"My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their *fascinating* graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone. [...] I wish to show that elegance is inferior to virtue, that the first act of laudable ambition is to obtain a character as a human being, regardless of the distinction of sex; and that secondary views should be brought to this simple touchstone."

-Mary Wollstonecraft, "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman," 1792