As interesting as the history is, Wollstonecraft appears from the show as a fascinating multi-faceted figure, I was also struck by how relevant her story is still today. After about 26 minutes on the show, the speakers emphasize how in her time women were always stuck in an eroticized framework. Women were first and foremost about sexuality, anything about women was always also about sexuality. Wollstonecraft is portrayed as the first to demand women be treated as human beings, regardless of their gender, when the subject is not sex. The tone at which this is done is as if this is different today. But I feel we have hardly progressed at this point.
More In Our Time:
The weekly treat,
New season of In Our Time,
St. Thomas Aquinas,
Logical Positivism,
The Sunni - Shia split.