Women are systematically degraded by receiving the trivial

In the words of Mary Wollstonecraft, “Women are systematically degraded by receiving the trivial attentions which men think it manly to pay to the sex, when, in fact, men are insultingly supporting their own superiority.” we hear the voice of a prophetess, fierce and unyielding, who looked upon the customs of her age and called them what they were: gilded chains. Wollstonecraft, the mother of modern feminism, spoke against the false courtesy that men used to mask domination. She knew that the flowers, the bows, the flattering words of “chivalry” were not gifts of honor, but gestures that reinforced the belief that women were delicate, lesser beings in need of male guardianship. What looked like respect was in truth degradation, for it reduced women to ornaments, not equals.

The origin of this quote lies in Wollstonecraft’s great work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), where she demanded equality not in gallantry, but in reason. She lived in a world where men praised women’s beauty, protected them from labor, and spoke of their “virtues,” all while denying them education, property, and political voice. The trivial attentions of men—the holding of doors, the flowery speeches, the exaggerated deference—were not meant to elevate women, but to distract them from their lack of power. Wollstonecraft, piercing through the illusion, declared that such courtesies were insults wrapped in silken words.

History bears witness to this truth. Consider the salons of eighteenth-century Europe, where noblemen flattered the women they called “muses” and “inspirations.” These women were praised for charm and beauty, but not invited into the councils of law or war. Their wit was admired only when it amused men, never when it challenged them. This treatment looked like respect, but in reality it was exclusion, for the trivial honors given them masked the denial of real authority. As Wollstonecraft saw, the bow of a man was often the gesture of a master disguised as a servant.

The deeper meaning of her words is this: that superiority often hides itself in kindness. When one group showers another with trivial praise while withholding true equality, they create a cage lined with velvet. The woman told that she is too precious to think deeply, too delicate to labor, too pure to vote, is not being honored—she is being diminished. Wollstonecraft knew that such false attentions kept women in childish dependency, flattering them into accepting their chains.

Yet, her words also remind us of courage. For she did not merely expose the insult, she demanded its end. She called for women to be educated, to be free to reason, to stand as full citizens of the world. She sought not the flowers of gallantry but the fruits of justice. And though she was ridiculed in her time, her vision became the foundation upon which later generations built the struggle for suffrage, education, and equal rights. Her voice was the spark that set fire to centuries of silence.

The lesson for us, O listener, is to look beyond appearances. Beware of respect that is only surface-deep, for it may conceal inequality beneath its smile. Do not mistake empty flattery for genuine honor. True respect is not in holding doors or speaking honeyed words, but in granting equal dignity, opportunity, and responsibility. To honor women—or any marginalized group—requires not gestures of superiority disguised as kindness, but the recognition of full humanity.

As for practical action: question traditions that appear polite but in truth enforce inequality. Teach children, both boys and girls, that strength and intellect belong to all, not to one sex. When you honor another, do so not with trivial attentions but with real respect—listen to their voice, share power with them, support their growth. In your daily life, refuse to participate in customs that flatter while diminishing, and instead build relationships upon equality and truth.

Thus, Wollstonecraft’s words resound across the centuries like a trumpet call. Women are not ornaments to be adorned with trivial courtesies, but beings of reason and dignity. Do not let false chivalry deceive you, O seeker, for it is only another mask of superiority. Seek instead the deeper respect, the equality that liberates, the honor that is shared between equals. For only then can humanity rise together, not as master and subject, but as companions walking the same road of freedom.