Who wears the pants?

After the first read of Fanny Fern’s “A Law more Nice than Just”, it is a bit tough to see the controversy of the article. However that is using the standards that we have in today’s society. A woman wearing men’s clothing would not be considered normal today, but it would not cause much of a stir in conversation. But at the time it was written, it could not have been a more risky article to write. This was exactly the type of ideas people expected from Fern; a cynical, taboo view of life. In her time, women were expected to both dress and act in a certain way. Not only was it expected, but it was considered illegal to do otherwise. Women simply needed knowledge of household duties, and not much else. At the end of the day, the wife should anxiously await the arrival of her husband. In reading Fern’s writing, it is clear that she does not agree with this standard of living. She even implies that the husbands do not want their wives leaving home because they are out causing mischief; wives would catch them during “all these little emergencies”. Fern suggests that if a woman was dressed as a man, she could sneak around and keep a more solid eye on a man. In this era, simply reading this idea would leave the average man in an uncomfortable state. Fern continues to describe the process of getting a suit fitted for her to try out this experiment. She then heads out with Mr. Fern on her leisurely stroll on a “dark” night, with no man to cater to her. She describes this experience as very liberating, because she is allowed to act as she pleases. Fern feels satisfaction in knowing she is going against the grain of society, and ignoring what is considered the norm for female behavior. It may not seem like such a large stride now, but the controversial Fern shows in this article that women had some different views on how they should be treated in that culture.