Sada Bailey Fowler (fl. 1886–1900) was an American feminist writer.
Sada Bailey Fowler | |
|---|---|
| Period | 19th century |
| Subject | Free love, criticism of marriage |
| Literary movement | Feminism |
| Years active | 1886–1900 |
| Notable works | Irene, Or, The Road to Freedom |
Biography
editFowler was a Quaker and a spiritualist,[1] from Philadelphia.[2]
In 1886, Fowler published her feminist novel Irene, Or, The Road to Freedom, which argued for free love and the abolition of marriage.[3] The novel caused a sensation and was widely discussed and debated, including in some of the biggest literary reviews in the United States.[4] Parents in the freethinking movement even encouraged their children to read her book, in order to develop their views on egalitarian relationships.[2]
Later that year, when the free love practitioner Lillian Harman was put on trial for violating marriage laws, Fowler publicly defended her, comparing Harman to an abolitionist.[5] She described her as "one of the inspired women of our time" and upheld her declaration of free love as "one of the noblest declarations that a true woman can make".[6] Fowler contributed copies of her novel Irene for resale, in order to fund Harman's defense campaign.[7]
She also began writing for Harman's publication, Lucifer, the Light-Bearer, in which she elaborated her views on free love.[8] She described Harman's father and editor-in-chief of Lucifer, Moses Harman, as the "William Lloyd Garrison of the age".[9] She engaged in an exchange with other feminist contributors to the paper, in which they discussed what form an ideal marital union should take.[10] In Lucifer, Fowler wrote that she had heard fewer complaints about sexual slavery from Quaker women than from women of any other religious denomination.[11] She was helped in her writing by the anarchist-feminist Voltairine de Cleyre, who in 1900, she provided with lodging at her farmhouse in Torresdale.[1]
Selected works
edit- Books
- Irene, Or, The Road to Freedom (1886)
- Articles
- "An Open Letter to Lillian Harman" (Lucifer the Light Bearer, October 8, 1886)
- "'Happy New Year' to Noble Lucifer" (Lucifer the Light Bearer, December 17, 1886)
- "Sister Bailey to Sister Lake" Lucifer the Light Bearer, February 11, 1887)
- "Letter to the Editor" (Lucifer the Light Bearer, March 7, 1890)
- "Various Voices" (Lucifer the Light Bearer, November 20, 1896)
References
edit- ^ a b Avrich 1978, p. 126.
- ^ a b Passet 2005a, p. 117.
- ^ Passet 2005a, p. 117; Reid 2011, p. 33.
- ^ Reid 2011, pp. 33–34.
- ^ Reid 2011, pp. 66-67n269.
- ^ Weingartner 2013, p. 121.
- ^ Reid 2011, p. 47n193.
- ^ Dawson 1897, pp. 52–53.
- ^ Weingartner 2013, p. 72.
- ^ Weingartner 2013, pp. 106–107.
- ^ Battan 1999, p. 185n60.
Bibliography
edit- Avrich, Paul (1978). An American Anarchist: The Life of Voltairine de Cleyre. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-04657-0.
- Battan, J. F. (1999). "The "Rights" of Husbands and the "Duties" of Wives: Power and Desire in the American Bedroom, 1850-1910". Journal of Family History. 24 (2): 165–186. doi:10.1177/036319909902400203.
- Dawson, Oswald (1897). Personal Rights and Sexual Wrongs. Wm. Reeves.
- Passet, Joanne Ellen (2005a). "Freethought Children's Literature and the Construction of Religious Identity in Late-Nineteenth-Century America". Book History. 8: 107–129. doi:10.1353/bh.2005.0009.
- Reid, Charles J. (2011). "The Devil Comes to Kansas: A Story of Free Love and the Law". Legal Studies Research Paper (11–26). University of St. Thomas. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1932830. SSRN 1932830.
- Weingartner, Andrea M. (2013). Sex radicals in America's heartland: Redefining gender and sexuality, 1880-1910 (PhD). University of Missouri. ProQuest 3577980.
Further reading
edit- Battan, Jesse F. (2002). ""In the Marriage Bed Woman's Sex Has Been Enslaved and Abused": Defining and Exposing Marital Rape in Late-Nineteenth-Century America". In Smith, Merril D. (ed.). From the book Sex without Consent. New York University Press. pp. 204–229. doi:10.18574/nyu/9780814708620.003.0013. ISBN 9780814708620.
- Passet, Joanne Ellen (1999). Grassroots Feminists: Women, Free Love, and the Power of Print in the United States, 1853-1910 (PhD). University of Wisconsin - Madison. pp. 76, 235–236. ProQuest 9956273.
- Passet, Joanne E. (2005b). "Reading 'Hilda's Home': Gender, Print Culture, and the Dissemination of Utopian Thought in Late-Nineteenth-Century America". Libraries & Culture. 40 (3): 307–323. doi:10.1353/lac.2005.0056. JSTOR 25541933.
