18th century Discourse: Women, especially young ones, are ruled by affect and lack critical thinking. Their minds are so soft and their sense of self so permeable that they identify with any fictional characters they come across, and must be shielded from sexual and morally ambiguous tales. The fictional stories they consume will effect the way they view the world (in particular their ideals of romantic relationships), which will effect the way they raise their offspring, which will in the long run poison the minds of our children and destroy our nation. We must socially regulate women’s tastes, making sure that all women are shamed into consuming only what we deem pure and morally didactic fiction.
