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    The Subjection of Women
    The Subjection of Women
    The Subjection of Women
    Audiobook4 hours

    The Subjection of Women

    Written by John Stuart Mill

    Narrated by Robert Bethune

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    About this audiobook

    English society in the 1860's was on the brink of enormous change, and some of the biggest changes coming to birth in that time was the tremendous change in the status of women--changes affecting politics, economics, law, government, business, education, psychology, religion and sexuality, and the list goes on. The changes John Stuart Mill foresaw, in 1861 as he wrote The Subjection of Women, were just beginning to surface in his own time, and yet have not yet run their full course in ours. Indeed, changes happening today and yet to come in the relationship between women and men remain some of the most important developments of our own time.

    Mill was a militant visionary, far in advance of the thinking of most people of his time, both men and women. Yet, as we listen to his words, one cannot help noticing that in many, many ways, he remains a quintessential Victorian gentleman with many of the habits of thought characteristic of such men remaining in full flower. We may well smile at his unconsciously patronizing attitudes towards women's cultural achievements and his concepts of the lives of women not of his own high social class seem drawn more from Victorian melodrama than Victorian reality. His blind spots are strikingly obvious; for example, when defending women's abilities to carry out long-term projects, it clearly never occurred to him to point out that raising a child is a twenty-year endeavor.

    In other words, Mill was a human being, and even the extraordinary vision articulated in this book was that of a fallible man. That being said, his book remains strikingly relevant to our own times. Anyone with any sensitivity to social justice cannot help but be struck by the fact that were Mill to come to life today, he would see that many of his most trenchant criticisms still apply, and many of his best visions remain to be realized.

    Enjoy!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFreshwater Seas
    Release dateNov 24, 2015
    ISBN9781942894087

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    Reviews for The Subjection of Women

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    • 3/5
      If it were not for archaic words such as "burthen" (burden) and "rainment (clothing)"; the necessity to counteract arguments from phrenology; and the use of the figurative "Mrs Grundy" (an archaic Mrs Bucket); one might be reading a contemporary argument for diversity and greater opportunities for women. Mill exerts his authority by challenging then-dominant ideas (such as phrenology and assumptions about biology then-untested) and then reconciles this absurdity for the modern reader by suggesting that while such things are unknown, and he has little time for these, he can still argue away their objections to his central thesis. Mill was far ahead of his time and his arguments took some time to materialise in universal suffrage and equality of opportunity for women, but the central message, then radical, is now part of political discourse. I intend to focus on James Fitzjames Stephen now to see how Stephen deals with Mill's authoritative works on liberty.
    • 4/5
      Written in 1861 and first published in 1869, though an arduous read, this was way ahead of it’s time. Although incredibly forward thinking, it is still a product of the 19th century, and it shows occasionally.

      The author gets a lot of criticism for the few times that he does a disservice to the current women of his time, in an attempt to do a service to the potential women of the future. If you follow his train of thought long enough, he always has valid reasoning for his argument. Mainly, that women of his time haven’t been given an opportunity to be educated, and have had their place in society shaped by a society that hasn’t given them a chance to exercise their will, and are therefore, in their current state, not yet the equals of men in some regards. It was the truth of the time, and ultimately, it always becomes a hopeful statement toward the potential of women that may exist in the future, if society would change the rules that have been imposed on them. The whole point of the book is to affect change.

      He’s very clear that women absolutely can and should be fully equal to men, and argues his point with great wit. I think that some misunderstand this, or simply don’t have the patience or vocabulary to read through his admittedly difficult writing, to understand what he is ultimately saying. After all, a seemingly disparaging statement made toward the current women of 1861 might not be completely followed up and shown in actuality to be a representation of the repressive circumstances in which women have been shaped, until several pages later. His paragraphs are that long. It’s hard to follow.

      Mill's writing is terribly long winded. His sentences sometimes drawing on for hundreds of words, and paragraphs that are often 3-4 pages long. He could’ve used a good editor. I imagine that an abridged version of this text might carry twice the punch than it does in its current form.
    • 4/5
      An early entry in the feminism genre which shows that feminism wasn't suddenly invented in the 20th century, and that men weren't all drug along to the battle, but some went willingly.