Let women issue a declaration of independence sexually, and

When Victoria Woodhull declared, “Let women issue a declaration of independence sexually, and absolutely refuse to cohabit with men until they are acknowledged as equals in everything, and the victory would be won in a single week,” she was not merely speaking of passion or rebellion — she was summoning a revolution of spirit. Her words struck at the deepest roots of oppression, where power, love, and dependence intertwine. This was not a call for mere defiance; it was a cry for liberation — a bold command for women to reclaim the one domain through which patriarchy had long ruled: the body itself. By invoking the idea of a “sexual declaration of independence,” Woodhull sought to remind the world that freedom must begin where ownership has most cruelly been enforced — within the self.

The origin of this quote lies in the fiery heart of the 19th-century women’s rights movement, when Victoria Woodhull emerged as one of its most radical voices. Born in poverty in 1838, she rose from obscurity to become the first woman to run for President of the United States in 1872. A suffragist, orator, and spiritualist, she dared to speak truths that even her fellow feminists hesitated to utter. Her declaration was made in an era when women were bound not only by law but by custom — denied the right to vote, to own property, and often even to control their own marriages or bodies. Woodhull understood that political equality without personal freedom was hollow, and that the power dynamics between men and women could never truly shift until women possessed authority over their own desires, choices, and identities.

In her call for women to “refuse to cohabit with men” until equality was achieved, Woodhull echoed the ancient wisdom of Lysistrata, the heroine of Aristophanes’ play, who persuaded the women of Greece to deny intimacy to their husbands until the men ended the Peloponnesian War. Like that Greek satire, Woodhull’s idea carried both humor and fire — but beneath its wit lay a profound truth. She was revealing that power depends on consent, and that when the oppressed withdraw that consent, the structure of domination begins to crumble. For centuries, women had been told that their virtue lay in submission; Woodhull’s defiance turned that doctrine upon its head, proclaiming that virtue was in self-ownership, in saying “no” until “yes” could be spoken as an equal.

Her statement, though shocking in its time, was not simply about the act of intimacy; it was about autonomy in all its forms. To “issue a declaration of independence sexually” was to demand control over marriage, motherhood, and morality — to reject the double standards that glorified male freedom while condemning female desire. Woodhull envisioned a world where love would be a union of equals, not a contract of subordination. In her philosophy of “free love,” she argued that true love cannot exist under coercion, and that neither church nor state has the right to govern the human heart. Her words were not indecent — they were divine, a restoration of sacred balance long lost in the dominion of men.

Consider the life of Susan B. Anthony, Woodhull’s contemporary and ally in the fight for women’s suffrage. Anthony sought equality through law; Woodhull sought it through liberation of the soul. Both paths were necessary, for political freedom and personal freedom are twin pillars of justice. Yet Woodhull’s courage was the rarer flame — for she dared to speak of what society hid in shame. Her stance scandalized the press and even divided the suffragist movement, but she planted a seed that would one day blossom into the modern fight for sexual autonomy, gender equality, and women’s rights over their own bodies.

In the ancient world, prophets were often rejected for the truths they spoke too soon. So it was with Victoria Woodhull. Her vision looked beyond her century — to a future where women could choose education over dependence, consent over coercion, partnership over possession. Her belief was simple yet revolutionary: that if women stood united and unyielding in their self-respect, no empire of patriarchy could stand against them. She understood that love, when stripped of equality, becomes servitude; but when joined with respect, it becomes creation — the harmony of two sovereign souls.

So, my daughters and sons of the future, heed the wisdom in Woodhull’s fire. Freedom begins where fear ends. If you wish to change the world, begin by reclaiming mastery over your own self — your mind, your choices, your body, your heart. Let no one define your worth or claim your will. For as Woodhull taught, independence is not a gift to be granted by others; it is a declaration that must be spoken from within. When women — and all people — stand in the full strength of their equality, then, and only then, will love be true, justice be whole, and the victory of humanity be complete.