Bluestocking Society

The Bluestocking Society, also referred to as the “Bluestocking Circle” or merely “the bluestockings,” was a group of women intellectuals in England during the late 18th and early 19th century. Some of the more well-known members in the first generation of the bluestockings included Elizabeth Montagu, Catherine Talbot, Hester Chapone, and Elizabeth Carter.

The term bluestocking was coined by Elizabeth Montagu and originally referred to one who dressed according to lower-class sensibilities. Montagu's “conversation parties,” an alternative to the cardplaying popular at the time, often included one bluestocking, Benjamin Stillingfleet, a highly educated man. Due to the attendance of Stillingfleet, the group began to be referred to as the Bluestocking Society. Soon, Montagu and her friends began using it to describe the learned men they knew, and eventually the term was used by the women to describe themselves and not the men they were friends with. The term has a historical reputation for being used as a derogatory term for women who “overstep their bounds” and become “too intelligent.”

The bluestockings in England are often discussed in conjunction with the French salons (meetings to discuss art, politics, and other intellectual topics), but the two have as many differences as similarities. For example, the bluestockings published their work, something the salonniéres (women who hosted the salons) never did. In addition, bluestocking groups were held together by friendship, and they met whenever they had the time, as opposed to the strict weekly [Page 78]meetings of the French salons. Furthermore, although the bluestockings valued their relationships with men, both romantic and otherwise, they did not share the French need to include men in their groups.

What afforded the bluestockings the social sanction to pursue intellectual interests was a combination of their virtue and the men who were included in their groups. Their virtue was important because it was not uncommon for people to associate education with sexual promiscuity during the time the bluestockings existed. The men they included in their groups served as a support system for the women and furthered their ability to publish their work.

The bluestockings challenged the societal beliefs of their time regarding the education of women. Through their intellectual pursuits, they proved that not only were women capable of learning but that women were capable of being men's intellectual equals. They did not, however, consider themselves feminists. Although they believed in educational equality for women, political and economic equality were not among the social changes they wished to achieve. Their self-identification, however, did not stop feminists in the 1970s from using the group as inspiration to form feminist organizations, such as the Redstockings, a group whose name comes from a Marxist reclaiming of the term bluestocking.