An essay in defence of the female sex
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~30,900 words · 147 passages
Cite this work
- APAJudith Drake. (n.d.). An essay in defence of the female sex. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/judith-drake/an-essay-in-defence-of-the-female-sex
- MLAJudith Drake. An essay in defence of the female sex. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/judith-drake/an-essay-in-defence-of-the-female-sex.
- ChicagoJudith Drake. An essay in defence of the female sex. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/judith-drake/an-essay-in-defence-of-the-female-sex.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex (1696), by Judith Drake.
Context and history
It was published anonymously — the title page says only 'Written by a Lady' — and for over two hundred years was taken to be by Mary Astell, who had published her Serious Proposal to the Ladies that same year. In 1912 Alfred Upham compared it with the rest of Astell's work and found incompatibilities of substance; today it is attributed to **Judith Drake**, on the evidence of the poem her husband dedicated to the author in the second edition and of the bookseller Curll's catalogue, which already gave it to 'Mrs. Drake'. **In SigPhi's catalogue it stood under Astell until 2 Aug 2026**, because the source the text comes from files it that way. The book stands on its own: it argues that the inequality between men and women comes not from nature but from education and custom, and it argues it through satirical portraits — the pedant, the squire, the beau, the virtuoso — that ridicule men who believe themselves superior.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Dark Clouds of Prejudice obscur’d their Verse, You with Victorious Prose those Clouds disperse: Those Foggs, which wou’d not to their Flame submit, Vanish before your Rising Sun of Wit. Like Stars, they only in Themselves were bright, The whole Sex shines by your reflected Light. Our Sex have long thro’ Usurpation reign’d, And by their Tyranny their Rule maintain’d. Till wanton grown with Arbitrary Sway Depos’d by you They practice to obey, Proudly submitting, when such Graces meet, Beauty by Nature, and by conquest Wit. For Wit they had on their own Sex entail’d, Till for your self, and Sex you thus prevail’d. Thrice happy Sex! Whose Foes such Pow’r disarms, And gives fresh Lustre to your native Charms, Whose Nervous Sense couch’d in close Method lies, Clear as her Soul, and piercing as her Eyes. If any yet so stupid shou’d appear, As still to doubt, what she has made so clear, Her Beautie’s Arguments they would allow, And to Her Eyes their full Conversion owe. And by Experiment the World convince. The Force of Reason’s less, than that of Sense. Your Sex you with such Charming Grace defend, While that you vindicate, you Ours amend: We in your Glass may see each foul defect. And may not only see, but may correct. In vain old _Greece_ her Sages would compare, They taught what Men should be, you what they are With doubtfull Notiones they Mankind perplext, And with unpracticable Precept vext. In vain they strove wild Passions to reclaim, Uncertain what they were, or whence they came. But you, who have found out their certain Source, May with a happier Hand divert their Course.…