In Mina Loy’s “Feminist Manifesto” she promotes superiority of women over men. I believe the second and third paragraphs on the second page really shows this.
“The value of man is assessed entirely according to his use or interest to the community, the value of woman depends entirely on chance, her success or in success in maneuvering a man into taking the life-long responsibility of her—
The advantages of marriage are too ridiculously ample—
Compared to all other trades—for under modern conditions a woman can accept preposterously luxurious support from a man (with-out the return of an sort—even offspring)—as a thank offering for her virginity.” What Loy is saying in the first paragraph is that the value of a man’s life is based solely on his use to the community. Whereas the success of a woman’s life is solely chance, whether she can successfully maneuver a man into taking life long responsibility of her. In the second paragraph she is saying that a woman can accept luxurious support from a man without the return of any sort. This is simply a thank you from the man for the woman giving him her virginity.
Intro to Women Writers-Hybrid Sp 2014
Writing Women of the Long 20th Century
You summarize the passage well–what do you think of it? What’s your reaction? Also, your opening sentence doesn’t seem to fit with the passage you’ve chosen or with the explanation you’ve provided. In what way does she see women as superior to men? In this passage, she only addresses how men are valued based on a real value, and women on something arbitrary, a system that Loy thinks should be abolished. Re-read Loy’s text looking for evidence to support your claim that she thinks women are superior to men–I don’t believe you’ll find it. What you might find, though, is a different view of everything she writes when you don’t think that she’s criticizing men (or women for that matter) but instead the expectations of their social systems.