“Embodied Selves”: The Rise and Development of Concern for Physical Education, Active Games and Recreation for American Women, 1776–1865

Abstract

A contributor to the Pennsylvania Magazine in 1775 encouraged greater acknowledgment of the rights of women even though their duties in life might differ from those of men. Before long the Massachusetts Magazine began a series titled ‘On the Equality of the Sexes’ in which Judith Sargent Murray asserted that it was the limited education, employment and recreation permitted women that enervated the body and debilitated the mind. Charles Brockden Brown did likewise in his 1798 book Alcuin. By 1865 numerous Americans had spoken out in favour of greater opportunities for girls and women and recommended more participation in active games and healthful recreations. Among the more moderate were Emma Willard (who established the Troy Female Seminary), Sarah Josepha Hale (editor of the American Ladies Magazine), and Catharine Beecher (who established the Hartford Seminary and wrote extensively on the topic). British-born Frances Wright and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, both dedicated supporters of ‘woman's rights’, were...