Anna Wheeler — philosopher
- Creator(s):
- Thompson, William
- Title:
- Appeal of one half the human race, women, against the pretensions of the other half, men: to retain them in political, and hence in civil and domestic, slavery; in reply to a paragraph of Mr. Mill's celebrated "Article on government"
- Publication/Origin:
- London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1825
- Description:
- Philosopher Anna Wheeler was self-educated, reading Diderot, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Mary Hays. Known as the "Goddess of Reason," she was ideologically aligned with French utopian socialist Charles Fourier. After leaving an abusive marriage with an alcoholic husband, she was critical of marriage and proposed cooperative community living as an alternative. In 1825 she collaborated with William Thompson on the socialist feminist Appeal. Thompson considered the text their joint property. Wheeler was among the first women to lecture publicly on the “Rights of Women.” She wrote using the pseudonym Vlasta, publishing articles on subjects such as the enslavement of women for men’s sensual pleasure and advocating the use of contraception. Wheeler's great-granddaughter was Lady Constance Lytton, the comrade of Emmeline Pankhurst.
- Citation:
- Thompson, William, Appeal of one half the human race, women, against the pretensions of the other half, men: to retain them in political, and hence in civil and domestic, slavery; in reply to a paragraph of Mr. Mill's celebrated "Article on government", London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1825, Lisa Unger Baskin Collection, Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Accessed April 18, 2024, https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/baskin/item/4103