Yaolee Chen

HIS 490 The Study of History

Responding to “Twelve Reasons Why Women Want to Vote”, by Alice Stone Blackwell

Brett Flehinger

September 30, 2003

An Unusual Desire

Alice Stone Blackwell points out in her article, “Twelve Reasons Why Women Want to Vote”, from a magazine named, The Woman’s Journal, published in July, 1893, Boston, Massachusetts, are an untraditional idea and are a violation to the natural courses. Her viewpoints the number one to the number six are the attempts of breaking the traditional rules; and the viewpoints number seven to number twelve are about her religious belief, and are not recommendable to the other peoples in her society. Fifty percent out of her twelve points is untraditional, and fifty percent out of her twelve points is of her personal problem. The logic behind the article is that the lady has hypo-sexual energy to create the necessaries and to making the problems with her husband.

There is a difference between the words “deserve” and “want”. Man deserves the political power in a family. He gives hopes to his wife, providing his woman children that the woman might find her children for help when she gets old. Instead of overwhelming by the lusts of the world, the woman gets a holy job by taking cares of her children. The woman obtains security and happiness by joining into his family. And if by fortune, the man gets a job and does supporting the finical needs of the family, the man deserves his voice to be heard. In a nature course, because a woman depends on man, a man deserves his voice to be heard. So, a man deserves the right to vote. But, I don’t see any reason that women deserve the right to vote. A better word to say, women deserve the right to vote, is that women want the right to vote while they don’t deserve it.

Alice Stone Blackwell taking the rule of breaking the natural law for granted, she thinks that women deserve the right to vote. In her viewpoint number one, “Because it is fair and right that those who obey the laws should have a voice in making them” (Flehinger 5). Is it true that “those who obey the laws should have a voice in making them”? Having dinner with my family, for example, I always like fish steak with some cheese on the top, and with fresh vegetables by the dish. Time after times, I had told my mom, I wanted fish steak for my dinners; but when my dish was done on the table, it was always the fried chicken and rice. “The price of fish is expensive in California,” my mom always said, “and you just eat whatever I cook”. I had used to hear that she has to say. And now, I hate to tell her what I want for my dinners. She knows that I want fish, but she always gives me fried chicken and rice. In a natural course in my family, I want my voice to be heard, but I don’t really deserve things to be done in the way I want because I am not the cooker and I am not the financial supporter. I’ll take it or leave the house. The history of Americans shows, the divorce rate increases in the late 20^th century because women finally chose to disobedient to her husband’s decision and to leave the house. As in a traditional natural course, a woman must be obedience to her husband in order to keep the family a whole; and accordingly, a woman does not deserve to have her right to vote. As for what the author Alice Stone Blackwell has concerned, “women deserve the right to vote”, the idea is a violation to the authority of natural courses. As I have to eat whatever my mom cooks for me in my dishes, Alice has twisted the relation between a man and his wife. Do I follow the laws of my family? Yes, I obey to whatever my mom says. So, have I got my fish steak, instead? The answer is, No. I have found her viewpoint number one is a breaking of the natural law and it simply is not true that “those who obey to the laws should have a voice in making them”.

The same problem what that I have found in her viewpoint number one has continued in her viewpoint number two to six, a personal problem of Alice that she wants to break the rule of tradition. In number two, voting was not easy for women; so, she wants to make the voting easier for women. Number three, by tradition, a man is not talking about politics to his woman; she wants her husband talks about political issues with her at home. Number four, by tradition, a woman does not have much influential at home; she wants to exercise her political power to her sons and to her husband. Number five, by tradition, a woman has not the right to stop her husband drinking; she wants to restrict her husband’s right to drink by law. Number six, by tradition, bad women are condemned; but she wants to free the bad women from the punishments. In short, number one through six is a challenge to the tradition of women’s nature in a family.

In general, number seven to twelve is about the Prohibition that a woman shall have the right to stop a man to drink. The Bible says, “Do not be drunken, but be filled with the Holy Spirit”, and it becomes a golden rule for Alice Stone Blackwell. It’s her personal belief that drinking is a bad thing; and I don’t see any right she has in enforcing her husband to follow her religion. She probably hasn’t sleep with her husband for a long time, and she burns out her hypo-sexual energy by writing an article like this one.

In a course of nature rule, a woman is subject to follow the rules of traditional. She is to be obedience to her husband unconditionally. She is to follow the life-style, which her grandmother had showed her. My advise to many women who are reading this article is that don’t suffer your souls to practice the women’s power like the article has said. To me, the idea form Alice Stone Blackwell is simply too radical. Women do not deserve the right to vote.

Works Cited

Flehinger, Brett. Reading Packet a handout for his class HIS 490 The Study of History in Cal State San Bernardino, Fall 2003.