Difference between revisions of "Week 3 Questions/Comments-327 09"
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I think that is a really good question- perhaps women of colonial America were afraid to appear "superior" in some ways to some men, or that they were worried they would be judged critically for stepping outside of traditional gender roles and boundaries. I think a lot of men in the colonial period might have taken women for granted, in a way, and assumed certain gender roles and behavior as "fact", rather than allowing for interpretation or allowing each individual women to define who she was for herself. I think many males may have seen colonial women as a large, homogenous group with similar qualities (often dictated, perhaps, by the males themselves or by societal customs)rather than as individual people with distinct and different character traits and aspirations. - Allison Godart | I think that is a really good question- perhaps women of colonial America were afraid to appear "superior" in some ways to some men, or that they were worried they would be judged critically for stepping outside of traditional gender roles and boundaries. I think a lot of men in the colonial period might have taken women for granted, in a way, and assumed certain gender roles and behavior as "fact", rather than allowing for interpretation or allowing each individual women to define who she was for herself. I think many males may have seen colonial women as a large, homogenous group with similar qualities (often dictated, perhaps, by the males themselves or by societal customs)rather than as individual people with distinct and different character traits and aspirations. - Allison Godart | ||
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| + | We talked about the people of the Chesapeake forming networks of mutual aid beyond family because extended kin was very rare. In New England, families have more strength, but there are still societal similarities to the Chesapeake. New England colonists had extended networks, particularly expressed through friendships, as seen with Esther Burr and her friend Sally Prince. Gossip certainly had a powerful role in maintaining or ruining reputations, with the extreme being represented in the Salem Witch Trials. And of course, these friendships and close knit community resulted in meddling. Esther seemed very much interested in her friend’s personal life, and apparently Mr. Burr had a great love for matchmaking (which is stereotypically regarded as a feminine trait, making for entertaining reading). However, Sally seemingly had a certain measure of control in being able to avoid the man courting her, though societal norms, represented in this case by Ester and her reprimands, were pushing her towards marriage. -- Taylor Brann | ||
== Abigail Bailey, 1815, Abominable Wickedness == | == Abigail Bailey, 1815, Abominable Wickedness == | ||
