have imbibed, they cannot trace how, rather than to root them out.' wonder who that sounds like nowadays hmm

she literally says verbatim 'the sexual distinction, which men have so warmly insisted upon, is arbitrary'

the 'sexual distinction' is 'arbitrary'

but you know cover her statue in your adult human female t-shirt yeah go feminism

honestly what fucks me off here is how deeply misogynistic it is to not engage with a woman's philosophy but use her image for your own political ends. wollstonecraft's thought was about challenging ideas society sees as 'self-evident'. she absolutely would not have been a terf