(Student’s Full Name)
In the PowerPoint presentation created by Erin Hvizdak, a librarian at Washington State University explains how women’s temperance activism had an impact on the feminist movement in America. Temperance activism did not only involve preventing the selling of alcohol, but it also ensured that woman should be given responsibilities that ensured that they took care of the “outside world” like they would their own homes (Hvizdak 9). For instance, temperance activists fought for proper garbage disposal and rubbish collection, creating green spaces, such as city parks, and protecting the environment (Hvizdak 11). However, many persons living during the period of women’s temperance activism were against some of the ideas that temperance activists stood for. This is illustrated in the article, “The Women’s Christian Temperance Union 1874-1898: Combating Domestic Violence” written by Erin Masson. The author explains that when the ideas of the women’s temperance movement (which supported the ban on alcohol) was first introduced to the American public, the temperance activists were seen as “tee-totaling moral zealots” (Masson 164).Nevertheless, Masson was of the view that men or the “brothers” in the American society during the early nineteenth century failed to “protect” the home when they were dependent on alcohol (163). In their refusal to protect the home by lacking the self-control to over consume alcohol, the men allowed their women to be subjected to “sexual abuse” and “exploitation” (Masson 163). This point is confirmed by Hvizdak in her presentation where she explains that men, who were employed, were using their money to buy alcohol, which allowed them to become abusive (12). Hence, the women activists saw the need to ban the sale of alcohol to solve this problem (Hvizdak 12).
Works Cited
Hvizdak, Erin. “Temperance Presentation.pdf.” Zippyshare.com. Web. 19 Feb. 2016. <http://www86.zippyshare.com/v/HnwIg74Q/file.html>.
Masson, Erin. “The Women's Christian Temperance Union 1874-1898: Combating Domestic Violence.” William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law 7th ser. 3.1 (1997): 163-88. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.
