EXTENDING NEW NARRATIVES
  • Home
  • About
    • Project Description
    • Team
    • Postdoctoral Fellows >
      • 2025-26 Post-Doc Ad
    • Governance
    • New Narratives PDG (2015-19)
  • Building Resources
    • ENN Collaborator Publications
    • Digital >
      • Project Vox
      • Bibliography of Works by Early Modern Women Philosophers
      • Digital Collections
      • Multimedia >
        • Podcast
        • Youtube Channel
    • Print
  • Developing Research
    • Conferences
    • Seminars
    • Workshops
    • Works-in-Progress Seminars
    • Reading Groups
    • ENN Blog
    • Other Events
  • News
    • Announcements
    • Media Mentions
    • Publications
  • Related projects
    • Columbia Center for New Narratives in Philosophy
    • In Parenthesis Project
    • Querelle
    • Archeology of the Female Intellectual Identity (AFII)
    • Brazilian Network of Women in Philosophy
    • Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists
    • Histories of philosophy in a Global Perspective
  • Accueil
  • À Propos
    • Description du projet
    • Chercheurs postdoctoraux, chercheuses postdoctorales >
      • 2025-26 Appel Post-Doc
    • Équipe
    • Direction
  • Construire des ressources
    • ENN Collaborator Publications
    • Ressources numériques >
      • Project Vox
      • Bibliographie d’œuvres de femmes philosophes du passé
      • Collections numériques
      • Multimédia
    • Ressources papier
  • Développer la recherche
    • Conférences FR
    • Seminars FR
    • Workshops FR
    • Séminaires de travaux en cours
    • Groupes de lecture
    • D'Autres Évènements
  • Nouvelles
    • Annonces
  • Projets liés
  • Other Events

ENN Blog

Fonte on Men and Women as Sexual Persons

12/9/2021

1 Comment

 
 In reading the first day of the dialogue in The Worth of Women, I am most interested in how Fonte addresses the divergence in the treatment of men and women regarding their sexual activity. Fonte writes,
​

“For when a man has amorous concourse with a woman, the result is the greatest shame for her and a certain amount of credit and praise for him, so that the woman always tries to disguise it as much as possible, while the man cannot wait to tell the whole world about it, as though his glory and happiness depended on it. Surely this is a way of declaring clearly the dignity and nobility of women and the corresponding indignity of men. Because, since this great gulf in perfection exists between the sexes, it is a very shameful thing when we, who are so far superior to them, stoop so far as to have anything to do with these inferior creatures- especially outside the necessity of marriage, this intercourse with men abases us… For a woman, when she is segregated from male contact, has something divine about her and can achieve miracles, as long as she retains her natural virginity. That certainly isn’t the case with men, because it is only when a man has taken a wife that he is considered a real man and that he reaches the peak of happiness, honor, and greatness” (90-91)
​

Picture
        Here, Fonte highlights the double standard held against women with regards to their sexual relationships. While men receive praise when they have sex, women face shame from society. Relatedly, while men can boast about their sexual conquests, women are expected to hide any sign of their sexual life. Fonte argues that these responses reveal the difference in dignity between the sexes as women treat sex with more nobility than men. Yet, while men are able to find “glory and happiness” in sex, women who engage in the sex act, whether inside or outside of marriage, are necessarily degraded. It is important to note that Fonte does not argue against women feeling shame for having sex. Instead, she agrees the act is shameful but insists the shame derives from the superior sex, women, engaging with the inferior sex, men. 
       The sexes also experience a stark difference in the dependence they have on their relationships with the opposite sex. To become a “real man,” according to Fonte, one must build a relationship with a woman through marriage. Only after having that relationship can a man achieve “happiness, honor, and greatness.” In contrast, women thrive best when they are given full independence from men. Fonte emphasizes the power of female virginity as a way in which women can achieve divine greatness. A woman, untouched by men, has “something divine about her” and can accomplish “miracles.” Not only does Fonte define men as the inferior sex, she also describes them as a kind of parasite that reduces the value and abilities of women as “intercourse with men abases” women. In this way, men threaten women who seek to reach their full, sometimes divine, potential.
       Moreover, Fonte examines how women face greater disapproval from society in comparison to men in having sex. Cornelia, a character in the dialogue, explains the hypocrisy of this treatment, especially when it comes from men, and says, “They can keep up these curses and insults all day without once looking down at themselves and seeing that they may need to take some of the blame… if the fault is common to both sexes (as they can hardly deny), why should the blame not be as well?” (90) Once again, Fonte highlights the inequitable treatment of the sexes by society. Men encourage this unfounded response as they do not reflect on their own faults and instead, hurl insults at women who have sex despite taking equal part in the act. Throughout the first half of the dialogue, Fonte reveals the extreme hypocrisy of society in its treatment of men and women as sexual persons while also defending women as the superior sex as seen in their unique ability to thrive independently of men.
 
​-MP
 
Text source: The Worth of Women: Wherein Is Clearly Revealed Their Nobility and Superiority to Men. Edited and Translated by Virginia Cox, The University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Image info: Cover of Moderata Fonte's Il Merito Delle Donne, illustrated by Domenico Imberti, published in Venice in 1600
Source: http://badigit.comune.bologna.it/books/Moderata_Fonte/scorri.asp
1 Comment

Introducing Moderata Fonte (1555-1592)

12/2/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Modesta Pozzo, better known by her pen name, Moderata Fonte, was born in 1555 in Venice. Her parents, Marietta dal Morro and lawyer, Girolama Pozzo, belonged to an educated and wealthy class in Venice referred to as the cittadini originari. After Fonte’s parents died within the first year of her life, she was taken in by her maternal grandmother, Cecilia di Mazzi. Fonte received an education at the Santa Marta convent until the age of 9 and then continued an informal education with the help of Prosperi Saraceni, her grandmother’s second husband, and her brother, Leonardo. She was known as an extremely bright student, writing poetry of her own very early in her childhood. In her twenties, Fonte moved in with Saracena Saraceni, the daughter of Cecilia and Prosperi Saraceni, and Saracena’s husband, Giovanni Niccolò Doglioni. Doglioni, with his many connections to Venice’s literary circles, encouraged Fonte to write and helped her to publish. Much of what we know of Fonte comes from Doglioni’s Vita, a biography written on Fonte’s life published in 1600. At the late age of 27, Fonte married Filippo Di'Zorzi, a lawyer and government worker. After only a year and a half of marriage, Di'Zorzi returned Fonte’s dowry as a show of his deep admiration and appreciation of her. Fonte died in 1592, seemingly after complications with the birth of her fourth child.
​
By the time she was married, Fonte was well established as an exceptionally skilled poet in Venice. Throughout her lifetime, Fonte wrote various romantic and biblical sonnets, ballads, philosophical dialogues, and dramatic plays. Most famously, Fonte wrote a feminist text entitled, The Worth of Women, published after her death in 1600. The Worth of Women is a dialogue between seven Venetian women who discuss the abuse women face in light of the widely held belief that women are, by nature, inferior to men. The women discuss subjects that include the inequality in education, the abuse women endure in their marriages, and other injustices faced regularly by women in Venice. I will be looking at selected passages in The Worth of Women to explore Fonte’s philosophical analysis of gender relations and her response to the injustices faced by Venetian women. 

-MP

Image info: Moderata Fonte (Modesta Dal Pozzo, 1555-1592). The frontispiece of Il merito delle donne. Venezia, Domenico Imberti, 1600. 

0 Comments

Veronica Franco on Strength in Men and Women

11/25/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
​In Capitolo 16, Franco argues that any general weakness found in women comes from a lack of resources and opportunity and not from their nature. Franco wrote this poem as a response to Maffio Venier, a poet who publicly defamed her in his work. She writes, 
     If on one hand it might be unseemly
for a strong man to contend with a woman,
on the other, it’s thought a weighty event.
     When we women, too, have weapons and training, 
we will be able to prove to all men
that we have hands and feet and hearts like yours;
     and though we may be tender and delicate, 
some men who are delicate also are strong
and some, though coarse and rough, are cowards
      Women so far haven’t seen this is true;
for if they’d ever resolved to do it,
they’d have been able to fight you to the death. (61-72)
​     che ’l mettersi con donne è da l’un lato
biasmo ad uom forte, ma da l’altro è poi
caso d’alta importanza riputato.
     Quando armate ed esperte ancor siam noi,
render buon conto a ciascun uom potemo,
ché mani e piedi e core avem qual voi;
     e se ben molli e delicate semo,
ancor tal uom, ch’è delicato, è forte;
e tal, ruvido ed aspro, è d’ardir scemo.
     Di ciò non se ne son le donne accorte;
che se si risolvessero di farlo,
con voi pugnar porían fino a la morte.
​Franco argues that, given proper “weapons and training,” women would have the same “hands and feet and hearts” as men. While defending the strength of women, Franco confronts an essentialist approach to the sexes. She challenges the idea that qualities like strength and delicacy are mutually exclusive and that either of them belong only to a single sex. She explains that in the same way we find tough, yet cowardly men, we can find delicate and strong women. Seeing women as weaker than men because of their general delicacy, then, fails to capture the complexity of each person as an individual. 

​Franco sees the attack of Maffio as an attack on all women. She promises to “defend all women/ against” men like her attacker and to serve as “an example for them all to follow.” (79-80) In this role, Franco describes how she came to know her own strength. According to Franco, many women, because they lack the right training and tools, feel that they are weaker than men. She writes, “Women so far haven’t seen this is true;/ for if they’d ever resolved to do it,/ they’d have been able to fight you to death.” (70-72) Even Franco admits to feeling “defenseless” and vulnerable to the attacks of men. (22) Yet, after “devoting all [her] efforts to arms,” she came to “no longer fear harm from anyone.” (37-39) Her newfound security taught Franco “that women by nature are no less agile than men.” (34-36) In sharing her own experience, Franco argues that women can escape positions of vulnerability if they are given the same opportunities and resources as men. 

I think it is important to note that Franco does not ultimately challenge her attacker to a physical fight. Instead, she defends herself as an intellectual. Franco trains with the metaphorical “arms” of language in preparation for this fight. She tells Maffio that he can choose any language to battle in as she is “equally happy with them all,/ since [she has] learned them for exactly this purpose.” (126-127) She describes her attacker’s weapon as, “The sword that strikes and stabs in [his] hand—/ the common language spoken in Venice” and says that she will also fight using her rhetoric. (112-114) Towards the end of the poem she writes, 
​     You will have nowhere to run from me
for I am prepared for any test of skill
and I wait impatiently to start the fight.
      You may choose the language of every day,
or whatever other idiom you please, 
for I have had practice in them all. (196-201)

Translations by Ann Rosalind Jones and Margaret F. Rosenthal ​
     Voi non avrete incontro a me rifugio,
ch’a tutte prove sono apparecchiata,
e impazïentemente a l’opra indugio:
      o la favella giornalmente usata,
o qual vi piace idïoma prendete,
ché ’n tutti quanti sono essercitata. 
By defending herself as a skilled writer while serving as a champion of all women, she defends the intellectual capacities of her sex. Franco also highlights how her education and the chance to “practice” her craft has prepared her to win this fight. Again, she shows how the right resources can prepare a woman for any kind of combat against a man. As seen in my previous post, Franco believes that virtue is not found in bodily strength, but in the “vigor of the soul and mind.” (Capitolo 24, 61-62) Thus, in choosing to ultimately defend her superior intellect instead of focusing merely on physical strength, Franco reinforces the argument that women excel in virtue as seen in their superior reason. ​

​-MP
Image info: Newlywed Venetian Bride, Noble Venetian Matron, Venetian Courtesan (engraving) Anonymous Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Lawner. https://venice11.umwblogs.org/venetian-attire-similarities-between-courtesans-and-aristocratic-women/#_edn
1 Comment

Introducing Veronica Franco

11/11/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Our first Venetian female philosopher is Veronica Franco (1546-1591), a 16th century courtesan known for her letters and poetry. Franco was born into a working class family with three brothers, all of whom received an education. Fortunately, her mother encouraged her daughter to study under a tutor alongside her brothers. It was not until after her divorce from Paolo Panizza that Franco, left with a child and the loss of her dowry, became a courtesan for highly esteemed men including Henry III and Domenico Venier. Venier, a famous poet himself and head of a renowned literary academy, provided Franco with great friendship and a space to work on her writing.

Franco’s writings critique the treatment of courtesans by the state and men. Her poetry provides insight into her personal relationships as well as her philosophical endorsement of equality between men and women. In her own defense, Franco makes herself representative of all women and argues that, given the opportunity and resources, women would have physical and mental abilities equal to that of men.

Later in her life, Franco published a collection of her correspondence with her clients. Shortly after this publication, however, Franco was accused of witchcraft and her reputation was ruined. Throughout the course of her career, Veronica Franco became known for her esteemed reputation as a courtesan, her defense of equality for women, and her exceptional writing abilities. We will look at selected passages in her ‘Terze Rime’ (1575), a collection of poetry, and selected letters from her “Lettere Familiari a Diversi” (1580), a collection of 50 letters between Franco and her clients. 

​-- MP

Image : Jacopo Tintoretto (1575-1594), Portrait of a Lady. Source: Worcester Art Museum. Note: This portrait is taken to be of Franco because her name is written on the lining of the canvas

0 Comments

16th and 17th century Venetian women: Why Venetian Women?

11/4/2021

0 Comments

 
​During the Renaissance, Venice served as a major point of trade in Europe. With a flourishing economy, the city soon became a center for tourism, art, and culture. After adopting the printing press in the early 16th century, Venice began to produce many important works of various Greek and Roman writers. Despite the city’s freedom from the censorship of the Church, religious literature increased in production due to the Counter-Reformation in the 16th century. After the success of the Protestant Reformation, Catholic leaders fought to implement their religious doctrines in places like Venice. By 1580, there were over 60 religious households in Venice filled with thousands of clergymen, friars, monks, and nuns. Both inside and outside of these religious institutions, the production of literature backing the Counter-Reformation called for Catholic values in the home. The virtuous woman was asked to be chaste, modest, obedient, and complementary to their household and husband. As an active publication center, however, Venice also produced non-religious and anti-religious texts. Some of these works were written by Venetian women with the means to an education. They produced texts outside of and in response to the religious ideals encouraging women to serve as tokens of Catholic morality where they would be judged by their ability to perform as devout mothers and obedient wives. Over the next several months this blog will focus on four Venetian female philosophers: Veronica Franco (1546-1591), Moderata Fonte (1555-1592), Lucrezia Marinella (1571-1653), and Arcangela Tarabotti (1604-1652). By examining selected passages from their texts, we will look to highlight the nuance and significance of the feminist and philosophical insights made by these women during this time.

--MP
Picture
The Wedding Feast at Cana
I6th century Venetian artist
Source: ​Artnet or Artvee
​
0 Comments
Forward>>

    Authors

    ​Jacinta Shrimpton is a PhD student in Philosophy at the University of Sydney. She is co-producer of the ENN New Voices podcast

    Nan Lin is a PhD student in Philosophy at the University of Paris Nanterre. She is co-producer of the ENN New Voices podcast

    Olivia Branscum is a PhD student in Philosophy at Columbia University. She was previously a co-producer of the ENN New Voices podcast


    Haley Brennan is a PhD student in Philosophy at Princeton University. She was previously co-producer of the ENN New Voices podcast

    ​
    Matheus Mazzochi is an undergraduate Philosophy major at Simon Fraser University. His posts are signed MM.

    Mary Purcell is an MA student at Simon Fraser University. Her posts are signed MP.

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    August 2024
    May 2024
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021

    Categories

    All
    16th Century Women
    17th Century Women
    18th Century Women
    19th Century Women
    Abolitionism
    Ada Lovelace
    Aesthetics
    Africana Philosophy
    American Women Philosophers
    Andean Philosophy
    Angela Foligno
    Animal Rights
    Anna Julia Cooper
    Anti Oppression
    Anti-oppression
    Anti Slavery
    Arcangela Tarabotti
    Attention
    Audre Lorde
    Beauty
    Black Women Philosophers
    Brazilian Women
    Canadian Women Philosophers
    Catherine Of Siena
    Claudia Jones
    Contemplative Tradtion
    Decolonization
    Early 20th Century Women
    Education
    Edward Blyden
    Emile Du Chatelet
    English Women
    Environmental Ethics
    Equality
    Eternity
    Feminism
    Frances Power Cobbe
    Frederick Douglass
    Free Will
    French Women
    Germaine De Staël
    German Women
    Hadewijch
    Harriet Martineau
    Hildegard Von Bingen
    Idealism
    Identity
    Indigenous Peoples
    Indigenous Philosophy
    Intersectionality
    Italian Women
    Julian Of Norwich
    Karoline Von Günderrode
    Labour Movements
    Language
    Laura Bassi
    Lorraine Hansberry
    Love
    Lucrezia Marinelli
    Margaret Ebner
    Maria Stewart
    Marriage
    Mary Ann Shadd Cary
    Medieval Women
    Metaphysics
    Mind And Body
    Moderata Fonte
    Moral Education
    Natural Philosophy
    Nísia Floresta
    Phenomenology
    Phillis Wheatley
    Philosophy Of Mind
    Philosophy Of Science
    Podcast
    Political Philosophy
    Public Philosophy
    Research Methods
    Rosa Luxemburg
    Sexuality
    Simone De Beauvoir
    Simon Weil
    Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz
    Venetian Women
    Veronica Franco
    Virtue
    W.E.B Du Bois
    Wisdom
    Women's Rights

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • About
    • Project Description
    • Team
    • Postdoctoral Fellows >
      • 2025-26 Post-Doc Ad
    • Governance
    • New Narratives PDG (2015-19)
  • Building Resources
    • ENN Collaborator Publications
    • Digital >
      • Project Vox
      • Bibliography of Works by Early Modern Women Philosophers
      • Digital Collections
      • Multimedia >
        • Podcast
        • Youtube Channel
    • Print
  • Developing Research
    • Conferences
    • Seminars
    • Workshops
    • Works-in-Progress Seminars
    • Reading Groups
    • ENN Blog
    • Other Events
  • News
    • Announcements
    • Media Mentions
    • Publications
  • Related projects
    • Columbia Center for New Narratives in Philosophy
    • In Parenthesis Project
    • Querelle
    • Archeology of the Female Intellectual Identity (AFII)
    • Brazilian Network of Women in Philosophy
    • Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists
    • Histories of philosophy in a Global Perspective
  • Accueil
  • À Propos
    • Description du projet
    • Chercheurs postdoctoraux, chercheuses postdoctorales >
      • 2025-26 Appel Post-Doc
    • Équipe
    • Direction
  • Construire des ressources
    • ENN Collaborator Publications
    • Ressources numériques >
      • Project Vox
      • Bibliographie d’œuvres de femmes philosophes du passé
      • Collections numériques
      • Multimédia
    • Ressources papier
  • Développer la recherche
    • Conférences FR
    • Seminars FR
    • Workshops FR
    • Séminaires de travaux en cours
    • Groupes de lecture
    • D'Autres Évènements
  • Nouvelles
    • Annonces
  • Projets liés
  • Other Events