On Mina Loy’s Feminist Manifesto
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Mina Loy, oh how much you remind me of an old friend I had in my younger days, back when I was a schoolteacher and providing for myself as best as I could before I married my lovely husband and started my new life. Her name was Adelia, and she too went on to be a teacher, but her situation was a little different than mine. Adelia never desired to be married like the rest of us women, she despised receiving orders from any man, which got her into much trouble later in life. I always warned her to accept what the unpredictable world threw at her I the same way I tried to, but she was just as unpredictable as the world. Anyway, she would always speak of the things she did not want to be – a wife and mother as she felt the children at the schoolhouse were her own, but better because she did not have to take them home with her. When we would visit together she would always speak of her dreams and make up grand stories to tell me of adventures. What a great story teller she was, and I always thought of them as just stories, never believing they could happen or that any other woman would agree with Adelia’s wild ideas. But then I read Mina Loy’s “Feminist Manifesto,” and my, I was shocked by her statements. Mina Loy seems to be just as unpredictable as my old friend. I believe it is important for us women to speak our minds and stand up for the things we believe are important, to be intelligent and add to our homes, but Mina goes too far with her “pet illusions” and “rubbish heap of tradition” talk. Men and women are not enemies as she says, and there is nothing wrong with tradition. If I were to meet this Mina Loy, I would tell her exactly what I told my friend, to accept her circumstances and get over herself. These men need us to take care of the homes not turn against them! If my husband did not have me, I am not sure what he would do with himself, he’d be giving away his money left and right and this is a true statement. Miss Mina Loy may act tough with her words, but if she was truly tough, she would accept her position as a woman and better the world by her tasks at home.