Eliza Bisbee Duffey

Eliza Bisbee Duffey (1838–1898) was an American painter, author, poet, newspaper editor and printer, columnist, spiritualist, and feminist who published several books in defense of women's rights.

Early life

Duffey was born to Cordelia and Charles A. Bisbee and raised in Geauga County, Ohio. While in Ohio she spent her early years working for The Jeffersonian Democrat as a printer. After moving to Columbus, Ohio to help edit the publicationThe Alliance, she met her husband, John B. Duffey.

From 1861 to 1867 the Duffeys resided in Philadelphia. While there Eliza Bisbee Duffey exhibited her paintings at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where she eventually became an Associate Member. By 1867, the Duffeys were living in Woodbury, New Jersey until relocating to Vineland, New Jersey in 1872 where she and her husband became editors and publishers of The Vineland Times in 1877. The Duffeys moved several more times moving up through New York state, and ending in the south.

Eliza was a strong advocate for equality between men and women. She published several essays and books about female sexual health and education, education for women, gender roles and the ideal world for both men and women. These works have influenced many reformers and advocates after her. Her body of work on gender issues includes articles, such as Women's Work and Women's Wages (1870) in Arthur's Illustrated, and several books such as What Women Should Know: A Woman's Book about Women, Containing Practical Information for Wives and Mothers (1873), The Relations of the Sexes (1889), and The Ladies' and Gentlemen's Etiquette: A Complete Manual of the Manners and Dress of American Society. Containing Forms of Letters, Invitations, Acceptances and Regrets. With a Copious Index (1877).

Scholarly work

As an ardent feminist in the Victorian era, Eliza Bisbee Duffey made waves with her pro-female writing. As a writer she engaged Edward Hammond Clarke in a debate on educating females. Clarke wrote an extremely popular book entitled Sex in Education; or, A Fair Chance for the Girls in which he argued against educating women in the same environment as men due to their supposed intellectual disadvantages. Duffey responded to Clarke's arguments with her book No Sex in Education; Or, An Equal Chance for Both Boys and Girls (1874) in which she advocated for the equal and co-education of both genders.

Duffey continued to take controversial stances. The next topic she tackled was the relationship between men and women. In her book The Relations of the Sexes (1876), she discussed a myriad of topics from the biology of each one of the sexes to problems faced by women in marriage. On of the most bold proclamations she makes in her book was on the issue of non-consensual sex in marriage. She believed that marital rape was a real crime that was being committed and that it should be seen as equal to other forms of rape. In addition, she discussed spousal abuse of and argued that brutality should be sufficient grounds for divorce. She continued this proposition in many of her writing and in one of her articles, she went a far to say that women were "no more bound to yield to her body to her husband after the marriage between them, than she was before, until she feels that she can do with the full tide of willingness and affection. In continuation, her work and writing in The Relations of the Sexes (1876), illustrated how changing ideas in science impacted society's views on once popular opinions. For, instance she takes a stand against the notion of quickening, and claims that it does not represent a proper view of human gestation.

Just one year later after publishing The Relations of the Sexes, Duffey's continued to write about her society with her 1877 book, The Ladies' and Gentleman's Etiquette. In this book she discusses the proper etiquette for 35 different situations any given person may find themselves in. This book, though straightforward in its content, has a sharp introduction where Duffey affirms that women should have a higher place in society.

Later in life Duffey became in interested in spiritualism and although she claimed to have little knowledge of the field, she wrote Heaven Revised (1889) through the technique of automatic writing.