Our latest “Document of the Week” was chosen by our Editorial Assistant, Chloe Haney. It is an article by Michael Sadleir, titled "Woman-Ridden England", that was published in Britannia, the predecessor of Britannia and Eve, on 19 October 1928.
In this article, Sadleir outlines his disapproval of the modern woman. His deeply misogynistic criticisms target the increased freedoms that women enjoyed during the interwar years. For example, he laments how “like so many of our loveliest country houses, woman has ceased to be a dignified individual property”. In his view, women’s increased influence in the social sphere had created a “pretentious and flaccid . . . feminine civilisation” that threatened masculinity and social order.
Sadleir holds a particular quarrel with the modern woman’s appearance. He belittles what he perceives as its uniformity, in conjunction with the uniformity of women’s actions and opinions, by framing those women who remained “individuals” as “women of true quality”—“real women”. He also critiques the modern woman’s penchant for “advertising . . . intimacies which once were the reward of skilful siege”, thereby sexualising and demeaning women who followed new, more revealing fashion trends.
Somewhat ironically, given the article’s publication in Britannia, Sadleir complains that “it is a pity one cannot be really outspoken on this subject of female domination”. Through this remark, he implies that his opinions may be more extreme than what is conveyed in the article, and more widespread than his contemporaries were willing to let on. Showing a complete lack of self-awareness, Sadleir ends his article by declaring to those who may consider him a misogynist that “nothing could be further from the truth”. His inability to recognise his own misogynistic views illuminates just how deeply rooted, commonplace, and acceptable sexism and misogyny were in interwar British culture.
Where to find this document
This article is from our collection, Britannia and Eve, 1926–1957. Consisting of over 38,000 images from more than 350 issues of Britannia and Eve and its predecessors, Eve: The Lady’s Pictorial and Britannia, the collection provides valuable insights into the history of fashion, gender history, and the history of British print culture. Visit the collection page to learn more.