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Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'
Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon
2 reviews
lidia7's review
dark
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence
Minor: Abortion, Incest, Rape, and Cultural appropriation
laurenvoice's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
My admiration for Mary Shelley grew and my love for Mary Wollstonecraft started whilst reading Romantic Outlaws. Mother and daughter never got to know each other in person. Yet Shelley led her life to the Wollstonecraft legacy and ensured Wollstonecraft's legacy would live on, whilst creating her own legacy at the same time. Both brilliant writers and feminist icons. It is sad to think that Mary Wollstonecraft never got to see how incredible and intelligent her daughter was, but, one hopes that once they were together again that Mary Wollstonecraft looked at her daughter with pride.
My favourite thing that both Wollstonecraft and Shelley had done throughout their life was protecting women from male violence. Something that is still so prevalent today. However, it shows they paved the way for the future to stand up against male violence. Mary Shelley may have played down and kept hidden her involvement in helping women, but it shows that she continued to use her mother's legacy in helping women. One situation that stood out was when she helped Elise when she had fallen pregnant, both Mary and Percy covered up this pregnancy so well that it became almost impossible to find any evidence of it at all. Although there is a mystery surrounding this child, the biography points towards that Elise was most likely raped - as with the name Mary Shelley had come up with using a character from Wollstonecraft's book that stood against male violence against women and girls. Shelley protected Elise from a society that would have shunned and demonised her for being an unwed mother.
The more this biography went on the more I disliked the males that played a role in Wollstonecraft's and Shelley's life. The men they encountered spoke of living a life of freedom, yet they continued to put these two amazing women in their life in shackles, making them into people they were not.
Godwin ruined Wollstonecraft's reputation after her death, refusing to acknowledge her writing and philosophy, it begins to create the question, was he scared of her intelligence? did he not agree with her stance of equality for women in society? Mary Wollstonecraft was an advocate for women's rights and education for all. She was an advocate for people to be taught nature to unlock their true imagination. Mary Wollstonecraft deserved and still deserves to be remembered as the innovative woman that she was! Godwin's treatment of his daughter and step-daughter, and then finding out his treatment of Wollstonecraft once she died, just filled me with a strong dislike for this man - his hypocrisy throughout just made him look like a fake.
Before reading, Romantic Outlaws, I had admired Percy Bysshe Shelley not only as the husband to such an incredible woman but as the writer too - his philosophy and political stance in his writing can still ring true today. However, in Romantic Outlaws, all I could see was the hurt he caused Mary Shelley. He claimed to stand the Wollstonecraft philosophy but he came across as someone that believes a man's needs is above a woman's. It was hard to see the equality in their relationship at times. It was even harder to see the compassion he had for Mary, especially, when 4 of their children died - in Romantic Outlaws it seemed that he believed that Mary had to give in to his desires. Nonetheless, I still admire Percy Bysshe Shelley to an extent but I only hope that he did truly love Mary more than this biography shows.
Don't even get me started on the rest of the names that shall not be named. Many of them wanted to harm and destroy Mary Shelley's name. However, Mary Shelley never gave up she fought and she succeeded by becoming one of the most famous writers to have ever lived. She followed her mothers legacy and became a feminist hero - pioneering the way for women in horror and sci-fi, and inspiring with her writing.
Both Wollstonecraft and Shelley stood for the equality of women, the end of male violence against women and girls. Not only this but they understood that the violence that men expressed is not only a women's issue but a men's issue too. They understood the need for violence to end to create a safer society in which people can live as equals, no matter their race, class, sexuality or gender.
Although Romantic Outlaws gave a fascinating and inspiring look into the lives and deaths of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. I did find that Gordon at times gave too long descriptions and went off on tangents in a few parts. Nonetheless, writing both Mary's lives in comparison to each other was innovative and really brought these two brilliant women back to life.
My favourite thing that both Wollstonecraft and Shelley had done throughout their life was protecting women from male violence. Something that is still so prevalent today. However, it shows they paved the way for the future to stand up against male violence. Mary Shelley may have played down and kept hidden her involvement in helping women, but it shows that she continued to use her mother's legacy in helping women. One situation that stood out was when she helped Elise when she had fallen pregnant, both Mary and Percy covered up this pregnancy so well that it became almost impossible to find any evidence of it at all. Although there is a mystery surrounding this child, the biography points towards that Elise was most likely raped - as with the name Mary Shelley had come up with using a character from Wollstonecraft's book that stood against male violence against women and girls. Shelley protected Elise from a society that would have shunned and demonised her for being an unwed mother.
The more this biography went on the more I disliked the males that played a role in Wollstonecraft's and Shelley's life. The men they encountered spoke of living a life of freedom, yet they continued to put these two amazing women in their life in shackles, making them into people they were not.
Godwin ruined Wollstonecraft's reputation after her death, refusing to acknowledge her writing and philosophy, it begins to create the question, was he scared of her intelligence? did he not agree with her stance of equality for women in society? Mary Wollstonecraft was an advocate for women's rights and education for all. She was an advocate for people to be taught nature to unlock their true imagination. Mary Wollstonecraft deserved and still deserves to be remembered as the innovative woman that she was! Godwin's treatment of his daughter and step-daughter, and then finding out his treatment of Wollstonecraft once she died, just filled me with a strong dislike for this man - his hypocrisy throughout just made him look like a fake.
Before reading, Romantic Outlaws, I had admired Percy Bysshe Shelley not only as the husband to such an incredible woman but as the writer too - his philosophy and political stance in his writing can still ring true today. However, in Romantic Outlaws, all I could see was the hurt he caused Mary Shelley. He claimed to stand the Wollstonecraft philosophy but he came across as someone that believes a man's needs is above a woman's. It was hard to see the equality in their relationship at times. It was even harder to see the compassion he had for Mary, especially, when 4 of their children died - in Romantic Outlaws it seemed that he believed that Mary had to give in to his desires. Nonetheless, I still admire Percy Bysshe Shelley to an extent but I only hope that he did truly love Mary more than this biography shows.
Don't even get me started on the rest of the names that shall not be named. Many of them wanted to harm and destroy Mary Shelley's name. However, Mary Shelley never gave up she fought and she succeeded by becoming one of the most famous writers to have ever lived. She followed her mothers legacy and became a feminist hero - pioneering the way for women in horror and sci-fi, and inspiring with her writing.
Both Wollstonecraft and Shelley stood for the equality of women, the end of male violence against women and girls. Not only this but they understood that the violence that men expressed is not only a women's issue but a men's issue too. They understood the need for violence to end to create a safer society in which people can live as equals, no matter their race, class, sexuality or gender.
Although Romantic Outlaws gave a fascinating and inspiring look into the lives and deaths of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. I did find that Gordon at times gave too long descriptions and went off on tangents in a few parts. Nonetheless, writing both Mary's lives in comparison to each other was innovative and really brought these two brilliant women back to life.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Misogyny, and Miscarriage
Minor: Rape
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