12 Jane Anger To all Women in general, and gentle Reader whatsoever. FIE on the falsehood of men, whose minds go oft a madding, & whose tongues can not so soon be wagging, but straight they fall a railing. Was there ever any so abused, so slandered, so railed upon, or so wickedly handled undeservedly, as are we women? . . But judge what the cause should be, of this there so great malice towards simple women. Doubtless the weakness of our wits, and our honest bashfulness, by reason whereof they suppose that there is not one amongst us who can, or dare reprove their slanders and false reproaches: their slanderous tongues are so short, and the time wherein they have lavished out their words freely, hath been so long, that they know we cannot catch hold of them to pull them out, and they think we will not write to reprove their lying lips.
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ike many of the works written by early women authors, Jane Anger’s (1560? – 1600?) pamphlet Her Protection for Women, To defend them against the scandalous reports of a late Surfeiting Lover, and all other like Venerians that complain so to be overcloyed with women’s kindness, 1589, was addressed explicitly to an audience of other women. It was probably the first book-length defence of women’s place in society to be published in English but nothing is known about its author; Jane Anger may not even have been her 72
