Gender and imagined purity of at the turn of the 20th century: the example of B.O. Flower, reformer

Boston progressive editor Benjamin O. Flower (1858-1918) pushed for a wide range of women-friendly reforms and publicized many turn-of-the-century feminists. He saw “female purity” as the engine of progress - the moral purification women inspired was the backbone of a radical regeneration of the cou...

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Autor principal:	Jean-Louis Marin-Lamellet
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN FR PT
Publicado:	Centre de Recherches sur les Mondes Américains 2014
Materias:	Benjamin O. Flower feminism purity crusade spirituality anti-Catholicism Anthropology GN1-890 Latin America. Spanish America F1201-3799
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/835d8798bacd4fe2841389e49f9ada48
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:835d8798bacd4fe2841389e49f9ada482021-12-02T10:31:14ZGender and imagined purity of at the turn of the 20th century: the example of B.O. Flower, reformer1626-025210.4000/nuevomundo.66381https://doaj.org/article/835d8798bacd4fe2841389e49f9ada482014-02-01T00:00:00Zhttp://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/66381https://doaj.org/toc/1626-0252Boston progressive editor Benjamin O. Flower (1858-1918) pushed for a wide range of women-friendly reforms and publicized many turn-of-the-century feminists. He saw “female purity” as the engine of progress - the moral purification women inspired was the backbone of a radical regeneration of the country that would lead to individual, social, economic, political and family transformations. This article purposes to explore this social imagination of purity, its scope and its evolution. It examines Flower’s role in the “Purity Movement,” a crusade that aimed at putting an end to prostitution – within and without marriage - and to low age of consent laws. For Flower, male immorality, urban poverty, and ignorance about sex accounted for women’s degradation. Realistic literature and journalistic exposures were therefore the necessary tools to regenerate society. This article also analyzes the ambiguous trajectory of Flower’s vision of “female purity”. He saw in Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, the embodiment and the logical outcome of his feminist struggles. However, this new movement only led to social apathy. His exhortations were also predicated upon essentialization (men as beasts or pure intellect and reforming energy, women as victims or as models of moral idealism) and the traditional postulates of Victorian culture (the centrality of home). Finally, in his last years, Flower embarked on a crusade against the “menace” Catholicism posed to women. This episode reveals the nativist potential of imagined purity as Flower tolerated nothing short of an ethereal “feminine” idealism.Jean-Louis Marin-LamelletCentre de Recherches sur les Mondes AméricainsarticleBenjamin O. Flowerfeminismpurity crusadespiritualityanti-CatholicismAnthropologyGN1-890Latin America. Spanish AmericaF1201-3799ENFRPTNuevo mundo - Mundos Nuevos (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN FR PT
topic	Benjamin O. Flower feminism purity crusade spirituality anti-Catholicism Anthropology GN1-890 Latin America. Spanish America F1201-3799
spellingShingle	Benjamin O. Flower feminism purity crusade spirituality anti-Catholicism Anthropology GN1-890 Latin America. Spanish America F1201-3799 Jean-Louis Marin-Lamellet Gender and imagined purity of at the turn of the 20th century: the example of B.O. Flower, reformer
description	Boston progressive editor Benjamin O. Flower (1858-1918) pushed for a wide range of women-friendly reforms and publicized many turn-of-the-century feminists. He saw “female purity” as the engine of progress - the moral purification women inspired was the backbone of a radical regeneration of the country that would lead to individual, social, economic, political and family transformations. This article purposes to explore this social imagination of purity, its scope and its evolution. It examines Flower’s role in the “Purity Movement,” a crusade that aimed at putting an end to prostitution – within and without marriage - and to low age of consent laws. For Flower, male immorality, urban poverty, and ignorance about sex accounted for women’s degradation. Realistic literature and journalistic exposures were therefore the necessary tools to regenerate society. This article also analyzes the ambiguous trajectory of Flower’s vision of “female purity”. He saw in Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, the embodiment and the logical outcome of his feminist struggles. However, this new movement only led to social apathy. His exhortations were also predicated upon essentialization (men as beasts or pure intellect and reforming energy, women as victims or as models of moral idealism) and the traditional postulates of Victorian culture (the centrality of home). Finally, in his last years, Flower embarked on a crusade against the “menace” Catholicism posed to women. This episode reveals the nativist potential of imagined purity as Flower tolerated nothing short of an ethereal “feminine” idealism.
format	article
author	Jean-Louis Marin-Lamellet
author_facet	Jean-Louis Marin-Lamellet
author_sort	Jean-Louis Marin-Lamellet
title	Gender and imagined purity of at the turn of the 20th century: the example of B.O. Flower, reformer
title_short	Gender and imagined purity of at the turn of the 20th century: the example of B.O. Flower, reformer
title_full	Gender and imagined purity of at the turn of the 20th century: the example of B.O. Flower, reformer
title_fullStr	Gender and imagined purity of at the turn of the 20th century: the example of B.O. Flower, reformer
title_full_unstemmed	Gender and imagined purity of at the turn of the 20th century: the example of B.O. Flower, reformer
title_sort	gender and imagined purity of at the turn of the 20th century: the example of b.o. flower, reformer
publisher	Centre de Recherches sur les Mondes Américains
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/835d8798bacd4fe2841389e49f9ada48
work_keys_str_mv	AT jeanlouismarinlamellet genderandimaginedpurityofattheturnofthe20thcenturytheexampleofboflowerreformer
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Gender and imagined purity of at the turn of the 20th century: the example of B.O. Flower, reformer

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