When Abigail Adams asked her husband John to “Remember the Ladies” as he drafted the Declaration of Independence, she was not advocating for the rights of American women who were predominantly poor, indentured, and enslaved.
A lady was a quintessentially normative white woman who set the standards by which other women were judged.Ĭonsider the story of Abigail Adams and her most famous quote. As Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham notes, “Ladies were not merely women they represented a class, a differentiated status within the generic category of “women.”” During Reconstruction, for example, married black women who didn’t work outside of the home and aspired to such status were socially condemned for even trying. A lady was a queen or head of household who oversaw subjects, children, servants, and slaves. From early modern times through much of the twentieth century, the term ‘lady’ signified women with power and authority over others by virtue of their race, class, marriage, or ancestry. The term ‘ladies’ itself has a history that illuminates how power, privilege, and oppression have functioned throughout American history. The question is, why? Elitism and Exclusivity
People who are more masculine than your average cisgender guy people who engage in public displays of queer affection people who are femme, athletic, punky, androgynous, or professional are all addressed as ‘ladies’ now. Hosts, servers, and salespeople everywhere address those they presume to be women, as ‘ladies,’ without a thought about the meaning or history of the term. No matter where we are - in a small town or big city, in the gayborhood or a mainstream hotspot - strangers greet us the same way: “Hello, ladies ” or “What can I get you ladies?” And we are not alone. It seems as if the term ‘ladies’ has made a comeback in public life.
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