• Conduct Books and the History of the Ideal Woman

  • By: Tabitha Kenlon
  • Narrated by: Kate Reading
  • Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (2 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Conduct Books and the History of the Ideal Woman  By  cover art

Conduct Books and the History of the Ideal Woman

By: Tabitha Kenlon
Narrated by: Kate Reading
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.56

Buy for $15.56

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

As long as people have been writing books, authors have been using them to create misrepresentations of women. From medieval reality show-style wife tests to 21st century dating guides based on 200-year-old novels, Conduct Books and the History of the Ideal Woman takes listeners on a guided tour of advice on what women should and should not do.

Think today’s media is bad? In this book, you’ll discover:

  • A 16th-century writer who believed women had the power to transform men’s bad thoughts into good ones (if she didn’t and something bad happened, it was her fault - sound familiar?)
  • Why clothes were invented, and that pretty dresses are evil
  • Why young ladies should never read - gasp! - novels
  • The difference between conduct manuals and etiquette books, and why good manners are basically the same as good morals
  • What 20th-century self-help books have in common with the Middle Ages

Meticulously researched and displaying wry wit (and occasionally exasperation), Conduct Books and the History of the Ideal Woman links 700 years of advice on women’s behavior, tracing a through-line from the earliest printed texts that argued women were the property of men, to various iterations of feminism, to today’s casual misogyny. A must-listen for everyone who is or knows a woman!

©2020 Tabitha Kenlon (P)2021 Tabitha Marie Kenlon

What listeners say about Conduct Books and the History of the Ideal Woman

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.