Fair Sex Research Articles

An Examination of Dawud (David A.S) Fasting For Women and its Effectiveness from Physio-Psychological Perspective

Abstract. This research was conducted to determine the urgency of Dawud fasting for women from a physio-psychological perspective. This research is a type of qualitative descriptive research, by making direct observations or observations. The target of this study is to determine the urgency of Dawud fasting in women from the perspective of physio-psychology and Sufism for students of the Jagad Alimussirry Islamic boarding school. The data collection technique was carried out by means of interview and literature review. Meanwhile, for data analysis, the researcher used an interactive model from Miles and Huberman and to test the validity of the data,the researcher used Triangulation technique. The results obtained that the habit of Dawud Sunnah fasting for women could make them accustomed to be able to introspect (muhasabah) their own mistakes, be patient and sincere, motivate oneself to think positively and optimistically, be empathetic towards others and adapt well to the environment. Dawud fasting is very important and suitable for the fair sex. By not leaving Lillahita'ala's intention to worship, it will automatically train a variety of things that can guide a women in facing every problems in their life as well as making a women special not only physically but also psychologically and spiritually.

Possibilities of using phytoestrogens in the treatment of menopausal syndrome

In the civilized world, there is a dilemma on how to relate to aging - to perceive it as a natural process characteristic of any living organism or to elevate it to the rank of a disease in order to try to develop methods of “treatment”. Age-related changes in a woman begin at about 40 years old and are associated with various hormonal changes. Often this stage in the life of the fair sex does not go unnoticed, it makes unpleasant corrections to the lifestyle with the need to change established habits and rules. Interestingly, in the era of information technology, women are not always sufficiently informed about the main age-related changes in their own body. The primary task of clinicians is to timely reveal the secrets of women’s health and help them adapt to the upcoming changes. Fluctuations in hormonal status are observed throughout a woman’s life. Contrary to the common misconception among women, it is completely incorrect to identify menopause with old age, because the hormonal function in women begins to fade long before the true aging. Climax is a multistage period of life, during which all systems of the female body adapt to the new conditions of estrogen deficiency. In the treatment of climacteric disorders hormonal therapy with synthetic analogues of female sex hormones is used. Only preparations of bioidentical hormones have a real protective effect on metabolic disorders, osteoporosis, cardiovascular complications, cognitive disorders. According to clinical recommendations, approaches to the treatment of menopausal disorders should be clearly customized to the identified risks and expected benefits. Choosing the optimal composition and regime of MHT allows to increase efficiency and minimize possible risks. Clinicians should not forget about situations where there are restrictions or contraindications to the use of MHT. The presence of absolute and relative contraindications to MHT, as well as widespread hormoneophobia in our country in women have led to the development of alternative methods of treatment of menopausal disorders.

Słaba płeć? O nauczycielkach domowych w Królestwie Polskim w XIX i początkach XX wieku

<p>Rozwój ruchu emancypacyjnego w XIX wieku przyczynił się do podejmowania pracy przez przedstawicielki płci pięknej. Posiadanie męża i rodziny nie zaspokajało ich potrzeb i ambicji. Redakcje czasopism kobiecych wychodziły naprzeciw oczekiwaniom kobiet, informując o potencjalnych zawodach, w których mogłyby się realizować. Praca w zawodzie nauczycielki domowej była uznawana za atrakcyjną. Jednak niewiele kobiet zdawało sobie sprawę, że jest to zawód trudny, wymagający poświęcenia. W walce o posadę rywalizowały nie tylko z kobietami, ale również z mężczyznami. Musiały zjednać sobie pracodawców i ich rodziny, zaskarbić względy uczniów. Nierzadko z uwagi na dużą ilość obowiązków odkładały plany o założeniu rodziny na później lub całkiem z nich rezygnowały, wybierając samotne życie. Niewiele z nich potrafiło łączyć pracę z obowiązkami rodzinnymi.</p>

Women in the Winter of Life

While Petrarch’s Laura and her descendants display the beauty of youth, later twists on tradition, under sway of baroque aesthetics, wither spring roses to winter wreckage. The versatile Giambattista Basile (1575?-1632) turned out madrigals of young charmers in amorous moments as readily as bawdy caricatures of their crumbling elders, best among them two grotesquely aged sisters, “il riassunto delle disgrazie” (1995,199-200). Comic satire of female decrepitude is, in fact, plentiful in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Less frequently, art pays tribute to members of the fair sex in their twilight. Ladies more fortunate than Basile’s hags are likely to be cherished family members, the artist’s mother or his wife, or simply an unnamed beloved, whose faithful admirer follows her into the sunset of life.

Woman in art: a breath of beauty in the men’s world

Woman in art: a breath of beauty in the men’s world

The menopause – a new chapter giving women a lust for life

Many women equate the word menopause primarily with decline of life. On the one hand, the aesthetic component of the delicate age makes negative contributions to the dissatisfaction with this state; on the other hand, the growing pool of somatic health problems does not improve the quality of life in the best way. The woman’s path of life is unique and consists of chapters of beginnings and endings, losses and gains. A person, who develops harmoniously and consistently, reaches their creative climax by the age of 50. This is the age, when a person is able to plunge into their inner world more deeply, and the perception of what is happening in the outer world weakens. Mental maturity, accumulated experience, well established social connections allow a person to feel confidently in everyday reality. However, the physiological changes associated with menopause and the reproductive function failure affect the personal history of each of the fair sex in one way or another. Not a simple, but at the same time a very significant period begins after 50 years, when it is necessary to conquer new peaks and overcome new distances. Only a thoughtful and successful start of menopause can provide a sense of satisfaction and a cloudless horizon in physical well-being.

Sudden Cardiac Death in Sports: Why Its Prevalence is So Different by Gender?

Abstract Sports competition can be a trigger to fatal arrhythmias in predisposed individuals, leading to sudden cardiac death. Athletes have 2.8 fold more risk of sudden cardiac death than non-athletes. However, female athletes seem to have some cardiac protection, dying suddenly much less than men during sports. Although the mechanisms for this protection have not been well established until now, hormonal, genetic and molecular factors may play a role in it. The so-called “fair sex” might harbour the key for sudden cardiac death prevention.

Phantoms in the Classroom: Midwifery Training in Enlightenment Europe

Phantoms in the Classroom: Midwifery Training in Enlightenment Europe

Romantic Women Writers and Arthurian Legend: The Quest for Knowledge by Katie Garner

Reviewed by: Romantic Women Writers and Arthurian Legend: The Quest for Knowledge by Katie Garner Roger Simpson katie garner, Romantic Women Writers and Arthurian Legend: The Quest for Knowledge. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Pp. 311, 3 b/w illus. isbn: 978–1–137–59711–3 (cloth), isbn: 978–1–137–59712–0 (eBook). $119.99 (cloth), $89 (eBook). Katie Garner’s Romantic Women Writers and Arthurian Legend is a meticulous study of the subject between 1770 and 1850 in Britain. It builds soundly on findings by previous bibliographers, and it incorporates a great range of research from the last thirty years [End Page 93] covering the Arthurian Revival, antiquarianism, the Gothic Revival, romanticism, readership, travel writing, Welsh studies, gender studies and women’s writing. The introductory chapter outlines the background. As this period witnessed ‘an unprecedented number’ (pp. 1–2) of women entering print, and as many of them wrote about Arthurian subjects, Garner focuses on the ways in which women accessed the Arthurian legend. The Arthurian Revival in the late eighteenth century had required a wider and more coherent knowledge of the Arthurian story than was current. As manuscripts of medieval literature were virtually unknown, and as Malory had been out of print since 1634, the Revival depended on research by modern antiquarians. These were men, who moved in male cultural circles, and their findings were often published by antiquarian book clubs which denied membership to women. Even though the British Library was open to women, few made use of it, presumably because of social constraints. Moreover, Arthurian material was widely considered ‘immoral’ and unsuitable for female readers. Despite, or because of, these obstacles, women found other ways of becoming familiar with the Arthurian story and created a ‘distinct form’ (p. 10) of female Arthuriana. Garner’s five chapters make an intricate analysis and balanced appraisal of these issues. Her second chapter (‘Arthuriana for the “Fair Sex”’) highlights the bowdlerization of reading matter for women, and their wish not to appear overly emotional, hence their shift to ‘history’ rather than ‘romance.’ Male scholarly domination was partially offset by three female historians. Radagunda Roberts, for example, contributed a series of articles about Queen Consorts in the The Lady’s Magazine (1775) and included Guinevere among their number. Although Roberts’ source was Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain (a key text at this time), she re-assesses Guinevere’s role in a far better light. Susannah Dobson’s Memoirs of Ancient Chivalry (1784) drew on untapped medieval French sources, especially the Vulgate. And Clara Reeve’s The Progress of Romance (1785) influenced surveys by Walter Scott, John Moore, and Anna Barbauld. Undoubtedly many women were heavily indebted to Bishop Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, which included six Arthurian poems and an essay on metrical romances, but his three-volume edition was expensive. An anonymous lady’s solution was Ancient Ballads (1807), which was cheaper but simpler (by omitting Percy’s footnotes) and also more ‘moral’—it was meant for ‘young ladies’ (p. 50)—by censoring ‘The Legend of King Arthur’ and omitting ‘The Boy and the Mantle.’ However, this edition was read profitably by Louisa Stuart Costello, prompting her poem ‘A Dream,’ a visionary glimpse of King Arthur, and thereby ‘highly symbolic of women’s compromised proximity to medieval texts’ (p. 53). But a key text, Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, would become cheaply available in two editions in 1816 (with a dearer one in 1817), and a close knowledge of Malory was revealed by Costello, Caroline Norton, and Charlotte M. Yonge. Yet Malory remained unread by most women, perhaps because it was considered ‘a re-assertion of masculinity’ (p. 56). Their Arthurian focus would lie instead in Gothic verse, travel narratives, and literary annuals. Chapter Three (‘Women’s Gothic Verse and King Arthur’) points to the connection between medieval and modern romance, citing Sarah Scudgell Wilkinson’s ‘Gothic [End Page 94] trash’ (p. 73) chapbook tale, Sorcerer’s Palace, whose hero, Sir Lybius, is a reworking of the medieval Libeaus Desconnus, which Wilkinson had taken from Percy’s ‘Essay on Metrical Romance.’ A male antiquarian inspiration for women’s verse was Thomas Warton’s...

The fair sex and unfair treatment in management of community-based organizations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of gender on the organizational commitments of managers in community-based organizations.Design/methodology/approachA total of 327 managers in community-based organizations were asked about their work attitudes. LISREL analysis was performed. The dependent variable was the intention to withdraw from the organization. The questionnaires were mailed to the sampled population. In all, 202 questionnaires were returned, representing a 62 percent response rate.FindingsFindings show that for women, job involvement was related to affective organizational commitment and to career commitment, but not to continuance organizational commitment. The current research offers an alternative path structure to that of Randall and Cote’s (1991) original model, which does not relate job involvement to continuance organizational commitment. As for men, the author found a significant relationship between job involvement, career commitment, and affective organizational commitment. Hence, men’s work attitudes in this study are consistent with those elicited in the original research model. Regarding the factors influencing withdrawal intentions among women, the author found that career commitment influenced the initial intention to withdraw from the organization and thinking of quitting. The author also found that affective organizational commitment influenced initial intention to withdraw, thinking of quitting, and search intentions. Among men, there was a significant relationship between job involvement, career commitment, and affective organizational commitment.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should use multiple informants for assessing the model as well as a longitudinal design. Another potential avenue of research is to examine whether the findings hold true across professions and sectors.Practical implicationsThe findings are important for community-based organizations because they are not-for-profit organizations; therefore, the provision of good service to the community is based on managers’ high levels of commitment. In addition, results could assist managers in developing a policy to bolster adequate work attitudes by considering the differences between men and women, in order to retain high-quality workers in the organization.Social implicationsThe social contribution of this study derives from the demographic differences found between men and women, and according to the literature that supports the inclusion of different genders, cultures, and social groups in community-based organizations.Originality/valueThe findings are important for community-based organizations because they are not-for-profit organizations and therefore good service to the community is based on high commitment of managers.

Być kobietą, być kobietą – spojrzenie okiem psychologa na współczesne funkcjonowanie płci pięknej na wsi

Być kobietą, być kobietą – spojrzenie okiem psychologa na współczesne funkcjonowanie płci pięknej na wsi

The ‘Fair Sex’: Skin Colour, Gender and Narratives of Embodied Identity in Eighteenth‐Century British Non‐Fiction

AbstractDuring the eighteenth century the phrase ‘fair sex’ was a pervasive feature of contemporary writing intended for female consumption and texts that discussed issues concerning women. Even today, scholars still employ this expression to characterise experiences of femininity during this period. This article extrapolates the embodied meanings of ‘fair sex’ from a range of popular non‐fictional printed discourses, including medical advice books, conduct literature, advice guides and cosmetic manuals. Specifically, it examines how, why and in what ways ‘fairness’ was conceptualised as a mutually reinforcing moral, physiological, aesthetic and social ideal for elite British women during the eighteenth century.

Rehabilitation of mentally ill women.

Women, the fair sex, are principal providers of care and support to families. But, they are considered to be the weaker sex and one of the most powerless and marginalized sections of our society. The provision of Rehabilitation for mentally ill women has been, and still is, one of the major challenges for mental health systems reform in the last decades, for various reasons. The present paper discusses the global and Indian scenario of rehabilitation of mentally ill women and goes on to detail the contribution of the state and voluntary agencies in this regard. It explores the need of recovery, multilayered strategy of Rehabilitation services and the availability of present services. The stigma attached and legal defects which interfere in good quality of life for the mentally ill women are reviewed. Strategies for changes in future are recommended.

Continued Visual Objectification: The Image of the Fair Sex in Occidental Advertisements

Portrayals of women in the mass media have always been a source of contention amongst scholars. Right from the emergence of the mass media, women have been stereotypically portrayed as an inferior being whose primary domain was home and who was viewed as a sexual object. In spite of feminists’ efforts to stop women’s denigration in the media over the course of several decades, women are still depicted as weak and sexual object, especially in the advertising industry. The visual objectification of women engenders a distorted view of the place of women in society. This paper examines the images of women in Occidental advertisements and exhibits that the stereotypical objectification of women leads to desensitization of violence against women and causes women to develop self-objectification. To counter the effect of the images, we argue that media literacy can help people to critically look at the images and recognize the constructed fantasy from reality. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p2886

The change of the image of women in the modern world and eating disorders

The image of women and canons of beauty with time have been subject to a constant change. The aim of this study was to discuss the changing image of the fair sex in the modern world and to show the…Read more ›

Посвящения “прекрасному полу” в русских изданиях XVIII века

Literary works were often dedicated to women in eighteenth-century Russia. At that time, not only crowned heads of state served as patrons, but also, and often, noble and educated ladies. Dedications to the “fair sex” followed the European, especially the French, tradition of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. These polite dedications began to appear in original and translated works by Russian authors starting from the late 1760s. As a rule, they were tinged with sentiments of love, and the women to whom they were addressed appear in them as objects of worship. One of the main examples is Karamzin's verse ‘Epistle to Women’ (1795), which can be seen as an early Russian defense of women's rights.

Sovereign feminine: music and gender in eighteenth-century Germany

List of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction: Fictions of Female Ascendance 1. Europe's Living Muses: Women, Music, and Modernity in Burney's History and Tours 2. If the pretty little hand won't stretch: Music for the Fair Sex 3. Charlotte (Minna) Brandes and the Beautiful Dead 4. An Evening in Tiefurt: Corona Schroter's Die Fischerin and Vegetable Genius 5. Sophie Westenholz and the Eclipse of the Female Sign 6. Beethoven Heroine: A Female Allegory of Music and Authorship in Egmont Conclusion Appendix: Johann Friedrich Reichardt, Two Prefaces to the Fair Sex Notes Bibliography Index

Loin des mosquées by Armel Job

always brings its pain, this time physical suffering, as Christian’s long-anticipated sexual encounter ends in near cardiac arrest for him. Théodore, music critic in Quebec, meets Judith, a married Jewish Parisian violinist. He will follow her back to Paris; in this instance, Judith’s husband’s intervention prevents Théodore’s plan from coming to fruition. Sébastien, the final “cavaleur” holds a position in the external affairs ministry, and is sent from Ottawa to the tundra to oversee the production of Inuit arts and crafts. He leaves with Viviane, who works for the preservation of heritage. Their flirt does not go far, but three years later, they meet again in Geneva, and finish what they started. Sébastien, however, will wonder whether he has been played. The author’s language is simple and direct, except when erotic, or quoting a poet, composer, or writer, or taking the reader on a tour of Paris, New York, Geneva, Montreal, Quebec or Inuit country. Hould’s “womanizers” seem rather lovely, sweet, decent, unlucky and incompetent at courting the fair sex, so much so that not one of them triumphs. They might have had the upper hand in an earlier world, but do not seem to understand the women of today. Santa Rosa Alliance Française (CA) Davida Brautman JOB, ARMEL. Loin des mosquées. Paris: Laffont, 2012. ISBN 978-2-221-12953-1. Pp. 274. 19 a. Job’s latest novel comprises eighteen chapters, each narrated in the first person by one of the four main characters. The first to narrate (and also the last) is René, a forty-nine-year-old Belgian undertaker who has been dragged into his Turkish neighbor Altan’s complicated family affairs. The other three narrators include Altan’s youngest brother, twenty-one-year-old Evren, whose parents have arranged a marriage for him; Derya, Evren’s seventeen-year-old cousin, described by Evren as “vive comme le feu” (43) and even more beautiful when she is wearing her veil; and Yasemin, the sixteen-year-old Turkish farmer to whom Evren is engaged after Derya’s embarrassing refusal of his marriage proposal to her. A fender-bender involving René’s pristinely-kept 1996 hearse occasions telling a story that René is part of only because he was invited to Evren and Yasemin’s wedding after agreeing to let two of Altan’s relatives stay at his house: “Je ne me serais jamais intéressé aux musulmans si je n’avais pas été invité au mariage d’Evren” (21). The novel’s plot hinges on a misunderstanding that arose when Evren saw Derya naked while living at his uncle’s house in Germany to complete an accounting degree. Her beauty (naked or clothed) inspires Evren’s passionate love and he becomes obsessed with the idea of marrying her. Derya, however, believes Evren is acting out of Muslim “respect,” in other words, a Muslim man’s obligatory blindness to woman’s physical features, which only inspire sinful thoughts. Having understood beauty through Renoir’s eyes in his painting Baigneuse assise (1906), Derya rejects Muslim “respect” since its purpose is to prevent her from considering her body “comme mon bien propre, simple, bon, naturel” (75). Thus, she first refuses Evren’s proposal, failing to appreciate his kindness, but reconsiders too late when Evren is to wed the smitten Yasemin instead. Because Evren must refuse in order to honor his engagement to Yasemin, Derya brings dishonor to her family. With her brothers out to kill her, Derya manages to escape to Belgium where the neighbor Altan again enlists René’s 1290 FRENCH REVIEW 86.6 help, this time to hide Derya at his house. Now René falls in love with Derya, for the first time since he suffered humiliating rejection twenty years earlier. The reader is clearly supposed to sympathize with René who was abandoned by a woman and left to care for her handicapped brother. After all, René is aware of his weaknesses: “Derya, était-ce même Derya, et pas plutôt la femme, l’être humain sous sa forme aimable qui réjouissait mes yeux fatiguées des autres formes que leur offraient ma client...

Which Is the Endothelium-Dependent “Fair Sex” in Hypertension?

In a recent issue of The Journal of Clinical Hypertension, Rutledge and colleagues by using a cross-sectional design reported that endothelial dysfunction at conduit vessels was more impaired in middle-aged women compared with men of similar age with untreated and uncomplicated mild hypertension. Participants of both sexes were overweight, with well-preserved lipid, glycemic, and kidney function profiles. Although smoking status and alcohol intake did not differ among the sex-oriented arms of the study, men were more physically active compared with women as assessed by actigraphy. Less than one third of women were in a postmenopausal state, and among premenopausal women, 83% resided in luteal or follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. Patients with high clinical suspicion for sleep apnea syndrome or illness with potential confounding effect on the association under investigation were preliminarily excluded. Measurements of 24-hour blood pressure were implemented to better determine the overall hemodynamic load, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein was measured in order to provide evidence of the underlying low-grade inflammation in both sexes. Endothelial dysfunction was measured by flow-mediated vasodilation technique further complemented by evaluation of shear stress ratio (ie, hyperemic ⁄baseline shear stress), a valuable index of the hyperemic physical stimulus. For the same level of hemodynamic and systemic inflammatory load after adjustment for confounders including baseline arterial diameter, endothelial-mediated vasodilation was more impaired in women independently of the menopausal status compared with men. By contrast, nonendothelial-mediated vasodilation did not differ between men and women. Rutledge and colleagues suggested that mild hypertension in middle-aged women (40–60 years) has a more detrimental impact on the vasculature with respect to men, a finding that challenges the previous knowledge on the natural history of endothelial dysfunction among sexes. Since 17% of the studied women were in postmenopausal status, the effect of menopause could not be ruled out solely by statistical means; however, the protective role of premenopausal status might be attenuated in hypertension and anticipate much earlier the postmenopausal decline of endothelial function. In a previous pivotal study performed almost 15 years ago, normoweight men and women (age range 20–76 years) with and without hypertension and well-preserved metabolic profile were studied by comparative evaluation of endothelial function determined at the microcirculatory bed in order to address whether menopause is associated with impairment in endothelium-dependent vasodilation. Investigators suggested that the hormonal mechanism protecting endothelial function is still preserved in hypertensive premonopausal women, and hypertension per se did not alter the sex-oriented natural history of endothelial dysfunction in middle-aged patients. The two studies reported divergent results, but their design was by far different. Indeed, the American study recruited 90 untreated participants with stage 1 hypertension, while the Italian study enrolled hypertensive patients who were previously treated with antihypertensive medications after a washout period of >2 weeks. Additionally, the American study investigated endothelial dysfunction at conduit vessels, while the Italian investigation observed the endothelial-dependent vasodilation at microcirculation. Based on the above, the impact of the previously administered antihypertensive therapy may confound the comparative evaluation of endothelial function at different levels of the vasculature. The cardiovascular risk Young Finns Study recruited men and women aged 24–39 years without hypertension and obesity, and men demonstrated better endothelial-mediated vasodilation as compared with women after adjustment for hemodynamic and metabolic parameters, as well as for baseline arterial diameter. Of note, systolic blood pressure did not contribute to the sex-oriented difference of flowmediated vasodilation. Although the Scandinavian Study did not include African Americans, the study by Rutledge and colleagues did not find any differential impact on the outcome in sex by race interaction. The Scandinavian and American studies taken together suggest that premenopausal women without hypertension present with better endothelial function at their conduit vessels as compared with men, whereas the presence of hypertension may reverse the direction of this association. Accordingly, premenopausal development of hypertension may neutralize the beneficial effect of estrogens on the vasculature or, by contrast, the vasculature in these hypertensive women is less responsive to estrogens. Indeed, estradiol, above its favorable effects on nitric oxide production, has been suggested to inhibit renin release and the angiotensin-converting enzyme, whereas in a hypertensive substrate, these effects might not be efficient to preserve a better endothelial-dependent vasodilation in women compared with men. Because of the small sample study size drawn from a larger cohort, the inclusion of women before and after menopause and the more impaired glycemic profile of men compared with women, further well-designed From the Department of Cardiology, Helena Venizelou Hospital, Athens, Greece; and the First Cardiology Clinic, University of Athens, Hippokration Hospital, Athens, Greece

Separated by Their Sex: Women in Public and Private in the Colonial Atlantic World

Mary Beth Norton is one of the founding mothers of early American women’s history. Her most influential work is the pathbreaking Liberty’s Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750–1800 (1980), in which she contended that the American Revolution improved many women’s lives and broadened their consciousness, though it brought them no new political or legal rights. As Norton notes, this book is a prequel to Liberty’s Daughters. Norton had found that in 1750, men and women alike considered the “fair sex” inferior and largely irrelevant to the world beyond their households. In Separated by Their Sex, she searches for the origins of this paradigm and specifically for its signature dichotomy of male/public versus female/private. For much of the seventeenth century, social rank trumped gender, and aristocratic women wielded political power in England and its American colonies. Although Norton’s research is wide-ranging, her most compelling example of a politically astute and activist aristocratic woman is Lady Frances Berkeley, who used personal connections, hospitality, and gossip to support her husband—Virginia’s unfortunate governor during Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)—and to protect his property and political allies. Norton also suggests that group petitions filed by elite women in Massachusetts were far more likely to succeed than those submitted by women of lesser rank. Nevertheless, poor and middling women in England and in the colonies spoke out on political matters during the seventeenth century. While many criticized activist women and their opinions, Norton argues, few unequivocally asserted that all women should be excluded completely from political life.