Rachel’s Reviews > The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women's Movement > Status Update

For these Bluestockings, friendships with other like-minded women were crucial to their success. These friendships operated outside the bounds of patriarchy. Women's relationships with men - be it a father or a husband - demanded a woman's time, a woman's duty, a woman's obedience. Friendships with other women did not make demands; rather they gave inspiration, comfort, support and joy.