Ladies Magazine-- Run By A Man??

Ladies Magazine was founded in 1792 and became the first publication aimed exclusively  toward women although it was owned and published by a man.  How would it be possible for women to progress in their fight for equality when a magazine aimed "exclisively" towards them was owned AND published by a man?  Within Ladies Magazine there was a consistent theme of the narrow limits of women's abilities.  The men who wrote for the magazine stated things like "The number of women who have solid judgment is very small."  Ladies Magazine's message was that domesticity controlled women's very existence.  Women served only one purpose: "To make her husband happy and contented will ever be her wish, not to say her greatest pleasure.  Not only was she to please her husband but she was also to be a baby making machine.  In that time women were usually married at 16 and would pop out babies every two years.

As Ladies Magazine promoted domesticity  the magazine critized those who strayed away from their "wifely duties."  They warned women that they had to fight the tempations to "such follies as shopping and gossiping."  The magazine even put out a checklist of the most common errors they committed when speaking.  The mistakes ranged from women not "acknowledging his(a husband's) superior judgement" to women voicing their opinions."  The average eighteenth-century woman assumed her place in soceity based on her husband's identity  She was to be considered incapable of any serious thought or important decision making.  In addition to not being able to vote, a woman couldn't keep property during marriage even if she owned the property before the marriage.  She was just to hand over everything to her husband.  So in case of divorce she was basically screwed; she lost her property as well, as well as her kids.

In my eyes as a woman in those days you would be better off just being single, but the downside to that is you were percieved as a whore.  So in actuality there was no way to win.  Either you're a baby making machine with no rights and a prison-like life, or you're a whore.  Which would you choose?

Quotes Taken from Mightier Than the Sword by Rodger Streitmatter
Picture Taken From http://www.antiqbook.com/books/bookinfo.phtml?nr=1205755870&Language=en