A Neutral Being Between the Sexes: Samuel Johnson's Sexual Politics

Kathleen Nulton Kemmerer

Jan. 1998 · Bucknell University Press

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Samuel Johnson's image in the popular imagination - that of a swaggering misogynist, a denigrator of women and their abilities - is based largely on frequently repeated quotations gleaned from Boswell's famous Life. By contrast, in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, many women intellectuals who were familiar with Johnson's works considered him a champion of women, an able defender in the ongoing debate about female nature and ability that had been going on since the middle ages, the querelle des femmes. In this study, Kathleen Nulton Kemmerer reclaims this earlier image of Johnson as a strong advocate of women's education, full participation in intellectual life, and full equality with men for the happiness of all society. Set in the context of gender expectations and prejudices in the eighteenth century, Kemmerer's work illuminates Johnson's contribution to the debate that still rages over whether men or women are more responsible for making life miserable. Johnson's ultimate answer is that the errors and expectations of both sexes play a large part, but that eliminating stereotypes and fostering a spirit of cooperation and respect between men and women would make life much more pleasant for all.