The feminization of liberty, domesticated virtue, and the reconstitution of power and authority in early American political discourse
- 1 May 1993
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Quarterly Journal of Speech
- Vol. 79 (2) , 146-164
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00335639309384026
Abstract
In 1980, Michael McGee suggested that power is “feminized” to produce liberty. This study rearranges the terms of McGee's equation in order to describe and analyze the shifting terrain of early American political discourse. The essay seeks to reconstruct the metaphorical and discursive processes that led from the feminization of liberty to a political culture organized by the practices of “virtuous power.”Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Decorum, power, and the courtly styleQuarterly Journal of Speech, 1992
- The "Great National Discussion": The Discourse of Politics in 1787The William and Mary Quarterly, 1988
- The Republican Wife: Virtue and Seduction in the Early RepublicThe William and Mary Quarterly, 1987
- The Gendered Meanings of Virtue in Revolutionary AmericaSigns: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 1987
- The Virtues of Liberalism: Christianity, Republicanism, and Ethics in Early American Political DiscourseJournal of American History, 1987
- Metaphors We Live byMLN, 1981
- The origins of “liberty”: A feminization of powerCommunication Monographs, 1980
- The Classical Theory of DeferenceThe American Historical Review, 1976
- From Indian Princess to Greek Goddess the American Image, 1783-1815Winterthur Portfolio, 1967
- The American Image as Indian Princess 1765-1783Winterthur Portfolio, 1965