The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 100, July 1996 - April, 1997 Page: 16
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
corruption."2 In her analysis, "The dainty [women] are defeated by
their own lady-like attitude. Shrewd men are gallant to them and soon
steer them away.... They become mere figureheads. The strong-mind-
ed, sanitary sort begin by taking the attitude that no mere male can fool
them. ... They make enemies, and those enemies in the end prove too
powerful for them."6 In The Woman of It, therefore, Davis has her ficti-
tious woman governor disregard sex in order to claim political power.
"She [Lawrence] handles the cats at her headquarters like a tiger trainer
in a circus," narrates Davis." The lesson Davis sends is that "In politics
gal, you've got to use plain language to deal with the scum of the earth."
Lawrence balks, "But women . . . " only to be cut off by her friend,
"Women hell! Women will have to talk to men politicians for many a
year yet."6f To "disregard sex" had become the only way women like
Davis saw to avoid sex stereotyping or isolation from male-dominated
centers of power. It was a position that set her apart; as the Houston Gar-
goyle reported, "the freed ladies are visibly sizzlin" over Davis's inter-
view.66 It was, nevertheless, a position that grew out of Davis's
understanding of the inverse relationship between women's political
emancipation and the changing social and sexual roles of women in the
192o0s. As Ferguson's campaign in the context of the Texas Klan's reac-
tion to modernity showed her, to regard sex either invited controversy
that would eliminate political possibility or forced a woman, whether an
ambitious Lawrence or a proxy like Ferguson, into reducing her sex to
gingham aprons and a bonnet. The lesson made it difficult for women
like Davis to see clear to a feminist politics that could afford to regard
sex in a way that sought to claim political power in order to improve the
status of women as a group.67
62 Asa Bordages, book review in Gargoyle (Houston), July 28, 1929. Professor Norman Brown
made this review available to me from his personal file on Davis.
63 Ibid.
64 Davis, The Woman of It, 27.
65 Ibid., 33.
66 Gargoyle (Houston),July 28, 1929.
67 Nancy F. Cott, The Grounding of Modern Femmzsm (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987),
271-283, provides the most comprehensive analysis of why a feminist politics of sex solidarity did
not become more popular in the 192os.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 100, July 1996 - April, 1997, periodical, 1997; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101218/m1/44/: accessed May 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.