Dohm:Schicksale einer Seele von Hedwig

Hedwig Dohm (1831-1919) was a German writer and women's rights activist. She was one of the first feminist theorists to attribute gender-specific behaviors to cultural conditioning rather than biological determinism. Dohm was an early thinker of feminism. She advocated for equal education and training for girls as for boys. She was convinced that economic independence was the only way for women to avoid being inevitably trapped in an "institution of marriage" and to be able to choose voluntarily for or against an equal partnership with a man, thanks to their economic independence. From the book: "It will not be easy for me to draw you my faithful self-portrait. The contrast between what I was and how I have become is too great: two souls that hardly bear any resemblance to each other. I cannot look back to the innocent, somewhat romanticized naivety of my youth. You must believe me now, what I will tell you about myself, even if my words today do not align with the Marlene I once was.".